Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game "Out west" fact or fiction?

Sam,

Man, that's a tough question! Choosing a favourite cartridge/bullet is like asking me to choose which of my kids is my favourite.

There are so many good combinations, depending on terrain and hunting style, etc, but if I had to pick one for all my deer and elk hunting, it would likely be a 7-08 and 162AM at 2750 fps.

What bullet is your go-to in the .270? 140AB?

Not on deer , but antelope. Half have been inside 200yds. and half have been past 400 yds. Never have shot one in between those two distances. And all the ones passed 400 yds. were calculated and there was no wind. All the ones inside have been crawled up to until cover ran out. The 200-400 middle ground is where things go wrong for me. If the wind is calm , it is just as easy to shoot 450 as it is 300. If the wind is blowing it is easier to keep crawling.

You shoot more game in a year than I do in five otherwise I wouldn't have asked...grin


Yeah, 140 AB's(H4831sc). More worried about the powder than anything. Love H4350 and H4831sc.


Okay next question, what is your go to propellant for cold weather?


The last 2 whitetail were at -12F and -15F, both right at sunrise. Things can get weird below zero and +300 yards..

"Flat shooting" in terms of drop doesn't give a guy any advantage with today's scopes. Much more important to have a bullet that doesn't drift much in the wind. Scopes over 10x are unnecessary IMO.

My average shot seems to be much longer than almost everyone's on here.

H4831sc is one of the best I've seen in the .270 at low temps. Cold weather sensitivity seems to be quite dependent on application. I've seen surprisingly good results from powders that are not advertised as "Extreme". IMR4350, 7828ssc, the new'ish IMR4166, and TAC are some of my go-to's. So far, IMR4166 is magic pixie dust in my 7-08's.

Believe it or not, some of my longest shots in the coldest temp extremes have been taken with IMR4350. I think cartridge and bullet application has a big impact.

That's because everyone else knows how to put on a stalk. And that's because they are "real hunters"

Wind and lead on a moving target are tricky.

Not sure I would make the defining aspect 'Out West" or even 'deer'. I think if they said "hunt open country" then there would be more opportunity to make use of that type of rifle on any species.
I'm sure you could make a mule deer hunt become longer shots by concentrating on those open areas but probably no need to.
I typically hunt thicker cover and all my mule deer have been short shots.

Maybe what the easterners are getting at is the 'hunt whitetail in the creekbeds' but 'glass for mule deer from the ridgeline' sort of rule of thumb or old adage. Maybe that 300+ thing applies better if you consider it that way but then prairie or rolling hills would still mean open country for me moreso than 'west'.

Vast majority of my BG hunting is with a .308, though I also am a big proponent of the .300 WM.

When the ranges extend into the 5s and above, I prefer the .300.



The .308 is so easy to shoot well, and I have a fair amount of trigger time with one, both for work and recreational purposes.

When you spent that much time working with, shooting in various conditions, training, and learning to make wind calls, it only makes sense to stick with it.

I know it causes some to have serious fits of the vapors and other such things, but I have killed a BUNCH of animals with a 175 grain Sierra Match King.

I don't use them much any more in the game fields, but I can attest to the fact that not one single animal ever needed a second shot.

These days the 155 Scenar gets the nod.

Screw the wind.....I like gettin' close......

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If you have ever bow hunted an elk, a mule deer, an animalope, or bighorn sheep it kind of teaches you what is possible. Makes rifle hunting a lot easier. You can usually get closer even on an antelope. That being said it is a lot of fun to get out the 257 Roy on a goat hunt.

I'd probably recommend for a new guy hunting open country, to buy the best binoculars he can afford. Most any typical deer cartridge a guy has on hand can reliably kill muleys anywhere they're found.

You can/should "wear out" a pair of binoculars, and/or your eyeballs hunting open country.

Knew someone would say that...grin

Put an hour long stalk on a turkey this spring that ended with him dying at 15 yards this spring, if Nebraska counts as "out west."

The latest craze is counting coup on a buck.


Watch him grow from birth(on private property) and wait until he hits prime antler growth.

Then take the trophy shots(20 or 950 yards depending).

Doesn't count. It was a bird.

Damn!

Having grown up in the west, I've seen lots of different types of firearms used for hunting mule deer. Everything from a Winchester lever action .25-20 to .30-378 Wthby. But for the most part 90% of the hunters I knew used something along the lines of a .30-30, .243, .300 Savage, .25-06 or .30-06. Nothing too exotic.

I bought a Ruger M77r in .30-06 when I was 16 and it has served me well. It has a 4 power Weaver K4 scope on it. I've hunted Utah, Nevada and Idaho for mule deer with it. I don't ever recall having to shoot over 200 yards. Most were under 70 yards.

Same thing for Elk In Utah and Nevada. Nothing over 200 yards with the grand daddy .30-06.

Here in Arizona, I've taken white tail with the same .30-06 at less than 200 yards. BUT.. I've also taken one white tail at 500 yards with a Walmart Winchester Ranger M70 7mm Rem Mag and hand loaded 140gr Nosler at 3200 fps. Just about the ugliest sporting rifle I own. But, it shoots okay.

My strangest use of rifle for deer was a big magnum in Hoonah, AK. I used a .338 Win Mag for their itty bitty black tails. They work very well. Lung shots put them down and no meat damage. Why the BIG magnum? When you shoot, it's like ringing a dinner bell for the bears. And there are LOTS-o-BEARS on Chichagof Island.

I call this one a Myth- BUSTED ! I've seen more deer harvested with .243's and .30-06's than just about anything else.

The terrain I've hunted has dictated what's been required for me.
My hunting has only been in Colorado and Nebraska but the landscape has varied from close range in downed timber on steep slopes to sagebrush pooltables.
Archery, leverguns and muzzleloaders works well in some of that country but I have a couple options for the rolling sagebrush and grassland as well.

Every year it's an important question, What's the terrain?

Longest shot on mule deer was 560 yards with a .270 Win, shortest was 15 yards with a .50 caliber ML and patched round ball. 99% of my elk and deer are shot under 200 yards, pronghorn under 300. Even in open country you can usually find a terrain feature of some sort to help you get close, even if it is only a fence line full of tumble weeds, a clump of sage, or a soap weed. It's all about how hard you're willing to work to get close.

Starsky that's because where you and Tanner hunt there aren't any trees...