I suspect some will consider this a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
The idea of coyotes being of less value to elk interesting but might not really apply. I have killed a few coyotes a ranges further than this elk but I shot at the biggest vital target in each and every case. The idea being that my goal was to actually kill the coyote and I took the absolute best shot to get that done.
Originally Posted by rcamuglia
After looking at coldboremiricle's youtube channel, it's plain to see they guy is a shooter. It appears he shoots some precision matches. It's also pretty easy to deduce that he knows how to run a rifle.
Assuming this and knowing what is possible with having some ability, I also deduce that he was trying to shoot the cow in the head.
At our precision match when we have ties, we sometimes have a shoot-off by shooting at the head of a steel IPSC target at 800 yards. The head part of the steel measures 5". It's a "miss and out" sudden death type shoot-off. Last time I hit the head and so did the guy who tied me. I hit it again and he missed, so I won.
Just relating that so that everyone realizes it's not some kind of fantasy or out of the realm of possibility.
Now let's get real.
I have never thought of taking that kind of shot on a big game animal. Anyone who would consciously do so is void of respect for the animal and has some serious ethical issues.
You've got to have enough sense not to assign the same value to a big game animal as a piece of steel or a prairie dog.
A 900 yard shot to the shoulder as an aimpoint wouldn't raise an eyebrow
Rick,
I personally believe the OP is lying and did in fact go for the chest and missed high and if we analyze the shot a bunch of factors scream "High Point of Impact".
Uphill angle. Looks to be about 10 degrees and using the .260 Rem at typical conditions for the area is going to give you +or - 1/2 MOA or about 5 inches.
Brush is obscuring the lower 1/3 of the cows chest and centering the visible chest will give a point of aim higher than normal.
Shooting Uphill will give most shooters a higher POI due to lower position of the shoulder on the buttstock. This shooter error is usually more than the incline compensation of the trajectory. It is very easy to have a full 1 MOA shift in the "zero".
The biggest issue is the rock face behind the elk. The Swaro rangefinder the OP used is known for the larger beam divergence and if the elk was centered in the reticle there is no way the return bounce of the laser was not off that rock face.
It is somewhat hard to tell from the compressed depth of field but that face is at least 40yds further than the elk. Could be even more.
A 40 yd miss range is worth 1.5 MOA with the OPs gun and those conditions.
We can see from the trace of the bullet that there was basically zero wind. The shot impacts at the far right side of the head, directly above the center of the visible shoulder.
Either way the OP deserves the schitstorm.
John Burns
I have all the sources. They can't stop the signal.
