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Elk hunting

Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Enfields
Forum Name: Hunting with the .303 British cartridge.
Forum Description: Share your hunting stories with the rest of us.
URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9364
Printed Date: March 28 2024 at 5:40am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Elk hunting
Posted By: Honkytonk
Subject: Elk hunting
Date Posted: November 26 2018 at 4:25pm
Pretty excited! Me and a buddy heading north to elk hunt. He was in the area last week deer hunting with his dad and saw tracks in the snow from two different herds on onnd we have permission. Not to say they'll be there when we hunt but it's a good sign. Taking my No4 Mk1 in the walnut Bishop stock, 3x9 Bausch and Lomb. 180 gr Sierra ProHunters. Same rig I shot my deer with. We'll also do some ice fishing as his dad has been limiting out in Walleye (4, have to be under 18") everyday since the ice has been safe.



Replies:
Posted By: Canuck
Date Posted: November 26 2018 at 4:35pm
Good luck! Elk meat is so tasty!

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually


Posted By: hoadie
Date Posted: November 27 2018 at 3:45am
The Pickeral is an added bonus!

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Loose wimmen tightened here


Posted By: Pukka Bundook
Date Posted: November 27 2018 at 5:50am
I wish you all success, Honky!
 
My old chopped Ishapore likes the 215 gr for elk.  It has clobbered a few with that round.
(open sights, but good for 200 yards)
 
Not a Sign of elk (I wrote "Elf" for a start! LOL!)  this year.
Trouble is, there is a herd of 200 west of us, but hiding in posted lands, and they will be very hard on hay and such when the season ends in a few days.
 


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: November 27 2018 at 5:55am
No kidding on the hay. The last time I elk hunted this time of year the landowner had a hay stack of maybe 100 square bails in a field. We hunted that spot every day for two weeks. Every day you could literally see the stack level drop! Trail cam showed they would come at 2 am, leave at 4:30 am, well before legal shoot. Probably 30 or 40. We never did bag one. Eating machines!


Posted By: hoadie
Date Posted: November 27 2018 at 11:58am
The bulls can be VERY aggresive, as well.

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Loose wimmen tightened here


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: November 28 2018 at 12:09pm
So can this bull! We just got another 10 cm (5") of snow today. Should help seeing new tracks of where the herd is moving. We leave Sunday for opening day Monday. We do have one deer tag left to fill. Choices, choices...


Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: November 28 2018 at 1:50pm
Good Luck on your Hunt.

Later 42rocker


Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: November 28 2018 at 7:31pm
dittos that , i wish you the best 

as an aside - do not often post to these as i am not the hunter anymore but it does not mean i don't appreciate the efforts ya-all go to to be one , i read the posts and when inspired add a kudo , i do appreciate the efforts and dedication this takes and i am in favor of maintaining our hunting heritage 

as i approach 70 i am finding my limitations have more influence even tho i fight them every day , i still get out and do , but im not going on an elk hunt again [maybe a pheasant hunt at just the right place] so i look forward to your posts of the adventure 


Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: November 28 2018 at 9:56pm
A square 10
I remember hunting pheasants in Minnesota, Thanks for bringing back those good thoughts.
 
Later 42rocker


Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: November 29 2018 at 7:45pm
rocker - i hunted here a few times but most of my hunting occurred when younger in iowa , a little in nebraska/kansas - that was the 60s tho , never got to the dakotas , think i missed some of the great plains hunting by not going there 


Posted By: Whitjr
Date Posted: December 18 2018 at 3:38am
I am reading these posts, the hunting topics with interest.  My hunting season this year has been so badly intrupted as to be nearly non-existant, inbetween family loss and other illness’s.

I got one buck early this year, however with my 98K configured for deer hunting.  And I havn’t been able to get out since.  I sincerely hope that this is not the wave of the future, however must be a realist as well...  am approaching 70, and many hunts seem to be in my past more than in my future!!!


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Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: December 18 2018 at 6:10am
Whitjr
My 80 year old friend went hunting this year. He also picked up a new hunting rifle this year. The man has some plans. 
 
Later 2rocker


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: December 28 2018 at 5:24am
Well, my elk season ended without harvesting an animal. We put on lots of miles land on the last morning of the last day at daybreak we saw 9 elk in a field we didn't have permission on. Maybe 1/4 mile in the field. As we were watching them in the bino's, they moved south into a 1/4 section we did have permission in. The wind was right so buddy dropped me off and I had the get to the east end of the property quickly. Walking in calf deep snow. Once I was in place, buddy pushed the bush south. I think a combination of one guy pushing a huge bush and lots of spots I couldn't cover hindered us, and nothing came out in my "kill zone." All in all, a great hunt! Saw some animals, spent the evenings ice fishing and brought home a limit of walleye!


Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: December 28 2018 at 6:27am
Sorry to hear about no Elk this time but next time? Glad you had the ice fishing good time.
But as they say a bad day hunting is still a Lot better than a lot of other things.
Seems that you did have a good time and that's what counts. 
 
Later 42rocker


Posted By: hoadie
Date Posted: December 28 2018 at 8:36am
A bad day hunting is still a better day than workin fer the man!

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Loose wimmen tightened here


Posted By: Canuck
Date Posted: December 28 2018 at 9:14am
I love hunting. Seeing those elk is exciting!

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Castles made of sand slip into the sea.....eventually


Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: December 28 2018 at 8:20pm
they are talking of reintroducing them northeast of me here , the paper i saw today indicates there is a lot of local support - im going to bet the DNR jumps right into this , 


Posted By: hoadie
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 4:06am
taking into account poaching, preditors & accidents..it will take approx. 10 years for the herd to mature to "hunting strength".
Be forewarned..in their range they can / will create alot of destruction to private property & farms

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Loose wimmen tightened here


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 4:36am
Hoadie, you are correct. Fences do not stop dlk. They can walk right through them. They can also eat a lot of hay. Definitely can make a dent in a farmers put up cattle feed.


Posted By: Pukka Bundook
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 5:48am
It's not the hay they eat, it's the hay they plain destroy that narks me.
I once tried to head off a big mob heading for the bush here on the farm. 
I was in the little Ranger truck and booted it across a hayfield. The lead cow had her eyes set on that bush though, and though we got there at the same time, I couldn't turn them.  The front -runners were pretty well jumping over my truck, they were so close, and the whole mob went over /through my fence like race-horses taking "Beecher's Brook" in the "Grand National!
 
Long story short, they took out 70 yards of fence!  Had cows in there so had to start fencing right away.
Told my little daughter what happened.   "It's your own fault for chasing them!" she said!!
She always was too logical!!  LOL.


Posted By: hoadie
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 5:58am
well, I guess that'll learn ya!

I watched a cow, bull & calf walk thru the woods @ the cabin. What a sight. I was on front porch (drinkin coffee) when cow & calf emerged on the drive & continued on into the bush. A few ticks later bull followed. Was easy to tell exactly where they were in the bush, cuz he kicked & knocked the crap out of every tree he came across.
That same year, an Elk declared war on one of our tree stands.(Older STEEL type - Rhino has used it). He hit it until he got it off the tree, & continued until he busted the welds on the rungs. We had to take it to Bancroft to get it re-welded.

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Loose wimmen tightened here


Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 8:17am
Remember they are not for playing with. 
 
Later 42rocker


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 2:44pm
42 Rocker... True. I watched a video of a full grown husky man get dropped by a white tail deer (small 4 point buck) during the rut. He was a mess. Times that body weight by at least three for elk? Maybe four times plus for moose? Awesome beasts!


Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: December 29 2018 at 2:58pm
That they are. Respect is the word. 

Later 42rocker


Posted By: zack
Date Posted: January 07 2020 at 6:22am
I killed an elk just west of Cimmaron N.M. in 1969. A friend who lived in Truchas had permission to hunt on private land. I got a bull 3rd day out. great memories. unless I hit the lottery ( money not elk tag ) my elk hunting days are over. not in my budget. A guy that I shoot sporting clays with in my Carpenters local goes every year. as far as bulls being dangerous Lone Elk Park is a wildlife park just out of St Louis. it's been awhile but a photographer decided to get a close up of a bull during the rut. he was gored to death. 'no cure for stupid'. I read a story in the mid 80"s about a guy in Pennsylvania who was returning to his truck after hunting. nature called & while he was squatting in the woods a buck deer attacked & gored him. while rolling around in poop with his pants around his ankles he managed to kill it with his hunting knife. he survived the attack with superficial wounds.


#7


Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: January 07 2020 at 7:35pm
Whitjr , i am also at 70 , im sorry to hear of your situation , 
understand exactly what your saying , much of my hunting is well behind me but like you i still think about it and will enjoy what little i might get as well as these threads of others still doing it , 



Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: January 07 2020 at 9:39pm
I just finished submitting my application for bull elk this year. 


Posted By: 42rocker
Date Posted: January 08 2020 at 3:35pm
Good Hunting to all and stay safe. 
 
Later 42rocker


Posted By: Travis
Date Posted: March 14 2020 at 7:02pm
Some years ago I took my one and only elk with my Enfield No. 1 Mark IV.  I was shooting 150 grain spire points ahead of 43 grains of BLC-(2).  I took my shot at about 60 yards.  I hit him in the neck just below his chin and he dropped like a rock.  The 150 grain is probably a little light for elk but, as my father would say, "it's more in placement than mass".

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Travis98146


Posted By: Pukka Bundook
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 6:21am
Travis,
 
You are right re. shot placement.
 
