Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska rifle for Dall Sheep

saw off the showerhead then take the .300 wby.

A very cogent reply by Test; I think your choice of the 300 Wby is fine.

Good hunting and take a lot of pictures.

What are you smoking??

LC

BBerg,
Glad you found some use in what I said. I'm always happy to help out. I'm sure you'll be very pleased using the .300 Wby. Wish I was going with you just to watch you shoot that big ram!

Best of luck on your hunt!

Test

I would go with the 300Wby because of brown bear. Lose the Swaro 6-18x50 and get the new VX 3 3.5-10x40mm.....

His guide should be packing a rifle so worrying about a grizz while hunting sheep is uneccessary.
Too many people worry about bears while hunting up here, i've learned long ago that doing so isn't going to help you succeed in the field.
Worry about them when you have too, until then, enjoy the mountains and just being there.

I agree;don't think I'd worry about a thing with a 7/08.A friend got into a close range pisssing match with a grizz over a cache of sheep meat that he went to retrieve,not knowing the bear was in the neighborhood. He killed the bear at close range when the bear came for him.One shot under less than comfy circumstances.....270-130.

Im sure you all are right about th 7/08 being all you need but the 300Wby would make me feel a little better. I have see with my own eyes a heart shot black bear go 30 to 35yds before it died. It was shot with a 325wsm and 180gr TSX.

270 and 130 TSX.Cross the bear bridge when it happens.I'd have no trouble shooting that bullet at one.Wouldn't think twice.

Of the rifles mentioned the 264.

Shoot depending on what I decide come August, I may be taking my 257 Roy for sheep. All depends on what she ends up feeling like once she's in the Edge thats in the mail right now. Them 100 grain TSX's would do a doozy on a Ram!

STA:Seen them go further hit with a 340 and 210's

I understand what you are saying, but I've shot all my own black bears with the 270 and 280.It makes sense to carry a bigger rifle when in grizzly country; but I would tempt fate(I guess)and just bring the 7/08,a 270,or 280.

When after Alaskan BB, I have carried a 338 or 375

There are grizzlies where I will be hunting elk this fall; I will likely carry a 7 mag of some sort with a good 160.I should be OK.

Oh.....and dont think I wont whack a Griz with the 100 grain TSX either, would do er in a heartbeat!

Bob I hunt in grizz country most everytime I hunt.Don't matter what a guy is packing 25-06 or 338.The bear don't dictate my cartridge choice at all.

One of the biggest Kodiak bears ever killed was shot by Cindy Rhodes on video. She used a 7x57 and the video is worth the price of admission. Single shot at staplegun range piled the monster in a heap.

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Heartshot critters will always go farther than an animal with the suction side of the pump intact. WIth the pump destroyed the blood continues to hold a bit of oxygen for quite a while.

With the suction side of the pump working and a vent on the downstream side a bear will lose blood pressure far faster, and die nearly instantly.

Blood pressure will drop below coherence in less than 7 heart beats if the aorta has a hole equal to its cross-section...

I have shot a number of bears through the heart that went much farther than 100 yards. Dead on their feet, yes, but moving.
art

A very important point about scope size for sheep... August is still very light, very late, in the North and the need for a good light-gathering scope is non-existant. Adding to that is the fact sheep do not hang in thick cover. Usually they stand right out against the rock, that color thing...

That is at least three good reasons why it would take a fool to carry a monster scope on a sheep rifle. But the best reason against the big scope is inertia. Inertia breaks stuff inside big scopes faster than small. Broken scopes on sheep hunts suck, I suppose. But by sticking to extremely tough stuff I have avoided that problem.

A ram I shot in the Nutzotins in the late '70s was far enough away... Yet a 4x Leupold with duplex xhairs on a 270 seemed to work fine... I have used a 3x. Even the discontinued 6x compact is a decent sheep scope because light gathering is a non-issue.

So why the 6x42 on the 7-08 BW used? It was there...
art

Only been on 1 sheep hunt, only took 1 shot, at longer range than I wanted but the only one presented after 6 days of hard hunting and fickle weather. That was my first AK trip, when I was over 50. Five trips to AK later, now I know unpredictably bad weather is the norm and light-for-cartridge rifles I know and trust are the best combo.

The rifle on the sheep hunt was a bolt 6.5-284, light, synthetic stock and 2.5-8x scope. The perfect rig for me because it is accurate and let me shoot prone at the ram without worry about the recoil. The sheep's on the wall mostly because of several hundred rounds before the hunt - knowing the rifle and knowing I could hit with it from most positions.

If I'm lucky enough to go back to the mountains for sheep or goat, I'll take another 6.5mm, like your 264WM maybe, but not a heavy scope. The rifle is only too light if the cartridge it's chambered for is too heavy for you. Don't worry so much about the 'right rifle' just practice and enjoy the hunt in God's country!

Mike: I've hunted where there were grizzlies;I defer to more experience than I have and so long as I'm carrying something sufficient,I don't worry about them.

I have never been to Kodiak,but from what I read and hear, those bears assert a proprietary interest in any deer you shoot,and rifle shots are dinner bells,so it may be wise to be suitably armed.Kodiak may be different because the bears can be aggressive. I dunno.....whatever makes a guy comfy I guess. Among personal friends,several interior grizzlies have been killed with 270's 7 mags and the like.

I am not an expert but have been on 8 hunts in Alaska. Shot my Brown bear, Moose, Sheep, black bears with one caliber. 330 dakota, 250 gr. Swift a frame.. My angle is a little different here.. I do not know if the 09 regulations are the same, however on my hunts I would always buy a Brown Bear license and that license would make me eligible for any other BIG GAME in alaska. I understand that this is a sheep hunt.. but you never know with weather conditions, sickness, whatever else that could screw up your ability to get where the sheep are. Having an all species tag in your pocket is comforting. By the way there is only probably a 50.00 adder for the bb tag. Lets say you glass up a monster brown bear and its either the first day or last.. I WOULD be nice to be able to harvest that animal if you so choose. In my 80 plus nights in the field, I have not had a problem with the bears. But I can tell you I have harvested both my Sheep and moose with a Brown bear tag. So in my opinion.. given your choices use something that gives you the ability to harvest your animal that matches the tag in your pocket. One more thing.. If your not settled on boots check out Meindels from Cabelas.They have saved my booty more than once.

Nicely worded!