Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Avergae Shooting Distance on Elk Hunt

PBR,
With diabetes, along with other ailments, and bad eye sight, I have to use a scope in the majority of shooting situations. A few days ago I went target practicing. I have an AR15 carbine w/16" barrel and a fixed 4x scope. It's a fun rifle to shoot from in close out to 200yds with this setup on a clear day. The problem in the early morning, at dusk, or cloudy overcast days it doesn't gather enough light to shoot, similiar to hunting in heavy timber. I can't see the recticle when looking into poorly lit areas. I have another AR15 setup as a long range varmint rifle with a 4.5x14x40 Leupold which I've shot in poor lighting conditions and it's great. I went ahead an switched out the scopes (weaver bases so it's a fast exchange). Shooting the carbine with the varible extended my accurate shooting distance to 400yds. Good for coyotes and ground squirrels. I'm going to put a low power variable 2.5x 8 Leupold on the carbine. The benefits are at low power it provides a large field of view and helps in low light conditions. I have this scope mounted on a Winchester M94, 44magnum and it's an awesome combination in poor lighting. too prevent accidental changes in my power setting I tape the power-ring with electrical tape. I also do this with my variable scopes including the target knobs. I overlap the end of the tape so I can remove it if neccessary for a long shot that requires elevations/windage adjustments.
My brother lives in Texas and he and his buddies hunt deer in heavily wooded country where their shots are at sunrise and late evening at dusk. they all use low power variable 1-4x leupold scopes.
Thanks for your point of view.
SEMPER FIDELIS

+ 1

I have only killed 3 elk. One at 260, one at 75, the other at 35. All with rifles.

+5 or 6 what Royce said.

When I first hunted Out West, I expected game to only be spotted at long range, based upon what I had read online and in print. Imagine my surprise when I jumped two cows at about 60 yards on my first day of hunting. I did not have my rifle in my hands, like I would have Back East. That was in a burn are in Arizona, and the brush was thick due to the increased sunlight hitting the forest floor. BTW, if you ever hunt an area like that, I suggest carrying a small pair of brush clippers on your belt so you don't get cut up too badly.

JV

So that means no attached bipod, correct? I don't use mounted bipods.

I've killed 10 elk at ranges from 15 - 378 yards with rifles. The average range was 192 yd. (distances were IIRC, 15, 378,
300 100, 75, 267, 70 65, 300, 300-400). The 15 yd shot was a botched stalled on a herd of cows where I jumped one on the outer edge of a large herd. Only two of the shots were a "quick shot" and I had plenty of time on the others.

My average yardage out of 10 elk kills would probably be somewhere around 60 yards +-. Eight with a rifle, longest about 100 yards (spike) and two with a bow, closest was right at 28 yards (6x6).
If you hunt where the elk are, they'll be close at hand.

USMCGrunt,
Just a thought, you may wish to try out a thicker european style reticle. There's no missing them in the glass. Thanks for your service. Go ARMY.

For a first time elk hunters this past season the two of us took 5 shots and killed 3 elk. Miss at 370 feeding, kill at 180 walking, miss at 140 feeding, kill at 150 running, kill at 300 bedded.

Depends on how you hunt. In our group I always "dog it". Out of maybe 20 bulls and cows (I really do not care about numbers) all but one inside 100yds. The one exception about 175yds. Just make sure you are ready when out amoungst them.

Shootist, HOORAH!
Worked with a few Army LRRP Teams in Vietnam. Outstanding Troops! European reticle is a good suggestion.
Thanks
SEMPER FIDELIS

My average of 18 elk is 219 yards. The longest was 590 yards and the closest was 100 yards. Only two have been over 300 yards. The primary factor is not how far our averages are, but how far can you ethically shoot? You'll probably run out of ability before your bullet runs out of adequate energy. By the time you can shoot 300+ yards with confidence, you'll probably know plenty about ballistics. My theory is that you should be able to put something like 9 out of 10 shots into the vital zone of an animal. For offhand, that might limit your shots to 50 yards. For prone, further. You need to practice to determine what your ethical distances are under different conditions. Like Clint Eastwood said, "A man's got to know his limitations".

I agree with Bob33,and rather than worry about the "average" shooting distances,I've always prepared for my elk hunts(anything really)by determining the maximum distance at which I and my eqipment was proficient;and the reason is simple:as a hunter you don't control the conditions,and have no knowledge in advance(generally)about how far away your elk is going to be when it comes time to shoot.

