Exo Journal — Rifle Hunting

We released the "Building a Backcountry Rifle" series through the Hunt Backcountry Podcast and covered the topics of rifle selection, caliber/cartridge selection, projectile selection, scope selection, and even shooting tips. Here is the rifle I built, based on what I learned in that series.

Elk, especially mature bulls, are incredibly large and tough creatures. As a point of comparison, it’s not unusual for a big bull to weigh 3-4x as much as a big-bodied whitetail or mule deer. Stories also abound of poorly hit elk running into the next zip code with no signs of slowing down. For this reason, hunters going afield after elk with a rifle should be adequately armed. With all that in mind, my goal with this article is to provide you with a couple of good recommendations on selecting the right caliber for hunting elk.