My first elk hunt

[dogz]

I am waiting for the old 270 vs 3006 thread. Bet those rabbit trail for ever!

only to be capped by bears and self defense guns...............talk about rabbit trails.

I always find it interesting when people go off topic and some times get hammered for it and sometimes not.........

 

[dogz]

The man said his set up was very accurate out to 500 yards. I don't know him from Adam, but I'm not going to knock his shooting abilities. You said you have shot elk at 100 yards /w a 300 WBY and a 180 grain bullet and you found no blood. That's very odd to me. I can not tell you how many deer my friends and I have shot with 22-250 and 220 swift's with only 50 - 60 grain bullets. We always shoot them in the neck because they just fold up like a pretzel. The amount of kinetic energy from these 2 small calibers breaks the neck instantly. My little 260 w/ 140 grain Berger break necks all day on elk. I find it hard to believe that a 300 WBY can not.

another wabbit trail but.........the deer and lopes will fold up via 50-60 grainers out of your 22/250 and Swifts just as well with behind the shoulder shots. No reason to go neck and take the chance of missing bone.........

 

[Joefrazell]

I just don't see why anybody would aim for an elks neck. You have to hit the spine and it's only 3-4" in diameter at best. Sounds silly when you can aim for the lungs and have a 14" kill zone at minimum. As far as ruining meat goes. It's rib meat vs neck meat and is kinda a toss up.

 

[Stgraves260]

I'm not going to argue with your experience, but I have seen neck shots go wrong. I have also seen gut shot elk, and seen lost animals with what should have been heart/lung shots too. I shot a calf elk once that had an arrow sticking out of it's spine. How it could still be moving at all was a mystery. It was last in line of the elk herd and in obvious pain. All I can say is to take the best shot you have, and if it's at all "iffy" don't shoot at all.
I'm not a fan of neck shots, but I have taken them without problems also.

I have seen a arrow in a deers neck that was still alive. It was a low shot. We seen it on a game camera. Me and the other guides made it out Mission to have our hunters take the doe out if we see her. I alway take my hunters to our range to see their abilities. Some of these people bring out some pretty hefty stuff. I've had hunters tell me they have hit a 5 gallon bucket at a mile. So when people like this come to our property I ask them to come with me to our shooting range. It's just shy of 100,000 acres. I set up a 18" x 24" AR 500 steel target. I set it up where I want so that it's safe. I'll set it up at a unknown distance for the hunter to prove themselves to me before I let them take a long range shot on a living animal. Most people back down, but there are some that like to try. If my hunters brag about how good they can shoot then they should understand why I'm asking them to prove it before taking a animals life. I would say around 1% of hunters got a chance to take a long range shot with me when I guided. Most of them never came back and that's fine. We don't want people like that on our property. I don't guide anymore but I still go out to the property now and then.

 

[Old Rooster]

I can appreciate miss Teri Anne's comment that she would not trust a reload on the shot of a life time as I had a close friend that heard of reloads that would miss fire often and primers kept in a damp place can do that but properly kept primers now days is very reliable and I have killed way too many elk,deer both white tail and mule deer,antelope and bear with my reloads and I have complete confidence in them,
By the way I have had 1 miss fire in 61 years of hunting with a reload and the primers were super old and most were corroded and I should have never used them but I was young and not a lot of money and if someone gives you a box of primers you take and say thanks.
By the way I have heard of and witnessed a miss fire in factory ammo in 7mm mag made by Winchester.
Just my opinions.

 

[GDKinCO]

The last bull I killed was a neck shot with .308 Win 180 grain... at 10 yards. As he was picking his way through/around a log pile that I was sitting in, that's the only shot he offered me. He went over 100 yards after the shot, leaving a blood trail like shown in the photo. Anyone want to guess the mistake I made?

 

[Stgraves260]

This is a pic of a does heart I shot under 100 yards. She probably ran about 200 yards or so. It was taken w/ my 260 Rem and 140 grain Berger bullets. It was because this shot/research I did for myself that I decided to take neck shots at 300 yards or shorter. Sense my friends and I put my theory to the test we have been much more successful. Our 22-250 and 220 swift don't really leave a blood trail, but it doesn't have to, it just simply breaks the neck on a white tail. Neck shots save meet.

 

[dogz]

funny thing is, I have a 260 and a 140 Berg story as well. Shot a lope doe at just under 300 yards. Bullet caught it at the bottom of the heart. Darn doe ran 80 some yards.

Now on the 22/250 and Swift I've been using them since 1978. 55-63 grain bullets. Mainly for small big game (deer, lopes) but have also used them on elk and black bruins. Shots mainly in the 35 yard range to 400 yards though our farthest shot was 505 (lope took 2 steps and pitched over, lung shot).

The last 4 years we've taken 30 head of deer and lopes with the 60 Horn Hp. 28 of the critters hit the turf at the shot (behind the fronts). Two of them took short runs. One was a lope that we shot at 250 or so that went about 15', and the other a 100 pound whitey doe that ran about 35 yards.

