.270 too light for elk?
11-30-2006, 04:09 PM
#41
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1,673
RE: .270 too light for elk?
ORIGINAL: ShatoDavis
Whitehorn,
I'm going to tell a hunting story about a Magnum where shot placement wasn't ideal.
It was 5 minutes to dark. We had been calling to this bull for 3 hours.He just wouldn't step foot out of those aspens 250 yards away.I know it was 250 yards because I ranged the lower side of the ridge, that was whereI was hoping he would make an appearance.
We were throwing everythingat him we could think of. It was the next to the last day of a 7 day hunt. I had walked the soles off my boots.My legs felt like I had decided to climb everest. I wanted this bull. Not so much for the glory. NO more to the point, I wanted to end my self inflicted misery. All elk hunters no the sweet misery I'm talking about. The kind of misery that you remember years later when you're looking at your mount and know that you definately earned that one.
Just moments before dark he stepped out. Only he was above the aspens not below them. 'Quick, think! How far is that? 300+/-....top of back...squeeze' thats the thought process. KAWAP! The sweetest sound to a rifle hunter. "He went down, yelled Jared" The fog dropped in and I couldn't see through my scope. We started to celebrate, then the fog lifted and he was still standing..... "what the hell.....Shoot him again!" Bang...Nothing......"he's leaving" 'last rib, hold high.....bang....KAWAP!' Then it was fog city again.....
Walking out in the dark I was sick.. I kept playing it over and over again in my mind. I knew I had hit him..but how well? I didn't sleep at all that night. Next morning at daylight we were back. We ranged the shot it was 375 yards. "oh my god, what did I do?" We climb up the ridge to the spot and start looking for him... no sign.... I start to track him around the bend. Just then I see antler tip.. OMG its moving..... Shoot him again.
Well, he was bedded and wasn't going anywhere. He couldn't get back up. I finished him off. Now for the shot placements.... first shot busted front shoulder no vitals hit, Second shot clean miss, Third shot entered just in front of rear quarter severely angleing forward, Possibly taking out one lung. It certainly made him sick and he bedded up and I was able to finish him the next morning but not my best day of shooting.
What caliber you wonder.... 338 Win mag. Now I ask you would a 270 make him sick enough to bed up within 75 yards? I don't know the answer but I know the 338 did. Am I bragging about my poor shooting? Heck no! But, in the elk woods it sometimes goes down like that, it isn't like the hunting shows where ever oppurtunity is 100 yards broadside standing still....
For whatever its worth, heres my bull from 05:
Whitehorn,
I'm going to tell a hunting story about a Magnum where shot placement wasn't ideal.
It was 5 minutes to dark. We had been calling to this bull for 3 hours.He just wouldn't step foot out of those aspens 250 yards away.I know it was 250 yards because I ranged the lower side of the ridge, that was whereI was hoping he would make an appearance.
We were throwing everythingat him we could think of. It was the next to the last day of a 7 day hunt. I had walked the soles off my boots.My legs felt like I had decided to climb everest. I wanted this bull. Not so much for the glory. NO more to the point, I wanted to end my self inflicted misery. All elk hunters no the sweet misery I'm talking about. The kind of misery that you remember years later when you're looking at your mount and know that you definately earned that one.
Just moments before dark he stepped out. Only he was above the aspens not below them. 'Quick, think! How far is that? 300+/-....top of back...squeeze' thats the thought process. KAWAP! The sweetest sound to a rifle hunter. "He went down, yelled Jared" The fog dropped in and I couldn't see through my scope. We started to celebrate, then the fog lifted and he was still standing..... "what the hell.....Shoot him again!" Bang...Nothing......"he's leaving" 'last rib, hold high.....bang....KAWAP!' Then it was fog city again.....
Walking out in the dark I was sick.. I kept playing it over and over again in my mind. I knew I had hit him..but how well? I didn't sleep at all that night. Next morning at daylight we were back. We ranged the shot it was 375 yards. "oh my god, what did I do?" We climb up the ridge to the spot and start looking for him... no sign.... I start to track him around the bend. Just then I see antler tip.. OMG its moving..... Shoot him again.
Well, he was bedded and wasn't going anywhere. He couldn't get back up. I finished him off. Now for the shot placements.... first shot busted front shoulder no vitals hit, Second shot clean miss, Third shot entered just in front of rear quarter severely angleing forward, Possibly taking out one lung. It certainly made him sick and he bedded up and I was able to finish him the next morning but not my best day of shooting.
What caliber you wonder.... 338 Win mag. Now I ask you would a 270 make him sick enough to bed up within 75 yards? I don't know the answer but I know the 338 did. Am I bragging about my poor shooting? Heck no! But, in the elk woods it sometimes goes down like that, it isn't like the hunting shows where ever oppurtunity is 100 yards broadside standing still....
For whatever its worth, heres my bull from 05:
12-03-2006, 12:49 AM
#42
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 599
RE: .270 too light for elk?
"...The reason I ask is I want to go on an elk hunt in the next couple of years and I don't want to buy another rifle if I don't have to...."
12-26-2006, 05:13 PM
#47
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Anchorage,Alaska
Posts: 512
RE: .270 too light for elk?
ORIGINAL: Hiawatha
This post appears on this forum at least once a year. The majority of the polls/discussion etcbelieve that it will do the job providing accurate shot placement but it is not a real daddy of an elk cal. I expect this one to go for awhile, 270 lovers vs the world lol. Popcorn anyone?
Might be an idea to check out the "Taken elk with what cartridge" post on here.
This post appears on this forum at least once a year. The majority of the polls/discussion etcbelieve that it will do the job providing accurate shot placement but it is not a real daddy of an elk cal. I expect this one to go for awhile, 270 lovers vs the world lol. Popcorn anyone?
Might be an idea to check out the "Taken elk with what cartridge" post on here.
My opinion
12-29-2006, 02:46 PM
#48
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 590
RE: .270 too light for elk?
You can riffle through the search mode and find this question about one million times, with the same twenty guys answering the same question in exactly the same way they did the last 500,000 times the question came up. So why do I bother? Because...
I live in a family of .270 hunters, and we've taken more than a few elk with the caliber. The clincher that makes this question worth revisiting is the advent of premium bullets. Realistically, I think premium bullets have raised the bar so that your .270 becomes effectively a 7mm in the pre-premium bullet days.
The .270 worked for lots of people in the past, and premium bullets make the caliber even better for the future.
I live in a family of .270 hunters, and we've taken more than a few elk with the caliber. The clincher that makes this question worth revisiting is the advent of premium bullets. Realistically, I think premium bullets have raised the bar so that your .270 becomes effectively a 7mm in the pre-premium bullet days.
The .270 worked for lots of people in the past, and premium bullets make the caliber even better for the future.