Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 308, 150 etip might work....

Didn't get drawn for any of my preferred tags this year but wanted to go elk hunting anyway. Put in for a CO cow that took zero points because my hunting buddy's son had no points. We all got second draw tags and left town after work on Oct 25 for CO. We got to town Thurs AM, set camp and proceeded to scout. Didn't find elk in a couple of likely places but I'd hunted there a couple times in the past and had a game plan for the first couple days.

Bluebird weather showed up Sat PM and stayed till today. Temps were 15-25 in the AM, 50+ in the PM. Elk weren't moving much - first and last light and not moving far. Turned up a spike bull on Day 1 but nothing else despite covering 30+ miles in 4 days. I wasn't finding elk up high but my buddy's son kept finding sign not far from camp. Spent Tues and Weds at lower elevation and started finding sign. Tonight a weather front is coming in and it seemed like animals were moving in early PM. I swung up higher in the watershed in the AM, found nothing again (slow learner) and rolled down lower. Started seeing animal movement about lunch - several deer and fresh elk tracks. This area is mainly black timber with aspen patches - good still hunting terrain which is my favorite way to elk hunt.

I got cell signal about 1:00 and told my buddies animals were moving ahead of the front. I decided to swing down next to the creek and still hunt toward a small secluded meadow next to the creek that I found on Tues. Thought I'd spend the PM still hunting toward the meadow and hang out till dark. These elk seem to like to appear at last legal hours so expected another long walk out in the dark.

Worked my way a couple hundred yards and saw 3 elk trotting to my left. I was a bit perplexed because I had the wind and was sure they hadn't seen me. I took 3-4 quick steps to see if they stopped and give me a shot. I looked to my right and 4 more were watching the other 3 run down the hill. At 50 yards dead broadside, I was fairly confident of the outcome.

A bit of weirdness, she ran uphill with the others for ~ 50 yards. I lost site of them. I went to the shot, found blood, and stated following a good blood trail. At 50 yards the bleeder hung a sharp left. I knew what that meant <G>. She went another 30 yards and was down when I got to her. She picked up her head when I approached and sent one through her neck. All over in less than 30 secs.

This is my first elk with a mono bullet - and won't be my last. Specs: Kimber MT, 308 win, 150 etip, 46.5 gr Varget, doing 2880. Impact velocity was likely north of 2800 at 50 yards. I found the bullet against the far side hide after going through the near shoulder. I like 2 holes but this worked as its supposed to. I have a Pa deer hunt coming up and will use this bullet/load to see how it handles deers. I'm guessing it will work

Nice. Recovered a 7mm 150 etip that looked identical to yours

Great job, that should eat well!

At least that bullet didn't over penetrate!

Awesomeness

That worked. The 308 is plenty. Congrats btw!
S.

Nice job! Plenty of goods vittles too

Congrats Bill!

eggsalent! well done. glad the bullet did its job when given the opportunity. great mushroom.

I have no experience with E-tips (and not much with Barnes). how was loading? easy to find loads it liked?

BG - yep for both bullets. Jump them a bit and use Varget in the 308

Good deal Bill. I've taken a few elk with mono's - my opinion is you'll get a faster drop with a more frangilbe bullet, but I do get not wanting lead in meat. And regardless, dead is dead no matter a few extra yards.

Nice job!

I've seen it many times this time of year. Right after sunset a herd will appear coming out of the timber into the open. It's usually too late to get to them. Be there at 1st light the next morning because they'll usually still be there.

I don't know how many times I've found a bullet under the hide on the far side. It's been a lot. I once saw a slo-mo video of an elk being shot that showed how much the hide will stretch without penetration. It was impressive.

Thanks for sharing. That should be some delicious meat. While I have not used E-Tips, I have used Barnes TTSX and Hornady GMX with great success. I had a 139 gr. GMX shot from my 7mm-08 penetrate 3/4 the length of a decent size whitetail deer from a frontal shot, which showed me that it would work fine on an elk. I hope to get that opportunity one day.

Congrats Bill! Man I love good elk hunts!

Looks like the combo worked great, as if there was any doubt!

Congrats. Thanks for the story. Mono's work.

Thanks Scott - that gun is experienced, I didn't have a doubt!

If I was looking for a lightweight mountain rifle, a guy could do much worse than a Kimber MT 308 shooting a 150 mono at 2900. The ballistics are surprisingly flat and carries 2000 ft/sec out to 450. If you buy 1800 ft/sec as Nosler and Barnes indicate, that load/bullet will carry you out to 550. I'm in the 2000 ft/sec club for adequate expansion on those monos. With a NF SHV 3-10×42 sitting in Talleys, my rifle weighs 6.5 lbs. Recoil is surprisingly low for that load combo.

I was never a fan of the 308, at least until I started talking to Brad and actually started using one. A plain Jane 270 using 129-130 monos shoots flatter but not a 0.277/150 driven at non-Re26 vels. A 7-08/140 be almost exactly the same as the 308/150 at least at distances inside 500. I dig the Kimber MT for these applications.

I bought one of the 7-08 Kimber MT's cause of you guys. I haven't set it up yet, but I wanted it for my light gun for days I know I am trampsing into new areas when I don't know where the day will take me, or I am just being lazy and don't wanna carry my 8lb Mashburn.

Nice kill! Thanks for sharing!

Todd

Scott - if you get "bored" with that POS Kimber 7-08, let me know, I know a guy.....

HA! Will do. It's my first one, but danged if it doesn't feel pretty nice. Hoping to get it scoped and set up for deer hunting here shortly.

If it sucks, you'll be first on my list!