Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Archery Elk Advice

Hey guys, I'm heading to Montana with a general combo tag for elk/deer. The original plan was to hunt in rifle season. Things came up, and plans changed. Will now be hunting archery from the middle to the end of September. Which brings me to the following questions. I shoot an Elite Impulse 32 set a 70lbs/29" draw with carbon express maxima hunter arrows. I shoot rage 2 blade hypodermic heads for PA whitetail. I'm definitely planning on changing to a fixed blade head for elk. Which one would you guys recommend. Also, should I switch to one of the smaller diameter carbon arrows for the sake of less wind drift and the longer shots I might encounter out there, as opposed to the PA treestand shots I'm familiar with? Any other recommendations or things I'm overlooking, equipment wise, as far as the bow is concerned?

I support your decision to go to a fixed head over a mechanical. I know guys use mechanical and they work when they work most of the time but I have also seen them fail on whitetails with a less than perfect hit, but one where a fixed would have passed through or nearly passed through. So off to a good start. I am also intrigued by the narrow but heavy arrows such as the Easton FMJ although I have only used regular diameter Gold Tip Hunters. Take a cue from the traditional guys and read a bit about penetration and consistency with heavier shafts and heads. Don't go crazy heavy, at the cost of trajectory at 40 yards, but stout would be good. A solid fixed head such as a Montec or Woodsman will get the job done with no drama. No replaceable blades to fail. Make sure you have adequate FOC, no 80 grain heads with your long draw. I would also get away from the mini-fletched arrows and go for a full size fletch / vane. There is too much riding on your shot to miss due to a funky broadhead flight, and there's no guarantee your form will be perfect from the ground setup you might have or after running up a steep slope at 10K altitude or in bad wind. Try to account for less than perfect, even slight mistakes, and go for a forgiving setup, you don't need to drill 1 inch groups on an elk, but you sure as hell don't want to miss, and it happens much more often than you would think, and I say that with personal knowledge. So don't be like me - and learn to judge range accurately on an elk, they mess up your internal rangefinder if you are only used to deer. And so does the terrain, steep angles, open country maybe, etc.

I am sure there is much more to consider but your willingness to modify your usual thinking from PA treestand to go after a totally different game is a good indication you will be all right.

What you are shooting now will be fine for elk. Lots of guys take elk with mechanical broadheads. Personally I prefer fixed, and shoot Montec G5’s with no complaints. Your shot selection and distance will be of greater importance than your shaft or broadhead. For me, the only shot I take is double lung. An arrowed elk with one working lung can disappear into the next county very quickly.

Forgot to add: Good Luck!!

No elk with the bow yet, but several deer. I shoot the 100 grain muzzy's, with great results.

I’ve been shooting the 100gr slick tricks and have no complaints. I think you’re on the right track switching to fixed blades. The best advice I can give you is pick one brand of fixed blade broadhead and stick with it. You’re way better off worrying about your boots than your broadheads.

Hey Brother where in Montana? We will be in Idaho from 9/8-9/30 ( knee willing ) Slick Tricks have always shot good for us, and practice shooting up and down hill.

Any good fixed blade is the way to go

I’ve shot a few elk with bow and a lot of deer bear caribou

I like slik tricks or any good coc 2 blade blade head

I’ll be out in Montana too this archery season

I was using the Muzzy 4 blade for years. They work awesomely on game from goats to Elk. They leave a big hole for great blood trailing. Only one bull went past 75 yards. He went about 95. No tuning to the fletches.

No more compound bowhunting for me anymore. To many shoulder surgeries. In fact going to sell my new bow setup. Buy me a crossbow. I pray Muzzy makes a 4 blade for crossbows.

Have a blast in Montana.

Brian

Near Ennis. Southwest corner, southwest of Bozeman. Considering picking up a bear tag too.

Several years ago I shot a nice bull during Colorado’s first rifle season and when we walked up to it, there was about a foot of hair running from about the last rib, forward that looked like it had been cut with scissors. At the forward part of the sliced hair, there was a 2 inch, circular wound about 1/2” deep. Hmmmm?

When we got back to camp and showed pictures of the elk and the wound, one of the guides said “that was the bull that my hunter hit two weeks ago during archery season”.

Turns out the hunter was using a mechanical that opened early on a quartering away shot and never got any penetration.

Expandable are notoriously bad on angled shots

Never understand why bow hunters use these gimmicks . Oh that’s right videos on YouTube

Not difficult to tune a broad head

Slick tricks!

I have been shooting slick tricks since before they hit the retail market. I am a huge fan of the original design.

I tried them, and settled on a COC of theirs, which I think is now discontinued for some stupid reason, but we bought a couple hundred bucks of them before they were gone. From a replaceable blade head, they are the best I"ve seen. I wouldn't hesitate to use their cone heads either, but the COC heads we have never even come close to failure

I shoot the carbon express piledrivers and magnus 2 blade stingers (non serrated). I have shot a grand total of 1 elk while archery hunting. Shot was full broadside at 58 yards. Hit directly I the heart, full pass through, piled up 10 yards for the point of impact. Dead before I could walk the 58 yards.

Me thinks steel ferrule.....

Practice a lot of up hill down hill shots...

3 red axis sight adjustment

Get a range finder that reads while you are very nervous.......

When you got a screaming bull coming in you will be nervous....IMO

Trochar tip.......

Chisel points ok.....do not use round points....too much hide to penetrate....

Replaceable thick blades......

Unless you can sharpen monotechs.....etc....

It is absolutely what flies the best out of your set up .....

The bigger the profile....to a point

The heavier to a point......

Try to have an effective range of 50 yards or more.....

Expanders are illegal in Idaho......perhaps not a bad law.

Another vote for Slick Tricks Magnums. I use a 500 grain arrow including a 100 grain slick trick. Old bow would hit with 82+ lbs of KE and enough momentum to kill almost anything on the planet. New Bow same arrows will hit with 91lbs of KE and more than enough momentum to kill anything with the exception of an elephant.....maybe. The best part about slick tricks in my opinion is the ferrule being a great bone breaker. You can easily punch through shoulders on less than optimal shots and still get great penetration. One thing to think about it you want to fight some wind drift is going with helical fletching. Depending on your rest, helical is in my opinion an extremely important part of long range accuracy and fighting wind drift with a fast spinning arrow. Also Easton axis FMJ 300 spine with the copper insert in the front is an outstanding arrow, if you are looking to change that out as well. Out of the 30 animals I have downed in the last 5.5 years, 21 have been taken with that arrow and point set up.