Dream Season: An Elk Trifecta With Multiple PRC Cartridges

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It had been years since I’d toted a rifle while hunting for elk. In my 20s, I fell head-over-heels in love with an arrow’s flight and spent two decades chasing bugles in the Rockies. Of course, I still love bowhunting. However, 2023 was going to be a different type of fall. Some family illness that I won’t bore you with, mixed with a torn labrum in my right shoulder, meant a change was in order.

Not only could I not disappear in the wilds of the high country for weeks at a time—my daughter needed me—but I struggled to draw my bow.

The Plan

I’m a planner. I make plans and stick to them. I’ve always been this way, and likely, always will. My goal for 2023’s elk season was to go back to my high school and college roots and head afield with a rifle in hand.

I knew accumulating a few tags would be possible, and starting in mid-July, I began scouting for elk. The only thing that trumped my scouting efforts was my time sending lead downrange.

It had been years since I’d hunted with a rifle, and my obsessive personality quickly took over. My good buddy and Director of Marketing and Communications for Browning, Rafe Nielsen, shipped me a pair of rifles to get familiar with. I put a small dent in the bank account purchasing ammo from Federal and Hornady, and I topped both rifles with Leupold optics with CDS dials.

All Hail The 6.5 PRC

The first Browning rifle was chambered in 6.5 PRC. As I write this, I can imagine some of you reading the caliber and cringing and rolling your eyes. Stay with me, please. The 6.5 PRC was Browning’s X-Bolt Mountain Pro Tungsten. I applauded the light but ultra-durable carbon-fiber stock, Hawg muzzle brake, and spiral-fluted and lapped sporter barrel. The gun looked more like a custom-built rifle, and it shot like one, too.

Topped with Leupold’s VX-3HD 4.5x14x40 scope, my chronograph clocked Federal’s Custom Shop 6.5 PRC 130-Grain Terminal Ascent bullets at 3,019 fps. This was a three-shot average, and after a few hours of shooting, I produced three-shot, quarter-sized groups at 200 yards.

Thanks to the Hawg muzzle brake and Inflex Recoil Pad, the X-Bolt build produced little recoil. Testing over weeks proved it carried remarkably well—its lightweight and sleek build was evident—and it traveled well in my scabbard.

I wanted a fast, long, high-ballistic-coefficient bullet to make a spot-and-stalk and saddle gun. I wanted a rifle that would fill me with confidence, and after ringing steel at 800 yards with three consecutive shots, this rifle would be a staple in my elk arsenal. More to come about the caliber.

Let’s Make It Two PRCs

Hornady likes to make big splashes, and after the success of the 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC, the ammo manufacturer, late in 2022, launched the 7mm Precision Rifle Cartridge.

The 7mm PRC, like the 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC, shoots a long, sleek, high-ballistic-coefficient bullet accurately. Its primary advantage over the 6.5 PRC is it fires heavier 7mm bullets at high speeds and produces the same type of jaw-dropping accuracy that 6.5 PRC lovers crave. The cartridge filled a gap. In archery, elk hunters like broadhead options for cutting diameter and grain weight. Rifle hunters want the same, and the 7mm PRC filled a niche between the 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC.

My rifle, Browning’s X-Bolt Speed LR, is pure butter. The rifle without scope or ammo in the magazine weighs 7 lbs., 3 oz., and a 26" fluted, sporter contour barrel adds to the rifle’s total length of 46 3⁄4".

There are locations in my neck of the elk world where long shots are necessary. I’m all about getting close, but often, shots across caprock canyons are the norm. The X-Bolt Speed LR was going to be my long-range elk assassin. I paired the rifle with Federal’s 155-Grain Terminal Ascent, which produced a three-shot chronographed muzzle velocity average of 3,096 fps.

The rifle delivers customization in spades, and I appreciated the sporter-style stock with the included one-inch comb height adjustment. I found the middle hole, which left two holes on top and two on bottom, provided ideal eye-to-scope alignment. The Three-lever Feather Trigger is crisp and perfect. I won’t bore you with accuracy figures and calculations, but this rifle was the first I ever hit steel with at 1,000 yards. This firearm, after putting many pre-elk-hunt rounds through it, earned the title of my all-time favorite elk rifle.

Hunting For Water

As I mentioned, I put in a lot of time scouting. First, I don’t think you can beat hands-on recon. Nothing trumps putting boots on the ground to learn your hunting grounds.
Second, elk in the areas I hunted this fall are incredibly sparse. It is a low-density population. I needed to find pockets of elk and be able to move from pocket to pocket.

Elk are big animals and have to drink daily. The areas I hunt are arid. So, I became a meteorologist and chased rain. I wasn’t looking for elk as much as I was looking for pond water and newly sprouted, lush green grass. When I found areas that received rainfall, especially on the heels of a severe but spotty thunderstorm, I found elk.

I believe elk can smell water for miles. I have no evidence to back this up, other than that my scouting proved that when it rained heavily in an area, elk arrived within 48 hours. Twice, while scouting, I found elk held up in a patch of cedars less than 40 yards wide and 50 yards long. They were only there because of pond water and excellent feed.

