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Elk Hunt Recommendations

11K views 53 replies 31 participants last post by  RatTerrier 
#1 ·
Looks like I have been invited to hunt elk in Utah in October. Apparently, it is possible to successfully draw a spike bull AND a cow tag! Of course, this is primarily a meat hunt but I will have the chance to meet 10 others in camp and spend a full week. Looking forward to the trip!

I just got an email from my friend that invited me and he says the terrain is extremely rugged and shots typically range from 100-300 yards. I'm looking for hardware recommendations. I'm in the midst of building a lightweight AR in 6.8. That might come in handy for a rugged hunt but do you think the 6.8 has the horsepower to get the job done at that range for spike and cow elk? If so, can you recommend bullets? For the local deer, I shoot the TTSX very well with a mid-range loading of 2200. I love the AR platform and would prefer to take it but want to know what you think.

I have magnum center-fires that I could use, if needed. MUCH heavier, of course.

What do you think?

Garland in VA
 
#38 ·
What rifle do you consistently shoot the best? With which rifle can you successfully hit a 5 inch plate at 200-300 yards? I've seen animals killed DRT by a so called too small caliber and animals that are never recovered after being hit poorly with a 300 win mag. I'd bet more animals are lost every year because the hunter couldn't shoot his big rifle well than are lost due to the hunter having a rifle in too small a caliber. A magnum buys additional range but it's only a death ray in the hands of someone who can shoot it effectively.
 
#42 ·
I have a safe full of center-fire bolt-action rifles from .223 to .270 Wthby Mag. I haven't used them much since I started building ARs. For the last three years, I have taken all my deer with the 6.8 and my smokeless muzzle-loader; 4 to 6 deer per year.....a few hogs and a few coyotes. My ARs are at least as accurate as any bolt gun I own. I enjoy the lighter-weight, compact platform.

I am aware that the magnum rifles have more knock-down power and more margin-for-error. I feel comfortable knowing my limitations and plan to give it a go with the 6.8. I am impressed with the moose kill on an adjacent post.

We will be hunting just downhill from Alta, Utah between there and Mill Canyon Peak. I'm the guest of a family group that has hunted the area for years. They have been scouting for almost two weeks! There will be horses in camp.
 
#43 ·
In the average hunt in brush country and the northern woods the 6.8 is a great meat harvesting machine.
The 6.8 has plenty of power but consider if you are going in high country and the conditions are not the right ones IMO it is better to
bring the extra horse power. There are a number of calibers that will do great including the 308w with 130gr or 150gr TTSX.
See if you can find out more about the potential conditions but don't forget bulls can get big and if you increase the range I would say
consider other options. I guess it also depends on your own circumstances and possibilities.
Otherwise there is always the option to say no and don't take the shot if the conditions are not right. In that situation, that is the responsible thing to do.
 
#44 ·
I'm glad this thread got started, I'm going to N.W. Colorado the 1st week of Nov for a 'Drop camp hunt' with my dad, his cousin and my brother. I'm taking my 68 because my 30.06 groups like CRAP....sand bag in front and back....its not pretty. And yeah we've loaded up a few different loads for it and its not good. So my68 gets the nod, Its a Mk1 Mod 0 clone, 18" SPR barreled Bison upper. A nickle-quarter covers the groups at 100 yards, a quarter and a dime bout covers it at 200 yards.....if I do my part. So far my load out is 100gr ABs (since I can't find 110ABs to load an zero and all that mess) with 29.6gr AA2200, 2.295 COAL pushing it at roughly 2850fps. Colorado Hunting Regs requires the cartridge to have at least 1000 lbs energy @ 100yds which this load easily has. I just hope I don't get Bull Fever and shoot over its back or something lol.
 
#45 ·
The fact that it will kill an elk is not the point

I have killed almost as many hogs with a 22 lr loaded with velocitors than I have most everything g else combined.

I love my 6.8. And I push its limits all the time, but elk....No way.

