How often do you need more than three shots when big game hunting?

[MCMXI]

That aside, I still don't have any hesitation in using the .260 Remington on elk sized game out to 500 yards. At 2,200 fps and around 1,500 ft-lb of energy at that distance, I'm confident that the bullet will do its job if I put it where it's supposed to go (and putting that bullet where it is supposed to go at 500 yards isn't much of a problem at all -- that gun/cartridge combination excels at distance shooting). My personal large game limits with this caliber aren't set based on arrival velocity as much as arrival energy (the other side of the ballistics equation). I like to keep my elk loads in the 1,400-1,500 ft-lb of energy range on target, which falls in between 500-600 yards. I should add that I'm certainly not taking the .260 Rem out to hunt lions in Africa, but elk sure aren't lions!

We all make our own choices and for me I want a bullet that will drive through 6 feet of elk meat and a bone or two in the event that a world class bull stands up with a few minutes of light left on the last day and he's not giving me a good broadside opportunity. The 6.5 Creedmoor is a good cartridge and I have quite a lot of experience with it, both handloading for it and shooting it in various rifles, but it's just not my choice for hunting deer and elk just as the .375 H&H isn't yours. Neither of us is wrong, we just have different approaches to a similar problem.

Out of interest, what rifle/scope combination are you using for your .260 Rem?

 

[mshootnit]

For open country muleys and whitetail it is common for many to empty two mags trying to hit a running buck or a not yet running buck at unknown range. I have gone through two 5rd 6.8 mags myself before getting the hit on a buck. I have been in the vicinity several times when 5 shots can be heard and once counted 11. Buck fever and the shakes, bad field shooting.

 

[Offfhand]

Attached is a photo taken after a "beat" drive I took part of in eastern Austria a few years ago. When the boar were charging by thick and fast I was wishing I had a 20 shot magazine on my Steyr bolt rifle.

 

[Tirod]

My favorite pastime hunting the same section of ground on opening morning is to count the number of shots other hunters take in rapid succession trying to hit a bounding deer. It's not about 3 or 5, they slam every round in the magazine in that bolt gun until they are empty.

Yet my hunting partners using self loading actions fire one, maybe two, and done. Same for me. I use ten round mags.

It's the hunter, not the gun.

 

[Armored farmer]

Welp....
I'll have to admit to shooting the biggest buck I ever took multiple times (six I think) with my .54 Hawken. Then he managed to stumble into a flooded river and drown. I was able to recover his head and Cape days later after the water level went down.

The cartridge sleeves on my .30-06, and .204 each holds 9rds. I am comfortable with that.

 

[Gtscotty]

Welp....
I'll have to admit to shooting the biggest buck I ever took multiple times (six I think) with my .54 Hawken. Then he managed to stumble into a flooded river and drown. I was able to recover his head and Cape days later after the water level went down.

The cartridge sleeves on my .30-06, and .204 each holds 9rds. I am comfortable with that.

Wow, six times with a muzzleloader? How'd you get him to stick around for that?

 

[stoky]

Never

me neither
I'm very conservative about the shots I take and I start practicing with my hunting rifle, from field positions, a month or so before the season starts.
I can pass on shots without regret. For me, the fun's pretty much over when I drop one anyway.

 

[Armored farmer]

Wow, six times with a muzzleloader? How'd you get him to stick around for that?

I the first shot mortally wounded him. He laid on his side for over 30 minutes before I got down out of my stand.
The second was between his shoulders when he got up on his front legs at point blank.
The third was through his ham as he waddled towards the flooded river that disects our property.
The fourth was through the scrotum.
The fifth was a hail Mary to try to knock him down before he got to the riverbank.
The sixth, was through the boiler when he emerged on the other side after swimming the river. Then he turned and went back into the river and went under. The last thing I saw was his horns slip below the surface.
This all sounds too incredible, but that's how it happened.
After we found him hung up on a log jam, I pulled him out of the river with my tractor. We did an autopsy with field point arrows and found that my first shot was just behind the diaphragm, the shot between the shoulders probably only got one lung.

 

[MedWheeler]

^^ I don't know which I'd enjoy looking at more up there, the trophy or the rifle..

 

[LoonWulf]

View attachment 759202
I the first shot mortally wounded him. He laid on his side for over 30 minutes before I got down out of my stand.
The second was between his shoulders when he got up on his front legs at point blank.
The third was through his ham as he waddled towards the flooded river that disects our property.
The fourth was through the scrotum.
The fifth was a hail Mary to try to knock him down before he got to the riverbank.
The sixth, was through the boiler when he emerged on the other side after swimming the river. Then he turned and went back into the river and went under. The last thing I saw was his horns slip below the surface.
This all sounds too incredible, but that's how it happened.
After we found him hung up on a log jam, I pulled him out of the river with my tractor. We did an autopsy with field point arrows and found that my first shot was just behind the diaphragm, the shot between the shoulders probably only got one lung.View attachment 759203

As disappointing as im sure it was to loose him, it was good you managed to salvage something.Hes a good looking animal!
I watched a buddy years ago pump 5 rounds from his .243 into a trophy class feral goat (were not THAT into goats, but this thing was HUUUUUGE!), only to have it stumble on each shot and eventually jump off the cliffs on the back side of molokai...no recovering that.

