Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Bullet selection

Gawd, I don't know how many times I've quoted this scripture on this website when somebody wants to kill a big ol elk with a stunt caliber/bullet. And I always get attacked....go for it...I'm wearing asbestos underwear.

Some people only care what the bullet does in the air and not what it does on/in the animal

That's only with those sorts that shoot Bergers and other match type bullets at big game..... Weirdos

Partition my good man, 'the op' It's the standard 'premium' elk bullet, My freezer can attest to its performance. It will shoot more accurately than you will be able and too any sane amount of range to an elk.

Although this year I used a 7mm 150 gr. ballistic tip "peer pressure influenced" and found it completely ample for elk, even under 100 yards including an angled chest shot from my lowly .280 rem.... just to muddy the water

Elkhunter,

Don't you know this is the interweb?

Nobody ever missed. The Elk always stand broadside at 100 yards, and give you at least 5 minutes to line up the perfect shot. That's why all you need for elk hunting is a .223 with a 55gr Zombie Max.

WTH was I thinking.

That about sums it up...

elkhunter: Sure, the advice Hagel gave is as valid today as it was then,except he had fewer bullets to work with than we do now. Today we have a much wider selection of good stuff.

I walk too many damm miles between elk to hunt with a varmint bullet. I'd use a "light" cartridge, but I'd stoke it with something that could always bust a shoulder if need be. Not into Texas heart shots, but I will take the quartering ones.

Just came back from a 2 day elk hunt guiding Daughter #1 on her first elk hunt. Not sure what she expected, but she had only hunted antelope before. She said she had gone from Hunting 101 (antelope) to post-grad work (elk). Unfortunately we started put hunting high (north side of Sleepy Cat) where elk often reside but we failed to find any fresh sign, let alone any elk. We later heard that the only elk people were seeing were down low and we did see a couple hundred total in the hay fields along White River at dawn yesterday as we drove home.

Hunting costs included over $1,000 for new truck tires. Had I not been going hunting this last weekend and again for the full 3rd Rifle season, I would have kept the old tires through the winter. Daughter #1 paid $240 and tax for a room at the Meeker Hotel and we split the cost of our evening dinners. Food costs for breakfast and lunch (bagels and cream cheese, luncheon meat and PBJ sandwiches, apples, snack bars, OJ and ice to keep the food cool) were minimal but not zero. Then there was lunch on the trip to Meeker and on the way back home. I didn't keep track of the gas receipts but estimate about $180 for the trip. Daughter's hunting license was about $47.

Without the cost of the tires, our total expenditures were somewhere over $550 for the 2-day hunt. The cost of bullets fired was $0.00. Even if we had found elk on public land and managed to get in range, the incremental cost of the Barnes 130g TTSX handloads Daughter #1 was using over cup-and-core handloads would have been negligible considering the other expenses. And, at about $17.38 per 20, they were less expensive than all but the very cheapest factory hunting ammo.

Given that Colorado elk hunters are successful on average only about 25% of the time, no shots fired and ammo cost of $0.00 is probably a common story. While we were hunting we talked to people from upstate New York, Missouri, and several other states who will spend more on fuel than we did for the entire hunt. Even if they have success, BobinNH is correct (as usual) - the cost of the bullets for the vast majority of hunters, compared to other hunting costs, is irrelevant.

Probably not. Even the most numb-nutted nimrod will fire a few "sighters" before the season.

But I do agree that the cost of bullets argument only applies to practice, not the actual hunt.




I walk too many damn miles to use anything other than the bullet I want to shoot. Most often it's a .50 caliber muzzleloader bullet that many will tell you (on the internet) is no good for elk.

Muzzleloader bullets on Elk,keep dreaming.(laughing on the internet)

Guess who:

Each shot is unique. A bullet’s effect has less to do with cartridge design, or even the bullet itself, than with range and shot angle, animal size and the missile’s track inside.

Hummm.Shot placement must trump bullet design according to this famous fella.I suppose knowing when to shoot and when not to is also in his forte.

This Elk hunting is getting just to complicated for this old hick but I'll keep reading and learning on the net and tell those shooting the old rifles and carbines with factory ammo, there might still be hope for the non-reloaders/non-premium bullet hunters out there...

And here I shot a 6pt twice with a 338 Win Mag and 210gr Partitions. Caught one too, but lost it in the packing up of stuff to get back to camp.

Son-in-law shot an antelope with a 168g A-MAX from a .30-06. The bullet shredded much of the left backstrap and ham. It put the animal on the ground but needlessly ruined a lot of meat.

Just goes to show the obvious - the heavier the bullet the less construction matters. I've often stated I believe most of the game I've shot could have been taken with my .22-250 and a 40g BT. At the same time, when deep penetration was needed the .22-250/40g BT isn't the combination I would have wanted in my hands.