Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A Girl, An Elk, A 243 Win/105VLD and 688yds makes elk steaks

So do you go after the weekend hunter that can hit an 8" plate at 100yds everytime...maybe? Or do you only go after the guy who can hit it @ 1000 every time?

After reading all his posts, I can't help but wonder if our pal Buckeye has ever shot a rifle at anything at any range before.

He sounds an awful lot like some PA and OH shotgun hunters I have talked to who just can't fathom the ability of a skilled rifleman with good equipment.

This is amazing, and not a "good" amazing. You let a gal with absolutely no experience shooting game with a rifle and furthermore, no experience shooting at that range at anything, take her first shot at a living big game animal?

We've disagreed before on cartridge choice and that's fine. I watched the video and saw the DRT performance of the choice. It wouldn't be my choice, but that's fine too. I have friends who have used the same combo for smaller big game at those ranges and swear by them. They happen to be some of the top competitive precision shooters in the country. I'm willing to accept that perfect placement will do the job.

But it's obvious that you are trying to prove something. It's even more obvious that you feel a steel target has the same value as any big game animal.

Twisted.

You need to switch to boxers your underwear are too tight.

Haha so Buckeye do you take your calculator out into the field to quickly and quietly punch in the numbers and run it by the Taylor Knockout Factor and Optimum Game Weight?

Jumping to conclusions again I see

I wonder how many people here have actually killed an elk? Nobody is arguing it wasn't a good shot. There are those of use that have actually killed a lot of elk, and know how tough they are. Wonder how long it would take to catch up with a wounded elk, with a 700yd head start? Especially in that country...

Bump^^^^^^^^for an answer

Dober

That's just cooler'n [bleep], John. Good work!

I'm under doctors orders not to bang my head against anything so I'm just staying out of this thread- other than the congrats.

Maybe I deduced that from 17 pages of "atta-boys".

Hmm, I would of deduced from 17 pages of "atta-boys" that the gal made a good shot and that John did a good job of coaching her thru it.

Dober

Says the guy that uses a 7 "mag"...

Yeah, that comments makes sense. We're tracking with you now...

Dober

Did she have any previous experience poking way out there with rifles or was this her first time behind one?

I actually stuck up for this hunt on another forum, before reading this. I can't believe this young girl had never shot this rifle before. John you should be ashamed..

So thick skinned that a bow with 2 FPE can't take them down...right...let alone a 45-70...@ 20 yds....chit better have a howitzer @ 50 to make it sporting....laffin

do it or STFU

NN180- Im gonna try and give the benifit of the doubt here and see what John has to say. But I'm starting to lean towards your point of view here.

And lets just say the flaming I got, and gave back was pretty ugly...I may have to eat a lot of crow here.

Boy lots of tight panties in here. MM has the best response so far, the one pulling the trigger is almost always the least experienced shooter, it is the spotters job to be ranging, reading wind and making the correct calls. The physical act of shooting a moderately heavy rifle from the prone is not some super athletic skill set.

I have a friend that I consider a poor shot, does not practice, has no idea of how to obtain a solid field rest and if he hits an 8" paper plate at 200yards 50% of the time with his rifle I would be suprised. While playing on the ranch he was impressed the way I was splattering stuff with my .243 running the 115Dtac and wanted a try. He dry fired a few times and then using the called comeups and windage hold he wiped out a crow at 435 yards and a second one over 550. Two one shot hits on something smaller than the vitals of that elk.

My brother in law is in his 30s and his last shots fired were from an air rifle in boy scouts. Set him up at the range and put him on a 6" plate at 400yards, had him dry fire a few to understand the concept of a trigger press, gave him a wind read and he pops the plate 2 for 2. He looked at me and said "so what is so hard about that", he switched to the 600yard plate I told him to guess on external ballistics and I let him chase his tail in a switching cross wind for a half dozen rounds before he looked over and said "I get it now". He quickly understood that the knowledge was far more important than the physical skill. I have coached a lot of new shooters over the years and if they willing to listen they can have fabulous results. When I got that particular .243 up and running I put it on paper at 100 with 3-4 rounds then jumped right to 1000yards on a plate. The next three rounds were under 8"and a little bit high because of a software problem, I did not compensate for the uphill shot and the 1000yard plate should have only needed data for about 970. Went back to 200yards and followed my JBM results and built a data table to 1200yards. I was blessed to have a very light 6 o'clock wind and from 200 yards out to about 1050 I would not have had a single round off of a 10" target.

For me ethics is a sum of whole. If the hunter had no experience behind this rifle, no knowledge of proper comeups and holds then slinging lead from any caliber at any distance is unethical. As it was shown here the physical component was solid as well as the information required to make the shot. Never met JB in my life but I think if he was looking at a shooter that could not get comfortable, was not sure of themselves or had a good dose of buck (bull?) fever he would have waved off the shot and looked for a fourth setup.

I think I already explained I feel pretty proud of how that all worked out.

It is possible that me calling her a �girl� in the title of the thread is somewhat misleading but it made me smile.

While this might have been her first big game animal she owns her own bird dogs and hunts upland game most every weekend.

The elk was hauled out of the hills in the back of her 1 ton dually truck. She owns a string of horses (including one of the better mannered stud horse I have ever been around) and tack (including pack saddles) and regularly rides alone in the exact area in which she killed the elk. She was ready to saddle up and pack that elk out of any hole it could find.

She owns her own .300 WSM.

She works 12 hr shifts in the QC dept of a company that makes cancer medicines and only has the weekends to hunt.

I did not �let� her shoot that elk. I simply told her what the gun would do and she made the decision understanding exactly what could go wrong.

What really makes me smile is how she performed so well in a situation that has a few, just a few, of you guys stumped.

An impartial observer might draw the conclusion her stellar performance has damaged a few fragile egos. I mean if a �girl� can do it ???

JB,
Im will probably burn out this barrel running the Dtacs, do you have any experience with them on game? I have to run lead free for all of my big game but when I head out of state I not be saddled with that restriction.

Any significant reason for using the 105 vs 115 in the Berger line? Im running the 115 at about 2950fps, the 105 is generally not an option due to a 3000fps limit at the range to save the steel but its easy enough to run another load for game.