 

[TN Outlaw]

I cant think of a time that ive ever NEEDED over 1-2 rounds but i always opt for carrying as many as i can comfortably take and the more in the gun, the better.

I dont look at carrying 4-5 cartridges in the gun and 10 in my pouch as being just for the game im after. Off in the woods, far away from civilization, you just never know what may come about. Mountain lions, pack of wolves/coyotes, pack of angry methheaded cannibals, or even the boogeyman jumping out of the bushes and screaming, "gitchee gitchee!"

I always take the extra rounds to be the most prepared that i can be for any situation. Be it the game im after or even for what may get after me. Ive never been lost but thats always a possibility too so why not have what you can carry and the more that the gun holds, the less you have to hold.

Ive never NEEDED my deadbolt on my door or my CCW, but i always lock my door and i have my Glock43 on me as we speak. I just would rather be prepared for the worst incase it happens.

 

[Sarge]

Well I can only recount my experience on Antelope and Mule Deer as I've only gone elk hunting once and never had a good shot at one.
Almost all of my kills have been single shots. A couple took 2 and one Antelope 3.
I describe myself as a bow hunter with a rifle. The challenge is Not can I hit him at 500 yds, but am I good enuf to get within about 50, which I've even done with Atelope out on the prarie (closest I got was 35 steps).
I've killed an antelope every year I hunted them - 3. The family didn't like the meat so quit hunting them!
I've also killed a deer every year I went - 5 times. Got so it was only a moderate challenge so I quit hunting them. Besides we all like beef better anyway.
My hunting rifle has always been a WW 2 German K 43 8mm semi auto.
Sarge

 

[Axis II]

I have several instances i wished i had more than one shot. we used to bird hunt a lot and my buddy was all about the single shots. well there is nothing like a wounded bird screaming to the ground with broken wings and then suffering until we find it. i will never use a single shot for that.

rabbit hunting one time i thought i was all cool with my O/U like all the other upland game hunters and ended up wounding it because i had the full choke in it for skeet and basically blew its rear end out and he layed in the nastiest pricker thicket known to man screaming. I tried just shooting it again from a distance but the gun wouldn't go off and in order to get the bottom barrel to go off the top must fire so fumbling around with it i put the bottom shell into the top and click, cracked it open and put 2 new shells in it and finished the rabbit off. i haven't used that shotgun since and pretty much quit rabbit hunting.

shot a deer years ago the scope had broken due to the recoil a few days before when sighting in. shot the deer at 50yards and missed, slung round #2 at about 70yards and made contact and hit him square in the rear end. i knew something was wrong after that so my buddy dropped it.

shot a doe with a single shot a few years back and right as i was squeezing the trigger she turned quartering towards me. entered the left shoulder and through the stomach and out the back leg and she dropped. i was happy and then she started to get back up. trying to crack that thing open and load another round in a tree stand wasn't cool. now I've got a repeater.

 

[cdb1]

rabbit hunting one time i thought i was all cool with my O/U like all the other upland game hunters and ended up wounding it because i had the full choke in it for skeet and basically blew its rear end out and he layed in the nastiest pricker thicket known to man screaming.

Why in the world would you be using a full choke for skeet?

 

[Axis II]

Why in the world would you be using a full choke for skeet?

that's all i had that came with it. I think it was trap with the little huts in the ground and towers we were shooting. it came with full chokes and i had to buy the others from BP cause i couldn't find them anywhere.

I was invited to go maybe 2nd time doing skeet/trap so i used what i had at the moment. I mainly purchased the shotgun for pheasant and dove hunting and for pheasant in a 20ga i like a full choke.

 

[cdb1]

You said in your post you had a full choke in your shotgun for skeet, are you now saying you don't know if it was skeet or trap? Were you using two full chokes since your shotgun has two barrels?

You know what? Never mind.

 

[DM~]

It might take more than one round to put the animal down. Also, it's good to have extra rounds in case you load a round that won't fire (bad primer or powder).

IF I needed a second round, I'd reload.......same with a round not going off, although that's something that I've never had happen, in my big game hunting career...

Anyway, my long time "go to gun" has a single high powered rifle round available,



With it, I've put 29 big game animals in my freezer with 29 shots, although of those 29, I have reloaded and took a second deer, when they weren't moving too fast...

