Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting How many bullets do you carry?

Ten.

Definitely some anti-Boy Scouts on this thread. Working a major hunt with only 5 rounds on board is both hubris and foolish. Or else people must hunt awfully close to their vehicle. Just because one usually gets it done with one, certainly doesn't mean it will be that way every time.

Exactly!

Plus, do these guys not shoot at coyotes? That can be an ammo intensive exercise. In this part of the country, if a coyote appears, regardless of what else is being hunted, it becomes a coyote hunt.

I like a rifle full, a few on the stock, four in separate pockets (no jingle) and a combo flashlift/ammo pouch that holds ten. I don't mind carrying ammo, never did as a kid, later in the Army and all the years in-between, ha. I am a "firm Believer" that there are THREE THINGS a real man can never have "too much of'..(1) Coffee (2) Grandbabies (3) ammo!

In the southern whitetail woods, just 3 in the rifle. It used to be 3 or 4 for me anywhere I went. That changed when I had a blacktail down deep in the wilds of Kodiak with but one round left. That made me a little nervous.

I used to hunt with a guy that carried 4 in the rifle. "One is all you should need"

Then he co starred in a story one day with an unfortunate bull elk.
It started with him hitting the bull,
it ended after he found a buddy with more cartridges, then went and found the poor bull.

After that, he liked to carry a box and a few.

I have a rectangular leather ammo pouch with a top lid that holds 20 cartridges. It is worn on a belt always on the outside of all my clothing in the front and is easily accessible. When I start the hunt. I load from the 20 cartridges whatever it takes to fill my rifle capacity. The rest are staggered in the pouch making room for my large fingers to easily grasp extra rounds, especially when dexterity or frozen fingers don't operate easily. The leather pouch dampens noise, removes reflection and insulates from extreme weather and pressure spikes. Especially in hot weather when the sun heats up the cartridges causing case sticking and bullet flight unwanted changes. The buttoned flap is extra security.

I don't like the open type elastic cartridge holders that slide into the rear of the stock. In Idaho a friend was dragging a deer downhill to a road and when he got there, the 7 cartridges he had in it were missing. Obviously fell while navigating through brush. When he got to the dirt road he began to hear wolf calls around him but did not see them. The hair stood at the back of his neck which made him check his weapon and that's when he discovered the ammo lost. He had left his pistol back in camp trying to save weight. He had 2 loaded cartridges in his rifle.
Every body is free to make their own choices. If you hunt ranches, stands, guided hunts... you can get away easily with just a loaded rifle. If you hunt wilderness, predator country, it's prudent to be cautious.
If hunting deep wilderness via float trip, plane or horse back, I carry an extra 20 cartridges in a waterproof container and it stays in camp. If I have a partner and is using the same caliber, then I only carry an extra 10 cartridges in the emergency box in camp.
I also carry a 329 44 in a chest holster with 12 extra cartridges.
I guess the scout motto is worth living by, at least for me.

Two!

This is whitetail, not Elk, but I think it well applies.
We had supper and returned to the barn to do some repairs. About 9 pm we finished up. We were silently walking to the house in that fluffy crunchy snow that lies on the ground in 0 degree weather. I was looking at the Big Dipper when Dad stopped and asked, "did you hear a shot?" I hadn't. When we got to the house Dad loaded the ole 300 Sav, steeped out the back door, and let one off. There was a barely perceptible answer a long way up the river. Dad shot again and the vague answer came back. He grabbed two boxes of shells and fired up the Ski Doo. A new invention in those days. I think it was around 1960-61. I waited outside and in about a half hour, I heard the 300 and then that long off answer. Later it happened again, than once more, and than no more shots. I went inside and Mom and I kept watch out the kitchen window. It felt like hours when we saw the dim light of the snowmobile crest the hill.
A hunter had wounded a buck and followed it. Those Adirondack breezes had blown snow into his tracks and he was lost. At sundown he fired his first three distress shots and no answer. After doing that a few more times spaced about half hour each. He took inventory and realized he'd soon run out of ammo. He gutted his buck, scrounged around and found enough dry brush to build a small fire, and shot once every hour. Mom insisted he eat something hot and and have a couple of large cups of hot tea. WE drove him to his car about three miles up that old gravel road. Dad and he made arrangements to get his buck the next day. When we got home we looked at the thermometer. -16. It was a good thing for him that sound carries a long ways on those cold crisp silent nights in those mountains and that he had enough ammo to guide Dad in. He had two left.
Nice 8 point!
After that, for the last 60 +- years, when hunting, I always carry way more than I think I'll ever use. I have a treestand that I can see from the house and take 10 with me even there.

10...

i load 10 rounds for the hunt...

If I shoot any, I reload those rounds, if I am still going to hunt...

end of season, I disassemble them...


That is the end of a life time of having left over from each season...

15 one year, 11 the next, 17 the next, 15 the next... X 20 years...

dates on ammo, date back from 1993 or so...

so now, 10 and refresh if needed, disassemble at the season end..

I consider myself a good shot and practice often.

But in the past elk have have taken me lots of ammo to put down. My first was in Idaho where I proceeded to shoot a rag bull 6 times at about 30 yards. I actually had time to reload while the bull was standing there with his head down. Turns out the 180s from the 30-06 were blowing up and not penetrating the vitals. A few years later I shot a spike at 200 yards. First shot anchored him, then I missed several times, end up shooting 8 times. Last elk took 1.

I typically carry a magazine full, plus 10 in the ammo wallet.

Good story Rug3. I'm glad it had a happy ending. As you know, many do not end so well

We still teach in Hunter Safety class that 3 evenly spaced signals is a sign of distress. In fact, it's on the test. They can be shots, whistles, flashlight flashes, mirror flashes, 3 fires in a triangle, anything you think you can use. Obviously, you can run low on ammo awfully quick using this method, but it is effective, especially after dark.

I carry 2 or 3 mags and a wallet of 7 to 10 rounds depending on caliber.

Just pray you’re carrying more than that grizzly!

Whatever the rifle will carry fully loaded plus 10 rounds on me, will also have a big bore 5 or 6 shot revolver on me too.

Rifle magazine loaded, with spares in an ammo pouch on my left hip. I used to carry a single round in each front pants pocket too, but 7mm Remington Magnum rounds loaded with a Barnes TTSX cured me of that (at least with that round). Getting into a crouching or kneeling position could sometimes cause an uncomfortable jab in rather delicate places...

I don't think I ever carry more than a full box of 20 rounds, but rarely that many. I'd say 12-14 rounds is typical. On Monday I carried 9 rounds (but not for elk), because that's what I had left of my hunting ammo. It was over in one shot, so still have 8 left.

What ever a mag full is depending on the rifle, plus 10 rounds in a federal plastic cartridge holder. I don't carry "hot". so I don't fill the rifle, just the magazine. Occasionally I carry a handgun, but not often when carrying a rifle.

3 or 4 in the gun, whichever it holds and a 10 count shell holder in the pack. extras in truck or at camp./

Just returned from CO on an elk trip.

I kept 4 rounds in the gun.
5 in a Montana Sling Wallet on my belt
10 in a folding, Velcro wallet in my pack.

I like that.!!! Just don't do that, exactly.. Griz and me get along. Mostly. Kinda.

Now that is FUNNY!