BareBack Jack

Whith a host of polls by EKM on elk calibers.With 70% of posters on this board attacking guys who shoot magnums or BIG guns at elk.What about you deer hunters?
After watching(or stomaching)3 hrs of hunting on the various outdoor channels I have to ask.How many of you shoot something bigger than a .243 win at deer?
We all know anything bigger than a .243 is WAY over kill for deer.So why are guys packing 257 Weatherbys?,270 what evers,.300 Mangle & Manglems.
I just wanna know.
Thanks
BBJ

skb2706

Only recently have I used anything less than a .300 Win mag for deer/antelope and elk. Its not what you hit them with, its where. I pack the rifle I want because I realize that few if any 'internet hunters' have much business telling me how to do something I have been doing all my life....quite successfully.

ColoradoElk

Hello there BBJ: There is a similar poll over on AR in the American Hunting section about what people will be packing this year. No fear of magnums over there (although I suspect the percentage of folks over there that have actually killed an elk is quite a bit higher). I have lumped the WSMs in with the same caliber. The results:

270 Win -2
280 Rem
7mm Rem
308
30-06 -2
300 Win -5
300 Wby
30-378 Wby
325 WSM
338-06
338 WM -6
340 Wby -2
338-378 Wby
35 Whelen
358 STA
9.3x62
9.3x74
375 H&H -2
376 Steyr
405 Win
458 Lott

No discussion about folks using too much gun or that it "a bigger gun isn't needed". Just a bunch of filled tags last year...

thommon

I wouldn't say anything over 243 win is over kill for Deer. Is it under kill for Elk?
I use 308 win, 06 and 7 Rem Mag. Covers the terrain and the game I'm after fairly well.
I have friends that use the 243 on deer here in California.
I prefer the 06.

T

DM

I don't need a magnum for elk, and i prefer something bigger than a .243 for deer...

DM

Hurricanespg

My preference is a 30-06, if someone else wants to use a magnum then what do I care? Why does it matter what everyone else thinks?
For your edification I do use a .243 for deer.......but I use a 30-06 for them too......once again it's just preference, it's not like you have to do what I do.

ColoradoElk

I don't need a magnum for elk either, which is why I chose the .375 Ruger. The 375 Ruger has morevelocity, thus more energy and penetration than the 375 H&H "MAGNUM". Ballistically, the 375 H&H MAGNUM is inferior to the 375 Ruger (not a magnum). If I was sensitive about yourassumptions of "MAGNUMS", I would have to exchange my .416 Remington MAGNUM for the .416 Rigby, which has superior capabilities and is not the MAGNUM you decry. DM, you seem to imply MAGNUM cartridges have superior ballistics to non-magnum counterparts, which is not true (see examples above). Your generic assertations aboutMAGNUMS insinuate a 22 Win Magnum rimfire is overkill for elk due to nomenclature rather than the obvious underlying deficiency in ballistics and violation of law (at least in Colorado).

bigbulls

I think it has more to do with the threads "talking down" to the non-elk-hammer shooters from right out of the gate so the "hammerless" folks got a little miffed about it.



Iknow it probably wasn't meant to be that way but read the opening posts on each thread and it sure comes across that way, at least the last two threads.

Alsatian

I use a .243 for deer and am confident it is entirely adequate. I also use a .25-06, which is more than is needed, particularly as I hunt deer in Oklahoma where the deer are pretty small. Ditto for pronghorn.

I have no beef with people using magnums for elk. I haven't hunted elk often and used the .30-06 that I already had. I would kind of like to have a .338 Winchester Magnum for hunting elk, because I'm thinking it is more optimally sized for elk . . . but at least partly, also, because I would just like to have one.

EKM

[blockquote]BB,

Both were a call to those who play their elk game a certain way and provided an arena for both to express themselves.

One thing for sure, if you don't qualify your thread up front you end up with a cluster*uck with everyone dropping in their cute cliches like you haven't addressed them already.

Hence:
I know there are many out there with poor recoil management that believe that it is not possible. Au contrare! There are plenty of folks that know how to consistently lob the big boys right in there with devastating effect.

Just an example of one of many.... of course, now address that sort of stuff up front and folks get huffy, not so on the "other side" when the source is a pundit.



[/blockquote]