Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Bad Idea part two. Anatomic measurements of a winter kill.

Glad to see this thread back up. I can send some one the original photos! And if I get around a fresh one on flat ground I will do a post mortum photo dissection of the thoracic and abdominal cavity.

I dunno how that last ended up as a double post, but oh well..

Angus, that would be great if you could get post mortum photos. I'll see If I can't get something on the ground myself to measure. Plan to spend next week after elk. Check for PM .

Jag

Great thread. What I got out of it - aim at the top of the leg. Interesting that I would have typically aimed tight behind the leg.

Thank you for the kind words!

Just remember if one wants to choose to move the point of aim foreword into the chest , bullet penetration and sturdiness...I.e. less frangebile action is important. It is just an anatomical observation that the front leg on elk is further back on the rib column, the spinous processes of the vertebrae are quite tall, the " mane " or darker neck hair on the elks neck is quite robust, and they got one hell of a rumen capacity all factors that compress the classical American " meat saver" shot behind the front leg not as forgiving as compared to shooting at whitetail deer.

I will try to get more anatomy photos as it presents itself. Once agin thanks for the encouragement and good luck hunting!

Damn fine work. Thank you.

Very informative gentlemen. Thank you. I have actually learned something of value that I will use in the field.

These are some of Angus' original photos. Angus, the files were tiny, so I did what I could to improve and sharpen them. The ones you were able to forward, I think did not include the one with a measuring tape.

Angus' narrative that went with his photos was:

"...It is of a frozen cow lie in sternal. Left side of animal. The skeleton from first rib to end of pelvis is 53 inches. The ribs I count 13 of em is 29 inches. At rib seven is the start of the rumen ingesta. This ball of frozen rumen contents is 12 inches wide and 17 inches long. I believe a live animal would be larger. It lays along the [right] left (I flipped the photo for consistency with other illustrations - Jag) rib cage starting at rib seven going back towards the tail. The metal ring in the photos is seven inches in diameter. The spinous process of the spine are 8 inches before the scapula and 5 inches behind it. The depth of the lung field is a maximum of 16 inches. This deepest part is where the scapula us positioned. It is my belief a elk lying down will have the scapula shifted foreword. The area behind a standing animal where there is lung are would be slightly less than the 8 inches shown in the photo. As you can see neck of the scapula is about dead center of the lung field. With 9 inches in front and 9 inches behind."

I got my Montana elk in the flat of a bowl. I did not have a camera until I came back to pack it out So it is not of a complete necropsy but does illustrate some more anatomical landmarks.. So I will email you some photos when I get to decent wi if reception. Thanks d John