I have essentially hunted with one or two other guys my entire lifetime. We were not always the same, but 3 is a pretty good average of hunters in our camp over 6 DECADES . I won't talk about the number of elk, because I tire of being called names from those who have not had my, or our success. Anyway, shortest distance of any elk killed that I can remember was right around 20-40 yards. I probably have 8 or 9 of those myself. As others have mentioned not many are killed at that distance . Two years ago we took a bull at 600+ yards and another close to that. Mine that year was 330, and my best ever with a rangefinder was 540. There are probably a few more at that distance or farther, but not having a rangefinder sometime confuses reality. The last bull I killed was at 420 and a cow with a muzzleloader at 40. I would guess that average distance including me and my group over all of those years is around 300 yards. When your hunting the wide open ridges and canyons, the distance adds up fast. I consider 300 yards is point blank, and that is my primary practicing distance. The vast majority of these elk were taken with magnum rifles.
