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Hunting & Fishing NM Elk hunt

Jered Joplin

Jered Joplin

Gunny Sergeant
Commercial Supporter
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 17, 2004
1,164
2
Jefferson GA
www.americanprecisionarms.com
I just got back from an Elk hunt in NM. Thought you guys might like to see the pics.
I'm still trying to get my nose and lungs back in shape after hunting in dry air at 9000 ft for a week. It's a big difference from 700 ft.

The rifle in the photo with the elk isn't what I used to shoot it but from up on the mountain where I was I lost sight of the bull in the trees after he was shot. It took Chris and I an hour and a half to regroup up about 40 yards above him. By then it was waaay past dark and went in after him with "Precious". I've got a Swaro on it and Brad was borrowing her for his hunt. The March doesn't excel at stalking around the bushes at night. I couldn't tell exactly where I had (or if ) I had hit him on the first shot but I know the second impact was right up in the liver. As it turns out the first shot hit both lungs but when it did he stood there like a statue. No since in taking any chances and it was plenty cool enough to let him sit.

All is well that end well I suppose. He made it about 100 yards from where I shot him. Here are some of the pics from the hunt:










 
That's a really nice looking bull. Congratulations on a successful hunt. Did you have to take any aspirin due to an altitude headache?
 
I don't take pills unless I'm really jacked up!

The rifle is one of our MeatStick rifles chambered 300 Ackley. I was shooting the 180 Barnes TTSX and really had no plans on putting one out in the wind past 700 but the elk didn't get the memo. I passed this bull up 2 days prior but in the last 30 mins of the hunt it was meat time. I ground checked it and didn't know it was the same elk until we walked up on it. Nor did I care for that matter i just knew the Jetta was going to be full for the ride home.


Here is the rig:
 
Its just a 300 Ackley improved cartridge. (Blown out to a 40 deg shoulder is all).

Here is a photo packing him out. You pack 3 of these off of a mountain in two days and you'll be hard pressed to keep a smile on your face for a photo.

 
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Nice bull. Once you get a taste of elk hunting, sitting in a tree stand all day gets boring fast...
 
Congratulations Jered, nice bull and a great picture for sure.
 
Well done Jered! Great pics and recap. Looks like beautiful country. I know how you feel packing those buggers out! :D
 
A word to the wise.......Barnes bullets don't open up well at 1107 yards. They did the job but there wasn't a ton of damage. He was dead on his feet it just took him a few minutes to get the memo even though I went through both lungs.
I'm going to do some limited work with the Bergers this fall. It seems a lot of people have had great experiences with the I just haven't ever been one of them. I've got some 210's loaded for TX. It's not that they don't work but I had horrible dealings with the 7mm 180
and haven't seen much that impressed me other than the BC so far. Maybe the 210's will put a smile on my face. I tried the 300g er's last year. The results were on par with the Sierra which isn't bad. I guess dead is dead and things expire quick with a 1 inch hole bored through them.
 
I was hunting private property. I really didn't have a guide. I was hunting with some other hunters that knew the property. The property was in Folsom.

I'd love to try the 215's but Berger has discontinued them. I know some folks that have tested them extensively in gelatin and on critters from short range to long range, slow speeds to ridiculous speeds, and
I was told it performed very well at all speeds and distances.
 
Congrats on a great bull!
Strange question, but I have to ask.... What scope covers on your March?
 
Unfortunately a Butler Creek set. They seem to be good for about one hunt if you are hump'n it. Something will be screwed up on one of them by the time you make it home. I thought about making some metal ones here when we have some free time which will pretty much be never.
 
