Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How much energy is needed to kill an elk down range?

The arrow cuts through the blood vessels and nerves. A bullet blasts it's way through. I heard of a guy who killed an elk with an arrow on a really lousy shot - he hit it in the lower leg. It bled out and he recovered it several miles away. I doubt you'd find most animals that badly hit with a bullet.

I've seen animals hit in the ham bleed out rather quickly when the femal artery is crushed by a bullet

Answer may depend upon whether you are going to shoot it in the eye/brain, through the gut, or somewhere in between. IMHO, placement is much more important than any specific fps or terminal ft. lbs.

As has been stated earlier, bullet construction is more important than energy figures. Deer season '09, I had a harder time killing a deer at 30 yards with a .308 loaded with 150 grain SSTs at 2800 fps at the muzzle, than I did killing a deer at 236 yards with a .30-30 loaded with 170 grain FPs at 2184 fps at the muzzle. There was a vast difference in the amount of energy at impact, but the .30-30 still made a through and through hole, with signs of expansion. The SST blew up on impact.

The following year proved a change of bullet in the .308 was all that was needed.

With Elk, it's important to choose a bullet that will drive in deep and break things. (cough, cough, TSX, cough) Elk are more demanding of bullet integrity than a Whitetail deer.

Femoral artery damage is one of the quickest ways for a human to die as well. Recent knife murder nearby here- guy was cut in the thigh, bled out before EMT's arrived. They figured less than 10 minutes.

Body only has about 5.5 to 6 liters of blood in total.. and it doesn't have to be bone dry to cut enough blood flow to the brain to shut the entire system down. So a good enough leak in the closed blood system, doesn't take very long... on deer or humans... or elk.

This is the exit in the off side rib cage of a 6X7 bull Elk from a 180 grain fired from a 300 win mag the impact energy was aproximately 2700 FPE. I am holding a loaded 300 win cartridge for size comparison




The is the exit in the same Bull Elk from a 500 JRH shooting a 440 grain wide meplat hard cast at about 950 FPS for a muzzle energy of 888 FPE

Again I am holding a loaded 300 win mag round for size comparison




The larger wound was caused by a round with about 1/3 of the amount of energy of the 300 win

Energy is a very poor indicator of lethality

Exactly

I would think Energy would play a big role in hydrostatic shock, but not so much in wound channel size.

Other considerations such as bullet construction, caliber, along with energy would be the determining factors on wound channel width and length (penetration).

Jm

So 80 gr 777 and a 300gr bullet will be good enough out of my .50 cal sidelock, (basically my deer load), for my first elk venture this year)?

JM-
Google hydrostatic shock and Dr. Fackler. That concept is pretty well debunked.

What bullet?

If you have enough accuracy to reliably hit vitals, you usually have enough energy to kill them.

its not the volts so much as the amps

The question should be more general than how much energy does it take to kill and elk. After all people have killed polar bears and tigers with 22lr so a 22lr should be able to kill an elk. The question you should ask is what is the recommended cartridges for elk hunting.

You don't get many opportunities at an elk so you should use a cartridge that maximizes you chances for success. You need to have penetration from what every angle you happen to see him and out to 300 yards or so. You also want something that will drop the elk relatively close to where its shot. Having it run 5 miles or more and dying in the brush is not a good thing.

The generally accepted best cartridge for elk is the 338 mag. It will do all that you need for elk. The general big game cartridges - 270, 308, 7mm mag, 3006, 300 win will do ok though it would be best if you use controlled expansion bullets for better penetration.

It depends on whether or not you have blue tape over your muzzle.

The 260 Rem with a TTSX or Partition is good for elk to 900 yards, and a 270 Wby is good a little farther. A 340 Wby is needed for ranges farther than that because it kicks more, so it hits harder.

don't tell that to the 10's of thousands of elk that have been killed with less.
elk aren't superior ironsided steel boned super animals. they are just really big deer. I've killed them with a variety of cartridges and calibers and bullet weights. from a 90 gr bullet moving fast to a 180 grain bullet moving slow. from a 25 caliber to a .30 cal and you know what? they all killed elk when hit in the right place, and they all died within feet of where I shot.
this question has been asked and asked and asked and asked.

if you're worried about energy, some states have a requirement, I don't remember what it is but something like 800 ft/lbs at 100 yards. and a minimum of 24 caliber. some guys use the 1000 ft lbs of energy at moment of impact as a reference. if the bullet doesn't go where it needs to, its a moot point. shoot something big enough to take down a big deer, and hit them in the vitals. nature will take care of the rest.

Do you know how that was determined?

Well said, jwp!