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Reba Offline OP
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The average body depth on a mule deer is about 18 inches.

Does anyone know what the average body depth is on an elk?

Thanks


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All the ones I've shot and walked up to looked to measure about four feet from tummy to back whistle, but the old rangefinding reticles on Redfield scopes (Accu-Range) were based on 24" for an average elk.


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I think 48" may be stretching it.
I think you need to knock a foot off of that.


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I have measured the body depth on three big bulls from various parts of the country in the last couple of years, and each one measured 28" from the top to the bottom of the hair right behind the shoulder.


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Mule Deer,

Thanks just what I needed!


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Originally Posted by Cacciatore
I think 48" may be stretching it.
I think you need to knock a foot off of that.


Ya think? Maybe two feet, huh? grin I read once that spikes will go around 22", and average mature bulls go around 24", like Redfield used in their scopes for elk bracketing. Leupold also uses 24", or did a few years ago, for elk bracketing. So did Premier Reticles use 24".
A 28" bull would be a big one, as was stated.


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Maybe I misunderstood your statement about "four feet". My bad.


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By the way...most sights agree with 36" as this one does.

http://www.mildot.com/testdrive.htm


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Here is another good site. This one says and average of 34.65"


http://www.bowhunting.net/NAspecies/elk2.html


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I have a 375" and a 340" bull mounted. The back of their forms measure 32" and 31". A live bull would be a few inches deeper behind the front leg, so I'd think 36" would be a good ball park number.


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Ok, (given correct windage and a 32 inch torso) therefore if my .338 is zero at 200 yards my 225 grain bullet will drop 8 inches at 300 yards. So if I aim dead center I will most likely have a heart shot. And even at 400 yards I don't want to aim any higher than the top of back.

Never shot an elk past 325 yards and most have been less than 100 yards:-)=

Good info.


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For the average elk, 24 is about right. Really big bulls though might make it up to around 30 inches.


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Originally Posted by Cacciatore
Maybe I misunderstood your statement about "four feet". My bad.


That four foot measurement refers to how big some of them LOOK to be when I first walk up to them, and my eyes are bigger...then I calm down and they shrink. I'm still like a little kid when it comes to shooting elk...I still get pretty hepped up. grin


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30".

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Originally Posted by Tundragriz


Click on "ground to shoulder" and subtract the torso height. You have a nice big bull with 12 to 18" legs. I don't think they could run as fast as they do if that were the case. smile


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Reba,

The only muley I killed measured 19". It was a three popint. I killed four Rosevelt cow elk. All four measured right at 28". For your information, the Rosevelt elk are slightly larger than the Rocky Mountain elk.


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Originally Posted by Cacciatore
Here is another good site. This one says and average of 34.65"


http://www.bowhunting.net/NAspecies/elk2.html


I believe the chest height in this link in the skeletal system portion of it refers to height from the ground. The average shoulder height is listed as 59". 59 - 34.65 = 24.35" chest depth.
5 feet or a little under shoulder height is about right for the bulls I have seen killed (around half a dozen), and I know their legs are longer than their chest depth. They would indeed look kinda funny it it was the other way around! grin


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I sure would like to see one of those elk that are 36" through the chest someday. The three bulls I measured in the past couple of years were from New Mexico and Montana scored between 325 and 350. As I noted earlier these measured 28" from the top of the shoulders to the bottom of the chest as they lay on the ground, including hair.

A young 6x6 (maybe 4 years old) from British Columbia measured 26", and a raghorn taken about 3 years ago measured 23". The last spike my wife killed measured 20".

I measure the chest depth on every animal I can. The only animals I've seen that measured 36" from top to bottom of the chest were bison, Cape buffalo and Alaskan moose. A British Columbia bull moose (close to B&C antlers) measured 32", and a more eating-size Alberta bull (still an over-40" spread) measured not quite 30".


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After visiting this thread for several days, I culled my field notes and, FWIW, this is what I had recorded for animals that I measured:

4x4 (western Colorado): 24"
5x5 (southern New Mexico): 24"
5x5 (north-central Idaho): 26"
6x5 (southern New Mexico): 26"
6x6 " " " : 27"
6x6s (western Colorado): 28", 28", 28", 28", 30" (the latter the largest-bodied elk that has been taken on the ranch that I have hunted for the last 15 years)
6x7 (western Colorado, 360 B&C): 28"
7x7 (central New Mexico 370+ B&C): 28"

I did not kill all of these, but measured all of them in the field prior to field dressing.


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