Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 115 grain ballistic tip

I wish I had recovered a bullet but alas, we used the gutless method to break the carcass down and pack it out. The left shoulder, being hit 2x from the the front quarter was pretty busted up; all wobbly with broken bone. Upon examination, we saw zero bullet fragments in or around the shoulder itself and the surface of the rib cage after the shoulder was removed. What we did see was 3 entrance holes into the thoracic cavity. Also, blood was coming from the nose/mouth of the cow indicating lung blood. Something to note: At the two entrance holes into the thoracic cavity that went through the shoulder, their was vegetation. We ascertained it was from the Esophagus as their is no way vegetation, from the gut area, could have made it forward to the entrance hole area.

To reiterate, it was a clean broadside 1st shot to the left side. I even waited until she put her left leg forward, exposing her rib cage even more. I used an aim point mid torso, just behind the left leg, trying to drive the bullet towards the right/off leg. A few seconds after the shot, she turned quartering to me and the next 2 shots went into/through the left shoulder. I know my shooting position, over the pack, was optimal and I wasn't shaking even though I'd been laying in the snow for almost 15 minutes and the ambient temp was about 20 deg F. My B&C crosshairs were very steady, shooting within 1-2 seconds of rechambering a fresh round.

Once she was down the 2 other cows had zero ideas of where I was; one running up the mountain draw at 10 o'clock, away from me and the other running nearly directly towards me, getting to within 50 yds of of me before veering off to go over the ridge to my left. Here is where I shot from, the elk being just below the tip of my barrel.