Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 500-yard shots at ELK.

Wouldja?
Couldja?
Shouldja?

"I know this guy..."

...who shall remain nameless, but he talks up a good story about how HE would shoot at an ELK at 500-yards. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I've offered to take him out and paste a paper plate on a stump and laser-range it at 500-yards just to see if he can do it.
I think he should run in place for a minute, THEN try it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

What do you guys say about this?

I would, absolultely.............if conditions were right. If you see elk at 500 yards you can save the paper plate for your supper!

Heck, if I can hit a steel gong at 500 yards with an iron sighted FN FAL shooting 1980's surplus ammo without a benchrest then why can I not do it with...ah, nevermind.....................................

I think there are guys that can do it. But it has nothing to do with hunting and I feel it is one of the most un-ethical things being done, this long range shooting at game animals. There is a long range section on this site, I seldom go into it for it'll only enrage me. People that do that stuff care not one bit about the animals they hunt, they only want to stroke their egos by letting everyone know they did it. I believe that they are a black mark on hunting. Mike, you've opened a can of worme that never get settled and nobody changes their mind about it. They like to call it long range hunting but it truth it has nothing to do with hunting, it's shooting and nothing else. But with these guy's, the target bleeds. What I find with these guys is that they find nothing un-ethical so long as its legal. This is my last post on this subject. I'll only get angry.

donfisher,
You, sir, are smoking crack!!!!!!
If you are only comfortable shooting game at 50 yards or less with a HIGH power rifle...........well, then have at it!

No problem with the right gear. A bi-pod, a range finder, and enough gun. Some pratcice couldn't hurt either. Check out the thread going on now in General Big Game Hunting. Deer Camp and Ego or something. Whooo it got a little hot.

If you had the right caliber, rifle setup and range, by all means take a 500 yard shot at an elk.
A friend of mine takes long shots all the time at deer, and well he wacked an elk that scored 397 at well over 400 yards. Was he unethical? HECK NO!! His gun is set up for long shots and the caliber bullet choice is well capible of making such a long shot. Plus with knowing the range and having a solid rest, its like being at the range.
We (my buddy and myself) have discussed this numerous times, and it all comes down to this. Ego (with him at least) plays no part in his long range shooting. What does is his chance of success. He says the farther I can shoot safely the better chance I have of taking a trophy class animal. Sometimes a 500 yard shot is all you have and you have to choose. Can I safely take a shot and cleanly take that animal? If I can, but decide to not take him because of the distance, am I confident in being able find him again closer? Sometimes 500 is all you have and those are some questions you have to ask. If bone is not important and meat is, then by all means pass him up and try for a better shot.
Am I saying shoot a elk at 500 with a 243? In no way, its not fair to the animal to have to suffer. What I am saying is if you have a 300 win mag (for example) that is more than capable, and you are confident, have a steady rest, and know the distance and have practiced, there is no reason why you should not take the shot. And in no way is that unethical.
I just switched to a 7 mag, and I personally would not take that shot. Not because my 7 is not capable, but because it is new to me and I don't know the rifle well enough to make those shots.
Common sense is important when making those long shots. Some people don't have that, but some do. Where do you fit in?

Kique

WHOA! Didn't know I'd hit such a nerve here.
I think missing a gong at long-distance is fine.
Not making a perfect shot on the animal is not fine.

Somehow, 300-yards doesn't seem unethical, but adding 200-yards to that seems 'wrong'.
What happens in the extra 200-yards that would make a shot go bad?

DonFisher, Ditto on the smoking crack. I guess the bull that I killed last year at 782 lasered yards, which I might add, had front wheel blown off by an "Ethical Hunter", at 75 yrds. Which is ethical, and which is unethical. Just because you cant shoot further then you can throw rocks, dont knock us that can. I smell troll [bleep] all over this one.

I'm thinking that most people ( me included ) couldn't do it.
Some expert shots can IF the conditions are right.
There aren't too many places in WA STATE to make a shot like this, and inclement weather would seemingly throw a shot off at much more than a couple hundred yards.

I'm interested in what conditions you guys have made the 500+ yard shots...

TOBY, it's great that you made an extremely long hunting shot, but I'm wondering what the weather and terrain were like when you did it.

Please don't throw "troll [bleep]" on the thread.
I'm trying to get good information.
Thanks. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

500 yards is past my abuility to place a perfect shot the first shot unless everything is perfect,which it never seems to be..I passed on two bulls,the closest after coming back with the rangefinder,was 393 yards downhill.They look so little even at 9X and with a slight wind,I decided to pass.

I came back out of curiousity in the spring and set up a freezer box in the same place.No wind that day and I wasn't huffin and puffin, and took a few with the .300 Win Mag with a steady rest, and I probably would have hit it but thats not good enough for me with a cliff just yards away from where they were.Getting to old to be chasing Elk down hill.

It all worked out two days later but it had my curiousity if I could hit it with the first shot being a leathal hit.I guess I will never know with the wind of that day and I did the right thing for me.

Jayco

That's the kind of information I was looking for.

+ 10,000 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
----Before you light the flamethrowers read EXACTLY WHAT I RESPONDED TO.

