Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The 300 Wby Mag for elk- is there anything better?

And I hope you never do. At 27 years I hadn't lost any either.

Bob,

Yeah, they recover from the rut pretty quickly, especially if there's plenty of feed.

The general Montana rifle season opens about three weeks into October, depending on where Saturday lands that year. Most mature bulls have left the cows by then, but they're worn down. A friend calls them "blue-meated bulls," because their meat has a purplish tinge and often a musky flavor. But when they quit chasing cows (and younger bulls away from their cows) they try to find a place with good grass and rest and eat, so put weight back on pretty quickly. The earliest I've taken a mature bull (the one mentioned in my previous post) during rifle season was November 3, and the meat looked and tasted fine, but was a little chewy, because the weather was too warm to let it age long. Which is why Eileen has been using it as a "test case" for some of her tenderizing recipes.

Don't have as much experience with moose, but what we do have indicates their "meat cycle" in the fall is similar to elk. We've killed bulls from early September (the earliest an Alaskan bull I took on September 3rd) to early November, and again the early and late ones have been fine. But they rut about the same time as elk, which does affect the meat.

I've done quite a bit of caribou hunting, but all before the rut starts in mid-September, and they were all fine. Hunters who live up there, however, including Inuits in Canada, say bulls can get so bad during the rut that even sled dogs won't eat 'em.

Mule deer often get a little raunchy during the rut as well, and the big bucks are the worst. The meat can acquire that same sort of musky flavor as in bull elk, and like off-flavors in many game animals seems to settle into the connective tissue. I much prefer eating bucks killed before the second week in November; bucks from October or the first week in November are usually very good. In fact we've fed them to people who refused to believe the meat came from a big mule deer.

After that they can get iffy. Eileen killed a 5x6 buck many years ago on November 17th, the peak of the rut, and while the big muscles that make up steaks and roasts were good, even the tiny amount of connective tissue in the burger had some musky flavor--and it grew more obvious the longer it was frozen. After six months we had to make sausage out of the remaining burger.

But she also killed a pretty big 3x3 a few years ago on the next-to-last day of the rifle season, which that year was November 27th. He was so rutted out there wasn't a speck of fat on his body, and we thought he'd have to be all sausage. But after a few days of aging, the meat was not only tender but mild-flavored--and even the burger stayed that way. So there are always exceptions.

Like you, we've rarely noticed any change in the flavor of rutting whitetails, and we've killed quite a few late in November after they've been rutting hard for a while. Which is one reason I sometimes tear myself away from hunting mule deer in Montana toward the end of the season, and go for a whitetail buck instead.

Have also hunted pronghorns from New Mexico to Montana, during seasons from late August to early November, and have yet to find the rut affects the taste of bucks. But not cooling the meat down promptly in warm weather sure can!

Elk is the best meat no matter when or where you got it. When my boys were at home, we could end up with a garage full of dead critters. We could always find a family or several that would gladly take elk, but turned their noses up to deer and especially antelope.

Anyone that knows antelope, knows it can be the best game meat you can get. Try giving it or deer away and it will spoil before you will ever get a taker. Cut, wrap it and mark it elk and watch it go! We gave away tons of deer and antelope marked "elk" and everyone loved it.

Funny how people's taste can be affected by their mind...

Edited to say I would NOT pass on a huge buck or bull!

John,

Do you think elk diet varies more than other species?

John I have been lucky. Only ever had the one "bad" elk and my whitetails and mule deer have been excellent...even those big bodied bucks from way up in Alberta which have been some of the best.

Schrapnel is right about antelope. I have never had a bad one, the meat being very mild and tender for me, despite being killed in warmer weather. But I always tried to take good care of it and cool and protect it.

Have a question,is there any difference in meat quality between spikes and the larger bulls during and just after the rut?

I totally agree.

My family thinks antelope tastes the best, elk second and deer meat comes in at third.

Kirk,

Yeah, in my late 20's I had a girlfriend for a while who refused to eat any "red meat" except elk, which she thought was magic. So I fed her antelope and deer and, occasionally, even elk, and she couldn't tell the difference. But she was VERY grateful, and showed her appreciation in various ways....

My favored meat list is as follows:1.antelope, 2. Moose, 3. Elk, 4 whitetail deer, 5.mule deer.
Should add the moose I have ate.are the eastern Canada variety. Not sure how shirts moose are.

We kill a lot of spikes in Oregon and man, I've yet to have a bad one. Sort of a bonus to a guy that likes elk. More meat than a cow most of the time and they aren't all hormoned up. Plus, being its a spiker, you know he's only a few years old.

Kinda like shooting a butterball 6-8 point back east...

We've seen a single guy skinning an antelope with 7 or 8 more on the ground. Everyone else was off hunting more. Once we have one down it gets skinned immediately when it gets back to the truck, then put on ice in a cooler.

Version 1 of our antelope sinning rack, back when I had Big Red. Son-in-law helping skin my doe:


Version 2. Added 1" square tube as a semi-permanent fixture to the F150. Steel pipe slides right in. Thought that was Daughter #1's first antelope but family pointed out it was another one of mine. At least I got the Daughter #1 part right.

Oh by the way, 338 is better. 😀

Amen. If it had to be a weatherby I'd take my 340 over the 300 wby. I'd take a 338 over the 340 though. I'd take a 300 win over the weatherby but would take a 30-06 ove the 300 win. So that leaves us with the 338 win or a 30-06, but I might take my 270 instead of the 30-06. I am glad I thats off my chest now!

Oh.......Fiddlesticks.....

Just skip that thing and get a 375.

I knew that was coming.

I saw bring the 35 Newton back

I bet old Bill Steigers would approve of that.

Steigers didn't think the 338 was any big deal. He felt the 35's of similar velocity levels were more gun,a step up.

He liked the 300 Weatherby if you were going to shoot a 30 caliber magnum.

But he figured if you were going to get a medium bore for elk hunting(he DID believe in them), stop screwing around and get a 375 AI.He use the 250 BBC at 3150 and the 275 at 2950.

The last I spoke with him before he died, Bill told me if he were doing it today he would get a 375 RUM as a medium bore.

Of course he also had a rifle built on an Enfield action modified by Tom Burgess and chambered for the 45/404AI.

I bet that thing would curl your hair when it went off.

Several years ago had a Texas maker build a Rem700 300 Wby.
Slammed a couple big mulies but was never a down range shooter.
Lack of tight groups may have been me or the addition of brake?
Recoil is nothing and fairly light weight but I have a long way
to go to gain confidence. As a beginner reloader want to try heavier
and lighter bullets than standard 180s. Would love to get the
rifle nailed down long range?

I like the 35's. I'm planning a hunt in WY this fall. My brother said last couple of years all elk were shot under 100 yards, most around 50. Very thick woods. I have a 35 Rem, 358 Win and 350 RM.

I shot a 250 grain Hornady at point blank into moist clay out of the Mag. I dug about 2 feet looking for the bullet but it was still going. Should have enough penetration, I think.

Probably the other two would have killed just fine too. But the slope is quite steep. I am old. We're going to start the hunt where there's good access, on top.

I'm bringing a 06 with 180 PT as backup rifle for any of the 4 of us to use if any have rifle issues.

If the hunt was in an area more open, I'd probably bring my 338 with another as backup. I like my 338's. Flat shooting, deep penetration, good expansion and with a mild kick. Shooting 250 grain PT's. Little meat damage. Aim for the opposite shoulder if he's facing away, near shoulder if angling towards me. Works very well for me.