Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Taking my 6.5 Creedmoor for elk...am I crazy??

My concern, the bullet. My hunting partner shot and elk last year with a 7mm rem mag. about 50 yards away broadside. But the only spot he could see was the front shoulder, so he shot it there. Bull rolled down the hill and got up and ran away limping, no follow up shot. lucky for us there was snow on the ground. We tracked it for about 1/2 mile and spotted it bedded, we were close, real close, as in 20 yards. He shot it thru the lungs this time, twice. Took a long time to die.
1st shot, hit the scapula and the bullet blew up, hardly any penetration. Did not break any bone, how do I know?? I deboned it for the pack out and checked, I wanted to know what happened, I loaded the round. Shots 2 and 3-- one hit a rib bone the other did not. NEITHER of these two bullets did a pass thru, I found both of the while skinning...at 20 yards?? Granted the speed of partners 7mm was only 2880 they both should have zipped thru. Animal I have seen shot with this bullet. It was the ONLY bullet his gun would shoot so we used it. Never again!!!