Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 25-06 for elk

thanks for all the help I have talked to my daughter and she will stick with 11o accubond. Proven deer load just pick my shot she said. She had to laugh when I said no Texas heart shots. thanks again...jeff

Here's a 25-06 elk, 100 graing barnes X, one shot.

Guppy...!

Couldn't you of held out for a big one Greenie...grins

Great bull, and thx 4 sharing!

Dober

Yeah, a man shouldn't shoot them scrub elk

Try 115 or 120 grain partition pushed by H4831 or RL22. I forget what my loads were so I won't quote a charge, but they were max or half grain off in the Nosler manual.

Alternate bullet choices would be the 120 grain grand slam and 115 grain trophy bonded, but those two heavier partitions have a better BC ... plus I have a little more experience with 'em. I know the speers are ok, but I know more firmly the noslers are ok.

Tom

That is a great elk Greenhorn! Good see someone who uses the 25-06 on elk, it just makes my decision to go with a 25-06 that much better.

Greenhorn: Last day bull,huh?................kidding of course

Fabulous bull.Congrats! Reagrdless what you used...

JB: True.......I know from personal experience that improperly "driven" 300 mags do NOT get good results.

I think that bigger cartridges can give pretty dramatic results, but ONLY if properly directed.....and with good boolits.

my daughter says it friken huge. cant wait.

dawaba,

I think you lack expeience with the 100 grain TSX. One of the bulles was shot in the left ham. The bullet was found in the right shoulder. The elk was DRT. Is that not enough peneraration?

It tickles me to read of these "thats too small a cartridge" for elk or moose or whatever comments. Alot of locals as we always read use 243's orwhatnot to kill elk every year. Funny thing is I bet all of them are better than average shots and actually do wait for a broadside presentation. Never occured to them that there are better things to use. FWIW about any 100-120 gr boolit out of a 25/06 will kill any elk alive with a broadside shot.
Good luck to to your daughter and post pics.

A .25-06 wouldn't be my first choice for elk, but it wouldn't be my last, either.

Most years I hunt deer and elk in the same season and after I get my first elk I often switch to my backup rifle. This year I'll have a cow and a bull tag and my backup rifle will likely be my .257 Roberts. Whether it's loaded with 100g TTSX, 110g AccuBond, 115g TSX or 120g A-Frames, I wouldn't hesitate to fill my second elk tag with it. I just wouldn't try it at longer ranges where I would be comfortable using my 7mm RM or .300 WM.

Good point! Dunno why I wrote it that way - I tend to be too slow and deliberate about my aiming most of the time anyway - trying for the "perfect" shot has occasionally cost me game as it decided to leave while I was getting set for that perfect shot... Am faster at it these days, after learning that critters don't stick around forever!

Just one more note on this thread. I know an outfitter from northwestern Canada who uses the .25-06 by preference as a back-up rifle when guiding hunters after not just sheep and caribou, but moose and grizzly as well. This outfitter has several hunting rifles but likes the .25-06 because it doesn't kick much, is very accurate, and seems to do the job just as well as larger cartridges. The outfitter's preferred load is the factory 120-grain Core-Lokt Remington ammo. That load has finished off a a number of moose and grizzlies that were wounded by dude hunters shooting .300 and .338 magnums.

Oh, and by the way this outfitter is a woman. As my wife Eileen says, when the BS gets a little too deep around hunting camp, "Why do men need a larger cartridge than women do to kill the same game?"

Elmer Keith must be rolling in his grave right about now.
(grin)

Rustjrm: I have three friends who Hunt Elk with the 25/06 Remington cartridge.
They are ALL extremely successful!
I was assisting one of these friends about 5 years ago as he harvested a VERY MATURE 7x7 Bull Elk with his 25/06 Remington!
Another one of these friends has killed more Bull and Cow Elk than 99% of all the living Elk Hunters have individually ever killed! He kills an "average" of 2 Elk per year (he hunts two states) and has used his 25/06 almost exclusively for the last 35+ years now. He has also been known to "help" kill "an Elk or two" for elderly and incapacitated neighbors of his who are able to buy tags but not much for humin the hills.
I could go on and on about their exploits but no need - whats important is their intensity of effort and their abilities and patience to be able to place a 25/06 bullet in the heart/lungs area of their intended Elk quarry!
Its just that simple!
No excuses, caveats, tangents, alibis or other escape clauses - they shoot their Rifles well and they kill Elk!
There IS a contingent of folks that automatically assume "small" caliber cartridges CAN NOT do things that they absolutely can do - I don't know what motivates these types?
Do have your daughter practice often with her Rifle and make sure that what ever bullet she uses she places it into the heart/lungs area of the Elk.
Then help her enjoy the fine Elk meat!
Two of my three friends use Remington factory ammunition of the 120 grain variety in their 25/06's and the third handloads his 25/06 with Nosler Partions.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

There is finishing off and finishing off.

Differantiating between delivering a coup de grace and stopping an incoming grizzly, I will man up to admit that I (think I ) need a larger cartridge than this woman to kill the same game.

She wouldn't be Heidi G., would she? If so, she is tougher than any man in B.C. If her .25-06 doesn't drop the grizzly, she'll just stop it with her bare hands....

The most Elk killed by one man in Idaho that I know personally was done with a 25-06 and Nosler Partitions second only to the .270 Winchester with the same bullet.

A local man that works in the woods of Central Idaho.

Jayco

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/article.cfm?tocid=339&magid=25

Seems it would be Heidi Gutfrucht.