How many elk have you killed, and with what cartridges?
Or more importantly, with what bullets?
wanting to hear from hunters that have shot elk and moose with a 243 win
- Thread starter struff55
- Start date
How many elk have you killed, and with what cartridges?
Or more importantly, with what bullets?
I have been told often in the last 26 years or so that thd 303 Brit and 30/30 Win are both inadequate for moose and elk, yet before that , both were pretty standard as " heavy rifles" up here in the North .
The people using them however were rarely gun nuts, but trappers, their guns were tools like their knives and axes, not recreational toys.
Usually these people owned only three guns, a 12 gauge, a 22lr, and a heavy caliber rifle for everything from deer to bison , and they killed efficiently with them with a minimul amount of tracking.
Go figure.......
Cat
The people using them however were rarely gun nuts, but trappers, their guns were tools like their knives and axes, not recreational toys.
Usually these people owned only three guns, a 12 gauge, a 22lr, and a heavy caliber rifle for everything from deer to bison , and they killed efficiently with them with a minimul amount of tracking.
Go figure.......
Cat
Good friend of mine (and one of the best running shots I know) is just like that. Owns guns for hunting. Has a 12 gauge, a 22 and a 30-06. That's it. Hunts all his big game with that 06, 180 gr bullets for bigger game, 150 for deer (I know because I load his ammunition for him). He's a successful hunter on everything we've ever hunted over the last 35 years. - dan
there are no elk where I live....moose is what I hunt...well over a dozen offhand but I have never counted, I live on a trapline 15 km from the nearest road and thats how I like it...road hunting is for city folks and thats fine....farmyard hunters sitting in a hay loft or a tree stand with hot thermos of coffee and a rifle rest setup trail cameras and timed feeders....uggg... ...I have made most of my kills walking or in a canoe.. 700 yards was my longest shot and most of my kills were from a 300winmag with a handloaded 180gr NP...one a 350 rem mag, one a 375 ruger...a couple when I was young were with a 308 winchester when moose were more abundant....only one moose "DROPPED in its tracks" with one shot...not hard to kill it just seems to take a while for the to figure it out...my elk knowledge comes from two uncles and a very good friends from the SE BC....I'm over 60 and get tired of these same old BS from young guys killing mule deer with 223 and elk with whatever light gun....all foolishness in my way of thinking...one guy bragged he shot his moose in the eyes with a 22 magnum...
Yes broadside shots with no wind at a know range on a calm animal with perfect shot placement from a rest small calibers can do great things in the hands of great shooters... REAL world wilderness hunting I dont think has ever dealt me that kind of perfection...I do think a 30-06 with a good bullet does 90% of real word hunting just fine btw
Yes broadside shots with no wind at a know range on a calm animal with perfect shot placement from a rest small calibers can do great things in the hands of great shooters... REAL world wilderness hunting I dont think has ever dealt me that kind of perfection...I do think a 30-06 with a good bullet does 90% of real word hunting just fine btw
700 yards, thats a long poke. What range finder do you like for that?
Sask isn’t flat. Lots of coulees and hills. Lots of bush and trees if you’re in the right area. BIL saw zero whitetail near the Blizzard Capital but a ton of moose.
Different areas require different strategies if you wish to be successful.
I’m a sissy, not a fan of recoil. Ethical harvest one has to be proficient with the firearm they use.
interesting thread and i've waited till now to chime in.
This season a friend asked me if i would mentor his wife as she was quite desperate to become a hunter and he is into race cars and building engines, not hunting and fishing LOL
So of course I obliged.
She showed up for the first sight in session with a brand new savage package rifle in .243. I was disappointed that the local gun shop sold her on that rifle and caliber as she has money and i would have steered her into a browning in .308 or 7-08. Saying that, I will admit , I have zero experience with the .243 before that day, other than on paper and a general knowledge of ammunition.
First hunt was for Coastal Blacktail so I figured the .243 was probably kinda perfect but i had my own reservations when it came to her trying to take a larger interior mulie or whitetail.... not really because i don't think the .243 can kill..... just her shooting skills are still very raw and shot placement would be key.... as it always is anyways.
She didn;t get a chance at a blacktail but we kept hunting. Come november in the latter part of the season after the rut closure we put boots on the ground nearly every day and it finally paid off. I'm not sure what ammunition she was using but if memory serves i think it was american whitetail on the box.... so Hornady? I dunno.
I passed on this buck with my 7mm rem mag so she could take it. It was about a 75 yard shot, slightly downhill. She made an excellent shot that took out the heart and some lung and exitted low leaving a surprisingly large exit hole. Found some of the jacket materal snagged on a rib within the exit wound.
