Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska rifle for Dall Sheep

ou76,
Simply outstanding! Thanks for sharing your pics. What did you come to trust in caliber and bullet combinations?

from an above post of ou76. Some info already in there.

Thanks...I began using the 270 as a kid in Oklahoma in 1962...at that time I had no idea who Jack O'Connor was.. once I began to read his info in Peterson Hunting I began to play around with handloading....my pre-64 Model 70 Featherweight shot the 130 Nosler at 100 yards to 1 inch groups using H4831 so I settled on that load and have never changed it...

My first trip to Alaska was 1984 for a Moose/Grizzly combo in the Alaska Range... I used a 338...I picked the wrong bullet for Grizzly..210 Nosler (BobHagel's favorite) and after that trip I switched to the 375 for bears using the 275 Bitterroot bullets.....had I used the 250 Nosler I may never had switched to the 375....but, it is interesting to note on 18 of my 23 NA bear hunts the guides have all carried 375 H&H as backups...
In my Pre-64 Model 70 my 375 H&H likes WW 760 for the Bitterroot and 4064 for the 250 Swift A Frame......

I got my German Mark V in 300 Weatherby, Pre-64 Model 70 in 30-06 and Model 788 in 223 in the 1970s...in my 30-06 I used H205 when it was available I now use RL19. In 300 Weatherby I use H870...and in my 223 I have used WW 748 and now use Benchmark...

I have played around with a lot of calibers the 22-250, 264, 257 Weatherby, 338 and 340 Weatherby...and these are all good calibers for NA and while the 264 and 257 Weatherby with 26 inch bbls may be flatter on paper I still prefer my 270 in the game fields...and no doubt Bob Hagel preferred the 340 Weatherby with the 210 Nosler as an all around (but Bob used the 250 Bitterroot when he went Brown Bear/ Grizzly hunting in Alaska) ...Elmer Keith liked the the 338s...but for me I like the combos as opposed to an all around..that way I can have more rifles!!

You bet Bob Speegle is one of kind...I know him as he is in our Dallas Safari Club...and is chairman of the Dallas Safari Club's Outstanding Hunter Award committee...and yes Bob took the NA 30 and NA 29... 2 times...once with his rifle ..the NA 30..and once with his bow...the NA 29..Bob is also a Weatherby Award winner, OVIS award winner...OVIS Super Slammer, ISHA Super Slammer just to name a few...I doubt in my lifetime there will ever be another hunter to do what Bob has accomplished..

Boone & Crockett recognizes 29 NA Game animals...It was 31 prior to Walrus and Jaugar being excluded...at one time it was 27...then Central Barren Caribou was added making 28 and then Tule Elk to make the current 29...

Couple more pictures

03 Grizzly


09 Black bear


"I took this picture in 2007 during a Moose hunt...in the area I was hunting the outfitter did not have a Grizzly tag for a nonresident...this is a 9 1/2 foot plus Grizzly....as far as I know he is still roaming the TAKU River in British Columbia!!"



Again, Thanks for sharing these pictures with us ou76

BBBBBBig BBBBBEAR!

I'm thinking ou76 should be eligible for some sort of lifetime achievement award

very rare to see a collection like that. Congratulations and I look forward to reading your stories.

Thanks but I am not in the same class as folks like Dr.Bob Speegle....

I don't know about that! you have some very impressive animals and i know for a fact that those sheep didn't come easy! nor the Big bears!

Wow, those are some impressive animals!! Congrats to you ou76, and welcome to the 'Fire.

wow what a great thread, thank you for joining the 'fire and big Paul, thank you for posting his pics.


this is good, really good, you have certainly taken some fine specimens sir


I'd ask you to adopt me, but you ain't gonna have a plug nickel left after alla that hunting, and that's as it should be! (grin)

tks again for sharing your experiences with us, and I'm sure I speak for others, it'd be cool if you have the time and inclination to give us a more detailed hunt report concerning some of your trophies. It can take you weeks, months or years depending on your available time, I know I'd read them.