All this shot placement crap is naive and short sighted. Everyone makes mistakes and the margin for error gets smaller as the power of the round decreases. Yes modern bullet construction is better and I load barnes bullets almost exclusively. When I white tail hunt where my shots won't exceed 300 yards I am comfortable let with the 6.8. But if I am sitting on a big wheat field and heavy tx panhandlers winds the 7'mm BAR with 139 grain GMX is in the stand. Same for mule deer. Elk no question. 338 win mag BAR. With 210 grain ttsx.

Not because I need them for a well placed 200 yard broadside shot. Hell they are way overpowered for that. I carry them because I have e hunted for over 40 years and I have made mistakes, friends have made mistakes, bullets hit heavy bone and come apart, hit a limb or unseen barbed wire, whatever else could possibly go wrong. I want a round that will enter the right rear hindquarter and if it doesn't break him down pass the entire length of the animal. Why? Because that is the only shot you get when crap happens. I would rather carry too much gun and not need it than have to try to bring down a moving wounded elk quartering away from me at 300 yards with the 6.8.

Last year on an elk hunt my buddy shot a 6x6 on the point of the shoulder chartering to him at 200 yards with a 300 win mag and 180 grain accubonds l a text. In the afternoon. The elk went down and got up. We tracked it a few hours in the dark and figured he would be easy to find in the morning. We did like 50 yards from where we stopped the night before. It would get up, throw its shoulder and go several hundred yards and lay back down. Tracking was all in soft earth as he bled only a few drops the whole time. We had to stop when it entered the Indian reservation. Point is his shot placement was only an inch off from where he wanted it at 200 yards. There is no question the bullet broke his shoulder high and did not penetrate the chest capacity with a strongly constructed 300 win mag bullet, not a slower 6.8 bullet of half the weight.

Elmer Keith and Jack Conner argued this until they died. Smaller stuff is great if conditions are right, but things happen.
 
#46 ·
I have killed almost as many hogs with a 22 lr loaded with velocitors than I have most everything g else combined.

I love my 6.8. And I push its limits all the time, but elk....No way.

All this shot placement crap is naive and short sighted. Everyone makes mistakes and the margin for error gets smaller as the power of the round decreases. Yes modern bullet construction is better and I load barnes bullets almost exclusively. When I white tail hunt where my shots won't exceed 300 yards I am comfortable let with the 6.8. But if I am sitting on a big wheat field and heavy tx panhandlers winds the 7'mm BAR with 139 grain GMX is in the stand. Same for mule deer. Elk no question. 338 win mag BAR. With 210 grain ttsx.

Not because I need them for a well placed 200 yard broadside shot. Hell they are way overpowered for that. I carry them because I have e hunted for over 40 years and I have made mistakes, friends have made mistakes, bullets hit heavy bone and come apart, hit a limb or unseen barbed wire, whatever else could possibly go wrong. I want a round that will enter the right rear hindquarter and if it doesn't break him down pass the entire length of the animal. Why? Because that is the only shot you get when crap happens. I would rather carry too much gun and not need it than have to try to bring down a moving wounded elk quartering away from me at 300 yards with the 6.8.

Last year on an elk hunt my buddy shot a 6x6 on the point of the shoulder chartering to him at 200 yards with a 300 win mag and 180 grain accubonds l a text. In the afternoon. The elk went down and got up. We tracked it a few hours in the dark and figured he would be easy to find in the morning. We did like 50 yards from where we stopped the night before. It would get up, throw its shoulder and go several hundred yards and lay back down. Tracking was all in soft earth as he bled only a few drops the whole time. We had to stop when it entered the Indian reservation. Point is his shot placement was only an inch off from where he wanted it at 200 yards. There is no question the bullet broke his shoulder high and did not penetrate the chest capacity with a strongly constructed 300 win mag bullet, not a slower 6.8 bullet of half the weight.
Elmer Keith and Jack Conner argued this until they died. Smaller stuff is great if conditions are right, but things happen.
Ya shoulda seen the tough bear bones this little 68 95 ttsx broke threw and retained 99% its weight, DRT. I found perfectly mushroomed bullet on farside between shoulder and hide.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8j5hopk2Ys
I guide for blackbear, and every year everyone shows up with their 300 and for some reason, thou's bears shot with em run the furthest.
One kid this year was smart, his Paps told em to use his 300 and son said i'm gonna use my own gun I shoot the best. He got the biggest this year so far and his ran the least, about 15 yards. One bear shot with a 300 this year was half the size and ran 200 yards, had to finish tracking next day due to low light and only pin drops of blood. Its all about shot placement, there is no extra room for error regardless how big a gun.
Oh, and Elmer Keith and Jack Conner knew nothin bout a Barnes or monolithic bullets.
 
