Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Punch the shoulder or slide it through the ribs?

I use rifles and bullets that hold together and penetrate. My method is pretty easy to understand.

Imagine a shaft (like a dowel rod) that runs from the shoulder hump of the back and comes out directly between the front legs. Now imagine another one that makes a cross in the 1st dowel, going side to side about 1/2 up from the bottom of the chest between the forelegs. In the picture above that cross would be about 8" higher then the red dot. See the cross in your mind's eye. Now suspend an imaginary 8" "ball" in the center of that cross.

Shoot the ball. If you aim at it with any bullet that will penetrate deep enough to hit it and continue out the other side of the elk, you'll make a one shot kill.

The body angle and position doesn't matter, if you go through the "ball" and have an exit.

Many bullets used today will not reach that "ball" if shot from the rear and through the whole body so you may need to hold your fire if your round is one that can't make it all the way through. Raw power is NOT always the answer. Some bullets just come apart too much to give the effect I like, so I don't use them myself, but if you do, you will have to wait for a good angle. Many bullets I have seen used on elk will not exit a bull even standing broadside. Hit the ball and you'll kill it even if the bullet fails to hold together. You will not have a very good blood trail, but if you hit the "ball" at least it will usually be a short trail.

The better it penetrates the more options you will have and the easier it is to fine any elk that runs ------- even a short distance.

As examples, I have seen a lot of 300 magnums and 7MMMags and one 338 mag fail to go through an elks stomach from a quartering angles running away. In all these cases the bullets were too lightly constructed and came apart leaving very little weight, so penetration was shallow. Switching to 160 and 175 grain 7MM and to thick jacketed 180 or 220s in the 300s cures the problem. So does a Mono bullet most times like a Barnes or Hornady GMX. Yet a standard 1930s type 30-06 with a 220 grain goes right through, and so does a cast 45-70 400 gain bullet. The 30-06 often exits from an extreme rear angling shot, and the hard cast 45-70s have exited in every case I have see, without exception.