Sanity check.
The two factors that most people weight most heavily, whether intentional or not seem to be proximity to home/ availability o hunt and proximity o bears.
The further one travels from home- or the less frequently the particular hunt is available- the more people want a "bigger gun" and damn if I haven't read David petzal and a bunch of the others van zwoll etc all say the same thing- only dish it out as advice- bring a bigger gun so you can take that last ditch shot if that's all you get. What a horrible idea. When the chips are down you want the gun you think about the least. Period. The one you forget is in your hands until it isn't anymore at which point your arms feel weird. Bring that rifle. I you haven't got one, you need to elevate the bar as far as your standard of living and quality of life- come in out of the cold and get a rifle that really works. That's the gun you want if your going to take a Hail Mary- which is silly.
Proximity to bears- no freaking way is that any kind of excuse to punish yourself with a rifle that makes you take notice of its presence. Or god forbid strapping a sidearm to your hip on a sheep hunt. Save the sidearm for those long mornings in a tower stand while you wait for a whitetail buck in your price range to show up. Or while you ride around in the safari buggy looking for oryx and gemsbok in Crawford Texas what have you.
