Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Poll: Do you hunt with a round in the chamber?

And those guys make up stories.

:-)

I ain't TOUCHING that one! I'll just take your word on it and step slowly away...

-jeff

You *are* trainable.

Anyway, it's interesting that (stories aside), two of our most vocal cold chamber guys are hunting where you take someone out and whack 3 bucks in a day... it is NOT like that in Oregon.

I believe you that it varies from locale to locale, but still -call me crazy!- I think the hunting would be considered way above average up there, wouldn't it?

I really want to get up there. I had this fantasy of taking my family on a canoe or raft trip down one of the major rivers, fishing and camping and hopefully not getting et by a griz, then flying them back home and staying up there for some caribou and or moose or whatever else I could rustle up hunting...

-jeff

Ha!

Yeah, once I pissed on an electric fence. You do that ONCE.

-jeff

How many tags one might get or how prevalaent the game is is sorta moot to safe practices.
I don't think many hunters today are subsistence hunters..tho many DO have a considerable investment in time and expense just to be out there with a tag.

Regardless of whether you can get tags for six deer or one, predation permits for multiple elk or one, caribou or moose tags as AK or Canadian NA ..........or whether you may have one shot in every three seasons..or what..

The onus is on the man with the rifle to hunt safely with reliably functioning firearms and loads..identify his target, and assess his own physical-mental abilities for the circumstances of the moment, including, but not limited to, his hunting style, terrain, weather etc.

Unload?.Sling the weapon?.Hand the safe weapon to another?
Stay in camp and sleep it off?..:)

Be ready to chamber a cartridge?, or be locked and loaded.

Ain't no way to dictate what's best or right for every hunter or circumstance and... thankfully, responsible hunting folks still get the chance to make right choices.
So make them and choose wisely whatever ya do..Jim

There are folks who think and expect things to be this way to be sure. The part that many fail to understand is how large the state is - two people can be a thousand miles apart and still be in the state- and, given the fact that so much of it is undeveloped, that means there are plenty of hiding places as well. It is truly amazing for some to come here and discover how much country they need to peruse in order discover one of the many critters we have. Then, of course, is the other factor, that being the feast/famine deal. Caribou (it could also be birds or other animals) -thousands of them- could literally be in the backyard on Wednesday and inaccessibly distant in rugged terrain only 20 miles -or a hundred- away by the weekend - or even quicker.

Mostly we - and most other people- don't brag about our lack of successes. And there are many. Those of us who do seem to have "great" success rates also have some rather significant investments in time and financially aquired resources. Going out scouting for a day -or running the trapline- might easily involve $100 worth of gas at a minimum just from the back door.

Klikitarik,

I hear you on the expense of scouting! It (price of gas) has cut into my woods time significantly. Gone are the days of tossing ten bucks in the tank and doing much of anything.

Don't you guys get some sort of dividend up there? Just put that in a special "hunting" account!

-jeff

Yes, there is the "dividend," a yearly but variable check we get (which the feds like since they take part of it as always with any form of income). I used mine to finally get my fuel bill paid down - it had gotten a couple of months behind. So yes, I did use it for hunting - after the fact.

Yeah, isn't that fun, paying for the fun after the fact.

This last hunting season, elk especially, looked like it was going to cost me a lot in missed money, but as it turned out it wasn't so bad. Try leaving town with a $10k commission hanging in the balance! No, I didn't get it... it evaporated, as they do, thus leaving me free to leave depressed but at least not feeling like I was about to take a $10,000 self-guided Oregon elk hunt! :-/

-jeff

Like a good Alaskan, you probably spent your PFD two or three times!

+1

That is exactly the reason I hunt with an empty chamber much of the time. �Potentially high consequence� is why I�ve flown aircraft for a fair number of miles but always let someone more experienced perform the take-off and landing. Its why I often drive far under the speed limit in adverse weather and road conditions. Heck � its why I often don�t drive at ALL in such conditions. (The wisdom of which many people have to learn the hard way.)

