I was on an elk hunt last week near Craig, Co. There were close to 10,000 elk on the ranch I was hunting on, having come down out of the mountains in droves due to recent snowfall.

I was alone, but shared the bunkhouse with a group of guys from South Dakota. They were whitetail hunters and most of their experience was in the whitetail woods.

Now, I'm one of those guys who reads every article there is on bullets, reloading, guns, calibers, etc., and I seek all kinds of advice on what kind of "tackle" in need for a particular type of hunting. I spend countless hours at the range testing loads and practicing shots out to 500 yards. These guys, however, simply showed up with their whitetail guns and factory bullets -- two autoloaders, a 760 pump in .270 Win. and an '06 bolt action.

Now keep in mind that the average shot on this ranch is 300 yards. I have a new custom 300 WSM and maticulously loaded hand loads that can shoot the eye out of a grasshopper at 300 yards. I felt ready.

Now the guy with the 760, I come to find out, is shooting 130-grain Ballistic Tips -- FOR ELK! I make no comment. I also make no comment about his four-power Weaver scope.

Now, let's make a long story short. Guess who killed the biggest bull elk? Guess who made the longest shot (400-plus yards)? Guess who's elk dropped the quickest? Guess who of the group of five hunters was the only one that didn't need a follow-up shot? If you said the slide-action .270 shooter with the pointy little bullets, then you win the grand prize.

Now, guess who blew a 70-yard standing still shot and had to spend two hours tracking a wounded elk? Guess who made a terrible shot, hitting the animal in the hind quarter, when they finally got to withing 400 yards of their wounded animal? Guess who had to make an up-the-tailpipe shot to finally anchor his 5x5 elk? Well, all I'll say is it wasn't Walter Cronkite (and neither was it a whitetail hunter from South Dakota shooting a whitetail rifle).

In fact, all the South Dakota contingent made good shots and anchored their elk with no problem. So much for magnum bolt actions being the ONLY medicine for elk.

Yep, next year, I think I'll take my Model 336 Marlin in 35 Remington, or my Model 8 Remington autoloader in .30 Rem. or my model 14 Remington slide action in 32 Remington. God knows you don't need anything special for elk, right?

The key is that they were using rifles they were familiar with, whereas you were using a new rifle.

Shoot it a lot in the coming year, and you'll do just as nicely as they did.

George

This is kind of amusing in a way. You are right it proves you do not need a canon to do a rifles job. Also proves a good shot is a good shot, does not matter if it was a 243, 257, 264, 300 or a 416.

Those damn 760's are accurate guys. One in 06 has been my deer rifle for goig on 30 years now.

Interesting, story - reminds me of a friend who's gotten at least one elk and one mule deer each year for the past 20+ years now with his 243 and whatever 100 grain factory loads he can buy the cheapest at Wal-Mart. Sometimes he got lucky and drew an antelope tag, and got one of those, too.

R-WEST

Ballistic tips, guys. 130-grain ballistic tips! I've had those things blow up on little whitetails. Argue all you want about ballistic tips being ok for elk in heavy for caliber bullets. I'll agree. But 130-grain ballistic tips in .270 Winchester may be great medicine for antelope, but not for elk.

Just proves the old argument about it's not what you hit them with, but where.

Interesting story. It probably bode well for the 270 BT hunter that he hit at 400 and not 100. Probably easier on the bullet.

I give you credit for posting this. Not many would be so apt to share this. Like the poster above said, practice, practice, practice and you'll do just fine.

Martindog

I always kill with a new rifle, everytime I go on a hunting trip with a new rifle I make a one shot kill, but then all my kills are one shot.

I had to sort of smile on this one. I have lived in the NW corner of South Dakota all my life. I am a dealer also, and when most of these guys bring in a rifle to trade, it's just about used up. Most of them own one rifle, and it's used on everything from gophers to elk, but they know that what they point it at is going to die. Nothing more than a tool to them, rides in a gun rack or behind the seat year around. I've seen some of these old ranchers whip a beater out from behind the seat and shoot a coyote farther out than you would believe, then shove the gun back and go about their business like nothing happened. The better part of them have an old Weaver on the gun that most people wouldn't use as a jack handle. Beware the man with one gun they say!! Russ

Before we go any further, I guess I should let it be known that the initial screw-up on my side had less to do with a bad shot than it did with bad knowledge of elk anatomy. See, I hit exactly where I was aiming, which was forward in the shoulder. When I pulled the trigger, I expected to see him go DRT (dead right there) with the unfortunate animal suffering a broken neck.

Somehow, however, my Speer Grand Slam found its way under the spinal column, missed the shoulder bones and major arteries, and exited without inflicting fatal (at least in the short term) damage. In retrospect, I should have shot him behind the shoulder, through the heart and lungs. This is where I shot my two previous elk with them going less than a hundred yards from the point of impact.