When i watch elk moving in mountain country I'm always amazed at how quickly a bull elk can turn 200 yards into 500 yards at that ground-eating trot,in rough country.They can do it in seconds,and if you prepare youself for the average,you might find youself wondering how to handle a deteriorating condition.Carryin a rifle, cartridge and bullet capable of both long and short distances,undertstanding its limitations(and yours)seems like a really good idea to me.I've only had to stretch things 2-3 times, but it worked fine because I was "ready" for those circumstances.

Another bull(the biggest I have ever seen while hunting)I passed on the long shot because ,while the distance was within capability,the wind was not,and I had tho pass the shot.

I can't add anything original to the good advice given here; I especially like Royce's admonition on page one, but it's the 'fire so I'll chime in anyway.

I've only taken eight bulls and they've averaged about 265 yds., perhaps a little longer than most averages. There were three well over 400 that skewed things a bit. All except one were taken with a .340 B. The one exception was taken with an '06 and it was one of the long ones (168-gr TSX) and the '06 worked quite well. I would strongly recommend considering it. You don't say what you have or what your experience is so based on that I'd stay conservative. You don't need a magnum.

I know there are a lot of arguments about the 340 being unnecessary for about 98% of elk hunting and they are valid. I certainly would never advise other than a seasoned shooter to use one and then only when he knew what was required. I was love struck with the 340 in the late 80's or early 90's after reading a Ross Seyfried article about it in G & A and thus made one and have been shooting it since.

For a new elk hunter I like the cartridges with about '06 capacity and ranging from 270 to .35 cal. with good glass. Then as Bob has mentioned run it to 400 or 500 yds from field positions as much and as often as you can.

Closest was 35 yds and longest was 482 yds because I simply could not get closer.

omega1349,

For me it's probably been under 150 yards! Longest was just(measuerd) under 400 yards. The closer the better! memtb

Lots of good information and advice in this, with lots of experience. I've hunted elk for about 25 years in CO, NM, and AZ, and have killed I don't know how many. I shoot a .270 Win with Leupold 2-7x scope, with 130 gr Barnes or 150 gr. lead bullets in handloads. I zero at 200 and am comfortable out to about 450 yards. I'd say my average elk was taken at about 150 yards, with furthest being about 275 yards, nearest being about 15 feet.
Any rifle of .270 and up with proper bullets will kill elk out to 600 yards or more. The trick is to find out how far YOU can properly hit an elk. You need to be able to consistently put ALL your shots into an 8" circle, about the size of an elk's vitals, any range you can't do that is too far for you. The disadvantage of buying a new rifle before the hunt is that you don't get to use it enough to know what you can do with it. The disadvantage of using a super whizzo magnum turbocharged rifle is that you never practice enough to get good with it at any range.
I'd +1 all the advice on getting a .30-06 and practice with it A LOT. 160, 165, 168, up to 180 gr. bullets are fine. I like Barnes bullets, there are several others that are also good, like Swift, Nosler, etc. A quality 2-7x or 3-9x scope is very good to have. 8x, 10x or 12x quality binoculars are a must.
The importance of being in the best possible physical condition cannot be overemphasized. It's also important to have clothing, bedding, cooking and food during the hunt to maintain your physical condition and give much needed confort during and rest after hard days of hiking tough country in severe weather at high altitude.
Good luck on your hunt.

bump for a good thread as people start contemplating elk draws.

Good idea. My most frequent elk shots are around 100 yards on alerted, but not exactly spooked animals. So you need to be ready for a quick shot. However, every once in a while you do have a long poke. I've never had one much over 400 yards, but those shots will give you time to settle down, get your thoughts and think about trajectory and wind drift. So I don't know what I'm getting at. Be most prepared for a quick, short shot, but put some effort into making the longer shots.

I can't really see where the distances that other folks have killed elk at, is going to be important to ME, although all the replies have been interesting.
Just use a reasonable cartridge with a good bullet.
Elk hunts are expensive, even DIY's. I always hope for the best, but try to prepare for the worst possible scenario, that's why I carry a Kimber Montana 7mm WSM with a Leupold & B&C Reticle with 160 Grain Noslers. Just as good up close, but has the ability to reach out.

Over almost thirty years of elk hunting I don't remember killing a bull at less than 125 yards or any further than about 475. I have seem then shot at as few at 6 and as far as 875. I am a crappy bowhunter but a pretty good rifle shot so I probably tend not to wait for the animals to get too close plus can never sneak in on them like some people I know.