average riffle shot on elk

rochelle · 07-28-2003, 11:08 AM

Whats the average distance on riffle shots on elk?

handloader1 · 07-28-2003, 10:19 PM

The furthest shot I have had on an elk is 200 yds. I would say the average shot would be about 275 yds. Good luck.

noway · 07-29-2003, 08:44 AM

Depends on the type of country you are hunting.
My average shot has been 50 yards. With none over 100 yards and the closest at 30 yards.
In open canyon country you shots could be much longer.
Most of the elk I find are in the cover.

seattlesetters · 07-29-2003, 09:21 AM

My longest shot on elk has been 325 yards. If I had to pick an average, I' d say 150 yards only because of the above-mentioned long shot and another of 225 yards. The next longest after those two was 175 yards, and the rest have fallen into the 80-125 yard range.

zacko · 07-29-2003, 12:43 PM

I think a lot of guys have a hard time gauging how far they are shooting. They think they are shooting a lot farther than they really are. I know I did until I started practicing on live size targets at known ranges. It is a lot different to see your scope full of fur rather than the red rings of a target. Those paper targets with the vitals printed on the back side are great at seeing what is behind the fur to help your shot placement too.
I bought a few " real" targets then traced them on to refrigerator boxes cut them out and stapeled them to sticks. For fun I even put some up for a quartering shot. I realize it isn' t the best of a 3d target but it gives a good perspective.[:-]

BareBack Jack · 07-29-2003, 02:57 PM

I' ve shot 12 elk with the farthest one at around 350,with the closest at 40 yds.I would say almost all of them were under the 150yd mark,the 350 yd shot was on a spike running hell bent for leather across a clearing.I have shot at them farther but no kills,lost one I shot at,he was close to 450+yds.

oldelkhunter · 07-29-2003, 03:01 PM

My average is 275 yards I am almost ashamed to say... Most of the shots were in very open areas and only one in timber(75 yards)

thenuge15 · 07-29-2003, 11:34 PM

I have never been elk hunting but I have a friend who shoot one at 400 and a friends dad who shot one at 623.

bigbulls · 07-30-2003, 08:08 PM

My farthest has been 130 yards and the closest was 20 yards. Average for me would be about 50 - 75 yards.

My father has taken one at 425 yards and just about every other elk has been inside 150 yards with one at 10 yards. Average for him would be about 75 to 100 yards.

Beans Morocco · 08-01-2003, 04:47 PM

I shot a cow once at nine paces. Guess it depends on the nature of the terrain. (steep dark timber, open rolling sagebrush) One things' for sure, most of us should never take a shot at over 300-350 yds. I' ve seen a few bozos with heavy magnums take shots of up to 700 yds. ( and miss) Just silly.