Elk hunting

fishinggoosekiller · 08-07-2004, 07:41 PM

Does anyone chase elk with tradition ways? If so, how far will you shoot at an elk? Also, what weight in grains of arrows do you shoot at waht feet per second?

fishinggoosekiller · 08-07-2004, 09:47 PM

I am trying to find out if my bow has enough power to drop an elk out to 40yrds

stealthycat · 08-07-2004, 11:04 PM

I've got some elk hunting experience. Two years ago I took my 52# longbow shooting 525 grain arrows.

Why ?

Confidence. The absolute #1 thing in bowhunting i putting the arrow into the lungs of the animal. That bow and combo I had supreme confidence in. A little light for elk ? Yes. But better to be a bit light and placing the arrows in the right spot than overbowed and gut shooting them

40 yards ? Are you kidding ? IMO few trad archers shoot their bows well enough and can make that shot - really. Can you put arrow after arrow into a 6" group at 40 yards ?

arrowsmit · 08-09-2004, 06:54 PM

IMHO the real question would be wether one can put his FIRST arrow into the pie plate at XXX yds. After a few shots most can start to group at a given yardage, the real trick is to get that 1st one to go where ya want it too.

BobCo19-65 · 08-10-2004, 06:46 AM

Quote:

IMHO the real question would be wether one can put his FIRST arrow into the pie plate at XXX yds. After a few shots most can start to group at a given yardage, the real trick is to get that 1st one to go where ya want it too.

I agree 100%. And I would add that when you are shooting in practice sessions to keep that in mind and shoot that first shot as if it were your only shot.

RobinHood36 · 08-12-2004, 09:09 PM

I have taken alot of elk with my compound bow and every one i have bagged have been 20 yards or closer. I now am shooting a longbow and my dream is to take a bull with my longbow. An elk is a too magnificent animal to be taking these kind of pot shots in my opinion (40 yards).

stealthycat · 08-12-2004, 10:05 PM

RobinHood36 - Was Fred Bear a pot shooter ? Howard Hill ?

Lets be truthful here for a minute. YOU and I cannot make 40 yard shots on live elk, can we ? Theres a few guys who can - and do - either by God's natural gift of shooting ability, hard work or most likely a combination of the two.

Don't knock guys who can make those long shots just because we are not as talented or as dedicated to the sport as they are.

LBR · 08-12-2004, 11:24 PM

To each his own, but here's my 2 cents. Fred Bear, Howard Hill, Ben Pearson, etc. were great shots, but they still took shots that I'd consider unethical. They were pioneers in bowhunting, finding out just what could be done with a bow and pushing the limits.

Even if you can hit a pie plate at 40,50,60 yds. every time doesn't mean that it's a good thing to do that when hunting. Deer, elk, moose, etc. are not pie plates. They walk, turn, etc. of their own accord, and we can't predict just when this will happen. There is a lot more time for an animal to move with a 40+ yd shot vs a 20 yd shot. I'm not talking about a spooked animal, just one going about it's business. As has been said many times before, bow hunting is about getting so close you can't miss. Target archery is seeing how far back you can get and still hit. Animals are not targets.

Chad

stealthycat · 08-13-2004, 03:08 AM

Quote:

They were pioneers in bowhunting, finding out just what could be done with a bow and pushing the limits.

Awe, c'mon now, people used bows for thousands of year, they were not pioneering anything other than new equipment !!

LBR - set up a poll on the bowhunting forum and ask this question - of all the misses made on deer, how many were 19 yards, less than 24 yards, less than 29 yards and anything beyond ? By your reasoning, the closer the shots, the fewer the misses, right ? Uh, but you know as well as I do that bowhunters miss a LOT of close animals, so closer is better theory doesn't hold water.

I think bottom line is, some guys can make the shots and some cannot. This game of bowhunting is about killing animals - Bear and Hill and otehrs knew this better than we do and I think they changed their game accordingly.

What is an ethical shot ? It cannot be defined any better than " shooting an arrow at an animal with full confidence you're going to make a killing shot" -right or wrong ?

Because of this, I cannot knock Fred for shooting at quartering to grizzly or a 65 yard Dall sheep. He took the shots, he made some, he missed some - but I don't think he ever took one he didn't think he could make.

I try to do the same, be it 10 yards or 30 yards or beyond.

RobinHood36 · 08-13-2004, 08:44 AM

Remember we are talking ELK here. Where i hunt the the stuff is so thick you are lucky to have an opening for a shot past 20 yards. Thick trees and brush!! When i call in elk and they do come in alot of times literally right on top of you, i pick my spot and the arrow is already gone, before the bull can even react. It is tough enough to get an arrow equipped with a broadhead thru the openings when you are judging to take your shot at close range, let alone beyond this distance. This is the elks turf and for the most part when they come in they like to conceal there self as best they can to what mother nature offers them, be it brush, logs, and trees.