Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Neighbor's first elk

Everyone needs at least one rodeo.... grin







Don't kid yourself- it was poor shooting all around.

There is no magic pixie dust that gets sprinkled on "hunting" bullets that makes them work. Amax's ARE hunting bullets and as such are no different than any other bullet- use the right one. A 168gr Amax and a 300WM is a disaster waiting to happen. The 178gr is better but still light for general use on elk, though wrecks deer sized animals. The 208gr Amax is the one if someone is going after elk, and will penetrate deep enough and generally exit even from quartering shots.

Use the right Amax and they make bigger wound channels than just about any other bullet.



168gr Amax, 300 mag, and a vortex....... It's like a train wreck.

Like I said, I told him from the get go that I didn't think it was a good choice but having no experience with it I didn't I should tell him he couldn't use it. The bull had a nasty wound on the shoulder that should have been fatal with the bullets I have used on elk. 208 Amaxs have been unobtainable so he probably didn't have much choice. The rifle was supposed to be the long range coues deer rifle and the bullets worked good on the 95# deer.

This bull was killed on public land but within a mile of the Ft. Apache reservation where elk tags are $20K

It's a great elk. Make no mistake, I'm certainly not passing judgement. I meant it when I stated that everyone needs at least one rodeo... Grin.

Amax's are fantastic killers..... When used correctly. 168's into coues would be a wreck. 178's on bigger deer are really too much and the 168's are splashier still.


For 30cal Amax's-

168's for 308 win
178gr for 300 mags on deer
208gr for elk.


I've used the 178gr Amax from a 300WM on elk, and while they performed wonderfully, the ranges were quite a bit longer.


Enough of the bullet nonsense. Talk him into a 243 or 308.

The 180 or 200 gr. Nosler partition would have worked better as well. I have to commend Dennis for introducing the young man to elk hunting. I'm sure he'll remember that for the rest of his life and now he's probably hooked on elk hunting big time!! Good job Dennis and what a wonderful first bull for that young man. Congrats on a job well done..

Kid got a dang nice elk, I've never shot one so won't denigrate the bullet choice while looking at pictures of recovered dead elk!

Call me c'yurse like that!

^^southern word for everything from peculiar, set in ways, stubborn, strange, ^^^^^




Mike

Nice boool. You are one seriously patient dude - and skilled.

The scope on this rifle was a Vortex 6-18 (I think). I never looked through it until we were tracking this bull. I couldn't make out a bloody thing. Somehow the eyepiece focus was screwed out all the way and everything was blurry. No wonder he couldn't hit anything! I refocused it and gave itback to him. He was amazed at how clear it was now. He never said a word during the hunt. I asked him why he didn't say anything. He said that he just thought it must be a cheap scope!

Even though the scope was now focused. I felt better about my scope and bullets so we switched.

He has killed a cow before on a junior hunt with his dad's 30-06. He would have been better off with the -06 and the XP3 loads he uses in it. They were in shock and awe of the 'magnum' moniker on the other rifle and used it.

Funny how adding that word magnum makes people think it is automatically going to be a super killer!

I hope he learned from it but the kid is not a gun guy and will probably be influenced by whatever and whomever he hunts with in the future.

Cool on the vortex, wife has a pair of binocs... they are some really great glass for the buck. Better than a couple of junk leupold scopes and binocs we have.

I was sure hoping Vortex had not gone downhill already.

Long range, 300 and 168 grain bullets don't fit. Thats a bullet for only an idiot to consider long range with.

But so many folks go with what they are told.....

I run 185s in a 308 and consider it a mid range load... 210 bergers when I get around to driving it to 1000 eventually...

168s drift..... badly...

Vortex is already gone in my book. My point was that the scope was not focused and once focused was much better.

The eye box on this vortex scope was terrible. The overall resolution was mediocre and their internal integrity is very poor.

They have a very high failure rate and a very good warranty. A case of another company using a great warranty to cover for lousy products.

I would much prefer to have a Leupld scope any day over a Vortex.

Nice bull, congrats.

Excellent work there Dennis; congrats to you both!

That's pretty darned cool. Good on you for taking the lad. And for your patience.

Dennis, you and your hunter definitely earned that elk. Congrats!

Congrats to y'all.

Dallin is a very lucky young man to have friends like you guys!!!