How not, to use a 6.5 creedmoor

whirlwindjml said:

I wasnt intending to call a certain anybody out. Sorry if it felt hostile. I have a magnum and i dont think a low leg hit would would have been any better with it. Its just a disagree ment.
My self and my family have 6 elk in row quickly killed now with a creedmoor since 2016 with 2@ 515. They dont always go instantly but theyve all been 1 shot. I have seen enough magnum skrew ups to know the extra energy dont cover the sin shots.
Atleast we all agree in placing limits, practising, and that its ok to post the good, the bad but never the UGLY.

And to those who dont get the long range hunting.....you might be on the wrong forum...many are here to be better and sharpen our LONG RANGE HUNTING SKILLS.

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Gcan said:

I disagree. That first shot should have been lethal. Period! It failed to penetrate the shoulder and get into the lungs and heart. This is why many of us feel the 6.5s, particularly the credemore are simply insufficient for big game hunting. If the shot had been 8" further back it would have easily killed that elk and we'd have another bunch of yahoos claiming the Credemore is an elk gun. It is not anymore than a 30-06 is an elephant gun. It will kill a elephant if all the stars align, but you shouldn't do it.
As to the 300 win, 300UM or338s. Any one of those shooting any 180-250 grain good hunting bullet would have dropped that elk on that first shot.
People read the ballistics numbers and think they can find a reliable KILLING caliber. Sadly for that elk, It just doesn't work that way.

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What Whirlwind said. There is nothing magical about the creedmoor, but the 6.5 cal bullets seem to overperform in my experience if you pick the right bullet and make a good shot. I agree with Whirlwind, the shot seems low on the shoulder, so while a magnum may have done more damage to the leg, you guys who think your 300 and 338 mags are going to hit the low front part of the shoulder and then magically make a hard left and work its way up into the vitals are pretty funny.

Ricky McLaughlin said:

I agree 100%. At least use something with a 250 minimum grain bullet.

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Was this a serious response or is there some sarcasm in there? I am hoping the latter, but you can't always tell on here.

MontanaRifleman said:

So, had they used a more potent round, I am 99% certain they would have dropped that bull on the first shot. And if they had done that this thread would not even exist. We would never know how unskilled and poor of judgement they were. Hmmmm

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Doubtful...dude probably would have scoped himself and completely missed the animal. Would have made for a better video tho.

MajorSpittle said:

Crappy Hunt? How many elk have you taken? Been on many elk hunts in the mountains? I bet this hunt got him a better trophy then you will ever get.

I have hunted a hell of a lot of Mule Deer with 7RM and '06 in mountains just like that. Calling the wind a 600 yards when it is blowing over, through, up, down ridges is tough, now figure out the trees blocking the wind in different areas.

The guy got a first round hit that was inches from a perfect shot. You couldn't do that, and if you say you can you lie. I have shot competition, spent years hunting in the mountains, and have burned a hell of a lot of ammo shooting long range while in the mountains. I would never think "oh I got this shot" when you have wind going over ridges like that. Bullets can jump a foot up or down from the drafts at 600 yards and there is never any shot to shot consistency in calling the wind. You think going to the same range, calling the same wind, same angle, same known yards is ANYTHING like taking that shot?

Now, have you ever shot something and tracked it in your scope waiting for a follow up shot? Go figure the POI change from the first shot that was uphill, to the second shot down hill. Now figure the POI change if the elk was just 30 yards closer or farther away, with wind/angle. Now put yourself in the moment where you are actually the hunter that has 1 shot on the wounded elk, did you pay attention to the changes in target distance/wind/angle or did you just follow the animal and shoot when another shot presented itself.

People on here are so F-O-S. I have been around so many hunters, marksmen, and competition shooters...... but none of them hold a candle to how well any of you guys shoot. D*mn you are all a bunch of guys that put the first round in a 4 inch circle at 600 yards while hunting in the mountains, I am so G-D-mn impressed with you all. A bunch of perfect shots being fired on this thread today.

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You aren't one of the people in the video are you? I can't believe you are defending these A$$Clowns. I am with @300whisper on this one. I get what you are saying, but I do a lot of elk and deer hunting in some rugged country in Idaho with steep canyons. You are acting like 600 yards is 1500 yards. I don't think a 600 yard shot is that far. The big magnums don't compensate for a hunters failure to read wind or judge range , but heavy for caliber high BC bullets do. Hell, the dude had an army of people around him ranging, telling him the conditions etc. All he had to do was not suck. I am sure we all make stupid decisions and bad shots, but if I posted them on youtube or a public forum like this I would expect to get lit up for my stupidity. So if you are one of the people in the video, food for thought.

The problem is he was trying to shoot above his Skill/Competency level!
And he wasn't smart enough to realize that.
I practice on steel/paper not animals and have a firm understanding of just what I can do..Or Can't!.. If in doubt...PASS!!

FIGJAM said:

What Whirlwind said. There is nothing magical about the creedmoor, but the 6.5 cal bullets seem to overperform in my experience if you pick the right bullet and make a good shot. I agree with Whirlwind, the shot seems low on the shoulder, so while a magnum may have done more damage to the leg, you guys who think your 300 and 338 mags are going to hit the low front part of the shoulder and then magically make a hard left and work its way up into the vitals are pretty funny.

