Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk reaction to shot?

A few years ago I shot a medium bull with a 300 WSM at about 200 yds across a draw. He was with another elk. I hit it square in the lungs. Both of them ran about 100 yds across the side hill then stopped and I shot it again, hitting within a couple inches of the 1st hole. It slowly went down then.

I was NOT impressed with the performance of the 180 gr AB's I was using. One blew up on a rib and went nowhere. The other separated and I found pieces through the lungs. I later found the core in the heart. Any decent bullet would have floored him on the spot with my 1st shot. I haven't shot an AB at an animal since. I suspect that my 1st shot was the one that didn't penetrate because he should have never run that far. The 2d looked more like a typical heart shot because of the lead core in it.

BTW - since he was across a draw, I laid down and used my pack as a rest. My head was downhill and he was higher than I was so my rifle was angled up. I got hit as hard as the elk did. Selfie attached: