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I posted this on the double gun forum and thought I'd post it here too. I've never shot at a deer, much less an elk, with slugs past 20 yds. Would a Husqvarna damascus hammer gun with rifle sights and low pressure slug reloads be at all effective as a brush gun out to say, 75 yds? I'm not sure if a relatively slow 16ga slug would have enough energy for elk, but weren't Husky's originally used in this manner for moose hunting?

My brother in law and I are going to go elk hunting this November, and he missed a nice standing broadside bull at 50 yds in thick cover last year because his scope got bumped and he didn't check it. I'll be bringing a scoped 30-06 also, but if we go brush humping, it seems like a slug gun might be pretty effective, and of course my mind went immediately to a husky damascus hammer gun... Cool

1. Is it lawful where you hunt?
2. If so, I think 50 yards would be my cutoff.
3. Should be quite effective and leave a good blood trail
Do not expect lightning kills.
4. Because of that I would not use near a rim of a HOLE.

Mike

If it's legal, and it is, in Colorado, P12 regs..I dont see why it wouldnt be OK, and I believe you have the common sense to do it. Where my boys and I hunt elk, its all thick stuff, shots seldom over 50 yards. Paul is thinking seriously of bringing his Iowa slug gun this year...Sounds like a keen idea to me....I shoot a .416.....

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

There's a reason in Washington only 10 and 12 ga guns with slugs are legal for elk. I shot a deer with a 20 ga slug about 30 years ago and I wasn't impressed. It was a Winchester slug- possibly a Brenneke would have shown a little more snap. the deer went down- I think it had more to do with being unaware of the situation- had he been startled and charged-up it would have been a different ending.

Regardless of range, I'd go with the rifle.

Slugs of 30 years ago were vastly different from todays...even at lower velocities the sabots on todays market are impressive. I dunno what slugs are available in 16 bore tho.....

UDF, show the elk more respect, use a rifle that you shoot well.

Dale

There is that...I guess after thinking about it, I agree with Dale

Member Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 376 Location: North ID.

I've never shot an animal with a shotgun slug. I'm not adverse to trying a 12 ga slug on a deer, but after more or less a lifetime of hunting elk, I'll stick with a rifle.

Joined: 12 Sep 2010 Posts: 1973 Location: Maine

I've never hunted elk, so I can't say one way or the other whether it would fly. If the regs allowed it, it could be done but I suspect this is a case where "use enough gun" would militate in favor of a 12 ga with 3 1/2 in Roman Candle slug loads. You want the elk to stop right off.

Similarly, I've never heard of people here in Maine using slugs for moose. That may be a function of the terrain making longer shots the rule, where a rifle is better. 20-30 years ago, people would cruise the clearcuts with trucks having shooting towers up top - 300-500 yard shots were make-able because of the clearcuts. Now, with no-clearcutting the rule, things are closing in a bit but still favor the rifle. A friend got his moose 3 seasons ago with a 30-06 using 180grain PSPs at a paced-off 125 yards. His moose shrugged, went a couple paces into the brush and was legs-up by the time he ran there.

The moose hunter's prayer - "Please, dear God, let it drop near the road." - was answered in that case.

Then again, the local-to-me Cabelas recently had (might still have) on the used rack out front on a 24 ga percussion sxs, made in England for, and bearing the (sold by) Hudson's Bay Company name with aftermarket buckhorn rifle sights brazed on by Rene, Bubba the gunsmith's Canadian cousin. Shot placement and minimizing the range by good woodsmanship - stalking - makes a difference.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Member Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 376 Location: North ID.

I've read about guys shooting whitetails with a slug to devastating effect. An elk certainly isn't a deer! Take the skitishness and alertness of a whitetail, double or triple the size and add an extra measure of vitality and you have an elk.

I've shot a a number of elk and moose for that matter. When you hit a moose, it often times stands there and takes another shot or two before it realizes it's dead. No such thing with an elk. At the shot it's off and running and if it was a marginal shot or poor penetration, there's a good chance it's a lost elk. At least with a rifle, a broadside through and through is a greater possibility, often times leaving a good blood trail.

I have hunted deer in my birth state of Ohio for the last 30 years and slug hunting is all I've known. I have killed whitetail with 12/16/20 and the good old 67 1/2 gauge (.410 bore). I have had them drop on the spot and I have had them run until the last drop of blood was out of them. With all that said I can't help but agree with at least one poster here that an elk is NOT a deer...I would go with what T.R. used to call "big medicine" and stick with the rifle.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

This is a TRUE story about elk and possible too light of a gun.
there was a Pullman (WA) police officer who was taking his 14 yo son on his first elk hunt. In previous years the son had hunted deer and on a few occasions had killed deer with his 243Win, 95 gr Nosler partition bullet @ 3000 fps. Since it had worked so well on deer he considered it fine for elk. the location the son sat on a stand was NFS land, but bordered private property, closed to hunting. One morning a spike elk walked from the property onto the public land. The son fired one shot, hitting the elk in the chest. the elk went down on it's knee, rolled onto its side and died. The son ran up and tagged the elk. For the next 12 months the rest of us endured abuse regarding how over-powered we were, hunting elk with Magnums (7mm, 300, 338)- why all that was needed was a proper bullet in the proper place from the 243.

the next year finds the son on the same stump with the same 243. As if ordered from room service a spike elk walks from the private property down the trail past the son, who promptly places another 95 gr Nosler in the elks chest- but instead on falling down, the elk has a burst of speed, running for a hundred yards- simultaneous to the elk falling down another hunter put another bullet into its chest. an argument ensued but in this case the second hunter was first to tag the animal and it was hard to argue that the elk was standing when he fired and down after the bullet hit.

For the next year we endured 12 months of ridicule that not only were we overgunned for elk, but that we were like that other hunter (not part of our party) that would "steal" an elk that was dead on it's feet and didn't need to be shot again.

the third season was a repeat of the second year with the exception that the hunter claiming the elk was a different fellow, not known to any of us. The year following that third season very little was said regarding the 243 and elk, however when the officer went elk hunting for the fourth year, his son, now 17, carried a 30-06.

Thanks for all the replies. Lot of great points to chew on. Although, if the regs say a 16 slug isn't allowed, I guess it's all a moot point anyway.

Dont remember if you said where you were going to hunt, but here in Colorado it IS legal.....I happened to be applying for my tags when I read your post and checked...Page 12 of the regs says 20bore or bigger is ok...Doesnt mean it makes sense, as has been pointed out here....Up until afew years ago, when my eyes got too bad to shoot iron sights, my elk gun was a .50 Sharps....