Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting My Elk Rig

Or an elliptical.

Good to know.

My elk rig is a 91 dodge 2500 1976 Featherlite goose neck with wood stove. 14,22,9 year old John mules. And a pair of 9 year old mollys.

J. Interesting, I have shot far more elk over 200than under!

back country -

You've got a very good start.

I don't want to complicate things but I do know that you can get 3100 + fps with 180 gr bullets- IF you want it.

I've used IMR 4350 and IMR 4831 and case life is very good.

Something to consider.

Good Luck


Jerry

I like that elk rig Angus. I could use something like that myself in my advanced state of degradation.

ADK the reason I asked is that 4.5X may be all you ever need. There is a lot of dark timber with elk in it and if you are in that you will want to keep your scope cranked down for a short and quick shot like you can get in those North Woods. While I have made at least three long shots (200+ is long for me), in a lot of hunts in WY, CO, & MT, my average shot has been a bit under 45 yards.

The Adirondacks ought to be good training for our western terrain. There is plenty of elevation gain and rough country. The only thing they lack is the altitude.

You made me go RE read the OP by saying 308 bullet. No doubt that 2900 fps will work ...(it's not much more than an 06 and some 06s will beat 2900)... but the 300 WM is capable of much more.

I would NOT shoot c/c at Elk with 3100 fps. But there are NPs, A frames, monos, etc.

Good Luck

Jerry

ADK, what state you hunting and what's your method?

A backpack hunt, or dayhiking out of a basecamp, etc?

Nice shooting rig. Now, I want to hear about your training rig, I have a new Santa Cruz 5010 V2 with an MRP Stage up front.

Agree on how important good boots are. I use Meindl's when it's warmer and Schnee pacs when the snow gets deep. Your 300 mag sounds like a good bet, but my 300 WSM prefers 180 grain Accubonds. I think a 10x binocular is probably to much power for elk hunting, I use a 8x32 Pentax and have a spotting scope that usually gets more use from the truck. Good Luck

I've spoken with a guide in Montana that will do drop camps in Idaho for a week into the Bitterroot Mts. He drops you off for a week and if you shoot your elk they will pack it out for you after. Wall tents set up for you with firewood and cots and such, just bring food, water, sleeping bag and gun. If I don't go there maybe thinking of easier hunts in Colorado. As for type of hunt, a base camp hunt with maybe a two night stay in the bush with a solo tent.

Sounds like you're going to have fun... best of luck with your hunt!

If you can still-hunt whitetails in the ADK successfully you'll be a natural elk hunter. Just treat them like big whitetails.

Sounds like conditioning isn't an issue.

Boots, when you say you have "heavy duty hiking boots," are they comfortable? No blistering I hope? For me, I don't like to elk hunt in Sorels or the like. Lousy support. You'll feel it in the ankles after a day in the steep. I find a good, tall "Mountain Hunter" with the equivalent of 400 grams Thinsulate is a perfect "all-around" boot that will cover any condition in the fall Rockies. I'd be thinking that way.

Binoculars, that's personal. I like a small 8x32, but the 10x42 is essentially the "30-06 of Western binoculars." They're really never "wrong."

Rifle. I can guarantee you you'll get back from your first elk hunt thinking about a light rifle

Again, best wishes on your trip... Elk hunting is addictive!

I hear that the Bitteroots are good bear picture taking areas and plenty of wolves.....

Being in Good Physical Shape is much more important than the rifle and cal you use when Elk Hunting

I can't find 2,900 fps for '06 anywhere in my books or the online pages. My standard for '06 is about 2,700 tops with the info I have. PM on the '06, 2,900

DIY or Guided on the easy Colorado hunts?

Colorado draw deadline is about 2 weeks away

First per 06 loads - I have not tried it personally but it has been discussed on diff threads here. Check out Big Game Rifles UNDER Reloading on the Home Page. There are 36 pages of Good 30-06 Loads.

In coming days I'll try to 'search' for some of the 06 - 180 loads that 'approach' 2900 fps----24" blls.

Since your are using a 300 WM, I have used IMR 4350 & IMR 4831 w/180 gr bullets and 3100 fps is NOT hard to reach.

Those are old standby powders and we have NEWER powders that work well but I haven't tried them.

Good Luck & I'll see what I can find and relay to you.


Jerry

No substitute for displacement.

Except placement.

"If you can still-hunt whitetails in the ADK successfully you'll be a natural elk hunter. Just treat them like big whitetails." Brad

That is largely the case, except they are not just big whitetails. Elk are herd animals, and they don't have a tiny one square mile home range. If you blow them out they may go miles and miles. On the other hand, you may be able to catch them...sometimes. Snow is essential to pull that off. First, you can track the to see where they went, but more importantly, when you start to catch up, you can read their behavior. When they start to meander and nibble on grouseberry and the like, they are near ready to bed. Look sharp you may already be in their boudoir.

