do you really feel that the rifle combo your using for hunting elk is really about the best match you can get or afford, and have you ever been in a situation using your rifle where you knew you were at a disadvantage?
are you thinking thru your rifle choice?
have you ever jumped elk or deer and found the rifle you held was not as fast and easy to use as a shotgun for shooting flushing birds?
we always hear about and discuss long range accuracy, but having a fast handling rifle that you can snap shoot effectively, without thinking about it, some rifle that fits you so well you could have a reasonable chance at hitting game at almost an unconscious response level, and having the ability to put out a fast second shot can at times be useful.
back in the early 1970s, When I was first starting out all the magazines were filled with guys using bolt actions with 3x9x scopes who made 300-700 yard shots, and the 270 win, 7mm remington mag and 300 wby and 300 win,were constantly shown as the ideal elk calibers to use in those magazines.
but talking to guys out in the hunt area, I frequently saw and heard about guys with scopes that failed to hold zero, I constantly ran into guys that could not hit what they were shooting at, and I found that the properly cleaned and lightly lubed pump action WAS faster and easier to use,and lighter in weight than the bolt guns, some of my friends had, and those 760 30/06 rifles were less likely to have problems.
I was really lucky when I started hunting elk to have several very experienced mentors , and while being young and having read a ton of elk hunting articles I tended to think some of their advice was a bit behind the times, the longer I hunted the more I saw the wisdom of the choices they made, in both equipment and hunting methods.
now I got invited to go on my first out of state elk hunt when I was about 18, and that previous summer Id spent nearly every weekend at the range, most of my mentors had and used Remington 760 30/06 rifles with either peep sites or 4x scopes with receiver peep sites as a back-up and when I asked why I was told that the area we would be hunting in was rather steep rolling timber slopes, ranges would seldom exceed 200 yards and to buy and use peters 220 grain soft point ammo sighted in to hit 3" above the point of aim at 100 yards.
sighting in that way put the bullets dead on at 200 yards.
these rifles were fairly light weight, and rarely had any problem maintaining zero, and trust me rifles get dropped, guys slip and fall and scopes rarely held up in those days many fogged or broke, so use of peep receiver sites made sense.
every year I went with the group several members took elk, and that was off public hunting areas, I had looked into published statistics and most guys averaged about a 18%-25% success , most of our trips we were getting closer to a 45%-50% success ratio, and it eventually dawned on me why, we were hunting as a TEAM, and having rifles that were very dependable, that offered fast repeat fire capability and common ammo helped results, but the main thing was that as a group we planed both where and how we would hunt each drainage, each day, and we never made the mistake of just repeatedly hunting the same drainage day after day, each night we discussed what we had seen, and got out topo maps and moved to a new area if we were not seeing lots of fresh elk sign, and at least some elk.
we would get up pre-dawn, and drop two guy teams off about a 1/2-3/4 mile apart,so each two man team, would enter a drainage and push game around so each hunter effectively raised the odds the others might see game.
we rarely shot huge bulls but we did usually have many guys fill tags with legal elk.(remember this was all public hunting areas)
it was common to hear a couple very quick shots in rapid succession, and later in the day find out one of our group had an elk down.
I just knew that a WEATHERBY magnum would help increase, my chances of getting an elk,so I purchased a 340 weatherby after pouring over ballistic chart, info, and while its been an excellent and effective rifle,but its long, fairly heavy and slightly slower to use than the remington 760/7600 and its been decades since Ive shot an elk past 300 yards, and while it does seem to drop game faster those old 30/06 rifles killed game just as effectively, with a single well placed shot, and with less recoil, cost and with less concern about getting scratched or dropped.