DM

 

[Axis II]

You said in your post you had a full choke in your shotgun for skeet, are you now saying you don't know if it was skeet or trap? Were you using two full chokes since your shotgun has two barrels?

You know what? Never mind.

does it really matter or are we just trying to stir the pot?

Skeet/trap. we went to a public range that had 2 houses buried into the ground and 2 towers on the left and right and you didn't know which one would throw the orange clays. that was the first and last time I've done that so not sure what they call that setup.

Yes the gun had 2 barrels and was purchased used so i got whatever they put in it. upon calling stoeger it was found to be a full up top and cant remember what was in the bottom. stoeger doesn't etch their chokes they put notches in them and you have to decipher what's what off their website. I found a good deal on chokes at BP when we took a trip there so i purchased all of them seeing how they are etched what they are.

I decided to keep the full in the gun so i got a tighter spread with the smaller round. probably a full in the bottom too.

 

[cdb1]

Not trying to stir the pot. It is highly unusual to shoot skeet with full chokes so I wanted some clarification. You then stated you didn't know if you were shooting skeet or trap which is highly unusual also. I then decided to drop it.

 

[Axis II]

Not trying to stir the pot. It is highly unusual to shoot skeet with full chokes so I wanted some clarification. You then stated you didn't know if you were shooting skeet or trap which is highly unusual also. I then decided to drop it.

hey, no problem. its sometimes hard to take how someone is being when online.

I honestly don't know what the heck they called it. the place has a pistol, rifle, archery and shotgun range. when your looking at it there is too large concrete towers on the left and right with 2 houses buried into the ground and a speaker and you say pull, bla, bla, bla and either the towers or the house in the ground will throw the clays. i grew up going to Wal-Mart and buying the cheapest box of shells possible, beat up old 12ga handme down and a box of clays and we would go to the farm and sling them with the red handle thing and always called it skeet.

can you clarify what it was called i was shooting cause i too am a little curious. i mainly went to shoot my bow and varmint rifle but was asked to shoot whatever its called also.

 

[cdb1]

Sounds like skeet or sporting clays, not trap.

 

[d2wing]

I feel better if I can take a follow up shot if needed. While it should not be needed sometimes it is. One while shogun hunting I shot a young buck 5 times. I could not believe that he wouldn't go down, I thought maybe my sights were off. he did not run. I walked over after he finally fell over. Turns out all shots were in the lungs and he should have died quickly. The slugs passed right through. So much for shotguns knocking animals over and sending people flying. Lol.

 

[someguy2800]

IF I needed a second round, I'd reload.......same with a round not going off, although that's something that I've never had happen, in my big game hunting career...

Anyway, my long time "go to gun" has a single high powered rifle round available,

View attachment 759359

With it, I've put 29 big game animals in my freezer with 29 shots, although of those 29, I have reloaded and took a second deer, when they weren't moving too fast...

DM

Neat looking gun, any more info or pictures?

 

[.308 Norma]

So much for shotguns knocking animals over and sending people flying. Lol.

Or for that matter, any other gun normally used for big game hunting. The first deer I ever shot, a doe mule deer, ran about 40 yards uphill after I shot her in the ribs with my .308 Winchester. Then she stopped in the middle of the old logging road I'd been walking. I was only 14 years old, and I thought I'd missed because all the old guys I knew (including my dad) had told me a .308 would "knock em down."
So I shot her again in the ribs. And again. And again. And again. As I was trying to shove a fresh magazine in my Model 100 Winchester, the doe collapsed in her tracks.
You could cover all five bullet holes on the one side of that doe's ribs with one hand. There was nothing left of her heart, and not much left of her rib cage on the other side.
Anyway, due to that experience over 50 years ago, I learned the myth of "knock down power" is just that - a myth. And about 10 years after that I had to stifle a laugh when another old guy told me a wounded deer will always run downhill.
Disclaimer - OK, sure - I've shot deer, elk and antelope that appeared to be "knocked down" when they were hit. I've even seen a few of them jump right back up, and sometimes they ran downhill after they're hit. But neither "knock down" nor "run downhill" is a sure thing.
Edited to include - I've shot 3 mule deer with my beloved .308 Norma since I got it. Each of them appeared to be knocked right off their feet when they were hit, and not a one of them got back up. Therefore, because I'm an "old guy" of 69 now, I'm qualified to tell young hunters that a .308 Winchester won't always "knock deer down." but a .308 Norma Magnum will.

 

[SwampWolf]

Only once, but I did need to reload and use over three rounds to "finish" killing a nice buck in Michigan over a half century ago. My initial shots were well-placed and at close range but I was using the "wrong" bullets at the time in my 30-06.