How many bullets for backpack elk hunt?

....4 years ago my buddy shot a cow, but nothing happened. So he emptied a mag on her with his 300WM. Nothing.
So I put 3 into her and she went down, then got up to follow the herd. Finally dropped.
She had 7 rounds through her ,6 through vital organs.
Tough old gal that still was tasty.
 
Generally, 4 in the gun, 5 in the harness, 5 in the pack. That might increase by 5 if I’m going in for multiple days. I never want to need more than 1, but things happen.
 
I used to take 1o total, now I take 4 in the rifle mag, and 10 extra. Thats for 2 people sharing a rifle and a 10 day backpack hunt... The most we've needed is 8. haha, and we killed 2 animals on that trip. But I'll tell you the anxiety kicked in when I saw the 2 left after the final mag load.
 
Since I am usually back country, I carry two MTM ammo wallets that hold 9 300WM rounds. One is kept for rifle re-zero as emergency. Ammo is kept solid and fairly clean. No rattle.


 
10 rounds, three in mag, 7 in holder on butt stock.
Have never needed more than two but I'm sure my time for a rodeo is coming at some point. My fourteen year old just got a calf that had three bullet wounds from a couple days earlier and we didn't know it till we started skinning. One thru the spine that broke a vertebrae , one thru the neck that just hit muscle, one thru the back of the mouth that knocked a molar out on entry and exited the other side cheek. Exits were small like maybe the bullets weren't expanding. It was out in a meadow walking and feeding like nothing was wrong! Tough animals if shot placement goes awry for some reason.
 

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