Right now I am using .308
Wanted to know what caliber everyone hunted Elk and Deer with and why they prefer that caliber.
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Hunting Elk and Deer Calibers
Right now I am using .308
Wanted to know what caliber everyone hunted Elk and Deer with and why they prefer that caliber.
I use a .25-06. It's fast, light and low recoil. It has worked well for me over the last 15 years. I have taken deer, elk, bear and pronghorn with it.
I think it’s a distance call.
Where I hunt, max distance shot will be 100yd. Lots of hiking involved. For this, I choose the lightest possible setup. That’s a lightweight AR pistol, or handy rifle w/ red dot in 300blk or similar caliber (7.62x39, 30-30)
If I were stretching beyond 100yd, then I would move to 308 and get the leanest lightest gun there. I don’t trust myself to make repeatable shots from an unsupported position on a moving target past 300yd. For this reason, other larger calibers are pointless for me.
Also, with bullet technology pushing terminal ballistics, I would say that the Fudd calibers are just unnecessary.
30.06 is a shitty grouping caliber, and the ‘power’ is unnecessary for any North American game that is within my comfort distances.
I’ve not tried any of the exotics, but I hear that 6.5 Grendel and Creedmore do the job of ultra distance hunting better than any others.
I will remain too poor to find out.
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"its like a f****** turkey shoot" -Travis Haley
I have hunted elk with about a dozen calibers from .243Win to .340 Weatherby as well as some larger diameter calibers like 10mm Auto, .41 Mag, .414 SuperMag and .444Marlin. Where you hunt, how you hunt and what you hunt really serves to limit or extend the distances. I like to have 3x body mass in energy or maintain a velocity over 2200 fps with an appropriate bullet and placement. The .338-06 is my favorite for elk and I can go with a .243Win or .260Rem for Deer and Pronghorn (but any of the 6mm and 6.5mms that have a MV of 2700 fps plus would be about equivalent).
For every "its perfect" you will have someone say it is "overkill" or "unethical." IMHO, I would rather have a .308 for elk than a 6mm or 6.5mm. Out to maybe 350 yards on a good presentation and enough practice under your belt, the .308 is fine. For a less optimum presentation, you have to start passing on the shot, or have a better suited caliber. At 50 years old and hunting elk since I was 13, most of mine (about 40) have been shot with .30-06 (to 420 yards most closer) and .338-06 (to 505 yards) and I have seen about 200 shot in addition to that. Most of the failures are poor presentations with calibers in the 6mm to 7mm range, probably more with 7m Rem Mag than anything else. No caliber is a wonder caliber for elk. Too much meat damage on poor shots to pass throughs without expansion, lack of practice are all factors. Deer and Pronghorn, even bear, are much less sturdy than elk and easier to kill. I'll use .223 (not in CO of course) to .30-06 for deer and having shot 60+ have never had one go more than a 100 yards. Not the same with elk.
There is nothing at all wrong with the .308 or .30-06 based calibers (and the .30-06 is plenty accurate regardless of rustycrustys opinion of it) inside 200-500 yards depending on specifics. You just need to decide what you want more than .308 for and then decide on a good load and practice. Both of my teenage boys started with .308 and now use .30-06 for elk, .243s for deer and pronghorn.
I will say that the vast majority of "caliber" accuracy and failure issues are because most hunters don't practice enough to be skilled riflemen and they don't know their ballistics.
No way, Mark.
30.06 is the least accurate, least effective caliber ever made. Invented by the allied forces in 1930 to be issued to cowards, and the French. It is still the preferred hunting caliber of Joe Biden and the entire Chinese communist party.
It doesn’t have to be factually correct... if it feels right.
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"its like a f****** turkey shoot" -Travis Haley
That escalated really quicklyOriginally Posted by rustycrusty
Mulies- 30-30 Winchester, because tradition and I typically hunt them in heavy tall brush.
Speed goats - .243, my first and still favorite bolt gun, I shoot it well.
Elk, bear - 30-06, despite crustyrusty's issues with it, I've never had any accuracy issues with the round. Has put several thousand pounds of meat in the freezer.
With the recent acquisition of bolt gun in .308 suitable for hunting I will probably use it for some big game trips depending on final weight.
If you're unarmed you are a victim
I'm looking for lightweight for sure and something suitable for both Elk and Deer as I usually have a tag for both at the same time. Carrying two rifles would not be fun I think.
I know a lot of guys hunt Deer with 7.62 x 39 and Rusty does make it look cool with his .300 BLK
At the end of the day, 30 cal bullets, sling em as you like.
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