I got my first ever elk!!!!

Calvin45 said:
Just thought I'd share my successful hunt. Got drawn for either sex elk in zone 43 here in Saskatchewan…and scored on the opening day of the season, September 15!!!!

It's no trophy specimen, but it's a full grown bull elk and holy smokes I didn't realize just how much meat is on one of these things! I'm a happy (but sore and tired) camper. My family will eat well this winter and I'm so thankful to have been blessed in this way.

225 eld m out of a .300 win mag, 2760 fps, hit him twice at 320 yards (ranged after he was already down haha). The second shot was totally not needed at all but I've heard so many stories about how tough these things can be, he was still standing, so I hit him again. First shot was a broadside chest hit, and man let me tell you there is no better sound than that BOOM….THWACK! Combo that lets you know you made a solid hit. He staggered and wobbled immediately and swung his head back and forth, sort of like I might if I had taken a hard punch and was trying to stay on my feet but very rocked. The second hit he was quartering toward me and I shoulder punched him and he went down like a sack of hammers. The eldm had no trouble smashing and penetrating the shoulder joint and absolutely grenading in the vitals. This combo keeps on proving to be a death ray for deer and now elk as well.

I must say, I haven't had "buck fever" like that since I was a 13 year old on my first whitetail hunt and a saw a spike buck come out of the bush! 🤣🤣🤣. I was calm and collected when I pulled the trigger…but once he was down and staying down and I knew this was for real MY FREAKING HANDS WOULDNT STOP SHAKING for like 20 minutes! A good feeling, but very intense. I haven't felt that in a long time, it reminded me I'm alive.

Here's some pics, just an ordinary critter (and we don't get the rocky mountain type monsters here in flatland quite the same) but I'm so happy about it!!!
Click to expand...
Congratulations brother that's a nicen 🫎🫎
 
RockyMtnMT said:
Congrats on a hunt well done! It was all you from beginning to the freezer. Doesn't get any better than that. Processing is half the joy of the hunt. I look forward to it every year.
Click to expand...
It was more work but actually felt much less tedious than processing a whitetail. Nice huge cuts of meat, easy to identify 🤣
 
Calvin45 said:
Just thought I'd share my successful hunt. Got drawn for either sex elk in zone 43 here in Saskatchewan…and scored on the opening day of the season, September 15!!!!

It's no trophy specimen, but it's a full grown bull elk and holy smokes I didn't realize just how much meat is on one of these things! I'm a happy (but sore and tired) camper. My family will eat well this winter and I'm so thankful to have been blessed in this way.

225 eld m out of a .300 win mag, 2760 fps, hit him twice at 320 yards (ranged after he was already down haha). The second shot was totally not needed at all but I've heard so many stories about how tough these things can be, he was still standing, so I hit him again. First shot was a broadside chest hit, and man let me tell you there is no better sound than that BOOM….THWACK! Combo that lets you know you made a solid hit. He staggered and wobbled immediately and swung his head back and forth, sort of like I might if I had taken a hard punch and was trying to stay on my feet but very rocked. The second hit he was quartering toward me and I shoulder punched him and he went down like a sack of hammers. The eldm had no trouble smashing and penetrating the shoulder joint and absolutely grenading in the vitals. This combo keeps on proving to be a death ray for deer and now elk as well.

I must say, I haven't had "buck fever" like that since I was a 13 year old on my first whitetail hunt and a saw a spike buck come out of the bush! 🤣🤣🤣. I was calm and collected when I pulled the trigger…but once he was down and staying down and I knew this was for real MY FREAKING HANDS WOULDNT STOP SHAKING for like 20 minutes! A good feeling, but very intense. I haven't felt that in a long time, it reminded me I'm alive.

Here's some pics, just an ordinary critter (and we don't get the rocky mountain type monsters here in flatland quite the same) but I'm so happy about it!!!
Click to expand...
Congratulations! He may seem ordinary but that bull 1. Makes you an elk hunter and 2. On behalf of myself and a great many elk hunters we would be absolutely over the moon to get a bull like that every year! Congratulations again on an absolutely beautiful first elk.
 
Calvin45 said:
Just thought I'd share my successful hunt. Got drawn for either sex elk in zone 43 here in Saskatchewan…and scored on the opening day of the season, September 15!!!!

It's no trophy specimen, but it's a full grown bull elk and holy smokes I didn't realize just how much meat is on one of these things! I'm a happy (but sore and tired) camper. My family will eat well this winter and I'm so thankful to have been blessed in this way.

225 eld m out of a .300 win mag, 2760 fps, hit him twice at 320 yards (ranged after he was already down haha). The second shot was totally not needed at all but I've heard so many stories about how tough these things can be, he was still standing, so I hit him again. First shot was a broadside chest hit, and man let me tell you there is no better sound than that BOOM….THWACK! Combo that lets you know you made a solid hit. He staggered and wobbled immediately and swung his head back and forth, sort of like I might if I had taken a hard punch and was trying to stay on my feet but very rocked. The second hit he was quartering toward me and I shoulder punched him and he went down like a sack of hammers. The eldm had no trouble smashing and penetrating the shoulder joint and absolutely grenading in the vitals. This combo keeps on proving to be a death ray for deer and now elk as well.

I must say, I haven't had "buck fever" like that since I was a 13 year old on my first whitetail hunt and a saw a spike buck come out of the bush! 🤣🤣🤣. I was calm and collected when I pulled the trigger…but once he was down and staying down and I knew this was for real MY FREAKING HANDS WOULDNT STOP SHAKING for like 20 minutes! A good feeling, but very intense. I haven't felt that in a long time, it reminded me I'm alive.

Here's some pics, just an ordinary critter (and we don't get the rocky mountain type monsters here in flatland quite the same) but I'm so happy about it!!!
Click to expand...
Congratulations on a great trophy. Nicely done 👏👏
 
Over the years I've been developing some conclusions about bullet choices too. I've had plenty of good luck with standard weight soft points and tougher premium types certainly penetrate with assurance, but I'm honestly finding that the two extremes of light for caliber monos going stupid fast and heavy for caliber tipped match bullets honestly just kill faster. Even when I've taken deer with them, I've had people suggest that I got lucky and really shouldn't use "target bullets" for hunting even if it's a 225 eldm out of a 300 win mag on a deer, and also that shooting "such a light bullet" as a 75 hammer out of a .257 weatherby was akin to stunting or trying to prove something and was unethical.

Well the fact of the matter is id rather not have to track things at all, and I've found without exception so far that there is no tracking job needed with these kind of "ballistic choices", and I used to expect a "dead run" of 50-250 yards as just standard experience back when I used ordinary soft points or other "middle of the road" medium weight for caliber bullet designs. Even without CNS hits.

Light, tough, and warp speed

Heavy, frangible, high bc and retained downrange energy.


Those two extreme ends of the spectrum have been giving me better results in the field.
 

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