Jered Joplin said:
A word to the wise.......Barnes bullets don't open up well at 1107 yards. They did the job but there wasn't a ton of damage. He was dead on his feet it just took him a few minutes to get the memo even though I went through both lungs.
I'm going to do some limited work with the Bergers this fall. It seems a lot of people have had great experiences with the I just haven't ever been one of them. I've got some 210's loaded for TX. It's not that they don't work but I had horrible dealings with the 7mm 180
and haven't seen much that impressed me other than the BC so far. Maybe the 210's will put a smile on my face. I tried the 300g er's last year. The results were on par with the Sierra which isn't bad. I guess dead is dead and things expire quick with a 1 inch hole bored through them.
Click to expand...
Your kidding?!?!?! I hear it on good authority from so many people that the Barnes is a super bullet, a guaranteed kill if only you hit the animal. Though I do kid, only partially, as there are some that think Barnes are the only way to kill something. Very interesting what you mention Jared about performance. I'm still waiting to hear on Sendero Man's 307 antelope thread about George's 130 VLD performance on a doe at 1268. Reason being, I have tested some Berger's (210VLD to be exact) at slow speeds (1050) and they didn't open up at all. Granted, youd have to be shooting a long dang ways to get that slow, but I wonder how much better they would perform at 1200,1400,1600, etc. Just goes to prove the point, that bullet placement is THE determining factor when it comes to killing. Do you have any more pictures to sustain your Barnes or Berger performance/lack thereof?
 
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I've shot a lot .......with a lot. I would say this is the first time I've seen a barnes less than perfect typical performance but they are a tuff bullet and aren't cut out for the long range gig. Regardless of their performance the BC is way too low to consider them in any sort of distance contention. The elk is dead so I can't complain. The shot I took I knew was beyond what I should be shooting but desperate times call for desperate and sometimes boarder line unethical action. Don't mess with a redneck if his freezer needs fill'n.

I have never jumped on the Berger bandwagon for hunting. Reason being I've seen some very poor performance out of the 7mm 180g specifically. I was told those were target bullets yet they state that the target bullets "are good for hunting" as well.
Maybe it was a limited experience but I wasn't the only one that shared that experience and I watched more than one dee run away for no apparent reason. Case in point here is a doe shot with two rifles. The bottom arrow shows where the Berger entered at roughly 100 yards and the top arrow shows where the 223 Ackley went. There were two board members here that witnessed it. Shot 1 was a 7 WSM shooting the 180's at moderate velocities. The doe hit the dirt and stood back up doing the Stevie Wonder dance. It's obvious what happened with the 75g Amax hit her.




Shot placement isn't perfect but it was 100 yards and it pin holed out the other side even though it went through some bone. This was after watching four other deer run away after being shot with the same rifle.

I'm still trying various ones and have certainly had better success with others but never the devastation that everyone speaks of. Trust me I want this to work REALLY bad. Otherwise I wouldn't keep testing them. The only reason I didn't shoot the 210 on this hunt was because I didn't trust them. When I've tested them and feel satisfied then Yes but at this point I remain once bitten and twice shy.

I think Hornady had a great thing going with the Amax but the new AMP jackets are really soft (or something else is going on). They totally devastate an animal when they hit it but if you mess up you will pay dearly for it. They still carry my over all favoritism.

The long and short of the Barnes deal is the ones we tested won't reliably expand at 1500 fps. My bullets should have been just over 1600 which should have opened slightly but due to the construction of the bullet didn't cause much damage.
We have dug two out of a Buffalo that never expanded. Who cares on a buffalo really though. You need all the penetration you can get on them. That being said it never has and never will be a perfect world. For anyone. That's the ONLY case where I have seen one fail to open. That's pretty damn good track record.

I feel like the shooters have surpassed the current production and technology for bullets. Maybe Nosler has something with their new bullets. Let's hope they aren't as touchy as some of the other Accubonds have been. The true test will be extreme ranges to see if they open up or pass through. I'll be on the Nosler 210 LR AB like a fat kid on cake when I get the opportunity. I'm pretty much discounting the BC already because there is no way that sucker has a .730 BC. I can and will calculate it here when I get some. If it's even close to a .7 it will be outstanding but from the looks of it I seriously doubt it will break a .675. I hope I'm wrong.
 
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Im sure someone will be along to say this as well, but I believe the orange box bergers say; for hunting, also suitable for target. And I thought the yellow box said; for target shooting. I normally shoot SMK's or Amax's and have never had a problem, I dont see enough value in bergers for the added cost. Thanks for the update Jared.
 
