Hey,
Kind of a newby here, but I carry a Sako in 7-08. Typical jobber that is stainless with the grey/black plastic stock. I like it a lot. I have a sweet hunk of walnut that myself and a friend are going to craft into a stock more to my liking. Shot a my best bull, a wonderfully solid 6x6, in southcentral CO with that rifle at 412 yards lazered. Shooting 160gr standard Barnes-X over 4320, I think, or it could have been Varget as I love that stuff, too. I had a an awesome walk in to where I like to hunt. One of those great mornings where the stars are right up in your face. I remember seeing a falling star that must have had a ton of iron in it as it burned red, red, red. Got sat down below a certain saddle that has been good to me. Sat there for about 30 minutes when I heard a bugle about a 1/2 mile further up the canyon. At this point, it was about 10 minutes after first light and historically, the elk are coming over this saddle just at first light. Decided that although the saddle elk could be running late, I figured that they decided to alter their course of travel and were coming over a ridge down the canyon. I decided to get up and meander. Hoofed it along the ridge wall about 600 yards when I heard the bugle again. I slowed and glassed and saw a very nice bull cresting the ridge and bugling back to the ladies making promises. The cows started following him slowly down the chute. I had time to sneak another 60-80 yards with the cows, one by one, noticing me (guess I wasn't doing a good sneak job.) I had come to a scree field and knew I could not go any further without causing waves. I lazered the distance at 412 yards and then laid down across a log and placed the crosshairs on him to think about the situation. I really do not like to shoot an animal further than 300 yards and 412 was a lot further. I have shot that distance and more with my 7-08 at the range and do well with it, but for hunting I like it less than 300. Well, as I was doing my thinking, the critters were moving down the chute towards timber along the creek that runs through the canyon base. I have a 4-12x Leupold with a Boone & Crockett reticle. I set the 450yd crosshare on his chest and continued to follow him... thinking... do I really want to shoot a bull at this yardage with a 7-08. The books say that it is okay given the load, but it is above my... BOOM!!! Apparently I had been applying steady trigger pressure releasing the pin. The bullet struck the bull directly behind the shoulder strikng the offside shoulder. This spun the bull 180* uphill where he attempted to take a single step and proceeded to topple butt over teakettle down the hill. This bull was DOA. I was shocked at how hard the bullet slammed the bull and the velocity it spun him. It is hard to believe that it spun him uphill, but that is what happened. It was just so neat. From the walk in with the stars to getting to hear him call, to seeing him and his cows descend the mountain, to a suprise shot. It could have not been a better day. My father and his hunting buddy (who has hunted elk in the same area for 47 of the last 49 years) heard the shot and came over the opposing ridge to help me gut and quarter the animal to pack out. I was very thankful for the assistance.
Anywho, my father is newly diagnosed prostate cancer with some concerning spots on his throat. Not a smoker but had radiation on his tonsils instead of a tonsilectomy as a kid. We are hoping these are independent cancers and not a metastasis. I don't need any words of condolence, but I would ask that you pray for him. Thanks.
Also, I just want to say that I shot a 220 lb whitetail buck at 200 yards with a 139gr Hornady SST and struck the onside shoulder where the bullet shattered and created a dinner plate sized wound. Almost lost the buck. I, personally, have sworn off ballistic tipped bullets for game hunting and, again personally, would not use them for a tough critter like elk.
I am wanting to move to using partitions instead of the X-bullets due to all of the hype of "no lead, use copper instead" junk. Could anyone testify to partitiions from a 7-08 using 160gr bullets? I would appreciate it.
Sorry for the rambling.
MM