This is a good lesson. Stick to the shots you KNOW, rather than trying to show off for your guide.

The 270 is a very effective elk cartridge, but I dont think id be useing a BT! As far as sheer killing power is concerned the only difference I can see between the 270s through the 300s is that the 300 offer a bit more penitration at longer ranges. My brothers largest elk was killed by a 250 savage. Not much of a rack but his body was huge. I dont think he would have taken the shot if it was over 100 yards.
I havent even seen a 760 in years.
take care
smallfry

What happened proves once again that the late, great Les Bowman was 100% right when he said that the worst shooting is done by customers with 300 magnums.

Bowman was a primary force in getting the 7MM Rem Mag introduced as he felt that it was all that the average person could shoot well.

Good post. It's honest and enjoyable to read.

As for the 760's. I don't have the sales figures but they might have outsold the M70's in far less time! They shoot too.

[ 11-28-2002, 20:42: Message edited by: Don Martin29 ]

What I read from GAHUNTER's posts were that he shot exactly where he aimed and his bullet functioned as designed. His admitted mistake was the decision on shot placement. Hmmmmmn, where have I heard this before? The gun was not "too much" for him nor was inaccurate. He just shot in the wrong place.

The .270 BT did a good job because of what?
Bullet placement. The bullet did what it was designed to do and the hunter put the bullet where it was meant to be.

He stuck with it and harvested his elk. I would imagine that there are much worse examples to follow than his.

Jim

Jim B is right. I hit exactly where I was aiming -- only I was aiming at the wrong place. This comes from having a lot more experience shooting 150-pound whitetails than 700-pound elk. I have no doubt that my initial shot would have dropped a whitetail like a turd from a tall Indian. With an elk, there's a lot more "dead" space in that area.

That said, my second shot was a real abomination. We came up on it just before it passed over another hill, about 400 yards out. There was no time to take a rest and I had to take a snap shot offhand. He was quartering away and I aimed behind his shoulder. The shot I made stopped him, but only because I hit him in the hind quarter. This ment that he was now hit in the left-front shoulder and his right-hind leg, which tends to slow one up a mite. When we came up the hill, he was standind facing dead away at the crest of another hill. Not wanting to take a chance, I put one up the tail pipe. Game over.

I'm not proud of the way I harvested this elk, but it was a petty nice elk and I am proud of the trophy. By the way, there was another hunter on the ranch hunting in a seperate area from this one who shot at a bull and killed a calf. He was sick about it. But until you have stood and seen 500-700 elk spread out before you and you try to pick out the best bull and make a shot without hitting another elk, it's hard to see how this can happen. Just trust me; it can.

You know the funny part is the guy from SD was probably thinking "look at that guy with the fancy new rifle, I hope I don't have to hunt with him".
good story!

And it can be argued that if the load was the 270 the hunter would have know that a shoulder should be avoided and in every case a better aim would be likely also.

Good story. I've never skinned out an elk before and seen where the spine runs through the neck, but if I had I would have taken that shot behind the ear in the spine at that distance. For me, it's just a little smaller and easier to see where the spine is there. If he was moving or ready to, the bullet would go in the lungs. Congrats on getting him anchored.

GAHUNTER, if you ever decide to write a book on your hunting adventures, sign me up for the first copy. Great story. Isn't that the way things always go. You try and cover every base, to bring all the right equipment, practice, practice, practice and some buster who just rolled off the potato cart pops the biggest elk, deer etc. you ever saw without even thinking about it. Makes you want to leave your Sako finfire, camo clothes, and pack full of equipment home and show up in a polyester leisure suit, slathered with Old Spice, for the hunt of a lifetime. You'd probably have a better chance of success.
Just remember, those guys didn't have near the hunting story to tell that you did though.
Good Luck.

How about this: had you been shooting the bt's your initial shot just might have done the damage necessary to drop your animal. ha.

I'm not sure these guys from SD are getting due credit. If they are anything like the fellas I knew on a job in SD, they could be very adept at dropping their game, attire and cartridge selection aside.

I've never suffered the pain of looking onto 500 head of elk milling about (where I can take them), so I can't comment on how tough it must be to select the biggest bull to shoot. Ironic to labor over your decision only to kill a calf. If I'm ever burdoned by such a situation, I will try to remember this lesson.

Good, candid story. Thanks for the chuckle!

GA, sounds like nothing happened as it was planned this year as far as hunting with the Moose and now the elk. But it sounds like you came out pretty good shape. Did you recover from your Newfoundland trip? Fortunately, my luck inproved alot with Whitetail hunting this year. So was that gun too heavy? Did your smith work out all the bugs? I was just looking at a 300WSM at Bass Pro today for long range shooting. Finally found a place to shoot 500+ yards for fun over the winter.