7 PRC and a Bull Elk at 627 yds. Video Included.

[Lawnboi]

One lung and liver is what I'm seeing, too much of his chest is showing which tells me he's more quartered towards.

From looking at the offside leg it looks like that bullet would exit near the back of the off side shoulder if not right in the middle of it.

That combined with the way he folded makes me think the spine was hit where it dips down.

 

[Billy Goat]

One lung and liver is what I'm seeing, too much of his chest is showing which tells me he's more quartered towards.

I think within that square you are catching both lungs, even with a mono.

But it definitely gets narrow, and I might be wrong.

Once you are infront of the humorous and shoulder blade its muscle and not too lethal in my experience, besides the high shoulder that just ends up hammering the spine. Makes for a dramatic drop usually, but isn't always all that fast to actually die.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

So, a one shot kill within 3-4” of likely point of aim is “blasting away” at 600+ yards? Tough crowd.

 

[rbutcher1234]

So, a one shot kill within 3-4” of likely point of aim is “blasting away” at 600+ yards? Tough crowd.

Yeah seriously. It’s like these people have never shot animals high shoulder or neck-shoulder junction.

 

[4cMuley]

Sweet video. Always a good feeling to give an immediate dirt nap.

A large number of shooters here (myself, unfortunately included) can’t reliably hit a cold bore 600 yard shot at a gong they probably shoot at weekly. Quit with the “it should’ve been 2” lower.” Grow up, Peter Pan. That elk can’t be deader, any faster than that.

Sorry for the rant not throwing shade

 

[BlackTail]

Exactly! If he was aiming for the box, and hit the spine, I’d consider that lucky. If it were me I’d be aiming in that box, and if I end up catching spine I consider myself lucky. I’m not aiming for the spine at 600 yards. 100 yards? Different story. Neither distance is wrong.

I have zero issue with a long range shot. Not at all. I had a similar situation as above this year. I was safety off at 500 yards, waiting for a slightly more broadside shot because my target grows 2x in size. I look back at my past and compare it to my lethality now, the biggest difference today is knowing when to take a risky shot and when to wait for a higher percentage shot.

I’m not at all criticizing the range of the shot. But I also understand that a reasonable cone of fire at that range is beyond the size of the spine or even a neck shot at that range. Again maybe we are watching the best shooter in the country shoot this bull, I don’t know, we don’t know.

Some are criticizing the range earlier, I don’t agree with them. It is actually good seeing those reactions because it shows you how hard it is to actually spot your shot at that range. These are skills that are hard to master.

There would be a huge difference for me if this elk was at 200 yards. I know I can be near pinpoint precise at 200 yards. At that range actually going for a CNS hit would be a high percentage shot for me.

Again good discussion, I’m not crapping on you or the hunter just adding my 2 cents. And also kind of scratching my head wondering why people are thinking this is such a great shot.

I think I’m starting to see why we’re on different planets here. Are you assuming he was shooting for the spine? You’ve made mention of the size of a vertebrae and that the spine and neck being smaller the cone of fire. You also mentioned hitting the spine at that distance was lucky.

I guess I was assuming (that’s really all any of us can do since we have no details on the shot other than range) that the shot would be more towards the shoulder but this would still be in the cone of fire. If I had that shot and had to take it, I would be aiming right at that red dot in the middle, with a high confidence that anything inside the circle (which the OP’s shot landed in) would have a very high likelihood of resulting in a dead elk very quickly. Even Avery said “I would have aimed just inside the point of the shoulder. But at that angle, it’s game over for that bull.


So I guess I don’t look at it like a lucky spine shot. I look at it like it was towards the outside of the expected cone of fire, and still resulted in a dead elk very quickly.

 

[Billy Goat]

So I guess I don’t look at it like a lucky spine shot. I look at it like it was towards the outside of the expected cone of fire, and still resulted in a dead elk very quickly.

I think we are kinda saying same thing.


Its on the edge of the where you would want to hit.

It seemed like some were saying it was perfect placement, and I think a few of us are saying, think I'd rather be aiming over here.

 

[Lawnboi]

I think I’m starting to see why we’re on different planets here. Are you assuming he was shooting for the spine? You’ve made mention of the size of a vertebrae and that the spine and neck being smaller the cone of fire. You also mentioned hitting the spine at that distance was lucky.

I guess I was assuming (that’s really all any of us can do since we have no details on the shot other than range) that the shot would be more towards the shoulder but this would still be in the cone of fire. If I had that shot and had to take it, I would be aiming right at that red dot in the middle, with a high confidence that anything inside the circle (which the OP’s shot landed in) would have a very high likelihood of resulting in a dead elk very quickly. Even Avery said “I would have aimed just inside the point of the shoulder. But at that angle, it’s game over for that bull.
View attachment 969307

So I guess I don’t look at it like a lucky spine shot. I look at it like it was towards the outside of the expected cone of fire, and still resulted in a dead elk very quickly.

The dot looks great, I’d expect to be taking out the top of the heart, which is usually my goal, but the right half of that circle would have me worried about only catching one lung or missing them completely.

And again, it’s dead elk. Bullet placement even as you would want is on the fringe to over the top of the red circle you drew. The bullet caught spine and the bull had its feet swept from under him, that dosnt happen when you shoot stuff in just the heart and lungs the majority of the time. Iv spined animals when that’s not what I was actually aiming at, I consider myself getting lucky when that happens, and that’s okay because I enjoy being critical of myself.

We don’t know the details, only the short video. Wish me had more,