Help me choose my cow elk rifle and load

[Newtosavage]

I just realized the hunt is over. Hope the OP got a full freezer!

the more I hunt and shoot, the more I feel like traditional loads in short rifles are the secret sauce of western hunting. I’m a huge fan of a partition or Sierra game king at 2800fps from a 30-06 with a 20” barrel. It doesn’t have to be fancy.

also the more I hunt the more obsessed I become with comparing the accuboand, Berger, accubond LR, tipped game king, whatever. I love obsessing over ft/lb and terminal energy. But at the end of the day 500y is not long anymore due to modern rifles and bullets, and I return to the old Sierra game king. And I also don’t buy into the 1600fr/lb as minimum for elk. I think anything over 1000ft/lb placed well will certainly kill any animal on 4 legs.

The OP had his opportunity. Day 9 of a 9-day hunt, he had a 4x4 bull in his scope at 225 yards but only a cow tag in his pocket. Never saw a cow on the entire hunt despite the 15-inch snow revealing there were herds and herds of elk in the area all week. And so it goes...

 

[Wassid82]

If it were heavily wooded then I would grab the 06. If I were hunting transitional terrain and looked to shoot farther than 350 then I would hesitate to take either but maybe lean toward the 7.

 

[Newtosavage]

If it were heavily wooded then I would grab the 06. If I were hunting transitional terrain and looked to shoot farther than 350 then I would hesitate to take either but maybe lean toward the 7.

It was pretty heavily wooded where I did most of my hunting, so I was glad the '06 had shot so well. I had a lot of confidence in those 168 TTSX's getting the job done.