"Break a Leg" (shoulder)  

[arizona jim]

It may seem a bit controversial but I like to break a shoulder when shooting elk to help anchor the animal in its tracks. Ever since my first elk hunt when I shot an elk at dusk & it did not fall down I have changed my mind on the best spot to aim. It was a young cow & it just stood there upon the first shot. Then it put it head down as to feed again.

I could not believe it, I was just 40yds away; I quickly checked my scope then loaded another round. At the second shot the elk shook then took about ten steps in disbelief I loaded another round. Just before I shot, it stumbled but would not fall. I was nervous because if it bolted to run it would be over the hill & I would be looking for it all night.

The elk finally fell, and when I checked the entrance and exit wounds they were only an inch apart. Both hit heart & lung. The exit holes were about 1" in diameter & pieces of heart, lung & ribs were all over the ground. I was using Winchester 180grn. Fail Safes in 30-06. On the same hunt I saw my dad put 4 shots with 220grn. bullets into an elkat 90yds before it went down.

Since then, and after talking to more experienced elk hunters; I have started to include a shoulder & the vitals in my shots. (Far shoulder on longer shots & near shoulder on close shots.) My next two elk were 1 shot kills. A large mature cow at 300 yards & a 5x6 Bull at 50 yds. I was using the same rifle & bullet combo. Both had visable impacts & they could not support their own weight on the broken shoulder.  They went down quickly.

Some people say it wastes meat & others say it risks a chance of just wounding it. I feel if you use the right bullet and know your rifles limitations that it is a good shot. What do you guys / girls think??

 

[340mag]

shot placement on the first shot needs to be carefully placed to be 100% fatal in the fastest time possiable, the fact that the elk move a small distance(less than 50-150 yards) is of little concern as long as the elk is  killed quickly and surely, now Ive dressed out over 4 dozen elk and Ive seen several dozen shot and talked to lots of succesfull  hunters, the shoulder shot wastes meat and requires a well constucted bullet of reasonable weight to break the shoulder and continue into the vital organs, the best course in MY opinion is to try to hit from the rear angle through a near side lung to just above the heart on an angle that breaks the far side leg on an  elk, this proves 100% effective in dropping the elk within 50 yards or less every time so far (more than 50 elk shot by myself and others in my hunting party (we average 5-6 guys in the group)over the last 35 years tends to prove that. now you and I both know your not always going to get that shot but if you use a fairly heavy caliber with bullets of about .260 or better secional density then you should be able to drive a bullet from the front or quartering from the rear , through the area above the heart from about 260 degrees on an elk  and the  results will be quite simular in that the elk runs a very short distance and piles up. only shots from the rear or through the hips into the stomach normally slow or stop the buttet enough to fail to reach the heart.  this is best accomplished  with cartridges like the 338 win, 35 whelen,375H&H and 250-270 grain bullets of very sturdy construction, save the 270 win-7 mags with the lighter weight bullets and simular cartridges for broadside lung shots at which they might work as well or better because of their faster expanding bullets. but  for the deep penetration shots the heavier calibers have a large advantage. ELK are far from bullet proof, one of my friends used a 358 win with 250 grain bullets too take 16 elk each one shot kills, but precise first shot placement is necessary to drop then quickly, once an elk is wounded with other than both lungs and the heart or the heart and one lung the adrenilin starts to flow and youll have a tracking job on your hands
if you picture the target as a softball size area about  1/3 to 1/2 way up from the bottom of the chest and located just behind, vertically and below  the leg/shoulder joint youll be ok, your not aiming for the heart itself, your trying to cut all the major arterys above it and drive the bullet into the lungs
look at the broadside  cow elk on the forum header, now look at the far side front leg, just above and inline with that far side leg youll notice a crease just behind the near leg look 1/3 up on the cows chest in line with that far leg, thats your aim point! you always try to get a heart/lung shot that breaks the far side leg if possible





(Edited by 340mag at 6:29 pm on July 4, 2002)

 

[huntducks]

AZ Jim

I have taken my share of Elk (19) mostly bulls several I have shot in the lungs and have had a long walk to find them, when I started shooting through both shoulders I have started gutting them where I shoot them, I believe in braking at least 1 shoulder and that really hold true on public land where you can lose a nice elk to another hunter or have one huge fight on your hands, mind you all these shoulder shots have been at 200yds or less, if i'm shooting farther then that I will push throught the lungs trying for some angle to far shoulder, if not I might pass to work closer or chance what I have if it is end of hunt and then track, several times with longer shots I have reloaded and used Nosler BT and Rem Bronze Points, I have yet to ever lose a elk that I have shot.

I have shot them with 270 30-06 & 338 the 210 gr Nosler partition in the 338 does a great job, and have used 150gr Ren. core lock in the 270 and 180 gr in the 30-06 along with 165gr Sierra game kings.

I don't like premium bullets for any lung shots as they do not expand enought causing a huge wound channel, on shoulder i'm sure they will work fine, as far as meat damage I turn at least half my elk into ground meat, beef sticks, jerky, and that all comes from the front end so a little blood shot wasted meat is worth it to me, heck I just boil the blood shot stuff and my dog eats well.

Take care good luck.

 

[hronk]

Right behind the shoulder, dead on broadside.  Puncture both lungs and he can't breath, so he's probably not going to far.  Put an arrow thru just one and you've got a long search ahead of you.  Hit a shoulder going in and he's probably going to live to fight another day.....hronk

 

[gizz]

I shot my only Bull Elk last year with 175 gr nosler .30 Caliber through both lungs and he never took another step. I watched him fold up through the scope at 255 yards. After removing the entrails i checked the lungs and they were pierced at the top. I always aim for the vitals but shot placement has a lot to do with the situation and your position in relation to the animal. Sometimes they never take another step and sometimes they run off a ways which usually leaves us scratching our heads once we realize where we hit it.

 

[rickt300]

If your going to use a hard bullet like the Failsafe you might as well shoot for bone cause it isn't going to open on thin ribs and lung material. I like the Speer 180 grain spitzer and the Nosler partition. I never shoot at the shoulder on the side I am looking at. First yourbullet dumps a lot of energy getting through it(meat damage) and whats left is less for the vitals. From my experience I have seen elk with a broken shoulder and some lung damage travel for half a mile and not toward the road. Another point if making a lung/heart shot never shoot higher than halfway up the elks chest. Here you get damage to heart, lungs and large arteries. Solid neck hits work very well and if I have a good shot at the neck I take it but know where to shoot to hit the spine.