Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Alaskan Big Game Rifle?

And there's nothing like getting off paper/bench to ruin or solidify that confidence. ('Paper' groups become largely irrelevant either way.)

Boy Howdy is that true ! I see hunters vitually every season who think they are great shots because they can hit distant things while shooting from a bench but somehow seem to miss a target the size of a sheet of plywood at 50 yards when they have to shoot offhand.

Phil;
Good morning to you sir, I hope all is well with you and your fine family this morning.

Although I've posted this before, I hope it's okay if I add a hearty "amen" to your thoughts on clients shooting ability. Absolutely far and away the guides here in BC that I've talked to say the biggest issue they have with clients is their inability to shoot from field positions in a timely manner.

Some of the stories are rather funny, but then again Phil, they weren't happening to me and it wasn't my client who'd paid over $25,000 to shoot a ram but had never, ever shot when it wasn't off a bench or where they can set up with a bipod.

I seem to recall the shin tangle you shot the grizzly in with your 9mm was a tad thick - a bi-pod would not have worked there is my guess?

Anyway sir, thanks once again for adding your real world experience to the conversation, I always appreciate reading your thoughts on these matters.

All the best to you all as we head into spring.

Dwayne

However, there is another side to it, and this relates to those who are good shooters. While there are some who can't shoot, there are others who can. Besides that, I don't know of too many hunters preparing for moose season who don't check their rifles on paper targets just before the hunt. It is almost a ritual to check one's rifle before moose season.

Stop by the Rabbit creek or Issac Walton ranges just before moose season opens if you want to see some memorable shooting !

I know of no caliber that will make up for piss poor shooting !
But I can name a bunch of them that will aggravate it !

Rabbit Creek at that time is flat-out scary!

I’d take a well balanced medium light weight 30-06 loaded with TSX or TTSX bullets in 168 or 180 grain and never look back. Not anything in North America that combo can’t handle and handle well.

Phil (or anybody) thoughts on the 220gr Nosler Partition of HornadyRN Interlock w the 06'? I've never hunted bears, but I've shot some pretty big hogs through both shoulders with the hornady and I've yet to recover one, great expansion as evidenced by the exit hole and LOTS of blood.

I've seen that bullet punch through both shoulder of big bull moose at medium ranges. A fellow I guide with uses the 06 and that bullet combination exclusively as a back up rifle. He's been using it for 35 years now and sees no reason to change.

An interesting bit of information that says a lot about this conversation, is our bison hunt. In all their wisdom our Fish and Game officials decided to put a minimum caliber requirement on our bison hunt. The minimum allowed is a 180 grain, 30 caliber bullet @ 2800 ft/lbs. The 30/06 is the baseline. Of course hunters read this and think bigger is better. Bison hunting is really popular here now that we have a general season on them. Our local gun store sells more 375s and larger calibers than anything. Well guess what happened? Fish and Game now say that a full 50% of the bison killed have been wounded in the past. Its such a problem that now one of the questions on the mandatory kill report is if your bison had any old wounds. I've killed four bison since they opened the season, three of them with a 338 Federal. One was taken at 300 yards. I didnt need more power, none went more than 20-yards, and I can tell you a bison is a big tough animal. They have thick hide and big bones, far tougher in that respect than any native big game animal up here and that includes bears.

Kind of a funny story that ties into the minimum caliber requirements for bison, is Fish @ Game caught a First Nation hunter with 4 dead bison. Of course he didnt have a license or tags, so they threw the book at him. One of the many charges was using an inadequate caliber! He was using an old model 99 300 Savage. They got him on hunting without a license and killing to many animals, but the judge threw out the inadequate caliber charge. His reasoning was sound....how could the caliber be inadequate if you are charging him with killing four bison....

The last bison I shot on Kodiak was with M99 300 Savage .

The Hornady or the Partition? for bison, good God man, I used a Sharps in 45-110 !

I've seen both bullets used on moose, but the guide I was talking about prefers the Hornady, probably because of price more than performance.

But I"d still want a 2moa or under gun to ad to my 10 moa wobble. Rather than adding say 5 or 6 moa gun to a 10 moa wobble. LOL> And its generally easier to cut the group size than the wobble, and it remain the same.

getting the knee high winds down and keeping them down takes much more work and "CEUs".

I"ve gotten to the point I don't shoot if its moving more than I want it to. I"d rather the animal walk then take a chance... Just me though, and yes I've "lost" a lot of game due to that. One legal moose in 2014. Lost him for about 2 whole days. I was very happy I didnt' take an iffy shot. And even happier when he tipped at about 125 yards from a kneeling shooting position and I SUCK at kneeling... lol.

Oh to have the days back where my prone slung up wobble was around 1/4 MOA. LOL. Those computers sure could show what you were doing wrong and then let you play with it to make it better. Should have used it on my standing though....

Don't tell those charcoal burners you can kill a buff with a 300 Savage...

DF

Ive never been to Africa or Alaska. I do love a 375 H&H and the 45/70's. Have several of both. I figured if I was going to build a do all rifle a 375 would be a good base. I have a classic stainless 375 with zeiss 3-9x40 with talley QR rings. I just have to get the barrel chopped to 20". It will do everything I will ever need if I ever get to make those trips. I love shooting my no 1's and leverguns more, but if I had to pick only one for everything, the m70 would prob be my pick, followed by my marlin stainless guide gun.

A big part of the answer would be based on whether you could use handloaded ammo or were limited to what local store kept in stock. An 06 with TSX bullets would clearly work although all factory 06 loads I've chronoed were seriously under powered. However, for game that bites back or are particularly hard to kill, I'd personally prefer something shooting heavier and larger diameter bullets. A 35 Whelen would be a clear step up from an 06 with good handloads (with the exception of Nosler ammo, the factory offerings don't really impress me). Personally, I'd be happier stepping up to a 338, 340wby or 375 with at least 225s in 338 or 270s in 375. Just my 0.02.

It wasn't the ones he killed that day that mattered, but rather the ones he likely wounded.

Success rates are low for bison hunters here, because they have learned to head for the hills whenever they hear a snow machine. You actually have to hunt them, usually on snowshoes, so the fact that he killed four tells me he was pretty experienced, and obviously a good shot. He may well have wounded one, there was no one saying he did but guess we will never really know. Just the fact that he killed four proves his rifle was up to the task.....a bigger caliber wont make up for poor marksmanship...

Wouldn't surprise me if much of the wounding has to do with lack of familiarity with bison anatomy. As for the four kills, many Native people tend to hunt close and aim for non-typical places - ear or neck rather than the lungs/chest, (ruins less meat.)

That happens everywhere. I see it at the firing ranges in Fairbanks all summer and Fall. Regardless I don't see a reason for me not to check if my rifle is shooting straight before moose season. We all do it, I imagine. I have never hunted overseas, but I have been told that before hunting EU elk (stag), one has to go through a shooting course to make sure that you can hit the right spot on a elk that is moving. No idea if for some African hunts the guides make you test your gun or not, however. This is done in Sweden:

http://www.face.eu/sites/default/files/sweden_en.pdf
.

But in the US the least one should do is to learn how to shoot straight, and then checking the rifle before the hunt. I could be wrong, of course. But that's what I have done for many years