Thanks...I am glad to be part of the 'Fire family!!

ou76,
You might want to sit down with a computer and start recounting all those hunts. Put in between two hard covers and find a publisher or self publish. There has to be a wealth of good reading to enjoy.
Thanks for the rifle/caliber info.

HA!! JY Jones wrote an excellent book about his NA hunts..."One Man, One Rifle, One Land"..JY took a Model 700 ADL in 30-06 using 165 Noslers and 200 Noslers and shot all of NA game animals under SCI classification "Trophy animals of North America".. which is basically the NA 29 with SCI sub species included along with Wolf, Alligator, Jaguar (darted in Mexico) and Walrus, ..unlike some of these other guys...JY is a writer that has actually done it in the game fields...He and I crossed paths on several NA hunts...it is a great book..very thick..558 pages..with lots of color pictures, details of the hunt and interesting comments regarding the species, area he hunted and the cultures and etc..it is published by Safari Press..JY sent me an autographed copy a few years back...but as far as his choice of rifle for Grizzly, Alaska Brown Bear and Polar Bear..
well I will stick to my 375 H&H with 275 Bitterroots!!!

To shed some light on the North American 29 as defined by Boone & Crockett and Safari Club International there are some minor differences in the species...so here we go:

Boone and Crockett currently recognizes the following North American game animals in the Boone & Crockett record book..ie..the North American 29...

Antelope
Bison
Mountain Goat
Cougar
Muskox
Dall Sheep
Bighorn Sheep
Stone Sheep
Desert Bighorn Sheep
Mule Deer
Whitetail Deer
Coues Deer
Columbia Blacktail Deer
Skita Blacktail Deer
Mountain Caribou
Wooland Caribou
Quebec Caribou
Barren Ground Caribou
Central Barren Ground Caribou
Canada Moose
Alaska Yukon Moose
Shiras Moose (USA only)
Black Bear
Grizzly Bear
Alaska Brown Bear
Polar Bear
Rocky Mouontain Elk
Roosevelt Elk
Tule Elk

to the above list SCI adds 6 species...Wolf, Arctic Caribou., California Bighorn, Eastern Canada Moose, Alligator and Coastal Black Bear...SCI produced DNA that the California Bighorn, Coastal Black Bear, Arctic Caribou and Eastern Canada Moose were seperate subspecies and thus were aded to the record book....in order to complete the NA 29 for SCI's " Grand Slam of NA 29" one can pick 29 of SCI's list as long as 4 species of sheep are included... Boone and Crockett refuses to accept the DNA of SCI and does not consider the Wolf or Alligator as a North American game animal...Boone and Crockett also does not count the Alberta Shiras Moose...ie..SW Alberta across the Montana border as a Shiras Moose....SCI does...JY Jones completed all of the above per SCI list using his old 30-06!!

Thank you for sharing those magnificent photos.

Thanks and will try and add more later..bears and sheep have been to me what elk and deer are to others...can't get enough...going for bear #20 this Fall and Moose # 10 in Alaska....and I am glad to be part of the'Fire family

For me there's two types of hunters. Sheep hunters and everybody else...so I understand!

ou76 (does that mean you're a Sooner, graduated in '76?),
Those were some magnificent animals! Dr. Jones lives just down the Interstate from me and I've always wanted to meet him. I really admire you guys that get out there and get it done. I, too have done some hunting in NA (certainly not in your league), but have decided that my interests, with my budget, are best served with sheep and goat hunts for now, but who knows what the future holds. Some of the most fun times for me on these hunts is to meet folks like you that have stories to tell.
I was just thinking that when ObamaCare blooms fully, maybe I'll move from Georgia to a place where the sheep actually live, so I can keep doing it. Just gotta get that last daughter through College!
Cheers,
Don