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Old September 5, 2012, 10:55 PM   #51
jimbob86
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I've spent a good deal of time fishing in Colorado, but have not hunted elk ..... "timber" can spotty in places, between the pine beetles and burn areas ...... drove around for hours in the Hayman fire burn area in August ..... wide open spaces there. Did not see any elk. The grass was good, and saw a lot of Mulies, though! Seemed like every doe that we saw had twins..... sorry about the bad cell phone pic.... all I had.
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Old September 6, 2012, 05:18 AM   #52
Jack O'Conner
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This animal was taken at approx 80 yards or so. 30-30 is a keeper!

Jack

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Old September 6, 2012, 06:47 AM   #53
ZeroJunk
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Seems like I remember this discussion from about 50 years ago.

If you take the opinion of everybody and average it out you get a range in the middle of cartridges that are appropriate for elk size game.

A seasoned hunter and rifleman can make a lot of those outside of that consensus work.

Doesn't make some of them a good choice for the multitude by any stretch.
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Old September 6, 2012, 08:57 AM   #54
Edward429451
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Quote:
in the Hayman fire burn area in August ..... wide open spaces there. Did not see any elk.
That's because they moved to the timber. :-)
I'm not saying long shots are not there...just that they're not typical ime. I note that Jacks Elk was @<100 yds.

At the risk of offending some, and such is not my intent...but doesn't hunting involve stalking? If I see Elk at 250+ yds, I'm stalking closer. I think perhaps setting up for shots at inordinate distances is more of an ambush than hunting. Again, no offense, just my opinion of hunting.
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Old September 6, 2012, 09:26 AM   #55
ZeroJunk
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Quote:
Again, no offense, just my opinion of hunting.
Doesn't offend me at all. Most of my elk hunting over the last three decades has been with a bow. It is a rush like no other.

But, if I am rifle hunting 250 yards is a pretty easy shot if you can get a good rest and the wind isn't too bad.

I don't see much point in proving I can get closer when I have been within 100 yards of more than I can count. It's amazing how many elk you can get within 100 yards of and how hard it is to close that down to bow range.
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Old September 6, 2012, 09:33 AM   #56
CCCLVII
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I have killed 3 elk in my life. The first was with a 308 the last with with a 357 magnum carbine, the middle was with a 30-30

I think you will be fine. Just make sure you shoot it well and the gun will do its part.

The only one that gave me any trouble was the 357 carbine. The Elk was a young Cow elk I got to 50 yards and I aimed for the double lung shot, she took a step at the last second (forward and down hill in to a small wash)and the shot went back a little bit hitting the shoulder.The elk ran about 60 yards before it dropped.

While I love my 357 magnum marlin, it will not be going on any more elk hunts with me.
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Old September 6, 2012, 10:29 PM   #57
30-30remchester
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After guiding for elk for 9 years and nearly 5 decades of hunting them, I do have some experence. I have either killed myself or seen over 100 elk taken. The 30-30 with good expanding bullets of heavy weight should work if your aim is good and the range is close. It is interesting all the different experences people have. One experenced Colorado hunter said that his elk are found in the timber at close range. While my experences have been just the opposite here in Colorado. Elk are very tough animals and ofter take multiple hits to secure. Interestingly one respondant seems to think more than a few buffalo could have been killed with a 30-30. Sadly by the time the 30-30 came onto the scene, all buffalo hunting had stopped years before. However I have actually killed a buffalo with a 30-30 as strange as that sounds. The key to killing very large game is quality bullets and good shot placement. I believe the Federal 170 grain Nosler Partion bullet should be the best load. I have only killed deer with this load, but have shot and seen shot scads of animals with that bullet without failure.
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