Having started my own big game hunting career in the Adirondacks, I know what the country is like. Deer were pretty scarce then, it is better now. I adapted my dark timber hunting technique from my tracking and still-hunting North Country technique. When I got out here hunting elk, I was always behind the horse hunters. The elk were not in the meadows, but were in the timber by the time I got there, so I started going deep into the timber, tracking them to bedding areas, and learning where they went. Once you find them and start to get close, that is when "If you can still-hunt whitetails in the ADK successfully" comes into play. And also when you really need the binocs to look for pieces of elk in the timber. I use 8X32 and they are plenty for that and a lot of other glassing. Bright glass is good in the dark timber. I prefer the smaller size - enough other junk hanging off me as it is. If you are looking long, a scope is best.

Your footwear sounds fine to an old ADK hunter. Good early season leather boots, but pacs you may need for cold weather. I am still using my old LL Bean pacs with the airbob soles in snow.

Elk are nothing like whitetails and they are a lot like whitetails. Once you hunt them you will get hooked. After your first trip you will start refining gear.

WyoCoyoteHunter - I think I see why your average shots are longer than mine.

Good luck ADK

Yeah I know, looks like OTC is out. I do believe Montana may have a few areas that will have OTC tags. As for Colorado I've heard you can score a bull pretty easy without a guide. But if I had a choice a guide without a doubt, not easy but easier maybe? Seem to have a higher head count of elk which doesn't necessarily make it more easy to hunt. Didn't mean to offend anyone.

It's true that you can score a bull in CO prettily easily. Or any other state with elk for that matter.

Doesn't mean you will. Hunting pressure is high in lots of areas because we get more NR elk hunters than any other state. The key is finding spots that don't have too much pressure, and getting away from the road. Which is not necessarily easy on your first trip out, unless you hunt with someone who has a good spot.

It's true, we have more elk than any other state, around 280k. And it can be easy. One year I ran into 4 NRs camped at the tailhead who had never hunted that particular area. I got my bull, and they got 3, the guy who didn't score couldn't really get around. We were almost the only ones hunting there.

I'm sure they went home and told everyone how easy it was. The next year, the place was really crowded and I ran into a few hunters on the trail who were grumbling about that and the lack of game. I'm sure they went home with a different opinion.

Smokepole you know I will keep quiet about the number of elk in Colorado when I get back to NY. As far as I know, Florida has the most elk.

Looks like your gtg, being in shape is paramount, elk faint near as hard to kill as most folks think, shot several with a 243, go have fun....

The point was, not that they're exactly the same, but if you can still hunt whitetails you can figure out elk.

Me, I don't hunt "herds", I look for individual bulls or small bachelor groups. I prefer to catch them out in the open feeding, but I've also tracked them to their beds and shot them there, both with and without snow... while snow makes it easier, it's by no means impossible to do without snow.

J. Interesting, I have shot far more elk over 200than under!

Ha!

Most people from east of the Mississippi use a .300 magnum of some sort on their first elk hunt, if they don't bring something even larger.

Placement cannot be overrated.

Jeff O sums it up well. Getting there a few days early would also give you time to get accustomed to less O2 availability. The higher elevation does take a toll, regardless of whether you are Ironman or not. It took my ADK brother several days to get used to the elevation last fall. The first couple days were a lot more of a challenge going from 1,000 feet at his home to 9,000 feet and up where the elk were. The 46ers at 4,000 feet are not going to gain you enough conditioning. Sometimes you will have a problem with altitude one trip and not another. But a few days to acclimate will sure help you out.

Just make sure that when you find them early, you don't crowd them and blow them out before opening day.

It was a thought to arrive a couple weeks early.

This will put you in and amongst other hunters hunting a season in front of you......

Be mindful to give them room

I do hiking with stout loads in the Adirondacks and when I am not doing that I can be found cycling a 100mile a week on a mt bike. But the stair machines are at my village gym. The cycling is great cardio.

Definitely will stay in a campground with the truck until a few days before the hunt. Look over terrain on the maps. Saddles and streams and the slopes.

As to the Selway looks like tags are all sold out...

Village? Who lives in a village?

Village? Who lives in a village?

Me.

I can only speak for myself, but I never begrudge anyone I meet up in the mountains, whether I'm hunting or not. I figure they have just as much right to be there as I do.

So go early and enjoy yourself. Get out and hike the hills, see what's what, get acclimated, and maybe take a fishing rod along for those mountain creeks and lakes. It's supposed to be fun. If you meet up with someone who thinks otherwise, that's not your problem.

But if they hunt elk enough, a few eventually discover elk can be killed with smaller cartridges:-)

Actually, I live in a village--unincorporated, no gym.

Well, close, anyway. My place is just out of the photo to the right.

It will be a 300 win mag Winchester Super Grade with a Nikon 4.5x14-44. I believe the rifle has a type of epoxy as a bedding which helps float the barrel. I've reloaded two different bullets with the same fps which is 2'900 to 2'950 give or take a couple fps. One bullet is Barnes 180 TSX all copper which gave me moa @ 100yd. The other is a Swift A Frame 180 with nearly the same results. My zero is @ 200yd. I like to use the military type slings.

10x42 Binocs. for glassing.

I will have a nice range finder as well in order to judge my distance which I am terrible at. Working on that one:)

Bullet trajectory chart

Feel free to add anything.