Everyone has covered to death information about hunting timber, water, and food as the key to actually finding elk in new areas. What I have started doing is tracking moisture, especially in low-elevation areas where heat plays a huge factor. I also identify primary elk food sources in each area. This is complex, but if you know and understand the climate and what is available for elk to eat in the area you’re hunting at the specific time of year, you will find them!

It was about to pay off. On September 13, as I slipped along a cedar-sprinkled plateau, I caught movement. It was evening, and between miles on my Zamberlin’s and my horse Annie, I’d covered over 20 and hadn’t cut a single track. Then, as often happens in hunting, an opportunity arose.

My wind was good, and the cows eased out of the patchy timber to nibble on the lush prairie grass. The 4x5 bull was in tow. He wasn’t the biggest bull. However, when it comes to elk and OTC tags, I kill the first legal bull I see.

The range was 302 yards. Months of shooting on the range and testing told me that at this distance, my 6.5 PRC bullet would hit with over 2,200 foot-pounds of energy, and I knew that if I could get my breathing under control, I could hit the tuft of hair I was aiming at. With my Mountain Pro Tungsten tightened in my BOG DeathGrip Infinite Carbon Tripod, I settled the crosshairs and squeezed.

The Terminal Ascent bullet destroyed both lungs, and after an 80-yard death sprint, the bull piled up in sight. While 325 yards was the max range I set for the 6.5 PRC, I know it can kill elk at longer distances. However, the reason I opted for the lightweight rifle in this caliber was to give me speed, energy, and remarkable accuracy in a spot-and-stalk/saddle elk rifle that would fill my freezer. Inside 500 yards, the 6.5 PRC in a 130-grain bullet is a capable elk gun.

Number Two

The second elk location I had scouted called for longer shots. This hunt was a sit-and-glass and wait elk hunt. From our vantage point, my hunting partner and I could see for miles. With our binos on tripods and spotting scopes at the ready, we tore the terrain apart on the morning of September 28.

While glassing, I hit several objects with my rangefinder. The closest shot we could have was 448 yards. The lone bull was over a mile away but was working upriver. When the bull was a half-mile away, I got loud and whiny on my cow call. The 5x5 heard it, and his pace quickened.

As the bull closed the distance, I spotted another tan object. Another bull, coming from another direction, joined the party. Things were heating up fast. Soon, a third bull was on the way.

Knowing the bulls would come to the bottom of the canyon below the caprock, and no further, I got my mentor, the man who taught me how to elk hunt prone on my Alps backpack. The range was 467 yards, and after turning the CDS dial on the Leupold VX-5HD 3-15x44 scope, Bill Seamans squeezed the trigger.

The bull, not knowing he was already dead, jumped forward, looked over his shoulder at the other bulls that were still coming on a string, and fell over.

Quickly, Bill and I traded places. The range to the second bull was 482 yards. I adjusted my dial, breathed, imagined the orange steel plate I’d been ringing all summer, and took my shot. The bull didn’t move. I’m not sure he even got the chance to blink. The 155-Grain Federal Terminal Ascent bullet hit the high right-side shoulder, and the bull’s back legs went out from underneath him.

The pack out required a six-mile ride across the landscape to access the bottom of the canyon, and then six miles back up the canyon to our fallen bulls. It was a remarkable hunt, and although it was a grind, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Just One More!

It was early October, and after a phone call with Rafe, I learned I would be receiving Browning’s new-for-2024 X-Bolt II. The next generation of X-Bolt rifles, I was excited to know that it would be coming to my local FFL chambered in 300 PRC.

I still had a possible October hunt with my good friend and owner of Purgatoire Outfitters, Jay Waring. Jay and I go way back. I’ve hunted turkeys and mountain lions with him, and constantly threatened to do an elk hunt. Testing Browning’s new X-Bolt seemed like the right time to leap. Jay squeezed me in between clients, and although I had little time to get well acquainted with my new rifle, it shot like a dream and felt excellent in my hands.

Some of the standout features of the new X-Bolt build include the DLX trigger, which features a multiple-lever design that optimizes sear weight and trigger movement. Another is the Vari-Tech stock, with adjustable length of pull and comb height. The Vari-Tech stock is fitted with a modular-grip design that allows for interchanging between a sporter or a vertical-style grip. I could go on, trust me.

As it turned out, Jay and I had one of those perfect, unforgettable elk mornings on Day Two of the hunt. Bulls were screaming, and we had a pair of small 6-point bulls clash horns less than 60 yards from us.

It was incredible. The duo fought so hard, that the ground shook. As Jay and I debated backing up from the battling pair and trying to call one of them in, the herd bull appeared on a distant ridge. The range was 376 yards.

I will admit I was nervous about the shot. Not because of the rifle or that I was worried the missile-like Hornady 212-Grain ELD-X bullets wouldn’t do the job. As I mentioned, I’m obsessive and a bit of a perfectionist, and I hadn’t sent too many rounds downrange with the new Browning build.

Settling in and breathing, I sent a Hornady PRC bullet toward the bull at a blistering 2,857 fps. Again, I went high shoulder. The bull never knew what hit him. I jumped into Jay’s arms. Not only was the bull a solid bull approaching 300", but it was my third rifle bull of the season. I never imagined such an incredible elk year, and I never imagined getting to harvest a bull with every PRC make available. It was the “PRC Slam,” and I couldn’t be more impressed with the ammunition I used or any of the X-Bolt models I took afield.

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