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I looked like it hit the shoulder plate and broke it. Which would be fine if the bullet kept going with enough energy to distrupt organs and maybe even shock CNS but since we are all speculating, I reckon it just kind of punctured through the lung like a knife and caused a sucking chest wound. That would explain it just standing there, it was probably tying not to exert itself anymore.

A human can live with a sucking chest wound over a half hour so I can only imagine..

Well at least we all now know how not to do it.

I believe the only thing 'we' have learned here is what it looks like to have happen to 'yourself'.....it happens....therefore the only part of this thread that should be characterized as bad....is putting the video out for people to see......

I have been witness to seeing oregon bulls shot at 500 or less with magnums...and same results...and other stories of bulls running allover the place after being shot with 'perfect bullet placement'...
Eventually the ones I heard of died....and probably more i didn't hear of got away....it happens....

And someone said early 'arrows don't have a problem killing an elk'......your absolutley correct...the arrow nor bullet have no problem killing an elk....its the person shooting.........

You will never convince these that have drank of the Creedmoor Kool-Aid that the 6.5 is not an Elk Cartridge. They are of the "Foot Pounds and BC" School of thought. If their line of reasoning is taken far enough, then the 257 Wby is a fine dangerous game round. A good Elk Cartridge starts at .284 and larger. If your weak ... can't handle the recoil, then stay where the Deer and the Antelope play. Yes, people kill elk with the 243 Win. I watched a guy shoot one 5 times with a BLR in that caliber before it fell, the final round placed in the neck. Put enough bullets in an Elk and it will eventually die. The elk on this video deserved better than these 6.5 worshippers gave it.

300whisper said:

That's it. I've made two poor shots on deer where I couldn't recover the animals. It still bothers me.

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I have been very blessed, knock on wood, to have never lost an animal despite bad shots. I've never even had to come back and do a second day track yet. Once I hit an animal, bad shot or not, lead is continually in the air until I have no more shot or the animal is down. I'd rather lose some meat than a whole animal, but, I would rather not botch ANY shot.

That's why for the most part, I won't shoot over 3-400 yards under even the best conditions. I am not the young man with great eyes that I used to be, and I recognize that and admit it to myself.

2017 being the prime example already brought up, I still botch the occasional.

26Reload said:

I believe the only thing 'we' have learned here is what it looks like to have happen to 'yourself'.....it happens....therefore the only part of this thread that should be characterized as bad....is putting the video out for people to see......

I have been witness to seeing oregon bulls shot at 500 or less with magnums...and same results...and other stories of bulls running allover the place after being shot with 'perfect bullet placement'...
Eventually the ones I heard of died....and probably more i didn't hear of got away....it happens....

And someone said early 'arrows don't have a problem killing an elk'......your absolutley correct...the arrow nor bullet have no problem killing an elk....its the person shooting.........

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Amen!

It's videos exactly like this that give all hunters a bad name. YES everyone makes bad shots but come on we do not need to be putting it on the freaking inter web. What a bunch of geniuses. That was a very beautiful majestic elk kudos on that . Also kudos on keeping with it till you get it but why put this video where all the bunny hugging tree kissing liberals can use it against us

I'm going to disagree about it not being up on youtube, here's why, that right there is a hunting reality, FUBAR happens but how you take care of it matters. Some how now we as a hunting community have bought into this liberal idea that any mistake or learning curve below perfection should result in excommunication and total destruction of the he persons involved. I can tell you that kind of mind set is as dangerous as just shoot up everything we see, look at our society today, we as a community have been forced into a type of #metoo mind set which will in the end condemn ALL of us who hunt because killing an animal is not pretty but it's real, gritty life if you choose to take your own meat.
I don't disagree that it could have been done better BUT I also know I've had my own messes that I've cleaned up and that was a valuable part of learning to do things better. It's why I'm so insistent on elk about staying of the shoulder with less than a big 338, because I've seen just these results with 7:s and 30 cal magnums with so called premium hunting bullets, I'm also against high shoulder shots due to what we see with the second hit, can count the times I've heard and seen guy have elk get up or push themselves down hill a long ways with no front end. I've been through this same wreck and had to figure out how to not have a repeat, everyone around me knows if this happens I'm all about helping them sort it out then learn from it, I've had guys track me down in the mountains to help them when it went wrong on an elk, I've helped many guys get back on an animal and be able to cleanly finish the job, I've seen grown men not able to deal with the reality that they had a bad hit and not be able to get the job done and I find that sad, own it, get it done and the hunting community SHOULD support the effort to fix the issue.
I can tell you that I here are a LOT of guys who instead of admitting something went wrong they walk away instead of facing it and I think this kind of reaction is why, any guy who has hunted a lot of elk and not had a pooch screw is so far in the minority that I'd say they are ignoring the times it's happened to them. Every missed shot you think you've had could be that first shot in the video!!

FIGJAM said:

Doubtful...dude probably would have scoped himself and completely missed the animal. Would have made for a better video tho.

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No dude, If the leg was the only damage done to the bull he would have skipped right over the ridge on three legs and kept going. They do that dontchya know... The shot was low, but high enough for the bullet or part of it to penetrate into the brisket chest area. Had it been a more potent round it would have gone through and taken out the other leg. Watch the video dude. Prefect broadside shot...