Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 280 rem vs 7mm mag

That is just so much BS. Much depends on where and when you hunt, hunter pressure, whether the migration is on, and so on. It also depends on things the hunter cannot control � like constraints of time, terrain, property/unit boundaries, animal populations and movement, the presence/movement/actions of other hunters, etc. Often the only choices are take the shot that is offered or take a pass.

I've never bow hunted anything larger than rabbit, but I've been close enough to deer to reach up and grab belly fur. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.

What you say may well be true in Colorado, but that's the problem in living in an overpopulated state. I hunted for years around Yampa, but when it came time to retire and settle down I picked a state with less people and more Elk than a Denver suburb. (fewer democraps too)

Long range target shooting on live big game is not "my thing" as I've seen too many "dudes" try it and cripple animals that are lost or guides have to track down and put out of their misery.

If you can't....don't.

You're missing a lot (and a longer season) by not getting a "stick & string".

I've seen enough game wounded with "sticks", and although I've always been a fair shot with a bow I don't feel any need to risk adding to the count. Game I've shot with a rifle has always gone down quickly if not immediately. To date my longest shot on big game has been 350 but now I'd be pretty comfortable at 600 in good conditions with my .300 WM or 7mm RM. As I stretch my capabilities my options will remain the same and I'll still be willing to let game walk.

Well as with ANY hunting (including the wannabe snipers who wound big game at 1000 yards with their stupid "tactical" rifle), bowhunting does require more ability than a 100 yard rifle shot off a BiPod.

Since I shoot a long bow, with wooden arrows, real feathers, broadheads I sharpen and no sights, I shoot about 200 arrows per week as the skill is easily lost. My self imposed range limit is 25 yards, so it is hunting, not potting an unsuspecting animal at 600 yards.

BTW ALL the "bowhunting" wounded big game I have seen were either shot with those GD crossbows or those mechanical monsters with cams, tiny arrows and fancy sights. Almost always a function of shooting too far. Again, trying to substitute technology for hunting ability.

I'm still waiting to meet the Elk, Deer or Antelope that you can't get closer to than 600 yards.

Oldman-sounds like you enjoy your bow hunting, are you doing it off the ground still hunting and or out of a blind or stand?

Thx
Dober

Coyote Hunter, we bowhunters would probably see more game wounded with rifles if our season was actually after rifle season. I'm sure you're a fine shooter, but please don't assume that the average joe out there, with his brand-new .300 MwhateverMag, is!

With competent hands, Elk is completely killable with a Marlin 30-30. I've seen it.

IntruderBN -

No worries, I've spent enough time at the range working as the RO during sight-in days to see a pretty wide variety of the shooter skills. Some of it is pretty eye-opening - on both ends of the scale...


First elk I ever saw on a wall was taken with a .30-30, and I've hunted them (unsuccessfully so far) with mine. Never seem to have it in my hands when I get a close shot.

I also know from first-hand experience that shooting skills vary widely with bows.

This bowhunting vs rifle hunting topic gets old;particularly listening to a lot of the elitism spewed by bow hunters in that they somehow occupy a higher moral dimension than knuckle dragging rifle hunters.I have to listen to this silly nonsense from Orvis-clad fly fishermen because I pitch jigs under boat docs and haul 5# bass out with 17 pound test P-line...a real gentlemen would use poppers on a fly rod and extricate those bass from lilly pads with 2X tippets...nonsense.

The equipment and skill sets are completely different;a bow hunter "lives" within the narrow confines of his limited "reach",and there is nothing wrong with that.He has to be very stealthy and use tactics that some rifle hunters would do well to emulate.

OTOH the rifle hunter has a much broader territory to cover due to the added reach of the weapon.He has to pay attention in a lot of different directions at once, out to his maximum sure-hit range. Nothing wrong with that either,and the rifle guy is no less a "hunter" because he uses a rifle responsibly.

Which one is more difficult can be called into debate,because a lot of mid-western bowhunting(in farmland with abundant deer,lots of mature bucks,limited size woodlands,and restricted firearms seasons)strikes me as a lot easier than getting on the ground in the vast Maine forests and trying to kill a mature buck with a rifle,just to make an analogy.Ditto the ridiculously simple expedient of hanging a tree stand in Vermont or New York and skewering one of those very abundant does,vs trying to kill a mature trophy mule deer with a rifle at 8-10,000 feet.

If I were King of the World,there would be no "archery season" or "muzzle loader" season(a real joke in the wake of todays technnology); there would only be "deer season",...Gentlemen,choose your weapons..!

How did we get to this from a simple conversation about the merits of two great big game cartridges!

Amen Brutha!!

Amen to that.

The 7mm bullet selection is outstanding and whether one chooses a 7mm-08 or a 7mm STW, or something in-between, the thing that counts most is bullet placement.

Mine happens to be a 7mm RM and its a keeper. I really like a 140g TTSX at 3358fps or a 140g North Fork somewhat slower, at recoil levels under many .30-06 loads...

CH: 7mm's work good....even Ingwe's wee little one...

I'm secure in my masculinity....

I think.....



Not secure enough to go down in caliber to a .270 though......


Ingwe

I'm hoomiliated again....it'll never end!

But you went 243, you must secure with something

I went down to a 378!
Where does that leave me??

As long as it has a 7 in the name it'll work.

Which is the problem with the .280. (Just kidding, guys.)

And like all the other threads that debate meaningless questions, this one goes on and on and on....

Tim do you drive a Corvette?...........

Mule Deer does this mean the 7mm Express is better than the 280

Exactly!

Over the years I kept hearing about how one of the advantages of the 7mm was the vast selection of bullets available in .284" diameter.

Well, I finally heard it once too often, so sat down with my latest Midway catalog and counted all the different weights and styles of bullets available in .270, 7mm and .30 caliber.
Turned out there were 130+ .270 bullets available, around 150 in 7mm, and slightly more in .30.

My take is that if you can't find a .270 or .30 bullet to do exactly the job at hand that you're probably going to be dissatisfied with the 7mm selection as well.

Geez, JB....a lousy 130 bullets for the 270??? How the hail can you get anything done with such a paltry selection!!