So come on gang.. especially those in the Carolinas....

what is the biggest elk you have taken with a 22 cal Bore...

centerfire or Rimfire... doesn't matter!

lets see those pics and photographs!

and hear those elk hunting adventures..

This is my elk.

It was a dark and stormy night...

I looked out my window and saw a marauding elk in my back yard. I got my trusty gun (a 308 Winchester handgun if I remember correctly) and fired from my garage missing the elk completely. My excuse for missing is that the cat was meowing and trying to get out of the garage. I was trying to keep her in and shoot at the same time. I didn't want to make the cat deaf with a braked handgun blast and I didn't want to shoot her.

Anyway, the elk ran. I went into the house to select a different weapon and when I returned, the elk was gone.

I thought, "where could the elk have gone?" When I looked up in a tree, there was the elk. I centered the red dot of the Crimson Trace on my Ruger Mark III Hunter on the elk and fired. There was a lot of commotion as the elk climbed higher but a minute or two later, the elk fell out of the tree dead.

Through all this, Sweetsums didn't wake up.

Ohio, by the way, has a large and healthy herd of elk. The 22 LR is really more than you need as I've found a 17 HMR to kill them cleanly.

seafire/B17G... what is the biggest you killed with a 22 cal.

Rob, from south carolina

Seafire, I love this!! I have killed ALL the friggen elk in Arizona, about 35,000, with the 223 Remington, and one of your Blue Dot loads, around 10 grains or so. Really knocks thier dicks in the dirt!! LOL! LOL!

Grumulkin, I think I have been shooting those Ohio elk here in Arizona too! Maybe they have been mistaken for illegal immigrants.
Jerry

My last trip to the "Carolinas" was very productive to say the least. I met up with this kind old fart named Glen, or Hotbore, or Hotsh$t and he offered to guide me on a elk hunt into areas that he was using to poach oh say, thousands of deer. His Model 70 Pre 64 .223 was not available as he had shot up his last Blue Dot loads butt shooting whitetails from a moving truck. He did point out that he was careful in the choice of Berger Target bullets to reduce ricochets.

Immediately I was impressed by his tall tales and he assured me that his work as customer representative at Marlin qualified him as a down right nice ole fart.

I must say now that I'm looking back on the whole weekend it was amazing to see what a .20 caliber air rifle will do to a mature 7x7 bull elk at 323 yards. Hotsh$t knows his way around an air rifle.

I wanted to meet some of his friends and hunting buddies but.................there weren't any around that would confess.

Hotsh$t I want you to know that the above is the truth and the whole truth so help me.......

Respectfully,

While working for Idaho Fish & Game, I had to shoot a calf elk that was down in deep snow. It was about 60 yards away from us and the only weapon we had was the 22 rimfire High Standard auto that the helicopter pilot kept for survival purposes. I got lucky and brained it with the first shot.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
While working for Idaho Fish & Game, I had to shoot a calf elk that was down in deep snow. It was about 60 yards away from us and the only weapon we had was the 22 rimfire High Standard auto that the helicopter pilot kept for survival purposes. I got lucky and brained it with the first shot.

465H&H

That is good shooting!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by seafire/B17G:
So come on gang.. especially those in the Carolinas....

what is the biggest elk you have taken with a 22 cal Bore...

centerfire or Rimfire... doesn't matter!

lets see those pics and photographs!

and hear those elk hunting adventures..

Even though you ask this tongue in cheek, if you post this same question in the Alaska forum, you will re-ignite a very sore subject. The Eskimos like using their .22's to hunt Caribou and other large game because it is cheap; despite the obvious problem of wounded many animals.

Talk about trolling.......

Since no one else is chiming in, I just wanted to share another Ohio elk hunting experience.

Just to put things in perspective, I didn't always dislike elk; in fact, I've had several pet elk raised from babies from a bottle. They are very smart and, when they decide to do something, are VERY persistent. In other words, I respect them.

My hostility toward them came to a head last summer. We had a late frost so none of my fruit trees put on any fruit with the exception of a plum tree which was pretty loaded. The plums started getting ripe and I sampled some which were VERY good. I had my mouth all set for more but alas, when I went out into my yard one morning every last living one of them was gone. There were some broken branches and claw marks on the tree trunk and limbs.

What had done this dastardly deed? Elk!

Now I know some internet pundit is going to come along and say, "elk can't climb trees." Well, I'm here to tell you they DO! It wasn't my cat; she could climb a tree but has never been known to have any attraction to plums. A groundhog can climp trees but wouldn't have been able to get every last plum and leave no remains even on the ground. Deer could get a few but probably would have taken nibbles of leaves as well and wouldn't have left claw marks on the tree trunk. That leaves elk as the prime and only suspect.

Anyway, elk have been in my field; probably after bird eggs. When the soybeans are up, they get bolder, come to my garden and dig up plants and make a general nuisance of themselves so I've been trying to thin the herd.

I was out looking over the back 50 and there was an elk. I had my Thompson/Center Encore with 28 inch Pro Hunter barrel chambered in 300 Winchester Magnum and stoked with Nosler 200 gr. Accubonds over H4831SC and topped with a Leupold Mark 4 4.5-14 illuminated scope with a tactical milling reticle. When I took my first shot, the elk was probably 325 yards away; I missed and the elk ran fast but not back to the brushy fence line but actually took a diagonal track and came closer. Most of the time with a near hit, elk will high tail it to cover but this one was either too bold or too stupid to do that. REALLY stupid I say because I took two more shots missing each time but coming very close and the elk still didn't leave.

