• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

Successful elk hunt!

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

I would have thought more. But it is about double what our big Kudu weighs ; very impressive. Our biggest is
the Eland that weigh about 800 - 2000 lb. Very nice eating too.
I've found that the way animal weights is expressed in different parts of the world varies somewhat.

In the U.S., we mostly talk about the weight of a live animal as if it were a cow walking across the scales at a livestock auction -- that is, before field dressing. Other places I've found that when people talk about the weight of a deer, sheep, or antelope they mean with the entrails below the diaphragm removed. Still others speak in terms of the hanging weight of a skinned carcass. Even then, some count the weight with head and lower legs on, while others count the weight with those parts removed.

So, we're not always apples-to-apples on weights, which can often be confusing (and sometimes even cause ill feelings:oops:).
 
Nice to see that MRI gave Sako credit for the action by engraving it on the side rail. :D
Yeah, I guess Magnum Research ordered these built to their specifications and that's how they wanted the lettering. The lettering is very shallow and I doubt it would survive a reblue. If it were me I would have made "Sako" much more prominent on the action in order to capitalize on Sako's reputation.

I've never seen one of these other than in the long action, but I understand that they were also built on the M591 and S491 actions, similarly contoured like the Rem 700. I have seen at least one .223 on the S491 offered online. The sellers usually ask a premium over a factory Sako, and while they are well-made rifles I don't see them as being more valuable than a factory Sako.
 
Kirk: I'd say your guess of weight for a bull is about right. What do mature cows weigh? I know it can vary with what kind of flesh they're in, but I'm guessing close to 600 for large ones. Maybe the average is closer to 500. For a deer hunter's eye there's certainly no "ground shrink" when you walk up on one. What's your experience?
I have shot over 60 elk, none with a bow, and have always marveled at what a large animal they are. Even a calf elk will beat a big mule deer for weight. I have killed all sizes from calf to big bulls and they are all quite a bit of work to handle the carcass.

A mature cow can still push 600 pounds and anyone thinking that isn't a lot has never handled one. If you don't think that is a lot, a V-8 engine won't weigh as much...



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A mature cow can still push 600 pounds and anyone thinking that isn't a lot has never handled one.
You speak the truth! I can only remember having to field dress one elk by myself, and I was still in my thirties at the time. What a chore! Just maneuvering the carcass so that the entrails roll out downhill is all you can do, if you're lucky.

For the last several years our group has been fortunate to have the use of a long-bed Kawasaki Mule to retrieve our downed elk. We outfitted it with an electric winch mounted to the roll bar, which makes loading an elk carcass about 100 times easier. Even when the elk falls in thick brush it's easier to hack a path through the brush for the Mule to get to it than to try to drag the animal into the open. One bull, dead on its feet with two Nosler 180 Partitions traversing its chest cavity, stumbled off into a brush filled gully several years ago. It took a half hour to get the Mule down to it, but otherwise the bull would have had to come out piece at a time. Some latter day Daniel Boones may scoff at our using motorized assistance in retrieving an elk, but when the average age of the group hits 60+, all huffing and puffing at 10,000 feet altitude, we'll take any help we can get!
 
This is the best way to load the elk. I mounted a rail in the back of the truck so I could hook a Warn ATV recovery winch to it, then hook the cable to the elk and drag it in with the winch. Saves backs and time...



DSCN2140.JPG DSCN2141.JPG DSCN2143.JPG
 
Yep, that's pretty much the way the winch on our Mule works. The winch on the Mule does have a little remote control keyfob which makes it possible for the winch operator to be on the ground with the elk and guide it as it makes the transition to the vehicle bed.

The advantage to the pickup truck is that once loaded you can transport the carcass over longer distances and public roads. The advantage to the Mule is that it gets into much tighter and more difficult places. I'm sure that which works better for you depends on where you hunt.
 
Hey, guys, I'm back from our annual elk hunt in southern Colorado. Our group usually goes in the muzzleloader season, which we did again this year. I've hunted with a muzzleloader previously and not been successful, but my son has taken a cow elk with a muzzleloader a couple of years ago.

This year I was lucky enough to draw a tag which allows any weapon for a cow elk, so I took a new-to-me Magnum Research Mountain Eagle (Sako L691 action) in .300 Weatherby. I'm not generally a fan of the Weatherby calibers, but this one consistently will put its shots into sub-MOA groups and the first critical shot from a cold barrel lands near the center of the group. I handloaded some 190 grain Nosler Accubond LR bullets over a load of slow-burning surplus powder (won't mention the number or amount since such powders often vary considerably from lot to lot) for a velocity of about 3065 fps from the 24" barrel.

There's not much to the hunting story however: I quietly walked up on a clearing where I've been successful before and was lucky enough to spot a couple of elk in the edge of the trees without them spotting or smelling me. Dropped to my knees behind some weeds while I glassed to make sure they were truly antlerless. Once convinced I was looking at cows I scooted about six feet to the base of an aspen tree for a rest, waited for the larger one to turn broadside at about 150 yards, and sent a single Nosler just behind the shoulder under the spine. Dropped on the spot.

Sorry not to have photos, but we were rushing to get the elk skinned and quartered before an afternoon thunderstorm (and darkness) overtook us.

I promised to post the SCC financials since we re-organized the forum as a non-profit group in June of 2015. Here are the figures for income and expenses through Sept 1, 2017. Thanks for your support and we can all be proud that we've succeeded in creating a self-sustaining forum for Sako enthusiasts.


SCC EXPENSES SINCE JUNE 2015 as of 9/1/2017

Factory Records Microfiche digitization $2,044.00
Postage and Supplies $ 98.00
Contract Web Maintenance & Server hosting $1,956.00

Total $4,098.00


SCC INCOME SINCE JUNE 2015 as of 9/1/2017

Factory Records service fees $3,360.00
Web advertising $1,378.00

Total $4,738.00


Bank Balance $ 640.00
So . . . why hid this poor sketchy record information under an Elk Hunt?
Why not post it under a heading that everyone will observe?
Politicians . . . . always hiding information from the public.
 

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