#47 ·
Elk Hunting With 6.8 RESULTS!!!

Don't get excited...I never pulled the trigger and neither did any of the other 21 hunters in camp... Three bull elk were seen by one hunter on the first morning. They were hanging together and had no cows with them. (We had tags for spikes and cows.) No cow elk were seen all week by anyone. We heard no shots fired. This area, just east of Lehi, UT off Hwy 92 has traditionally had LOTS of elk. This same group had half the hunters tag out last year and almost 3/4 tag out the previous year. None this year... A number of the hunters in camp feel that too many cow tags have been issued over the last several years and that numbers are dwindling. The area is quite accessible to runners, hikers, bike enthusiasts and motorcycles that area allowed on paths off-road.

I had 6 moose within 50 yards over the first 3 days. Moose tags are tough to draw and they are a once-in-a-lifetime tag. These were Shiras moose. We had one walk through camp one day. Some of the people in camp said it looked like he wanted to lay down but that one of the yippie dogs in camp kept him moving. On certain days in certain places, mule deer were everywhere you looked. I did not see any big bucks. One guy had a small bear walk past on the third day.

So, pretty disappointing trip overall.

Now for the 6.8.....
Everyone was interested in my rifle. Once I explained the caliber to them, a handful of the crusty elk hunters relegated the rifle to pea-shooter status. Several of them were using heirloom .30-30 Winchesters. Most of the rifles in camp were belted-magnum bolt rifles, as expected. Most had 7mm Rem mag or .300 Win Mags. There was a .30 WSM and a .30 Ultra Mag and others. All I can say is that on the first morning, as I was following 4 other hunters, they all shifted their heavy guns to the opposite shoulder multiple times within a half-mile hike from the truck. The lightweight 6.8 build (thanks for the ideas, BS!), was a joy to carry in the woods. Not having to stoop down to keep the barrel from catching branches and being able to keep the rifle close to my body were BIG bonuses over the course of the week. Most of the hunters in camp held the gun and were amazed by the light weight. I could hear what they were thinking!

In hunting over those 7 days, I learned that long shots out west are indeed possible and often the norm in that kind of country. I saw a lot of critters on hillsides from a long ways away. It depends on the situation, but I saw moose and deer at extreme ranges and at very close range. Had the elk participated, I feel I could have worked for any shot I wanted to take. The deer were pretty spooky but the moose were easy to get up on. I saw the bulk of animals at the edges of meadows, in thickets of aspens and in the thick, evergreen trees. As expected, most were seen early or just before dark. With the 6.8, there would be many shots possible within 200 yards but I would avoid the extended range shots.

I have been invited back by my embarrassed hosts and we will try to draw for a different area next year.

Maybe next year!

Garland

Here is my rifle! I took an old military sling and attached it to the handguard and to the bottom of the grip. It worked very well here and the strap was kept in place by my backpack strap. The lightweight, minimalist stock did not tend to snag on brush or clothing. I would like to fashion a sling that attached to the side of the hand guard and to the same side of the rear of the receiver so that I can carry the rifle in the ready position.


Here is me after a morning hunt. The rifle is carried with a minimal hassle. I found the butt of the stock a convenient and comfortable place to put my hand while walking, as shown.


Here is an example of some of the high-country in the neighborhood.


I found lots of deer and some elk sign in the quakies!
 
#48 ·
Too bad, no opportunity to display the capabilities of the lowly pea-shooter. :a26:

Gorgeous country, looks like a great time to be savored, in spite of no meat in the freezer.
 
