Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ok everyone, one caliber, one bullet, ALL of NA hunting....name it.

Bump.....lets play some more while it's winter

I think Confidence + Competence borne out by PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE breeds success and hopefully RELAXATION for the shooter in the moment.

I have come full circle several times regarding what is the ideal caliber for North America. Course when I lived in interior Alaska I tended to shoot larger caliber rifles, have owned 2-375's,2-338WM's, 1-325WSM, 6 or more 300WM's, 1-300WSM, 6-30-06's, 2-7mm's, 5 270's, 1-270WSM, 2- 257Roys, 2-243's and over the years I shot a lot of different stuff with most of those guns, also been privy to several dozen other animals shot by buddies with a vast assortment of different calibers and truth be told I cant say that 1 caliber really worked better than others. I've shot big stuff and smaller stuff , some shots better than others. I just got back from 10 days visiting with family in Utah and as I , my father in law and 2 of his hunting buddies were drinking beer and butchering an Elk my father in law shot a week before we got there the conversation commenced about what calibers have worked best on all the big Mulies and Elk that these guys have killed in nearly 30 years of hunting together, and these guys hunt their asses off in 3 different states that border Utah. Weatherby's came up, 300 Win Mags came up, 7mm's came up, 06's came up, 338's, 270 , etc. Mt father in-law owns many guns, and after nearly 50 years as an adult hunting the West for deer and elk from Wyoming to Utah, for both food and sport he admitted he as well had come full circle in calibers about 10 years ago. He was Elk hunting with a guy in Colorado that was shooting a 25-06 and apparently the guy made a long shot on an Elk that did him in pretty good and with short work. My father in law ended up shooting this guys 25-06 later on in the hunt and said it just brought a smile to his face. That next spring for his birthday he bought himself a Ruger M77 Stainless 25-06 and since that purchase all of his other rifles have just sat in the safe! He's killed his last 9 elk with that 25-06 as well as a bunch of mulies. The guys went back in forth with fun gestures teasing each other about stuff like remember when that one cow wouldn't go down that you shot and I had to put it down with this caliber or that caliber, and in the end it was a lengthy discussion between the 4 of us about a lot of different animals that have been killed in the last 30 years and in many different states. Obviously there are critters in NA that would require more thought about what is the best tool for the job, I can think of Big Bears in S Alaska for one, but I wont even put moose in that category as I have killed and seen them killed quite easily with so many different calibers with well placed shots. But truth be told for me, I want a good bullet and I like to have ability to reach out and touch stuff say between 0-400 yards without any concerns for trajectory challenges (something the 06 is quite challenged in IMO). But taking the words out of my fathers mouth....." All I need is for the [bleep] to be inside 400 yards and I'll put that bullet right behind his shoulder and the 25-06 just does that so easily, piss on all that Recoil!" I think that we as hunters tend to overthink a whole bunch of stuff and then legends and folk lore from gun writers since passed and of course history tends to alter our thoughts and ideas, but enough field time tends to change how we think or feel about the tools we use, but it seems to be a lifelong process thinking about what is best in anything we use in the hobbies we we envelope ourselves, fishing, golf, etc its no different! I killed two 8 pt whitetail bucks in the last month, neither huge bucks but average about 150 lbs. One was shot with a 270 w/ 130 grain CoreLoks and 1 was shot with a Colt AR shooting 62 grain Fusions in .223, both bucks required zero tracking and the caliber I shot em with was an after thought, but it is funny how we overthink stuff when were alone or chatting on the internet!.....Happy New Years guys!

He's cool in the presense of game, surgical with his strikes and has a ton of experience

Ah show the faith Smashburn Brother Bob. I'm awaiting on Brux for my next tube for the Mash and stock piling 150 NBT's.

My reamers in Idaho now for a couple days...

Not sure if there's another reamer for the Mashburn that was so well traveled..grin

Dober

I agree... within reason, give a good shooter/hunter any weapon and killing won't be an issue.

To me the most under-discussed, important aspect of killing cleanly is the ability to remain unexcited in the presence of game prior to and during the shot.