How not, to use a 6.5 creedmoor

[Buster Hemlock]

If you can't accurately put your shots in the boiler room while hunting game animals then you shouldn't take the shot, period. That range is different for everyone, weather conditions will vary this for a individual shooter from day to day. Cartridges with high velocity, launching heavy for caliber bullets with a high BC are ideal for obvious reasons but if you can't shoot a 7, 300 or 338 or whatever well due to recoil then a lighter recoiling 6.5 may be the answer as long as the shooter can place a shot properly. And sometimes the heavy bullets aren't the answer either, at short to mid-range they are dropping faster, recoiling more and may be drifting more too.

 

[Pulpwood]

We all can and have made shots we wish we had back . People watch all these long range tv shows and think it's easy to do ,it's not . It takes a lot of practice and some of us really don't have places to shot that far to began with . It takes self desipline to know ones own limits and we should as hunters hold our shots to the ones we KNOW that we can make . We owe that to the animals that we hunt .

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Can see where the last shot hit. First looked decent, middle 2 misses seemed like he was rattled but who knows.

Personally, if I've already got lead in an animal I'm not gonna sit and watch it because it's behind a sappling like that. I would have sent another there.

Glad he got the bull in the end. Sometimes it's no fairy tail

 

[Barrelnut]

Am I seeing this right, please correct me if I'm not. I'm having a hard time telling where his first shot hit. On my phone it looks like it hit shoulder (maybe broke it) and didn't penetrate. Then miss (?...all I see was dirt flying) and another miss (third definitely, wide left). Then base of the neck/shoulder junction (?), then another rifle and pistol shot after jumping him when they made it over.
I know crap happens when hunting but the video made me cringe a bit.

I think the first shot hit way low and broke the elks leg just above the elbow. You can see it a little later in one of the front views. The leg is bent outward there.
The guy had no business shooting. It was a hail marry. It's the kind of stuff that gives long range hunting a bad name.

 

[FIGJAM]

If you can't accurately put your shots in the boiler room while hunting game animals then you shouldn't take the shot, period. That range is different for everyone, weather conditions will vary this for a individual shooter from day to day. Cartridges with high velocity, launching heavy for caliber bullets with a high BC are ideal for obvious reasons but if you can't shoot a 7, 300 or 338 or whatever well due to recoil then a lighter recoiling 6.5 may be the answer as long as the shooter can place a shot properly. And sometimes the heavy bullets aren't the answer either, at short to mid-range they are dropping faster, recoiling more and may be drifting more too.

I don't know man - if you are saying all of your shots on game have been in the "boiler room" i am inclined to call BS, only because there are so many variables when it comes to hunting...even the best marksman will drop the ball.

I am curious what bullet he was shooting. That second shot was on the money and dropped him.

 

[NEMTHunter]

Nice bull.
The thing that stuck out to me was were he shot the bull, sky lined....
With that said I am glad they were able to get it instead of loosing it. That was the big upside to me.

Other then that very poor video. Nut as others have said. We have all been there. Or at least most of us have been.

 

[FIGJAM]

I think the first shot hit way low and broke the elks leg just above the elbow. You can see it a little later in one of the front views. The leg is bent outward there.
The guy had no business shooting. It was a hail marry. It's the kind of stuff that gives long range hunting a bad name.

I agree - Not to mention, he was all over the place with the 2nd and 3rd shot - he definitely wasn't an MOA shooter...it was like 3ft to the left and then 3ft over it's back.

 

[NEMTHunter]

I think the first shot hit way low and broke the elks leg just above the elbow. You can see it a little later in one of the front views. The leg is bent outward there.
The guy had no business shooting. It was a hail marry. It's the kind of stuff that gives long range hunting a bad name.

I feel you are right about were he hit it. Went back and looked and yes I agree.

 

[Bravo 4]

..but it is unfortunate that the bull suffered for so long.....

This is what made me cringe. As jmcmath said you already injured him severely (maybe fatally...eventually), I shoot till they stop.
As I stated; crap happens, and things do not always go as planned. The cow I shot this year was with my .338 RUM (236 grain Hammer Hunter) @ close to 100 yards. Broadside tucked up close behind shoulder, I usually shoot for shoulder(s) and think she would have dropped if that's what I'd have done. However she turns and starts going down hill angled hard away. The next shot skinned back leg and went all the way through the forward abdomen, then chest, and exited base of neck...she was jello on the inside. She hit the dirt and I hurried down, she tried to get back up and almost got back on her feet but I put a shot in the base of the skull/spine. The whole thing last a very short time, I was amazed at the tenacity of her. They never cease to amaze me.

 

[Korhil78]

I feel you are right about were he hit it. Went back and looked and yes I agree.

I'm not trying to defend the guy but the first shot, hit at the lowest point of the shoulder and didn't penetrate. It didn't hit at the elbow and break the leg. When you are looking at the front view in the video, the leg that is sticking out a little side ways is his hind leg because it's on a little incline. You can see it when the bull takes the step. You can also see his front leg on the side the shot was taken sticking straight down.

I'm not judging, just saying what I would have done in that situation. I would have been prone with a bipod or pack and rear rest. You need to be as stable as possible and the rock he was leaning on was not it. It wasn't the caliber or cartridge.

 

[Buster Hemlock]

What I am saying is that way to many guys are winging shots they have no business even considering making, let alone actually pulling the trigger on. No every shot isn't perfect and we misjudge wind and drop shots or make a poor hit but it's clear this shooter was incapable of making a solid follow up shot based on the data he got from his first shot. Your first shot you need to do your due diligence and make a shot you have confidence that you can put in the boiler room and if you do make a poor shot based on the data you now have from current environmentals make a rapid follow up shot.

I don't know man - if you are saying all of your shots on game have been in the "boiler room" i am inclined to call BS, only because there are so many variables when it comes to hunting...even the best marksman will drop the ball.

I am curious what bullet he was shooting. That second shot was on the money and dropped him.

 

[dfanonymous]

Well the first shot of the video hit it in the shoulder somewhere. The bull retracted it's leg upward and walked.

If a .300 win mag using 200 plus grains hit the same area of the animal at the same distance, wouldn't it have a different out come....

 

[bdlesh]

I can't understand how this was even possible ......he had a 6.5 creedmore! Doesn't that automatically make you a sniper? The elk spoiled the whole thing by keeping to dodge the rounds.

 

[Bravo 4]

I'm not trying to defend the guy but the first shot, hit at the lowest point of the shoulder and didn't penetrate. It didn't hit at the elbow and break the leg. When you are looking at the front view in the video, the leg that is sticking out a little side ways is his hind leg because it's on a little incline. You can see it when the bull takes the step. You can also see his front leg on the side the shot was taken sticking straight down.

I'm not judging, just saying what I would have done in that situation. I would have been prone with a bipod or pack and rear rest. You need to be as stable as possible and the rock he was leaning on was not it. It wasn't the caliber or cartridge.

So are you saying the hit could have been a quicker fatality shot if it had penetrated? This is the exact reason I use the rifle I do. I would expect my .338 RUM (or Edge) to penetrate that shoulder. Just as it has on more than one occasion, and at ranges a lot further. I don't know if it were an errant shot or if that's where he intended, but if he hit where I think he did then you are gonna have a hard time telling me that my selection of cartridge and bullet won't make a difference. That was probably a marginal/bad hit with his gear, but not with mine.

Edited: we all know that a well placed bullet (about any from about any cartridge) will kill, it's worst case that I think about. A bigger cartridge-better bullet might not kill them any deader, but it might actually kill them.
Just teasing guys!