Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting shot placement?

Shoot 'em in the gizzard.

You did right to hold off. Nothing sticks with you worse than paunching an elk and not reducing it to possession and I sure wouldn't want my kids to experience that. They'll have plenty of chances to take shots they shouldn't have and learn the hard way. We only have a few years to show them stuff before they go off on their own, and learning good hunting ethics from the get-go is one of hte things we can give them. I strongly disagree with the idea that hunting is about shooting. Not where elk are concerned.

No way I would recommend that shot with a 243. Maybe with the 25-06 with Noslers, but even that would be marginal.

Of course, you can call 'em up and see if they turn to look. They DO like to look at you sideways,just one of those gifts evolution gave us that hasn't caught up with the existence of center-fire rifles. It's a good strategy for an elk worried about wolves.

My winter hunting guns are setup for cold weather clothes and a good recoil pad. Especially my 10ga. Folks kind of chuckle, at first glance, but I"m not fighting LOP in layers of clothes ever again. I wouldn't worry about what I carried with them either.... I'd take plenty of gun in case you need to stick another one in there to help them.

And you do realize you can keep the same LOP as the gun has but put a 1 inch plus pad on it... you cut some of the stock off to do that.

I agree completely with Dink. If you don't kill something you failed. No matter how much fun you may have, as a hunter you failed. Now if you are hiking and carrying a gun in case you see something that is different.

Hunting with a gun is to kill something. Hunting with a camera and not getting a good shot is the same thing: Failure.

Damn Ive killed some nice bulls, nothing huge. Ive got a 28 inch 4x4 mulie on my wall. Ive got an antelope buck that scored 85 b&c. Ive ate tag soup a few times as well. Never in my hunting life have I ever thought I was failure because I got outsmarted by a monster buck and wouldnt settle for the little guy or a shot I wasnt sure of. Never thought I was failure huntin oregon and couldnt even get to my unit because the snow was four feet deep. And god forbid I actually missed because I got a little excited. I was in some of the most beautiful country I could imagine on more than one hunt. I could have gone tag soup on my elk hunt with my brother and been happiest guy on the planet because at almost 30 years old I had never gotten to hunt with him before. Even stood on mountain tops that may have never even seen another human footprint. I hope those are memories youll never have because all you can think about are the failures youve had while hunting.


By the time I pay $600 for a elk tag and then another $20-$30 in stamps and fees a elk better not show me his ass. I know everyone says it should not be about the money but if it was not about the money I could buy a elk tag for $40 like residents.

Never heard of an ethical ass shot. If the cost of the tag means you cant afford to wait for a shot to present itself then maybe you should find a cheaper hobby. I know guys that have walked away from ass shots on hunts a hell of a lot more expensive than 600 bucks.

Dont get me wrong, I do believe in being ethical in the field, however, IMO I think alot of people need to get off their high horse and admit that a perfect shot is not possible all the time and I question those that say that they would NEVER take that shot unless conditions were optimal and up to the high standards that they have set.

As far as this goes you have never hunted with me and have no clue what kind of shots Ive passed on because I didnt like the angle. One of the men that taught me the most about hunting told me once, If the shot aint perfect back your ass out and work harder. Ill keep my seat on my high horse. That horse makes tracking and packing elk out a hell of a alot easier.

Stwfanatic you kill all those big bragging type animals as a kid? When this thread started we were talking about letting kids kill elk. I am of the opinion that kids need to kill stuff. If they don't get to kill stuff they will soon give it up and go back to playing video games. Just my opinion.

When I was kid killing was very important to me and to be honest it still is. I like to kill animals.

I have no problem shooting a elk in ass. This would not be my first choice but don't think for one second I would not do it. I have never shot a elk in the ass but have killed several deer that way. I know a deer is not the size of a elk but elk aren't bullet proof either.

You can blow and go all you want about walking away with a unpunched tag but I feeling that it bothers you just like it does me.

Now that I know you have killed some bull elk, 28 inch muley and 85 B&C antelope what does that have to do with letting a kid shoot his first elk? Do I have to post all the animals I have killed to be qualified?

There are some real killers on this forum. Guys that have killed alot more and bigger animals than I will ever take and you know I have never seen them start a thread with what kind of animals they have taken or what they scored.....hmmmm

Dink

Wow, stwfanatic is a real stud. Makes me wonder also when he starts his thread with what he has done....or has he. I knew a guy at work that would pick up road kills and then run them to the taxidermist. Those "mounts" are still on his walls today.

Just an observation.

anyone that claims that a tail end shot is not ethical doesn't have a clue, but we've been over that again and again... and probably just like the others STW would take a head on shot, which is the same damn thing.....

I suspect I've done more tail end shots that STW ever has and funny thing, the only shots that I've actually seen fail have been 2 broadside shots...

And want to add fuel to the fire, run a good broadhead through the center of a ham of any animal and that animal isn't long for this earth....

dhershberger I think we know the same guy....grin. This guy had road killed deer mounted several times.

I am pretty sure he found a deer dead in a fence and put his tag on him.

Rost funny you mention losing the broad side shot. I shot about 150 inch deer (would have been my biggest whitetail I ever killed) 2 seasons ago with a 300 RUM and 180 grain partition. The shot was 127 yards and I was shooting off a set of sticks. I found the exact place the deer took the bullet and there was a tuft of hair on both sides of a deer trail. As the deer run he was bleeding on both sides of the deer trail for about 75 yards or so. All at once he quit bleeding and that was that. I never found him.

Just goes to show that even on good broadside shots with a rest chit can happen.

Dink

Thanks all! There is some good stuff. I have started to fit the two little cal rifles to a youth. I will get some good ammo heavy for cal spend time shooting at the bench but mostly field pos till were all happy. Kawi

Kawi just a thought but I would let them shoot the cheap stuff with a light for caliber bullet so it does not kick them so hard. Then right before hunting season either you or them sight in with the good stuff and call it a day.

Dink

Oh you bet DINK will plan on that good thought. I just can't beleave I don't have time to reload like the good old days but work is first for now so here I am but other than price factory ammo is right there with my stuff from the 80's and 90's. Kawi