It seems to me that taking reasonable precautions to mitigate risk is a good thing. Even so, sometimes you have to drive in the snow and ice, however, or late at night when the drunks are out. Sometimes you get killed in the middle of the day in good weather and on dry roads because you make a mistake, because someone else makes a mistake, or maybe because God wills it. You exercise and eat healthy and sometimes you have a heart attack anyway.

Guess I�ll continue to hunt hot or cold, depending on the circumstances at the moment.

Dave took this cow last year after his first shot was a misfire. We had hunted all morning with cold chambers until shortly before he chambered the round that misfired. Just out of the picture 200 yards further back and to the left of the aspen another cow is down. I took it after borrowing the shooting sticks Dave had been using when he shot. Dave�s misfire and subsequent chambering of a new round and all the changing of positions so I could shoot didn�t affect the outcome for either of us.



Another of Dave�s shots � he�s the orange spot about 275 yards away. His deer is behind the cedars just to the right of him in the picture. Another empty chamber situation, with the shot taken from where I took the picture.



Took this year�s first cow elk in pretty open country at about 125 yards. Plenty of time to chamber a round while I was waiting for the cow to clear the herd and end up in an opening through the thin line of aspen the separated us.



This forkhorn mulie made the mistake of running in front of my truck as we were driving a 4x4 trail through the sage, trying to get to an overlook above a creek. We both thought it was a doe and Dave jumped out to shoot it with his .30-30. I put the binoculars on it and saw the antlers. Still had time to jump out of the truck, grab my rifle from the case, chamber a round and take the shot (although another second or two and it would have been over a fold and gone).



A productive area for both deer and elk over the years. Got the buck above not far from here. Not sure why a hot chamber would be an advantage�



The deer stayed on the wrong side of the Colorado/Wyoming line, but we spent several hours watching them as well as about 70 antelope that would have been easy shots if in season.



Shot this year�s second cow elk from this knoll. We had spotted the herd of a couple dozen when they were over a mile away. Took the shot at about 25 yards. I had chambered the round when they were about 500 yards away and turning toward me.

[img]http://www.hunt101.com/img/526815.jpg[/img]

Last day of this year�s hunt. Shortly after taking this picture I chambered a round in my .30-30, then sat and waited and watched. Seemed to be a reasonable thing to do�

[img]http://www.hunt101.com/img/526816.jpg[/img]

Only the first picture works. (for me)

Coyote Hunter,

Nice pics!!

That's comPLETEly different country than I hunt, for whatever that's worth.

In fact my goal is to get out and hunt some country like that! Looks like a lot of fun.

I note that you did chamber for the one pic in the thick stuff.

Thanks for sharing the cool pics!

-jeff

Yup, pretty common for me to do that. Half-cock safety with the hammer-block safety disengaged.

The BLR takes the half-cock thing to the next level. The hammer folds forwards sort of under the firing pin... hard to explain but brilliant when you see it. IMHO.

The crossblock safety looks pretty bombproof too on a Marlin, but I couldn't say I really know that- never taken it apart and you can't really see in there. It would appear that it puts a pretty good chunk of metal in the way of the hammer. However, I HATE the crossblock ergonomics, and just do what you do, half cock, when I've hunted with a Marlin.

-jeff

I have yet to see an elk in open country like that.Must be some type of hunting a kin to antelope. But hey, I hunt hot when hunting pronghorns too.

I have to agree with some of the other posters, in that I hunt both ways, depending on the situation/terrain etc. If in a stand, either elevated or on the ground or if still hunting, I have one in the chamber. If traveling, especially with wet, steep or rough terrain, I will go cold. Too many different situations to say "always" one way or the other for me.

Yeah, there's no elk out in that kind of country.

Well, this one from 2003...


And a couple thousand on these hills every year, including the hundreds in this picture...