How many elk have you been a part of killing?

Salmonchaser said:

Amazing how long a gut shot elk can live and how far they can go. Certainly in the crease, 1/3 of the way up gets it done.
I often wonder regarding poor performance on shoulder shots if the hit was too high, or the bullet failed. Elk bones are tough. Always like it when they tip over.
Best performance on Elk was moms .257 bob. She didn't kill too many but every one was shot between the ear and the eye.

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I ran a wild game processing company for 6 years in Bozeman MT during the high times of the elk hunts in Gardiner and everywhere else in MT for that matter, I don't really know how many elk I've cut but it's well over 2000 and from what I saw there and what I've seen personally with hitting the shoulder is two things, guys will hit high and go through the end of the blade which usually drops them but many recover. It's 10 inches from the meat to the top of the spine on a bull elk and guys just blow the tops of the spine of, I've cut many that were missing the tops of a couple vertebra and had healed up. The second issue is getting a bullet through the lower shoulder bone and especially the joint, I'd see elk every week with broken and healed over shoulders, it's the most common thing to see wounding wise and they live.
It took me several years of trying bullets to figure out how to punch though the heavy shoulder bones and joint consistently and yet get some good damage to the lungs for a quick death short of just shooting 338 RUM for everything

It still blows my mind every time I watch a bull take an arrow and they can't even make it out of sight, you run their lungs though and they get the wobbles quick. Watched a buddy put an arrow in a bull right in the center of the chest bedded down and he didn't even get up!!

I think it's a displacement thing with arrows. Look at the size of the hole they cut. They don't need the shock like a bullet with such a big hole. Muzzleloaders are the same way. You get very little tissue destruction but a .50 caliber hole displaces a lot of tissue.

When you get to medicare age and have been hunting and helping others your whole life you get higher numbers. I can't swear it was over 200 so I voted just below that. Rifle Bow and muzzle loader it does not matter just go out and do it!

Salmonchaser said:

1980 I was hunting in hells Canyon, for the record it is much deeper and steeper now then it was 40 years ago. Hit a bull 4 times in front of the diaphragm with 180 gr. Partitions out of an 06. 350 yards+/-. Never crushed any big bone. He was hurt, made it to the ridge top, died and slid over 1000 feet down towards the snake river.
Next year had an 8mm Remington, intentionally drove 220 grains through the heart of a rag horn at 100 yards. When I got to where he was standing there were chunks of heart as big as my thumb all over the snow. He went 200 yards w/o a heart. Maybe Dad and Gramps were right. Aim to break the far shoulder, works every time.
That's what I do. If I get both shoulders that's ok too.

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Ha ha.. I got a good chuckle out the bold and underlined line! Used to hunt Chukar along the breaks of the snake river in the Palouse area while going to school at Washington State more like 50 years ago... They are so steep now, one would just follow that elk into the river.. 50 years ago we used to work our way down hill until we found a flock, then hunt horizonally along the breaks working slowly up or down depending if it was morning or afternoon and whether the birds were working up or down.

As for the elk killed, I only listed/counted the ones I shot, not all that I have helped gut or pack out shot by friends and relatives.

djm670 said:

Ha ha.. I got a good chuckle out the bold and underlined line! Used to hunt Chukar along the breaks of the snake river in the Palouse area while going to school at Washington State more like 50 years ago... They are so steep now, one would just follow that elk into the river.. 50 years ago we used to work our way down hill until we found a flock, then hunt horizonally along the breaks working slowly up or down depending if it was morning or afternoon and whether the birds were working up or down.

As for the elk killed, I only listed/counted the ones I shot, not all that I have helped gut or pack out shot by friends and relatives.

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I no longer hunt elk in the snake, too much like work. This was my 51st season chasing Chukar there. Numbers are down this year, only drove over once.

Ckgworks said:

Does Archery count?

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About 20 or so but I have yet to poke the elusive and majestic wapiti.

FEENIX said:

About 20 or so but I have yet to poke the elusive and majestic wapiti.

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Total opposite for me.....Between my brother and I, we're over 20....all poked with sharp sticks. Never had the opportunity yet with a rifle.

bigngreen said:

.....just shooting 338 RUM for everything ..

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A good one for everything....

Not much in the elk game anymore, my advice is select a rifle, and bullet for the circumstances you intend to hunt.
Roosevelt's knee deep in a tidal swamp, water grass belt buckle to head high, is a different game than Rockies in the Wyoming high country.
If you aren't competent beyond 300 yards, why stress over a 15 lb rifle, and a high BC bullet? As my skill sets diminish I'm making choices that fit those parameters better.

Hell Salmon I feel the last time I was in the breaks it was uphill both ways. lol

What I have learned is you have to know your kits limits and yours. Caliber selection is fine but accuracy is final!

I have harvested or helped harvest 33. Mostly rifle hunting and most were bulls. It helps to grow up and live where the elk live. Owning horses is a good way to get invited on other peoples hunts as well

Yes with the bow Ive seen them take 3 steps and fall over,and seen them run a ways till bloods gone.Half my bull kills are archery. My best year 03 I went to SA archery,then home shot a bear,B&C moose,320 bull,165 whitey those 338.27 animals that season.

None been wanting to go for 10 years. Going to make it happen this year, school or no school, don't care got a buddy talking to guides already (he regularly goes) so hopefully dad, my brother, and I will be flying out one weekend next September.

"Owning horses is a good way to get invited on other peoples hunts as well"

Lucky you! I usually got invited to other people's hunts as the horse.....

20+ elk I've been a part of