Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Shot distance on elk

Oh boy...

5 elk under your belt and all at under 100.

You got me beat by miles.

SMH 🤦‍♀️



🦫

Thanks

I figured it takes a few hunters to negotiate the longer distance deal successfully.

I also heard you can “shoot” a location with the newer gps deals.

I like ol Elmer Keith’s quote for my deal

“If u think yer close enough………

Get closer!”

I love it!

Closest - a bull at ~ 60 yards (338)
Furtherest - lead cow at laser measured 350 yards (270)

Both with heavy partitions.

I think that Elmer was spot on. But 350 yards was as close as I could get since there was an open meadow between us and it was near dusk.

OP,

5 elk.

I think I am close to that. With a 1911.





There are high percentage shots and low percentage shots. The range is really not a factor. You can have a shot in the timber that your odds of making it are bad and a low percentage of a good outcome and you should not take. Same with out in the open if the winds/snow/cold (all of the above) or environmental factors are against you.

You can have a high percentage shot at 50 yards 350 or 650 yards that conditions are good, you have a solid shooting platform, plenty of time to make the shot and you know your comeups because you are well practiced because you shoot all year.

There are always guys who will get on these boards who don't possess the skills, can't read wind or other environmental factors and will tell others because they can't do something, nobody else should either. They stopped learning a long time ago. They will throw in "Yeah-buts". Yeah but the animal can move. As if the person who has spent all that time preparing has not taken that into account in selecting an animal and determining whether it is a good choice for a shooting or not (determining whether it will be a high percentage or low percentage shot).

This is a worn out old topic.

And from someone with 5 elk.

That is like saying. I am a professional driver, I will tell you all about driving and you should listen to me. I have had a driver's license for 5 years and I have been driving for 5 years now.


5 elk is what we call "December" and helping friends and family process meat for the winter/year.

I'm having a hard time finding where I claimed to be a professional.
Just asking a question.
Wondering if those with a lot more experience take a high percentage of elk at longer distances.

But yet you are telling people that a 4X scope is "More than enough".

So is a 2X or 3X just right?

This is a 10X magnified view of some elk in a pic I took from the porch of my cabin.




They are within well range of a certain rifles that I use, as they are just to the right of my target steel.

Would you take a shot at one of these animals at 1/3 this magnification/target size?

I've shot 35 elk, 30 bulls and 5 cows.

All were on DIY hunts, most were solo hunts, and most were on public land.

I've shot 2 bulls with my .300 Weatherby and 1 cow with my 7mm Rem mag, all at less than 200 yards.

I shot my first elk with a borrowed .30-40 Krag and he was so far away that with my first few shots, the front sight bead completely covered him. Luckily there was snow on the ground and no other hunters, so after a very long chase I was able to kill him with a 100 yard shot.

I shot my closest elk at 10 yards and the rest were under 250 yards.

I am not in the business of selling long range shooting equipment, so I don't consider shooting animals a half mile away to be sporting. Good shooting yes, but sporting NO.

Following up on this.

I took this pic a few years back.

Just dropped an elk with my 300wm and fixed 10X SWFA.

I stepped back and took a pic of the hillside and timber where it was so when I go to it, if I had any issues, I had something to reference. Ended up not being needed, but it is just one more method. It was a mid 400s as I recall.

Great idea!

BTW I was told the biggest bull ever harvested was with a 30/40 Krag!


I love my Springfield!

Was them 1911 elk harvest done with Ackley improved ammo? 😅

Without knowing the range, no I wouldn't.

Very few people have the skill to make clean kills at over 1/4 mile (my opinion)
I've done it on deer and antelope.
I know what it takes and so should you.

With your experience, I assume you have seen some things and met many other hunters in the field.

What percentage of them would you guess are proficient at 500 yards+ ?
What percentage of them would you guess are "under gunned" with a 4X on a 30-06 ?
Honest questions, no offence intended.

I don't try to play the percentages game.

