Never been a fan of the 7mm Remington mag, but killed quite a few bull elk with it. It was the first rifle I got rid of....traded it for a used BDL 222 Remington that I still have, the 222 is great caliber.
The 7 mag never dropped one animal in its tracks with good shot placement. The cheapest 160 grain Speer was the closest to doing that. One bull took 4 Nosler 175 gr partitions in the chest closely spaced and ran out of sight. Emptied the gun. That was the end of the 7 mag for me.as a hunting cartridge, the 7 Mauser killed as well with less blood shot meat or a 30-30. All bulls killed inside100 yards or less and they were terrified filled with adrenaline, cause they were being hunted in their home in the pole thickets, relentlessly pursued, nowhere to escape. The bull jumps at 20 yards ya can't make out the body, just a blur of hair. Go sit in his bed, wait 15 minutes, begin the silent pursuit again, you'll jump him time and time again. You can smell him, sooner or later he'll make a mistake, and you have one second to make the shot, soon as the gun hits the shoulder shoot. I hunt alone in Desolation unit, full camo like a bow hunter. You pack your own kill by yourself across the river in the snow...it was brutal for even a young athletic guy back in the day. So I quit elk hunting the horse hunters run ya out of the lower elevations, and this wasn't worth the effort...and I don’t like elk meat..just hunting them i got a bull every year with those tactics.
The horse hunters in the lower elevations hated you, they felt they owned the public land..you were in their hunting territory. Turn you in with lies saying stupid crap like I'm carrying a bulls head around and killing cows. Warden had to check it out. Steal your meat, run down your elk with a horse. Warden says who ever is in possession, its called game for a reason. I was threatened with a 357 mag over an elk by a U S forest ranger who called in sick to go elk hunting. I had a witness so the state cop ask if I wanted to press charges against the US forest service ranger. Your government employees. I didn't press charges...but quit elk hunting. Bought a 338 win mag killed a lot of deer, they dropped at the shot most all the time big holes less blood shot meat. Bullets don't go straight through an animal they sometimes take a 90 degree turn left or straight up out the backbone bullet split into 2 holes out the top of the backbone but the entrance hole is in the chest. I quit hunting some years back, when my brother died, the last person I hunted with an old Vietnam marine combat vet. Before I quit I went in their horse territory and killed 2 big bulls before anyone else got an elk the first weekend....just to make a statement before retiring from elk hunting.
I hunted elk alone, noone would work like that. All those years spent hunting only a few were memorable as a good experience with people in the field, the times with my brother, and a few years with my native american hunting buddy.
The rest resembled black Friday days at Walmart...I don't miss that. But I wish I had the strength I had back then jog 10 miles, see the mountain peak in the distance I had dropped off that morning, travling light carrying the old beat up Remington 7 mag Luppy 3-9 X set on 3 X where the killin's at up close and fast and 16 rds, pack, and a Buck Special 6 1/2 blade. Like Rambo or a tunnel rat goin in after em. Not waiting a week in a medow ...and mine is tagged two days.