I sight all my big game rifles in so you aim at the yellow dot and the bullet impacts cover the red dot
anytime you feel youve become a great shot, try to place two rapid shots in a 2" dot from a rapidly acquired field position, after walking the 100 yards back to your shooting location from the target after a brisk walk in under 10 seconds, from 100 yards
Ive done it occasionally tried it hundreds of times, it takes constant repetition to do well.
related info
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-looking-for-in-an-elk-rifle.2368/#post-71347
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...cks-browning-375-h-h-a-bolt.11803/#post-67646
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/working-a-bolt-action-rifle.15007/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-340-wheatherby-and-375-h-h.12979/#post-67520
are you thinking thru your rifle choice?
have you ever jumped elk or deer and found the rifle you held was not as fast and easy to use as a shotgun for shooting flushing birds?
we always hear about and discuss long range accuracy, but having a fast handling rifle that you can snap shoot effectively, without thinking about it, some rifle that fits you so well you could have a reasonable chance at hitting game at almost an unconscious response level, and having the ability to put out a fast second shot can at times be useful.
back in the early 1970s, When I was first starting out all the magazines were filled with guys using bolt actions with 3x9x scopes who made 300-700 yard shots, and the 270 win, 7mm remington mag and 300 wby and 300 win,were constantly shown as the ideal elk calibers to use in those magazines.
but talking to guys out in the hunt area, I frequently saw and heard about guys with scopes that failed to hold zero, I constantly ran into guys that could not hit what they were shooting at, and I found that the properly cleaned and lightly lubed pump action WAS faster and easier to use,and lighter in weight than the bolt guns, some of my friends had, and those 760 30/06 rifles were less likely to have problems.
I was really lucky when I started hunting elk to have several very experienced mentors , and while being young and having read a ton of elk hunting articles I tended to think some of their advice was a bit behind the times, the longer I hunted the more I saw the wisdom of the choices they made, in both equipment and hunting methods.
now I got invited to go on my first out of state elk hunt when I was about 18, and that previous summer Id spent nearly every weekend at the range, most of my mentors had and used Remington 760 30/06 rifles with either peep sites or 4x scopes with receiver peep sites as a back-up and when I asked why I was told that the area we would be hunting in was rather steep rolling timber slopes, ranges would seldom exceed 200 yards and to buy and use peters 220 grain soft point ammo sighted in to hit 3" above the point of aim at 100 yards.
sighting in that way put the bullets dead on at 200 yards.
these rifles were fairly light weight, and rarely had any problem maintaining zero, and trust me rifles get dropped, guys slip and fall and scopes rarely held up in those days many fogged or broke, so use of peep receiver sites made sense.
every year I went with the group several members took elk, and that was off public hunting areas, I had looked into published statistics and most guys averaged about a 18%-25% success , most of our trips we were getting closer to a 45%-50% success ratio, and it eventually dawned on me why, we were hunting as a TEAM, and having rifles that were very dependable, that offered fast repeat fire capability and common ammo helped results, but the main thing was that as a group we planed both where and how we would hunt each drainage, each day, and we never made the mistake of just repeatedly hunting the same drainage day after day, each night we discussed what we had seen, and got out topo maps and moved to a new area if we were not seeing lots of fresh elk sign, and at least some elk.
we would get up pre-dawn, and drop two guy teams off about a 1/2-3/4 mile apart,so each two man team, would enter a drainage and push game around so each hunter effectively raised the odds the others might see game.
we rarely shot huge bulls but we did usually have many guys fill tags with legal elk.(remember this was all public hunting areas)
it was common to hear a couple very quick shots in rapid succession, and later in the day find out one of our group had an elk down.
I just knew that a WEATHERBY magnum would help increase, my chances of getting an elk,so I purchased a 340 weatherby after pouring over ballistic chart, info, and while its been an excellent and effective rifle,but its long, fairly heavy and slightly slower to use than the remington 760/7600 and its been decades since Ive shot an elk past 300 yards, and while it does seem to drop game faster those old 30/06 rifles killed game just as effectively, with a single well placed shot, and with less recoil, cost and with less concern about getting scratched or dropped.
I sight all my big game rifles in so you aim at the yellow dot and the bullet impacts cover the red dot
anytime you feel youve become a great shot, try to place two rapid shots in a 2" dot from a rapidly acquired field position, after walking the 100 yards back to your shooting location from the target after a brisk walk in under 10 seconds, from 100 yards
Ive done it occasionally tried it hundreds of times, it takes constant repetition to do well.
related info
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-looking-for-in-an-elk-rifle.2368/#post-71347
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...cks-browning-375-h-h-a-bolt.11803/#post-67646
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/working-a-bolt-action-rifle.15007/
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-340-wheatherby-and-375-h-h.12979/#post-67520
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