last spring i picked up this Savage 111LRH in 338 Lapua thinking i'd focus on long range hunting. i spent many hours working on the gun & mucho $$ doping it out to 1k...... then i shot this raghorn at less than 75 yards. i seem to either see no elk, or have them walk right over the top of me (the second part of that comes in real handy most years).
i first saw him at 470 yards, but it was snowing & soupy, so i used the snowstorm to close the distance to 250. i couldn't get steady for the shot (shooting up at a 30 degree tilt) and shot over his back. i'm pretty sure i was holding 1 mil too high, too (had some adrenaline going). then they spooked & ran right at me, stopping 50-75 yards away, and gave me 5 seconds to make a shot (i did), before running off into the trees.
my dilemma: every elk i've killed has been inside ~150 yards. my first 2 were 30-35 yards with rifle (308 & 7wsm- both cows), then a 50 yard shot with bow (310" bull- yeah, how do you like that? my longest & biggest kill so far was with a bow!), then ~150 with the 7wsm (cow), then 12 with a homemade bow (cow), then 75 with the 7wsm (little 6x6), then this one at 60-75 (didn't bother ranging him- he filled the scope at 5x).
i started seriously hunting elk (2004), i've been skunked 3 years in that time, and doubled up in 2010. 7 elk in 9 seasons- i get the feeling that it's not ALL luck.
why the heck am i packing 15#'s of long range boat anchor when i probably should be packing 7#?
who wants to show me their lightweight, short range elk rifle?
i first saw him at 470 yards, but it was snowing & soupy, so i used the snowstorm to close the distance to 250. i couldn't get steady for the shot (shooting up at a 30 degree tilt) and shot over his back. i'm pretty sure i was holding 1 mil too high, too (had some adrenaline going). then they spooked & ran right at me, stopping 50-75 yards away, and gave me 5 seconds to make a shot (i did), before running off into the trees.
my dilemma: every elk i've killed has been inside ~150 yards. my first 2 were 30-35 yards with rifle (308 & 7wsm- both cows), then a 50 yard shot with bow (310" bull- yeah, how do you like that? my longest & biggest kill so far was with a bow!), then ~150 with the 7wsm (cow), then 12 with a homemade bow (cow), then 75 with the 7wsm (little 6x6), then this one at 60-75 (didn't bother ranging him- he filled the scope at 5x).
i started seriously hunting elk (2004), i've been skunked 3 years in that time, and doubled up in 2010. 7 elk in 9 seasons- i get the feeling that it's not ALL luck.
why the heck am i packing 15#'s of long range boat anchor when i probably should be packing 7#?
who wants to show me their lightweight, short range elk rifle?
