Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 7mm08 and Elk

Wow, lots of advice from a bunch of "elk hunters" that havent shot many elk...or a 7-08.

I've seen several killed the last few years with the 7-08 and 140 accubonds from 2 different rifles...one has a MV of 2910, the other 2870.

My wife shot this bull at 202 yards, broadside. The bull slowly turned at the shot, then stumbled about 30 feet downhill and flopped over dead.



I was impressed enough with the 7-08 I built one last year and got to test it out a bit.

I shot these 2 elk in about 60 seconds. Shot this cow first at 130-140 yards broadside. She kicked and ran about 20 yards and died.



This bull stepped out when I shot the cow, and I thought about it for a minute before I shot him at 170 yards, hard quartering away. He slumped at the shot and made it about 30 yards into the timber and died.



Next I headed to Montana to hunt with my Dad and Brother. My Dad was interested in my 7-08, so shot this cow at 230 yards quartering slightly away. Made it a whopping 25 yards before hitting rubber legs street and dropped.



My Brother took this 6 point bull the following day at 487 yards, again quartering away. Found the bullet, a 140 grain accubond (only one I've found so far), on the point of the off shoulder. The bull made it a whopping 25 yards.



Heres the recovered bullet:



Finally, I was whitetail deer hunting in Western Montana and bumped into 2 bulls. I hated to waste a day of deer hunting, but took this bull with a hard quartering toward shot at 70 yards, hitting the point of the on side shoulder. The bull left a massive blood trail and I found him about 15 yards from where I shot him.

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/buzzandpat/elkhunting/websize/DSC00160.JPG[/img]

My conclusion is that the 7-08 is a very capable choice for elk.

I've killed many elk with the 30/06 and 338 and they work great as well. But, for those thinking the 7-08 is marginal for elk, you need to take perfect shots, you have to be within 200 yards, etc. demonstrates to me that they havent seen it used much on elk.

I'm sure some will still argue all day long about how marginal the 7-08 is for elk...

Carry on.