Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

BobinNH,

A guide in an elk camp a couple years ago said he'd rather have a hunter show up with a .270 Win he can shoot than with a .300 magnum he can't. That outfitter hunted trophy elk. It routinely killed 400+ bulls every year.

I've one-shot killed a massive bull that went better than 900 pounds (guide's estimate) with a 160 grain 7MM Rem Mag Partition. The bullet took out his oxygenated blood pumping mechanism. He had seconds to live. The truth of the matter is a .30-30 Win, assuming the identical shot placement, would have produced the identical outcome. Elk don't know what cartridge launched a bullet that permanently interrupted its topside oxygenated blood flow. He knows only that he's dead.

I have a friend who's killed just about everything than can be killed in North America except polar bear. He began his hunting career with an '06, then switched to a .300 Wby Mag. After some years of killing a lot of stuff with his Mark V .300 Wby Mag, he no longer liked its recoil. He bought a Mark V in .270 Wby Mag, and hunted everything with it until he retired from killing big game.

He had at least 140 animals in his trophy room. He's probably killed somewhere around 500 head of big game during his hunting career, many during the 60's when hunters could kill two bucks in many Rocky Mountain states. He also has a grand slam in his trophy room.

Many years ago, my friend gave me what might be the best hunting advice anyone has given me. He told me that when 90% of hunters see a head of big game at 400 yards away, they try to figure out how they're gonna make the shot. Even though he's hunted with a .300 Wby Mag, when he saw a head of big game at 400 yards away, his first thought was how he was gonna close distance. He said that every single time, he'd rather shoot at 100 yards than farther.

From here on out, I'm hunting everything with a .270 Win, including moose if I'm drawn. Add bison to that list. If Yukon moose are killed every year with arrows at 300 FPS, a 150 grain Partition from a .270 Win outgta kill 'em just as dead. After all, no animal can get more dead than dead. There's only one degree of dead, and that's dead. Nothing living remains in that condition without topside oxygenated blood flow. Put an end to that, and you've got dead. Then get your gutting knife or quartering equipment out.