Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Minimum Elk Cartridge

In Colorado it's a minimum of 24 Caliber.

The use of 6mm, 6.5mm, 7mm, 7.62mm, etc., on elk means a great deal less today as bullet technology has advanced the capabilities of all cartridges greatly.

I've killed elk with 243's to a 35 Whelen. I've witnessed elk killed with 243's to 458's. It's all in the bullet. A stout bullet like the Partition or the monos, and a few thick jacket bonded bullets are the trick--moderate expansion and deep penetration. The heaviest elk I ever killed, weighing in probably 750 lbs, was going dead away from me at 300 yds, I missed the bung hole and hit him in the ball and socket--the heaviest bone on an elk--and I found him about 50 yds away with the bullet stopped next to the sternum. A 270 with a 150gr Partition.

While most hunters today are convinced we have to sit on the hillside and glass with our high dollar optics, and all our long range stuff, by the first day or two of first rifle season most elk on public land have gone to ground and are holed up in "refuges"--thick timber, often on steep hillsides or canyons. Worked on a elk study near Meeker in 2000, and the telemetry collared elk we used had been collared for a previous study. That previous study tracked elk movements with emphasis on where they moved during archery through the last regular rifle season. They mostly ended up on private land or the hellhole breaks feeding into the Colorado River/I-70 corridor. Going after elk once they have gone to ground is up close and personal kind of hunting, and something besides the dedicated and increasingly popular idea of a "long range" rifle, like a general purpose rifle that can be handled quickly in the timber ( and the practice and mental preparation that needs to accompany that idea) and still be able to reach out 400 yds or so seems to be a better bet in the 55 years since I started following my dad elk hunting.

I've killed 6 elk with a 243 and 100gr Partition, none of them more than 75 yds away. One traveled 50 yds and I had to shoot him a second time, all others were dead within seconds and pretty much died within sight. My son has killed 5 elk with a 243 and Partiions from 100 yds to 375 yds. It's all in the bullet.

When I hunted the Vermajo in the late 80's, you could hunt with anything you wanted. However, if the elk you shot (at) ran off not to be recovered and you were using anything less than a 300 mag of some sort, that was your elk. However, if you were using a 300 mag or bigger, you got to keep hunting.
Phil

I'd be happiest starting with a .270 or 7mm-08. (I'd really rather shoot a .338 with 225s, but either of those with 150s is a solid start.)

I'm dead certain of killing elk with smaller cartridges but the time constraints of a short season might mean having to pass on the only shots presented in the legal time window.

If time was not a constraint, I'd be very happy with my .257 Roberts, and with truly no time constraints I'm sure I could arrange a reliable clean kill with a .223.

Tom

There are a lot of variables in determining a "Minimum Elk Cartridge." A well placed .22 LR bullet will kill an elk, but I would not consider it a suitable elk cartridge. Every hunter should know his/her own abilities as a hunter and shooter, and stay within his/her own limitations. The closest distance that I have killed an elk was many years ago when I shot a bull at 10 yards with a single arrow from my Herter's recurve bow on a DIY public land hunt. I believe I could have easily killed that bull with just about any centerfire rifle cartridge, or many centerfire pistol cartridges.

I have heard people say that you need a .375 H&H magnum to kill an elk. I know of one elk that was killed with a .22 LR. The answer for most hunters is somewhere in between those two cartridges. When I lived in Colorado I had a friend whose wife killed her elk every year with her .243 Win.

The smallest cartridge that I have used to kill an elk with was my .257 Ackley. It was a one shot DRT kill with a 117 grain Sierra GameKing bullet on a 330" net 6x6 bull.

I killed most of my elk with my .30 Gibbs shooting 180 grain Partitions. My favorite elk cartridge now is my .300 Weatherby shooting 168 or 180 grain Barnes TTSX bullets.

One prominent poster on this Forum that I know has killed a pile of elk with his .220 Swift.

One of my friends kills his bull almost every year with his .22-250. Here's the bull he shot last year with his .22-250

Of the six elk I shot with a 243, one of them was a broadside shot, everything else was angling. Last year my son and his 243 shot his elk heavily quartering away at around 100 yds, and the bullet hit way back, skinning the front of the rear quarter, and lodging in the point of the off shoulder.

A friend I haven't seen in 15 years had 13 sets of elk horns on his den wall when I moved away. They were all taken with a .243, in all kinds of conditions, at ranges up to 400 yards.

The only one he lost was due to a shot he told himself he would never take - poor visibility in rain, the elk moving slowly in heavy forest. But the bull so so close he decided he couldn't miss. The bull ran at the shot and he lost sight of it. Rain washed away any sign of blood, and with growing darkness he couldn't track it. Going back the next day, he couldn't find a sign of it.

It was a poor decision for anyone with any caliber rifle.

I would agree. Over the years I have used 338 Win Mag (250 gr), 444 Marlin (280 gr) and 308 Win (165 gr.). The elk hit with the 338 Win Mag and 444 Marlin showed an extreme reaction of numbed and flattened whereas the 308 Win, while effective was not as impressive. But you come to expect that when using a fast medium bore or large bore cartridge. On elk I somewhat associate the use of folks wanting a small bore cartridge vs. a larger bore cartridge to a fisherman utilizing 6 lbs test line for a 30 lbs fish rather than a 25 lbs test line for the 30 lbs fish. They both work, however statistically one has more probability for success than the other when stressed under field conditions and use.

I've taken elk with every thing from a .338 mag down to the 6.5. They all worked. It's about a "TOUGH DEEP PENETRATING BULLET PROPERLY PLACED."... My bullet of choice has been the Barnes TSX. Never failed me. Any of the copper mono's , with any reasonable cal.. My hunting buddy & his son use the 270 with the Barnes 130gr TSX. Complete pass thru.

The million dollar question is whether a bigger diameter would have made the difference in recovering the elk?

I have seen/taken elk with 243 to 375. My preference is 338 with 200-210gr bullets, but I would not hesitate to use my 22-250 with 53gr TSX on elk.

My 80 yr old Dad took an elk last week with his well worn Remington 760 in 270 with 150gr Nosler Partitions. A good friend will be using his 300 WSM with 150gr Nosler Ballistic Silvertips on his elk starting the 15th.

6.5x55 with a 140 Partition or Accubond. Possibly a 130 TSX.

7mm-08 puts elk in the freezer for me.




P

Idaho allows you to use ANY centerfire on ANY big game. You can use a 22 Hornet if you want to. That's not saying you should, just that it's legal.

Wonder what Elmer Keith might say regarding bullet weight?
Phil

I hope a 7x57 Mauser with a 150 Partition qualifies cause that is what my wife will be toting in 2 weeks in New Mexico.

Flip the question.

Let the OP figure it out for himself.


What's the biggest elk cartridge you can use well?

Consider the recoil/rifle weight equation, and be brutally honest with yourself.

Use a good bullet that matches the favored cartridge.

Don't cheat yourself or the elk by just getting by, have too much gun.
You will never say,
Damn, if I just had a little less....things would have turned out better.

There are many things I ponder related to elk hunting, but not one of them involves what Elmer Keith thinks.

Plenty good enough.

Another vote for the .243.