The deer only went maybe 20 yards and piled up.
This season a friend asked me if i would mentor his wife as she was quite desperate to become a hunter and he is into race cars and building engines, not hunting and fishing LOL
So of course I obliged.
She showed up for the first sight in session with a brand new savage package rifle in .243. I was disappointed that the local gun shop sold her on that rifle and caliber as she has money and i would have steered her into a browning in .308 or 7-08. Saying that, I will admit , I have zero experience with the .243 before that day, other than on paper and a general knowledge of ammunition.
First hunt was for Coastal Blacktail so I figured the .243 was probably kinda perfect but i had my own reservations when it came to her trying to take a larger interior mulie or whitetail.... not really because i don't think the .243 can kill..... just her shooting skills are still very raw and shot placement would be key.... as it always is anyways.
She didn;t get a chance at a blacktail but we kept hunting. Come november in the latter part of the season after the rut closure we put boots on the ground nearly every day and it finally paid off. I'm not sure what ammunition she was using but if memory serves i think it was american whitetail on the box.... so Hornady? I dunno.
I passed on this buck with my 7mm rem mag so she could take it. It was about a 75 yard shot, slightly downhill. She made an excellent shot that took out the heart and some lung and exitted low leaving a surprisingly large exit hole. Found some of the jacket materal snagged on a rib within the exit wound.
The deer only went maybe 20 yards and piled up.
Really depends where in sk. The northern half of the province becomes heavily forested. - dan
tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
That's the problem right there. Might be a killing shot, but an animal that can travel a couple, few hundred yards can virtually disappear. With plenty of tracks everywhere, or another animal making tracks behind a wounded animal, having a small or nonexistent blood trail is a problem. I have walked circles around a deer that I heart shot, and had to restart my search several times, after walking past it and up and down trail. In the end it was right where I figured it should be. It just juked off the trail after jumping deadfall to tangle itself up, underneath some bush. Didn't go far at all, and there was blood to follow.
Have heard quite a few stories of moose killed with smaller guns, and even quite a few with .22 LR, and .22 Magnum. I don't believe moose cover as much ground as an elk after being wounded. And maybe that's part of the reason I don't recall as many stories of elk being killed with .243 and none by rimfire.
tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
To kind of expound on what I've said before; I'm sure the .243 has killed a whole pile of game that has gone unacknowledged. I'm pretty sure that elk I shot with mine died just fine. But a fat lot of good it did me, as I never caught up with it!
Ballistically speaking, I have a lot more faith in heavier bullets, and even going up incrementally to the next bore sizes is generally an improvement of 20-40% or more mass.
Doesn't really matter what people want to believe about what I'm shooting and how. A lot of talk about marksmanship and bullet performance, but the same guys probably aren't shooting big game with Hornets either. I have killed a deer with one, but I'm not going to disparage someone's shooting because they draw the line above that.
My remarks, if I haven't mentioned already, just pertain MY experience with elk. Others may have better success, but I went against my judgement taking out the rifle, half believing I would kill a deer with it. Use what you want, but this thread seems to be mainly started as an argument thread, with the presupposition that a .243 is equal to any magnum or medium bore rifle. Kind of willfully just being oppositional, as we all can figure out that a .338 WM is going to leave a pile more damage and much bigger exit hole in it's wake. Whether it runs at all, is somewhat beside the point.
Ballistically speaking, I have a lot more faith in heavier bullets, and even going up incrementally to the next bore sizes is generally an improvement of 20-40% or more mass.
Doesn't really matter what people want to believe about what I'm shooting and how. A lot of talk about marksmanship and bullet performance, but the same guys probably aren't shooting big game with Hornets either. I have killed a deer with one, but I'm not going to disparage someone's shooting because they draw the line above that.
My remarks, if I haven't mentioned already, just pertain MY experience with elk. Others may have better success, but I went against my judgement taking out the rifle, half believing I would kill a deer with it. Use what you want, but this thread seems to be mainly started as an argument thread, with the presupposition that a .243 is equal to any magnum or medium bore rifle. Kind of willfully just being oppositional, as we all can figure out that a .338 WM is going to leave a pile more damage and much bigger exit hole in it's wake. Whether it runs at all, is somewhat beside the point.
ackleyruger
Member
- Location
- central AB
While living in Manitoba I used 22-250 hand loaded with 55g Sierra game kings for black bear and white tail. Never lost an animal, stunning results. Once I moved to Alberta I was forced to go larger however now that the rules have changed I am shopping for a lighter 22-250 again!
