Ask yourself whether you would really like something that kicked less and then swallow your pride and learn to shoot it. You'll wound less game and have more fun in the process.
Mike, you are painting with a wide brush here, many of us shoot magnums, don't wound game with them and enjoy shooting them. In fact some of us get a kick out of them.
roundoak,
Hunting is a fun albeit extremely crucial component of wildlife management. What a hunter uses while hunting reflects his personality. Therefore, you are absolutely correct. Hunters should be able to use any reasonable rifle they choose.
I have never condemned any hunter for his rifle/cartridge selection. Its his business, not mine. Were a hunter to hunt once-in-a-lifetime trophy bull elk with a .243 Win, he obviously knows something I don't. On the other end of the spectrum, if a hunter want to use a .300 Rem Ultra Mag, I'm good.
As for me, I use cartridges that have a proven track record that won't knock the heck outta me on benches. I've always been right up front about my not liking to go mano-y-mano with Muhammad Ali cartridges. I know my 7MM Rem Mag will shoot where I aim because I can zero that baby in to very tiny groups. I couldn't do that with a .375 H&H Mag. As Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations," and I know mine.
BTW, Warren Page designed the 7MM Rem Mag to be a long range elk rifle. Either ranges got longer or elk have gotten in to BALCO because gun writers (Boddington) think that the .270 Win & 7MM Rem Mag won't kill Catalina Island goats. However, someone forgot to check with all the dead elk that are killed every year with non-magnums. But if a hunter wants to use really big magnums, I'm more than good. After all, what another hunter uses to kill anything ain't none of my darn business.
