Scope or Open Sights for Elephant

[CAustin]

Living
The first time I set up on a bull it was at fifty yards with him broadside to me but he turned towards me and Pieter called of the shot because it would have been a frontal brain shot! And he kept moving!
I guess it has a lot to do with how thick the bush is where you hunt! The area I was in had been devastated by too many elephants so it was not thick and it was winter.

 

[ActionBob]

Mine was at 19 yards, walking sideways right to left. Side brain shot that I missed but dropped the bull in his tracks as I hit the spine where it attaches to the back of the skull... i hit where I was aiming, but the PH had told me to aim a couple inches behind the ear hole. In his defense, he was at a different angle as he was watching a smaller, younger bull just a few yards beside us but behind a big clump of thick bushes. However he could have spent some time explaining the shots better when we had the chances during the previous 8 days We were in closer than that several times, but not on the right animal. We saw lots of elephant every day. I would advise having a detailed talk with your PH about shot angles and aiming points.. Take pictures such as the perfect shot book with you. If he says to aim behind the ear hole, show him my results and Charlies and debate it.

I did have to shoot offhand. The tracker with the sticks was scared of dangerous animals and never seemed to be around when we needed the sticks, would have been better to have my wife carry them;-)

My setup on that hunt was what I would say is perfect for a client on a first elephant hunt. A Trijicon 1-4 with the lighted retical. I think I had it on 1.5 power.

To address all the concerns, such as scope can work just like a red dot but IMO is much more reliable. That Trijicon has no battery but a scope such a Leupold or Swarovski are so reliable and have such long battery life, I would not worry. You can easily shoot these both eyes open. In fact if the scope objective was full of mud and you were aiming both eyes open you would still see the illuminated dot and be on target... Royal yours will work that way as well. Then I did have Warne detachable mounts and express sights on the gun as well.

 

[Beans]

@TMS said it very well. Good advice Simon

 

[petrusg]

i really like the reflex sites as well, something like the Trijicon RMR. you have a clear point of aim and a wide field of view as you shoot with both eyes open.

 

[Hank2211]

Alot of good points here. Let me ask this though how many have shot and I mean first shot at an elephant at over 30 yards? My impression was it gets up close and personal pretty fast.

Getting close - very close - is what makes hunting elephant so special. I would hate to think someone would shoot one of these creatures at 100 yards or more. They would be missing out on the best part of the hunt. If your PH tells you to shoot at more than 50 yards, I'd say tell him you want to get closer. And if you're at 40 yards, same thing. And so on.

As we got to less than 15 yards from the one I shot, we had to watch our walking and time it to the elephants' eating. When they stopped to look up, we would freeze. Took a long time to walk a few hundred yards, but boy, it was exciting. Would not miss that for the world.

 

[siml]

@Hank2211 , I would say the same almost applies to buffalo. It's all about getting close and personal, the danger aspect.

 

[Hank2211]

@Hank2211 , I would say the same almost applies to buffalo. It's all about getting close and personal, the danger aspect.

Agree completely about buffalo.

I think the danger aspect is a large part of it, but so is the proximity to the sheer size. An elephant at 100 yards looks pretty big. At 10 yards, you really understand what big means. Same with buffalo (although never gotten quite that close!).

 

[siml]

I have had an elephant stick his trunk out and nearly touch the end of my barrel, I am still amazed I didn't put a bullet between his eyes. but I do know why I didn't, he was easily over 90 pounds, the flack I would have gotten for shooting him would have been endless, unfortunately I had a bow hunter.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I have had an elephant stick his trunk out and nearly touch the end of my barrel, I am still amazed I didn't put a bullet between his eyes. but I do know why I didn't, he was easily over 90 pounds, the flack I would have gotten for shooting him would have been endless, unfortunately I had a bow hunter.

Wow! That is up close a personal! Not sure I want to pay tag with an elephant!

