Elk hunting with a grendel

[ROTCatCU]

I have been hunting colorado elk with the grendel as a companion gun to my 30-06 with 1-3x for close range. No harvests unfortunately. This year I'll be using it exclusively for two elk tags and plains rifle for deer. I'll be putting in plenty of range time in so I will know mine and my rifle/bullet limitations to longer ranges.

[Nordy55]

Can just slip in close or ambush from a tree.. guys do it with spears,recurves, selfbows....know your limits and maybe headshot one...

[NightStalker]

Ive seen a 243 take elk I think the Grendel will do fine, shot placement is key

[usmc0352]

This an old thread, I understand. I love my Grendel but I have a clear understanding about its limitations. I feel that on deer sized animals at 350 and closer with perfect shot placement, it is it is the right tool for the job. For elk, in my limited experience, I would be very cautious. I shot a cow medium sized cow elk at 25 yards with a .30-06, 150 gr silvertip bullet right in the shoulder and it stopped and just looked at me! I was stunned. A second shot high in the pelvis as she bolted off out of sight left my jaw hanging. I gave her a few minutes before I went to see if I could see her down the hill. I found her down about 40 yards downhill... still alive. She expired shortly after. I am still amazed at how tough she was. Her heart and lungs were mush. Admittedly she was dead on her feet but the fact that she didn't drop in her tracks was eye opening.

[xlcc]

Hunt elk with a Grendel?Why not?Shoot a good bullet under ideal conditions and don't be afraid to pass up a poor shot.

[riuma]

Elk seldom drop in their tracks. You could have gotten the same results with a 300 WM. Elk have been killed with 44-40, 30-30 and 32-40. You just need to pick your shot and live with your particular limitations. ~ Riuma

[kmon]

My experience with shooting elk is a good shot and they die pretty quickly, a bad shot with anything and they can go a long way and never be recovered or recovered with a LOT of effort. I have seen them killed with cartridges from 25-06 to 300RUM and the longest tracking job on a recovered bull that was shot 5 more times before he expired was with a 7RM. Put that first bullet where it belongs and you have a dead elk. I have only seen 2 elk drop in their tracks that were from high shoulder shots that took out the back bone between the shoulders.

A CNS shot is pretty much the only shot I will expect to drop anything in its tracks. One I remember though was on a very cold morning shot with a 257 WBY and 110 gr accubonds at almost 300 yards. Double lung hit, he reared up and fell over backwards and never got up. That one you coud see his breath and he had pretty much completely exhaled so the lungs were more solid instead of being full of air.

Riuma gave some very good advice.

[Fess]

A Grendel can certainly kill an elk, the issue is what others have mentioned above: the conditions must be right and the shooter must be willing to pass up a poor shot. In short, if you enjoy the sport of hunting and are fine with not getting an elk if perfect conditions don't present themselves, the Grendel will be fine. If, on the other hand, you really, really want to kill and elk and are willing to take a more marginal shot, you should seriously consider a more powerful cartridge.

[meatsweats]

[AZBackcountry]

I've shot 9 elk and harvested 9 elk. I've de-boned and helped pack out over 60 elk. Only once, I tracked a bull for 1.25 miles that my dad did an accidental poor shot on. All in AZ. I used to be an instructor for the AZ G&F Hunter Safety Coarse for over a decade. I've seen more dead unrecovered elk than 90% hunters have even seen elk.
I can't get drawn in AZ so tried CO and got a muzzleloader bull tag. I found 2 things in the CO P&W Elk Hunting University Lesson 10 that needed to be added to this old thread. "An ethical hunter clearly understands his or her capability and refrains from attempting shots that are beyond the effective range of the hunter and the firearm." and "A commonly accepted threshold for the minimum amount of kinetic energy needed to kill an elk is 1500 ft-lbs."
My Grendel would be good to 160 yards. Ethically!!!!

[Stinky Coyote]

[justinspicher]

I appreciate all the responses, and will be starting my third season with the grendel. I have passed up four opportunities on elk over the past two seasons due to the scenario not being right, it stings a bit, but thats hunting. I did manage to shoot three nice deer in Kentucky last season and the grendel did very well. Good luck to everyone this season.