Most always it's one shot and down they go

 

[Stgraves260]

When I was guided it was crazy on the amount of people who would bring 300 win mags and 300 Weatherby mags for deer hunting. You should have seen the look on their faces when our hunting guides and myself said we use 22-250s,220 swifts for deer hunting. You think we committed a crime or something. Our guides had other calibers as well don't get me wrong, but most of us choose the smaller calibers. I've had hunters shoot deer in the gut at 100 yards and they swore up and down they made a perfect heart shot. I would have the hunter put their weapon down and I would do a follow up shot in the neck with my 22-250 and you would think it got hit by a truck.

 

[sp6x6]

I use to shoot a bit of game head shots ,deer and elk out to 500 yrd.I mentioned my 40 yrd shot on bull threw neck,took me 1/2 day and alot of trouble to catch and put him down ,4'' below jaw dead center neck missed spine,could put rebar threw hole 225 out of 340wby.Without snow would have lost.Next I shot muley in my avatar w/325wsm Barnes 200 ,same thing,did 12000 verticle that day, up and down twice,trying to catch him.Was out from 4 am til 12 midnight,lucky I was in my fortys and young,hardest day I ever put in.Gave up neck shots after that

 

[Idaho Lefty]

The last bull I killed was a neck shot with .308 Win 180 grain... at 10 yards. As he was picking his way through/around a log pile that I was sitting in, that's the only shot he offered me. He went over 100 yards after the shot, leaving a blood trail like shown in the photo. Anyone want to guess the mistake I made?

My guess would be that, the shot was, a little LOW and forward,.. cutting the Windpipe and Jugular ?
Most Rifles sighted at, 100 or 200 Yards are, 2" or 3 " low at, close range.
Hey,. I'd of, done, the same thing at, 10 Yards ! ( Hopefully, I'd be remembering that, my 200 yd Zero,.. shoots, low and TRY to, cut his Spine ) .
NICE, Blood trail and, a Tasty looking Bull ( Good Job ! ).

 

[GDKinCO]

My guess would be that, the shot was, a little LOW and forward,.. cutting the Windpipe and Jugular ?
Most Rifles sighted at, 100 or 200 Yards are, 2" or 3 " low at, close range.
Hey,. I'd of, done, the same thing at, 10 Yards ! ( Hopefully, I'd be remembering that, my 200 yd Zero,.. shoots, low and TRY to, cut his Spine ) .
NICE, Blood trail and, a Tasty looking Bull ( Good Job ! ).

I forgot the scope to barrel offset and shot low. Yeah, windpipe and jugular punctured and blood trail looked like something out of a Stephen King horror novel! But, he did move himself from the middle of a blowdown thicket to very near a logging trail. The trail was closed to vehicle travel, but did make an easy(ier) 3 mile hike pulling the game cart. Well, the first trip out was a hind quarter in the backpack to the truck and game cart. That hind quarter tripled in weight before I got to the truck.

 

[Muskrat Outdoors]

I have seen a arrow in a deers neck that was still alive. It was a low shot. We seen it on a game camera. Me and the other guides made it out Mission to have our hunters take the doe out if we see her. I alway take my hunters to our range to see their abilities. Some of these people bring out some pretty hefty stuff. I've had hunters tell me they have hit a 5 gallon bucket at a mile. So when people like this come to our property I ask them to come with me to our shooting range. It's just shy of 100,000 acres. I set up a 18" x 24" AR 500 steel target. I set it up where I want so that it's safe. I'll set it up at a unknown distance for the hunter to prove themselves to me before I let them take a long range shot on a living animal. Most people back down, but there are some that like to try. If my hunters brag about how good they can shoot then they should understand why I'm asking them to prove it before taking a animals life. I would say around 1% of hunters got a chance to take a long range shot with me when I guided. Most of them never came back and that's fine. We don't want people like that on our property. I don't guide anymore but I still go out to the property now and then.

Exactly right! Big talk won't do. Everyone is a sniper until you ask them to prove it.....then they "don't want to waste ammo". When I was guiding, we made everyone shoot at a target just 50 yards away. Some were several inches or more off even at that range.

 

[Muskrat Outdoors]

I forgot the scope to barrel offset and shot low. Yeah, windpipe and jugular punctured and blood trail looked like something out of a Stephen King horror novel! But, he did move himself from the middle of a blowdown thicket to very near a logging trail. The trail was closed to vehicle travel, but did make an easy(ier) 3 mile hike pulling the game cart. Well, the first trip out was a hind quarter in the backpack to the truck and game cart. That hind quarter tripled in weight before I got to the truck.

The only deer I ever shot with a bow turned out to be a very small doe. Either sex was legal and the grass was tall. I thought it was a bigger doe! The shot was went low, and it was kind of quartering towards me, not quite broadside. I should have waited for a better shot, but I was excited and about 15 years old, maybe less. I hit the juggler, and the deer ran close to 100 yards, but left a trail of blood a blind man could have followed in the dark. It was a bad shot, but sure did the trick. It was good eating.....both sandwiches!! Ha!
I caught my beard in my bowstring years later and that was the end of my bowhunting days.