Jered Joplin said:
A word to the wise.......Barnes bullets don't open up well at 1107 yards. They did the job but there wasn't a ton of damage. He was dead on his feet it just took him a few minutes to get the memo even though I went through both lungs.
I'm going to do some limited work with the Bergers this fall. It seems a lot of people have had great experiences with the I just haven't ever been one of them. I've got some 210's loaded for TX. It's not that they don't work but I had horrible dealings with the 7mm 180
and haven't seen much that impressed me other than the BC so far. Maybe the 210's will put a smile on my face. I tried the 300g er's last year. The results were on par with the Sierra which isn't bad. I guess dead is dead and things expire quick with a 1 inch hole bored through them.
Click to expand...

TTSX out of a 300 win mag don't open up well (or at all) at 100 yards either. The TSX (non-tipped) worked great though when I used to use them. I won't use TTSX ever again. The best hunting bullet is the Accubond as far as I am concerned.
 
Jered Joplin said:
I don't take pills unless I'm really jacked up!

The rifle is one of our MeatStick rifles chambered 300 Ackley. I was shooting the 180 Barnes TTSX and really had no plans on putting one out in the wind past 700 but the elk didn't get the memo. I passed this bull up 2 days prior but in the last 30 mins of the hunt it was meat time. I ground checked it and didn't know it was the same elk until we walked up on it. Nor did I care for that matter i just knew the Jetta was going to be full for the ride home.


Here is the rig:
Click to expand...

Good looking rifle! Which brake of yours is that?
 
Jered:

How has the March scope done in the field = any zero/tracking problems after being "beat up" while hunting??
 
Hey Jered, what did you ever do with the paragon that you beat the hell out off? I was hoping you shot a deer with it. LOVE my APA.
Steven
 
Nice bull, cool hunt. I enjoy New Mexico elk hunts, did one a few years back where the damn cow grew horns between the first shot and the second. (It was low light, looked like a nice big cow, guide said, "take the shot", I did, it turned, dammit, 10 inch spikes sitting right at the ears.) I will say this, having allot of things, few animals I have ever seen take a round as well as an elk does, they are tough.

I am a huge 300WM fan, hunt almost exclusively with that caliber. What does the Ackley get you over a normal 300WM loading?
Opinions vary, but my South Africa hunt with 180-gr TTSX was almost flawless, shots taken between 100-450 yards, recovered projectiles mushroomed nicely. No 700 yard shots.

Cool photos, might have to look into a 300 Ackley.
 
Jered Joplin said:
I was hunting private property. I really didn't have a guide. I was hunting with some other hunters that knew the property. The property was in Folsom.

I'd love to try the 215's but Berger has discontinued them. I know some folks that have tested them extensively in gelatin and on critters from short range to long range, slow speeds to ridiculous speeds, and
I was told it performed very well at all speeds and distances.
Click to expand...

Very nice bull... I work for the railroad and go through Folsom on trains alot. That is some beautiful property and we have seen a lot of nice elk through there.. would love to get a chance to hunt that area.

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk
 
The Ackley gives you around 150 fps more. It's on par with the 300 wby. Honestly the only reason I did it was so my gun would be faster than my buddies. I wish I had a better come back than that but it's the truth.

The Barnes bullet is probably the best over all hunting bullet ever designed. Just in it's ability to do what it does. That being said it's not a distance bullet. I feel confident with it out to 600 but if there is an amount of wind there you will have a pretty serious challenge on your hands. BC is king in open air space. The other thing is the Barnes is a tuff bullet. The 30 cals and like bullets certainly perform way better when they have some moderate speed behind them.
 
Interesting. We used 140 vld's in a 6.5x284 and 175 vlds in .308 and 30-378 this year deer hunting with shots from 150yds to 450 yds and the damage was incredible.
Most animals dropped in their tracks. We were very impressed with the vld bullet.
Velocity in the .308 2825 30-378 3450 and 6.5x284 3010
 
Jered,

Can you give some info on your pack and how your rifle is attached? Kind of similar to my setup... a 3 day pack with one of the 5.11 rifle/scope holders.

Just curious..it looks good.

Thanks
Matt (LEO SOUTH GA.)
 
It's a Badlands Mule pack. It's made to attach the rifle there. We were testing some gear out on the mountain. That's why there is 3 different packs in the various photos. I added an extra strap and some because I liked wanted to try something different. Their packs are truly awesome!
 
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