[quote=kutenay]
BUT, and this is merely a query as I realize that the TSX type of bullet in a .243Win. WILL whack a baited deer from a close-range stand, I do not "get" WHY anyone would choose a cartridge/bullet for an expensive and perhaps "once in a lifetime" hunt that is marginal in all-around uses in the area being hunted.
quote]
I don't understand the obsession with seeing how small a cartridge can be gotten away with. Apparently, neither do most of guided hunters. Talking to several Saskatchewan outfitters the overwhelming choice of those that show up is the .300 Win, with a surprising number of Weatherbys thrown in for good measure. I've found that when its time for travelling hunters to put their money where their mouth is they bring plenty of gun and leave the debates at home. The pattern seems hold reasonably true throughout the world, lots of .300s.
Good points I think in both these posts. I have not traveled the world to hunt, but here in NA,as a class I see more 300 magnums of some stripe or another than any other category of cartridge in camps frequented by traveling hunters....and have heard the same sentiments abut 30 caliber magnums from many outfitters. Use a 300 magnum on enough animals, with good bullets and good placement, and the distinctions between them and smaller stuff will eventually become apparent.(I won't get into the ability of some hunters to shoot them well, which can be the fly in the ointment)
They are wicked killers of about any BG animal. But I still don't think they are required on a Saskatchewan deer hunt, even though I have used them myself up there.
I would not fetch along a 243 for the chore if there was a choice of anything larger, since, good though they might be, there is other stuff that is simply better IMHO. My choices for central Canada start with a 270 and end in the 30 caliber class.
As to the small gun stuff, I think folks sometimes confuse "lethal" with "fully sufficient"....as a ridiculous example of this, a 22 rim fire and a 280 are both "lethal"....but only the 280 would be considered "fully sufficient" in the BG hunting context. If folks don't know the difference, I can't explain it.
