I returned Tuesday evening from a successful deer and elk hunt in Colorado. Saturday morning early I was sitting in an Aspen grove armed with my .375-06JDJ Encore. I was loaded with 270g Barnes Triple Shocks going at 2475fps. Suddenly a doe appears at 130 yards. I was using a deadfall at an angle as a rest. I fired THREE shots at the doe and she did not even flinch, as a matter of fact she just kept foraging. I was disgusted. I simply gave up and let her go. I boresighted my Encore and it looked okay. I finally saw a hole in a tree about 20 yards in my line of fire. My shots were hitting way to the left. I have since figured that the hard deadfall trunk at an angle somehow caused my shots to be way off. Well, luck was with me as she came back again about an hour later and was even closer, this time 75 yards. I let her have it again and she collapsed where she stood. The bullet impacted high left again but this time I hit her in the neck. I think that from now on I will opt for my Stoney Point Stix, I know how they affect my shots.
Anyway, now to my Smith .500 revolver, I have never harvested with a revolver so I wanted to give that a try. I was using 325g Barnes bullets going 1875fps. I was sitting at the same spot Sunday morning when all of a sudden I spotted an elk heading from my right to left at 55 yards. I made sure that it was a legal antlerless elk. When its view was blocked from mine I got the Smith steady on my Stoney Point and lined the 2-7x Burris up with the line of travel of the elk. When the elk got into my scope view I waited until the crosshairs were just behind the shoulder and pressed the trigger. The Smith barked and the elk did not even flinch, I was a bit dismayed. The elk slowly turned and walked directly away from me. I quickly cocked the hammer and was ready for it hopefully to turn for me. It had moved about 20 yards directly away from me when all of a sudden it just fell over sideways. I was elated. My autopsy showed that the bullet penetrated completely and took the top of the heart off. The elk turned out to be a yearling bull which I figured to be between 300-350 pounds. Pretty tasty I bet. I am a satisfied camper and I like that Smith!
Recoil