You cannot look at someone and tell what their proficiency level is. For hunting elk in typical western states terrain I would never recommend a scope that tops out at 4x and don't know anyone who would. I have zero issue with a 30-06 considering that I have killed 20+ elk with a .308 and usually pack a puny little 20" T3.

Not every hunters terrain is going to be like your 5 elk hunts. The west has a BUNCH of wide open terrain and elk will often go out into the open sage where they can see threats coming at great distances. If you even come within a half a mile the whole herd will get up and get moving. That is the reality of late season hunts in many places. An early October hunt may be a totally different story, but terrain can vary considerably.






There are about 50 elk in this pic but they are a ways out there:





It can be a brushed up narrow draw and shooting across it.

I crawled through brush to get to a ledge/ vantage point on this one and shoot into the shaded draw:






I just looked at the pic and the notes said 485 yards with a 6.5 CM.




You get both this:

Warm 25 degree days with no snow and wide open terrain where 400 yard shots are going to be the norm.




To the next morning where it is -5 and fresh elk beds and tracks and a max distance high percentage shot might be 150 yards due to the storm











Then in the afternoon it clears up again and a 500 yard shot is in the cards again.

Angus

Pretty much all of my 1911 kills have not been intentional hunts.

They have been right place, right time. The first one though was memorable.

I was actually elk hunting, up by Stanley. One of those sunny days where the snow is melting and every two steps up a steep hill you slide one back. I had slung my rifle all the way across my back so I could grab sagebrush with both hands since I was getting tired of falling on my butt. I had arrived late (had worked a nightshift) and was trying to catch up with my dad who was some where ahead of me.

My work gun was my old 70 Series Colt 1911 and I had it on my side. I finally got to the top of a saddle and was standing there bent over with my hands on my knees listening to my heart pounding in my ears when I caught movement. I looked up and it was a cow. (I had a cow tag). She was bedded down on the edge of the saddle. She was starting to stand up, and she only had to take three or four steps and she would be into the timber and gone.

The distance was only about 25 yards and I was shooting a BUNCH of USPSA competition back then. There was no way I could get my rifle off my shoulder. She stood up at the same time I drew. I just shot her right in the ear hole and she collapsed right back into her bed and did the stiff leg thing.

It all happened so fast I just stood there for a minute. I remember thinking "Holy crap! That just happened!". lol.

Mackay, your experience is appreciated.

Thank you Anaconda,

It is only one perspective of many here. There are a lot of very experienced elk hunters on this board.

The areas where I hunt and John Burns does also,( I believe ,correct me if I am wrong John) are devoid of trees and heavy cover> Even if I hit an animal at distance and it manages to run any distance it is still in plain sight and not an Issue. A spotter is helpful when hunting the wide open, but unless one makes a bad shot tracking it is a non issue.

Nope. That would be the #2 bull killed by John Plute. For years it was the world record but fell to the #2 spot when the bull killed by Alonzo Winters was finally officially scored. The Winters bull was killed by a 300 Savage which is still not a huge round so the gist of your post is correct, just not the specific caliber.

I've killed 16 or 17 bulls. 10 archery, all under 60 yards and the others with a rifle. None over 300 yards. It's not that hard to get into reasonable elk rifle range if you are a decent stalker. This bull was shot about 275 yards. The toughest thing about elk hunting is drawing a decent tag.

My last......Utah LE November '11

308 with 180 gr Scirrocco with 2 shots

90 yds in his bed

Elk brings out the best and worst of hunting stories. Easy/hard, it doesn't matter.

I have killed my share, but I will also wager that 90% of the elk killed year to year are killed by the same 8-10% of the hunters that do it over and over. I really don't care what people use, but I do get tired of the continuous brag of killing them with small calibers and extreme distances. Sure it can be done, but is it really responsible hunting?

+1 on the people that kill elk regularly. It takes dedication and tenacity to kill elk consistently - especially with a bow. I personally live for it.