 

[Rule 303]

I have on shot one Ele. Rifle was a CZ550 in 416 Rigby. Scope was a Trijacon 1.25-4 picket post, set on 1.25. This or the Aimpoint site I now have on it is what I would use. Aimpoint a true no parallax site, shot both eyes open and any amount of eye relief/position you want. In my younger days I was very comfortable and adroit with open sites, not so now. My point being that when up close you want what you are familiar with and use to that is as low powered as possible so you do not just see grey. Just my 2 bobs worth.

 

[jand]

In the end its about what you're use to. If you do all your hunting using a scoped rifle , like most people do , then you would be foolish to try and shoot your Elephant with open sights. The margin for error is too great. On the other hand if you do a fair amount of open sight hunting and shooting and you are proficient , then by all means. I want my hunter to put the bullet where I ask him to -- open or scoped. Most Elephants in my neck of the woods are hunted at under 40 yards and the majority at under 30 yards. Hit an orange at this distance and I don't care what you use.

 

[AaronN]

LivingTheDream - I've taken the first shot on elephants several times at over 30 yards, at least 3 times I can think of. The longest as I recall was 47 yards (scoped rifle) frontal on a bull in Botswana. I have hunted a couple of elephants with both a .577 & .600, as well as an open-sighted .416 Rem. I personally prefer a scoped rifle - but I did enjoy hunting them with a double.

 

[Uintaelkhunter]

My two cents. Iron sights if you can shoot them. If you can't then a good red dot or a low power scope 1-4 range. I think with a scope your sight picture may be narrowed. I think it depends on if your hunting thick bush or more open areas as well.

 

[Eddie P]

To minimise snagging look at a low profile sight such as a docter red dot? Red dots are easy to "dry fire" and practice the mount with too.

 

[edward]

to me your eye sight is the deciding factor,at my age im not that good with open sights.as you will be close and cozy with your elephant you dont want magnification,so to me the red dot is the way to go.super fast acquisition for that front or side head shot but if the easiest shot is all you got then the side heart shot is easy to find.

 

[CAustin]

to me your eye sight is the deciding factor,at my age im not that good with open sights.as you will be close and cozy with your elephant you dont want magnification,so to me the red dot is the way to go.super fast acquisition for that front or side head shot but if the easiest shot is all you got then the side heart shot is easy to find.

You all don't be taken in by Edward . He can see just fine and he shot his elephant with that pistol in his hand. I would not want to get in a gun fight with him at any yardage!
But he is right. If you eyes aren't what they once were a scope on 1.5 or 2x will be just fine.

 

[LivingTheDream]

You all don't be taken in by Edward . He can see just fine and he shot his elephant with that pistol in his hand. I would not want to get in a gun fight with him at any yardage!
But he is right. If you eyes aren't what they once were a scope on 1.5 or 2x will be just fine.

@edward just realized you have a handgun in that picture. I bet that was an awesome hunt. What type of shot did you take with that?

I leaning towards open sights, but want to get in some range time with this particular gun. I shoot open sites some, but I shoot with a scope alot the issue being it is usually in the prone position. The nice thing about open sites is I don't have to worry about the scope getting knocked off.

 

[norfolk shooter]

I've been asking my self the same question. I do a lot of target shooting with irons and do it rather well if I say so myself. But then again shooting at something that can kill you is a different thing. My scope is a 1.5-6 non illuminated and its this that concerns me. The black of the cross hairs against the black of the buff!! I guess a reflex sight is the best of both worlds.

 

[edward]

@edward just realized you have a handgun in that picture. I bet that was an awesome hunt. What type of shot did you take with that?

I leaning towards open sights, but want to get in some range time with this particular gun. I shoot open sites some, but I shoot with a scope alot the issue being it is usually in the prone position. The nice thing about open sites is I don't have to worry about the scope getting knocked off.

two side head shots,first one stunned, that was with the encore in 450 marlin,that bullet was recovered,2nd one killed using the freedom arms 454 casull with a 320 gr punch bullet,that one went through and was never recovered.

 

[LivingTheDream]

Well I am practicing with open sights, so far so good. I actually really like shooting off the sticks with it. It is just different because I'm used to longer ranges.

@edward that 454 going all the way through is pretty impressive.