#50 ·
Slipperhead, you're not the only one to have a bad hunting experience! I got back from my Drop Camp elk hunt in N.W. CO on Sunday.....it was the 3rd rifle season for elk....I guess after the elk for shot at with bows n arrows, black powders and 2 weeks of rifles they sorta bugged out and hit another mountain. We didn't see any sign or anything until the last day there, and what do ya know, they were on the next mountain over at roughly 880 yds, according to a guy in our groups range finder.....needless to say we got skunked....my brother and dad both had Savage 30.06 and the other guy had a Savage 7mm Magnum.....NOONE was hitting close to the elk across the range at 800 plus yards.....we tried a few rounds each but no good came from it. I was sighted in at 200 yds at the other 3 I think were sighted in at 100-150 yds....I think we were all shooting about 8-10 feet below the elk....they laughed at us and eventually ran off....lol
 
#51 · (Edited)
my brother and dad both had Savage 30.06 and the other guy had a Savage 7mm Magnum.....NOONE was hitting close to the elk across the range at 800 plus yards.....we tried a few rounds each but no good came from it. I was sighted in at 200 yds at the other 3 I think were sighted in at 100-150 yds....I think we were all shooting about 8-10 feet below the elk....they laughed at us and eventually ran off....lol
:a03::a10::a18::a42::a20::a43::a05::a13::a22::a11:
your gonna deserve all the flaming you are about to receive.
If ya guys dont practice for that range why test out on an animal, imagine doing a poor hit esp on an elk that can go forever and being a good hike away just to catch up. Also, what kind of energy do you think those boolits carry at that range?
 
#52 ·
Jerrm whatever, no animals were injured in this event so no flaming required. And if you decide to flame, I don't give a crap, we all have made bad decisions, we're human after all, and unfortunately that day was a day we all made bad decisions. At least I had the guts to admit it was stupid on our part for taking the shots, lets hear about something stupid while hunting that you've done Jerrm or are you perfect?? Alllllrighty then.......Before the yardage was ranged it was estimated, by the guy that was coming to pick us up with the horses and mules at 550 yds, according to my ballistic app my bullet has 1860 fps and 768.4 lbs of energy at that range, not ideal energy but it would have gotten the job done, minimum expansion for that bullet is 1800 fps, these terrible shot ideas were at broadside animals. The app showed to aim just below the 2nd mildot which I did, and I was hitting WAY low. So I'm glad the yardage was guessed/estimated/whatever too short. I wouldn't have tried any further because of the fps of the bullet. Although, if these animals were indeed at 550 yds and a kill zone shot would have been placed, I believe it would have humanely killed the animal. And I know the 7mm mag and the 30.06s had more than enough energy and fps to do the job. I don't have the numbers for those rifles but sometimes you don't need to be exact with everything.
 
#53 ·
i didnt have 2nd half of story you now gave. doesnt sound as bad now and 1st half didnt make sound like error rather just random pokes in dark that may be done again down the road but now doesnt sound like. i was just pointing out, not trying to flame, but give ya a heads up it may come. and yes, i have also made mistakes, including a few times in person giving guys too hard of a time when they make mistakes/poor choices ( but they are usually not resentful about it and would do it again in a heartbeat)

even though ya guys struck out, i'm sure ya's had a great time and thats the important part
here's to happy huntin:a04:
 
#54 ·
Jerrm its all good and yes there was a lot more to the story than my post I made last night, I shouldn't have been in a hurry last night and just gave part of the story, my fault for that....and no the shooting crap won't happen again, I promise ya that! But you're wrong about the 'I'm sure you guys had a great time camping'....LOL....it was TOUGH up there! Drop Camp Hunts are TOUGH because you're using someone else's tent, wood stove, camp stove, etc. The tent was large, 15'ish x 20'ish a couple extra layers of canvas on the top, nothing extra on the sides. It cooled down as quickly as it heated up thru out the night. Definitely not the 10 man artic tent with liner that me and my dad are used to hunting from! The firewood, if it wasn't green it was damp....that made for some cool burning n smoldering logs that had to be baby sat n messed with about every hour or so. The food we took was okay though, Mountain Valley freeze dried stuff, along with a few pounds of venison and taco seasoning and flour tortillas helped out some as well. Had a cold rocky mountain stream just about 50 yards from camp and we had a 5 gallon collapsible container and a water filtration system, so we had some GREAT water while we were there! The scenery was AWESOME, the hunting was super tough. It was an experience! That's for sure.
 
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