Mammals of the Pleistocene Era, which would you like to hunt and what cartridge would you use?

[Northern Shooter]

How about this armadillo? The Glyptodont weighed up to 4,000lbs, stood 2m tall and up to 13 ft long.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I'll play,

a colombian mammoth or mastodon would be at the top of my list.
A giant Irish Elk would need to be part of the top three,

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and I would not be able to resist a member of the Entelodontidae, commonly known as the hell pigs. Basically 2000 pound warthogs.

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“Hell Pig”. I like it. Maybe I’ll get a hat or coffee mug with that silk screened on it. Hey Bob @Bob Nelson 35Whelen, maybe you could could build another .444 Marlin and have Hell Pig engraved into the receiver? LOL

 

[Louis Toadvine]

It lived a bit earlier than the Pleistocene, but I'll throw Paraceratherium into the ring. Believed to be a giant, long-necked, hornless rhinoceros-like beast, it stood nearly 16ft (4.8m) at the shoulder, was 25ft (7.5m) long, and was estimated to weigh 33,000-44,000 lbs (15,000-20,000 kgs). I reckon one specimen could feed a village or two for a stretch!

Given the huge body mass and what I expect was very thick skin, you'd need a tough solid bullet and caliber with considerable penetration for an effective body shot, though the skull looks to be similarly sized to (if not slightly smaller than) a modern elephant, so perhaps a brain shot would be comparable. Angle/perspective might be a challenge given the height--especially if it didn't put its head down to charge.

 

[Hunt anything]

Man , that thing looks like a cross of rhino, elephant,giraffe and a tapir.

 

[Northern Shooter]

So in terms of cartridges im thinking:

.458 WinMag and Up - Mammoth, Mastodon, Woolly Rhinoceros.

.416 and up. Sabre tooth cats, cave bears and hell pigs

338 WinMag - Irish elk

.308 - Dire Wolf.

 

[Laniarius]

Thanks, I'll definately be checking this out!

I liked that book as well. Some good recommendations occasionally from the Meateater Podcast.

 

[CoElkHunter]

What's really amazing to me is that the hunters' only had spears to hunt these animals with? Maybe they lured some of them to fall off cliffs to their death but on the flatlands that wouldn't have been an option.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

With all the humongous critters you guys are showing I’m starting to think about going “Rat Patrol” style with a M2 browning mounted to a jeep. Maybe a 577 tyrannosaur

 

[CoElkHunter]

With all the humongous critters you guys are showing I’m starting to think about going “Rat Patrol” style with a M2 browning mounted to a jeep. Maybe a 577 tyrannosaur

The .550 Triceratops would feed better in the M2. Just saying. LOL

 

[steve white]

Saber tooth tiger with a 375 H&H

 

[Wyatt Smith]

The .550 Triceratops would feed better in the M2. Just saying. LOL

i figured the 577 would be my dismounted rifle, A-square Hannibal of course. I bet Barnes would make us a run 700 grain TSX for the BMG in the quantity we would use them

 

[Northern Shooter]

It lived a bit earlier than the Pleistocene, but I'll throw Paraceratherium into the ring. Believed to be a giant, long-necked, hornless rhinoceros-like beast, it stood nearly 16ft (4.8m) at the shoulder, was 25ft (7.5m) long, and was estimated to weigh 33,000-44,000 lbs (15,000-20,000 kgs). I reckon one specimen could feed a village or two for a stretch!

Given the huge body mass and what I expect was very thick skin, you'd need a tough solid bullet and caliber with considerable penetration for an effective body shot, though the skull looks to be similarly sized to (if not slightly smaller than) a modern elephant, so perhaps a brain shot would be comparable. Angle/perspective might be a challenge given the height--especially if it didn't put its head down to charge.

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I wonder if any of today's heavy hitting cartridges would even be sufficient to take this guy down? 505 Gibbs? 600 Nitro Express?

 

[Phil Giordano]

Sabre tooth tiger. I’d probably use a 500 nitro or Jeffry.

Look how cool this paint I've found on the web is!

 

[sureshot375]

I’d look for a non-exportable management hunt. I don’t think I can afford the time travel cargo costs to get trophies back.

 

[steve white]

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Always dreamed to hunt Elasmotherium Sibiricum! ...I would try with my 416, hope it would work, as it's the max round I can shot well!
Now, Elasmotherium is truly a magnificent beast, has everything and much more...a misteryous, unique, tank size Monster, 5 meters of absolute brutality

Yeah too bad it was poached to extinction for dagger handles and aphrodisiac ...

 

[Hunter4752001]

 

[Louis Toadvine]

I wonder if any of today's heavy hitting cartridges would even be sufficient to take this guy down? 505 Gibbs? 600 Nitro Express?

I don't have enough experience with >.50 caliber big bores or shooting megafauna like pachyderms to properly answer your question. However, I've got to think a .50 BMG with a well-constructed solid bullet (or armor piercing rounds) would get you the required penetration to reach the heart and lungs.

I don't know its anatomy, but an animal that size might be able to walk around for a while with a couple half-inch holes in its organs, so brain shots are probably best. If its skull is similar to an elephant (and not something crazy thick like the armored skull of a Pachycephalosaur), I would expect any of the typical elephant calibers would be sufficient for a brain shot/CNS hit to lights out this behemoth.

 

[Nyati]

I´ll take anything on quota, thank you, with my favorite gun

 

[Northern Shooter]

I don't have enough experience with >.50 caliber big bores or shooting megafauna like pachyderms to properly answer your question. However, I've got to think a .50 BMG with a well-constructed solid bullet (or armor piercing rounds) would get you the required penetration to reach the heart and lungs.

I don't know its anatomy, but an animal that size might be able to walk around for a while with a couple half-inch holes in its organs, so brain shots are probably best. If its skull is similar to an elephant (and not something crazy thick like the armored skull of a Pachycephalosaur), I would expect any of the typical elephant calibers would be sufficient for a brain shot/CNS hit to lights out this behemoth.

That's likely a good place to start. At 44,000lbs the Paraceratherium
weighs roughly 4x that of a bull elephant so I'm doubting any shot to the vitals would have much effect.

I'm guessing that any of the heavy hitters that are in the upper end for elephant might do the trick.

500 A square, 577 NE, 600NE, 700 NE and maybe even 460 Weatherby.

All producing around that 10,000J threshold or more.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

How about an m79 grenade launcher. It almost looks sporting.