My first elk hunt

[Bagpiper63]

welcome to the forums!

Colorado requires your bullet be at least 143 gr with a centerfire rifle for large game.

I like both rounds but for elk I would prefer 308…. 30 cal is a killer. The 308 will also carry more energy at 500 yards and it is suggested you should have 1500 lbs of energy to kill an elk.

Frankly, either rifle will work with a double lung shot…. Make sure you are in great shape and good hunting!

Minimum bullet weight for elk in Colorado is 85 grains not 143

 

[Joefrazell]

We took two elk with a 6.5 cm last year with a 147 eldm. Both were one shot kills. Mine was 555 yards and folded after about two seconds after impact. My dad's was a 478 yard shot and it ran about 80 yards before expiring. He hit it too far forward, mostly a base of the neck shot. Huge trauma on both animals.

My wife shot a buck with that same load earlier in the year at 926 yards and the bullet passed through the lungs and left a nice golf ball sized exit hole.

It will kill an elk and that particular bullet works well. However, expect to be cutting away blood shot meat or throwing half an animal away if shot poorly. I would not aim for a shoulder on anything under 500 personally.

 

[michaelfelix13]

We took two elk with a 6.5 cm last year with a 147 eldm. Both were one shot kills. Mine was 555 yards and folded after about two seconds after impact. My dad's was a 478 yard shot and it ran about 80 yards before expiring. He hit it too far forward, mostly a base of the neck shot. Huge trauma on both animals.

My wife shot a buck with that same load earlier in the year at 926 yards and the bullet passed through the lungs and left a nice golf ball sized exit hole.

It will kill an elk and that particular bullet works well. However, expect to be cutting away blood shot meat or throwing half an animal away if shot poorly. I would not aim for a shoulder on anything under 500 personally.

I would not aim for a shoulder on anything under 500. What would you aim at

 

[Muskrat Outdoors]

I would not aim for a shoulder on anything under 500. What would you aim at

Heart/lung behind the shoulder if it were Me.

 

[michaelfelix13]

Heart/lung behind the shoulder if it were Me.

Yes I agree.

 

[Bagpiper63]

Minimum bullet weight for elk in Colorado is 85 grains not 143

I'm taking my 7mm mag and my 7mm 08. 150 and 140 grain barnes tsx for the mag and 140 gr barnes tsx in the 7mm08. The 7mm08 is for the thick stuff the mag is for the open stuff. Won't shoot the 7mm08 over 300 yards and the magnum over 400. Elk won't know the difference.

 

[Joefrazell]

I would not aim for a shoulder on anything under 500. What would you aim at

Obviously behind the shoulder. Point is that if you hit heavy bone it's gunna blow up. Even at cm speeds

 

[michaelfelix13]

Obviously behind the shoulder. Point is that if you hit heavy bone it's gunna blow up. Even at cm speeds

Yup that is usually my point of aim.

 

[dluehrs]

Great pic, outfitted and private land or on your own on public?

Outfitted public land.

 

[michaelfelix13]

Outfitted public land.

Private land

 

[Pacecount]

Minimum bullet weight for elk in Colorado is 85 grains not 143

I appreciate the correction…. Im either smoking crack or that changed.

 

[7070yshot]

You're seriously reccomending neck shots for your 500-700 yard shots on elk..............?

Absolutely. If you have 1MOA ammo or better, you know your DOPE and can actually shoot. Yes. Neck shots are devastating to most any creature. Neck is what minimum 10in? You are have a little wiggle room for errors. If you haven't done it. Try it

 

[7070yshot]

308 with 180 grain Nosler Partition or Accubond or any good bullet. The stories you hear of folks regularly killing elk at 500 plus yards - well I'm not going to call them out on the Internet, but it is rare. Elk are big tough critters who live in a tough environment. You can put a 180 gr bullet through the shoulder at 125 yards and a big old tough bull will shrug and walk off - with a limp, but walking.

308 neck shot at 125 would do the trick

 

[memtb]

I respectfully disagree! Most any neck shot can be fatal....eventually! However, unless nerves or a major blood supply is destroyed, an animal can go a long distance in the time required by the hunter to get to the site where the animal "was"! On many game animals, the actual area of near immediate immobilization or death is actually fairly small in relation to the mass of the neck.....especially so, with an elk!

Properly placed....it makes for a great photo op or bragging rights around the campfire. Poorly placed, it may lead to a long, lingering death of the game animal!

My wife, as a meat hunter, was a huge proponent of head shots. And I witnessed her make several pretty impressive shots. However, she changed her opinions of head shots after killing a deer with a head shot, taken on a deer lying down in the sage brush. Her shot was immediately fatal. When we got to the kill site, we found that the deer had been previously shot through the jaw. Field dressing the deer indicated that the deer was completely dehydrated, it's intestines flat and completely void of food or water. How long had this animal suffered prior to her killing it.

She no longer makes head shots!

A lung shot offers a much larger kill area, room for error....should the animal move or the shooter make an error! A lung shot animal will likely travel a short distance, but a lung shot with an adequate caliber/bullet is almost always fatal! JMO memtb