Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 didn't impress me.

I agree. We should start a new thread describing how our buddies have missed shots at 50 yards. I have one buddy in particular that used to get buck fever so bad that I saw him miss a nice buck at 50 yards. He Fumbled around managed to fire off 5 shots and not even a bullet scrape on the lucky buck. He was using a .223 rem. Hardly a magnum cartridge huh...

Another buddy that I've hunted with since I was 10 years old was quite comical one day. We were hunting jackrabbits in Nevada and using pistols. I had my Smith 29-2 and he was using a borrowed colt python. Hey we were kids and passing the time away in a fun manner. Anyway, we busted a few jacks and they flew out in front of us. We were in full pursuit. My buddy with the python raised above his head, running full speed to my left. And I mean full speed, we both ran the 100 in about 11 seconds flat back in those days. He trips over a big sage, fires the pistol straight in the air and yells, "I got him!!". I slowed down to watch, so I saw everything that happened and later asked, how did you get him if you fired straight in the air?? But since this is an elk forum, I can almost relate to Dre's buddy missing an elk at 50 yards. I said almost. This is because your first one is always different:

I remember my "first". I heard a loud commotion in the manzanita to my right. Sounded like small saplings being snapped in half, so I wait patiently (more like shaking in my boots) to see if this big creature was going to come out. I stood there next to a big fir tree and waited. All of a sudden, I hear this loud snort, and a big crash. Out comes this horse with long spikes. He ran for the first 30 yards and then stops and turns back to look at me. As if he's saying ok, this is your chance, I'm not going to be here all day! I raised my rifle and fired 1 shot. At the shot he dropped, but I hit him high in the shoulder. A couple things I learned that day: Elk are big animals, my rifle didn't need to be sighted in 3" high at 100 yards, and the mighty 338 thumps the hell out of elk. One thing that didn't come to mind was: Hell I could have been more accurate with a 308. That's bullschidt, horeseschidt, and otherwise overplayed here at the fire. The one thought that did come to mind was, "hell, I could have killed that sucker with a 308". No need for a magnum at 80 yards, but it for damn sure wasn't a detriment to my shooting, accuracy or the placement of the bullet.