I agree fully. I've been in the exact circumstances imagined here: last day, sundown and sitting at the high end of a big Colorado park when out of the timber came four cows and a nice 5x5 bull. He stopped at __yds, turned broadside and grazed.

By then I was laying prone with rifle over my pack. The hunting part put me in position; then it was time to use the equipment I had for just such a scenario.

I was at the bottom of the range by 3 am with paniers full of elk meat. It was that shot or no shot.

I hunted Elk on large lease. I was helping another group of hunters after I had taken my Elk. On guy who supposedly was an experienced hunter spined a cow elk shooting offhand at 90yds shooting at a bull. He and other hunters missed at least a half dozen other shots under 200yds at other Elk. One brought a 270
Winchester and had to shoot an Elk 5 times before it dropped.
I've shot 2 Elk. My first we spotted while walking a trail. We stalked up an adjoining hill for a several hundred yards, mostly up. I found a tree that had a very comfortable "Y" shaped branch that provided a comfortable rest. I took the time to control my breathing and squeeze off a shot. My first shot put him down.
My second Elk was again spotted while going down a trail. It was 2 separate bulls. This time I had a bipod and stalked as close as I could but could tell they were about to bolt. I took as much time as I could but my guide was whispering to shoot before they took off. My first shot dropped him on the spot.
The first time I had a 338 Win mag shooting 225gr Accubonds. I'd shot the rifle to 300yds at the range and it had shot sub 1 1/2" groups at 300yds with that load, I had the trajectories to 600yds on a range card with the rifle. My second Elk was taken with a 300 Ultra Mag shooting 200gr Accubonds and my Scope had a TDS reticle. With the load I was using it was sighted dead on at 200yds and the 2nd TDS bar was dead on at 300yds. Again this rifle shot sub 1 1/2" groups at 300yds with the load I was shooting.
I was one of the few hunters on this lease that have dropped 2 Elk with 2 shots. My first Elk was lasered at 511yds and the 2nd at 536yds. Are you telling me that the other hunters are more ethical hunters because they did their lousy shooting within a couple hundred yards?............................DJ

As long as the shooter is capable and conditions are correct, no issue.

What I have more of an issue with is most folks shooting past 200.

Lets say you have a 300 yard shot, a norther is blowing, where do you aim? Most don't even consider wind which will start to get you at 200 and can "kill" ya at 300 and beyond.

I ask about 300 yard wind drift in my hunter education classes. Most have NO clue. I get from 1 inch to 2 feet. Those folks have no business.

My longest shot is quite a bit beyond 500 and was 2 shots, 2 hits. Both killing. No big deal but I have lots of practice, experience and great conditions. There are times where I won't shoot at 100 for various reasons...

Jeff

I should add that's why I made a .340 Wby and I shoot out to 500 yds regularly and know the drop of my load at all distances to that point. The scenario above was not even my most difficult shot at a bull; that one came with the animal a lot closer. I'm not saying you need a cartridge like that for most elk huinting but there's no denying it's a good one if one can take advantage of what it offers.

It is probably true most cannot do it - shoot long - and that's most likely because they don't have the equipment for it or practice for it or both but don't make blanket or ethical judgements about others doing it if they are capable.

At 500 yards plus it becomes hard for me to quickly decide if what I'm looking at is what I want to kill. A trophy bull is easy to tell, as is an antlerless elk, but is that raghorn bull legal, or is that a nice big cow or a yearling? A good pair of binocs and a steady rest is very important at those ranges.

I've taken two elk at 400+. Bull at 440 (lasered) took .270 150gr Partition broadside through both lungs, rocked and took another 3 steps. #2 spined him and that was it. Cow broadside at 410 was a bang flop.

My brother took his first bull at 535 with a 165gr Partition out of a 30-06. One shot through the top of the heart. I myself would have passed the shot because I couldn't tell if it was a legal bull at that distance! But brother routinely practices 400 yd shots and has worked it out farther on his chart. He can repeatedly bang the old jerri-can at 550 yds at our range. (He is the shooter/handloader in the family)

To shoot these distances, it takes time/patience and it does have to be perfect conditions. Over 300 the wind is a real factor and if you can't figure out what happens with your rifle at those distances, you shouldn't take the shot. I clean missed a cow trotting by me at 70 yds in some heavy timber. She stopped to look and let me kill her on the second shot.

My hats off to the guys who never take less than a perfect shot. They are much better hunters than I am.

The right gear is a must! Then comes practice and a lot of it, along with knowledge of your particular load, ballistics and conditions. A lot more to it that hold over.
Is it ethical? I do not want to debate that issue, usually I stay out of the long range discussion other than to discuss rifles. Will say that I no longer shoot game aminals past 600 yards any longer. My comfort zone.
Nathanial

Another thing not yet mentioned here is that Elk are BIG! An 800lb Bull Elk at 500 yds as proportionaly large killing zone as a 175lb Whitetail that is far closer. Of course you need to have a round capable of delivering enough energy to penetrate and damage vital organs at that distance but they have bigger vital organs to hit.
I think that "Comfort Zone" is a good concept. It should be based on your equipemnt, skill level, weather conditions etc. and vary according to what you are shooting. Discipline yourself to not take shots until you are satisfied you can comfortably make a clean kill at whatever range...............DJ

That is exactly what they are saying.