My old cut-down No 1 Mk 111 likes the 215 gr.  Shoot everything with them from coyotes to elk.
If hit where they live, one shot is all anything needs.
Fastest I saw one drop was with the Martini-Henry though.
Big old slow and heavy slug (480 gr) sounded like hitting a tree with a stick when it struck.  Cow dropped on the spot.  On deer, they'd sometimes run a little as the bullet didn't expand much.  Snider seems to work better on deer than the M-H in my hands...or the old .58" flintlock I used for 9 or 10 years straight.


Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 6:40am
Pukka. You're right about the sound! Something about a non jacketed chunk of lead that's fat and heavy hitting your deer. Although all my buddies have long switched to sabots and shotgun primers, I still shoot real BP and 385 gr Great Plains slugs from Hornady.


Posted By: 303 Hunter
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 9:54am
I have thought about getting a black powder rifle but the money to get in to it and loyalty to the .303 for hunting has kept me from doing so.
Have yet to draw a elk or moose tag yet but so far 174 and 180 grain bullets from Ross and Lee Enfield rifles has dropped 75% of the deer I have shot right were they stood. The other one did not get very far.

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The Lee Enfield is to the Canadian north what the Winchester repeater was to the American west.   Cal Bablitz


Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 10:00am
If you have a .303 Enfield you already have a B/P rifle!
You can safely load 215 gr bullets ahead of a full & I mean 100% full charge of 2F!
Do clean for corrosive afterwards though.


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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: 303 Hunter
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 10:08am
I was thinking of a muzzel loader.

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The Lee Enfield is to the Canadian north what the Winchester repeater was to the American west.   Cal Bablitz


Posted By: hoadie
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 11:20am
Originally posted by 303 Hunter 303 Hunter wrote:

I was thinking of a muzzel loader.


AH! a fellow smoke-poler!!

I have a pattern '53. Love to play with it.

Cant hunt Elk with tho...I cant hit squat wiv it...& the Loyal Order of Elk get on my case

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Loose wimmen tightened here


Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 11:26am
Originally posted by Shamu Shamu wrote:

If you have a .303 Enfield you already have a B/P rifle!
You can safely load 215 gr bullets ahead of a full & I mean 100% full charge of 2F!
Do clean for corrosive afterwards though.
I have a pound of Pyrodex P, the FFFG equivalent.  I can use that correct? I want to try it and chronograph it...


Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 12:17pm
The .303 black powder round was loaded with a compressed pellet, 71 grains.  I would stick with 2F grain size black powder powder, fill case to capacity.  Some compression is probably fine.  

I spent a lot of time loading and shooting the Martini Henry, cast my bullets, 85 gr Fg black powder.  I never trusted that modern substitute, not with a 1870s Martini. 

Make sure you clean the bore and cases well (wash in hot soapy water with splash of white vinegar (kind without ammonia).   






Posted By: Pukka Bundook
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 3:27pm
Pyrodex burns like  a garden fire......have some here I was given, and never will use it!
 
Black in the .303 shoots awfully low compared to proper ammo.  ( Loose, not the pellet with the hole through it and case formed around it.)


Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: March 15 2020 at 5:20pm
Pyrodex tends to have larger grains in any given formulation than "Holy Black". You can't physically overload a .303 case with B/P, its about 1 1/10th the power of modern smokeless.
I don't know with pyrodex.
The original B/P 215 Gr loads with the wet pellet load ran about 1800 FPS.


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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)


Posted By: The Armourer
Date Posted: March 16 2020 at 10:02am
Originally posted by Travis Travis wrote:

Some years ago I took my one and only elk with my Enfield No. 1 Mark IV.  I was shooting 150 grain spire points ahead of 43 grains of BLC-(2).  I took my shot at about 60 yards.  I hit him in the neck just below his chin and he dropped like a rock.  The 150 grain is probably a little light for elk but, as my father would say, "it's more in placement than mass".



Just wondering if you meant a No4 Mk1 as a No1 Mk4 would be EXTREMELY rare


Posted By: Travis
Date Posted: June 12 2020 at 12:32pm
I'll double check (and get photos if possible but I believe those were the markings.  It is also stamped 1944 and as near as I can find, it came from an English plant.  

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Travis98146


Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: June 12 2020 at 12:52pm
That narrows it down to three plants based on the date.
A serial number will determine who made it. 1944 more likely then not has it as a No4Mk1.  Post photos  please. As The Armourer stated.  If it is a No1MkVI, you have have a very iconic piece of British Weaponry.
Look for a serial number with a prefix A, e.g. A0001-A1000 along with a 1929 or 1930 date,both on the left side of the receiver at the buttsocket. It will have a magazine cutoff as well.


Posted By: Travis
Date Posted: July 29 2020 at 6:31pm
It's probably a No4Mk1.  It has a serial number of I-7205.  I tried to get photos but had too much glare for good ID.  I'll give it another try.

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Travis98146



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