An elk at 300 or so yards is a fairly small target. The only excuse I'll make in missing is that I wasn't using a bipod. I was using a wood pile for a rest that wasn't quite tall enough for me.

It is a little known fact, by the way, that single shot rifles can be reloaded if one misses. In fact, I'm able to reload in less time than it takes Mike Rogers to take the safety off his bolt action rifle on Expedition Safari. I went to get a cushion to set on the woodpile for a steadier rest, held carefully 1 mil high and WHAMMMM, the elk was in the bag at 270 yards.

The Encore stock design could use some redesigning as it's easy to get too close to the scope which I did on the last shot. Blood was dripping down my forehead and nose on to my hand. I went into the house to get cleaned up. Fortunately, my wife Sweetsums was watching a recorded episode of The Bachelorette so I was able to get into the bathroom and get cleaned up because if she had seen me with blood all over my face, she would have become VERY excited. In fact, when she saw my forehead the next morning, she was quite excited but not as much as she would have been the night before. Fortunately, unlike last summer, the wound wasn't big enough to require stitches.

I walked out into field to view my prize. When I returned, my feet were all muddy as I'd been wearing Crocs. Sweetsums would also have been very excited if she had seen me in the house with muddy feet but, as she was still watching TV, I was able to come in and get showered before she could view my feet.

Since I've said previously that a 17 HMR is sufficient for elk, some may ask, "why a 300 Winchester Magnum?" Well, parts of my back fence are over 400 yards away from where I'm shooting. I actually have tried to shoot a 17 HMR at 400 yards before. I was able to see the bullets hit the ground and with about a 10 foot hold over the bullets were short and the group size was about 8 to 10 feet; not good enough for elk and if fact, at the range the bullets would probably bounce off anything except Jello.

Did I feel overgunned with a 300 Winchester Magnum for elk? No; I'm really wanting a 378 Weatherby Magnum.

I know a rancher in Wyoming that shoots 2 or 3 elk every year with a .22-.250

Don't know if this will qualify, as its not 22 caliber, but it is under 100 proof.
I took mine with a bottle of Jim Beam (as a last resort of course.)

I tried my Davy Crockett grin and got the drop on him but had to finish him off with some "sour mash". This was one tough hombre and it took more than one shot. However, I managed to persevere.
Best,
GWB

Grumulkin

Great story..... but I thought only in the "Carolinas" would I find those tree climbing "elk". Seems as though I heard about a old fart named Glen,aka Hotsh$t that has the corner on the elk hunting experience there in fact he is the lead researcher for Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's "Carolinas" chapter. This seems to mesh with his editorial responsibilities that he is carry on for Air Gun magazine. In his last article he was chewing some butt on those "Elk" hunters who were going out undergunned with the 17HMR and calling them all pathetic idiots. His recommendations seemed to be mandatory, in his mind....(that is also weakening), that only a fool would go forth in the "Carolinas" on an "elk" hunt so pitifully undergunned and that only a true sportsman would step up to the .223 using those favored Blue Dot loads. He harbors strong opinions that these loads should be shot through a wood stock Model 70 Pre-64 and using Berger Varmint bullets to minimize those troublesome ricochets. Head shots are the recommended target zone and to test the skills and the balls......wait a second, some on these forums believe he is without his, that shots should only be taken at ranges in excess of 300 yards to maximize his home grown term of "innerd shifting". I'm thinking of subscribing to that Air Gun magazine to gather the wealth of his experience.

I did shoot one of the climbing "Elk" that came into our campground, here in Idaho, a couple of years ago. We had two of our married sons and their wives with us all camping together and doing some fishing. One of the Carolina climbing "elk" came into our camp around 3:00 AM and out from the tent comes three guys with a 44 Mag (this caliber's recoil scares Hotsh$t) and the two other guys with 40 S&W's. He was on the table and made a mad dash for the hills. We were not in a campground but far away in the sticks. He made it for about 25 yards until I touch one off and took him down with a marshmallow in his mouth!!! The next morning we got a better look at him and he was huge. He might have been a Carolinas book "elk."

Question:

Do you know the minimum in the "Carolinas" for a tree climbing "elk" to make the book?????????

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
While working for Idaho Fish & Game, I had to shoot a calf elk that was down in deep snow. It was about 60 yards away from us and the only weapon we had was the 22 rimfire High Standard auto that the helicopter pilot kept for survival purposes. I got lucky and brained it with the first shot.

465H&H

That is good shooting!!!!!

To be honest there was more luck than good shooting involved.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by vines:
seafire/B17G... what is the biggest you killed with a 22 cal.

Rob, from south carolina

no where near the size or number as our buddy Glenn has...

his hunting experiences far out weights mine and everyone elses on AR...

I didn't know if it is a Carolina thing.. or he is just GOOD!

I once kilt a horse, 'grave yard dead' with a .22 CB cap. Does that qualify?

Yup, Grave yard dead!

22 cal. is not legal in this state for elk, but a lot of people take elk with their truck, sedan, or sometimes even a motorcycle. Usually the elk comes out in better shape than the driver.

One of the best threads in a LONG time!
Peter