Bear stories thread got me thinking.Let's say your out hunting moose, caribou,sheep or some other type of non-dangerous game.What caliber do you guys carry? I'd imagine you always have the possible of running into a bear unespectively...just curious on how you folks prepare for a non-bear hunt.

.270 Winchester.

270 Win.

I carry at some point in time during the season:

243ai
25-06ai
7saum
30-06
338rum

All have a purpose and get used when needed.

The 30-06 is still the most popular round in Alaska

Depending on the day I may bring a 338 WM or my 30-06.

Though my battery consists of slightly different tools than his, what Calvin said....

Gets me thinking (!) I have just completed the annual armoror's duties, two 416s both with back up scopes sighted in and ready, a 35 Whelen with the load work completed but not sighted in, and 300 rounds of fireformed, primed brass wearing the 'loadwork scope" About to order THE SCOPE. A 340 SS WBY shooting 250s@2950, a 454 FA and a 475 FA on hand, all ammo, leather, and glass are in order. TO DO change the lower unit lube on the Yamahas, wire in the spare battery and radio, and new heavier ground tackle.

I hunt bears but seldom kill them (usually some excuse or another), I think I just enjoy them (alive) a bit too much.

The deer,'Bous, bears, and two Dall's sheep were all taken with a KS 30'06 and a 6X42. Most with 125Xs (all exited), even the bears ...165BTs and even some 220NPs.

It seems a six and a half pound (fill in the blank) rifle that you have worn the bolt knob shiney will more or less work great.

Even in Alaska we shoot all year and hunt a few weeks so time spent in preparation fills in the empty times. One of Elmer's lesser qoutes "I do all of my hunting before I fire a shot" comes to mind , another favorite of The Col. "Better a first rate soldier with a third rate weapon...than the other'way around".
Whatever gear you take into the field. there should be no surprises. Best wishes.

To hazard a guess, I'd say the most popular is the .30-06. It works on virtually everything and we've had guys in our moose camp use them very effectively.
Having written that, my favorite is my .270 Win. This chambering just plain works for caribou & sheep and a former partner of mine used his on moose and Brooks Range grizzly with no problem. My current interest is my .270 WSM and I'm beginning to use that on most of my hunts.
BTW, when we hunt sheep or caribou, our rifles are carried strapped across our packboards and we never carry them in our hands. It's amazingly fast to take your packboard off and unstrap the rifle using quick release straps. In the past, I've used my .338 WM on our moose hunts and I really like that chambering but I'm gradually migrating to my .270 WSM for that use as well.
Bear in Fairbanks

Once I thought I wanted a 270. I did own one for about an hour a SAKO and made a quick $100 on it at a gunshow, but that was in 1977. Once again the 270 siren had me in it's trance... not able to find a proper 270, I bought the 'afore mentioned 700KS, SS 30'06. I proceeded to pretend it was a 270, the object- trip was my first for Kodiac Blacktails, a December hunt in Larson Bay so bears were just a remote possability. The new craze back then, was Barnes X bullets. 125Xs at 270 speed and really, really good performance. That BTW was my first 30'06 TOO BORING for such a sophisticated person such as myself, lots of ,06s later... I think the old Springfield makes a pretty good 270 or even 338 it only took FOUR 338s to arrive at the conclusion that the 338 performs in the field almost as good as the 30,06!

I just loop my rifle over the stob of my packframe. It's much quicker to unlimber and put into action that way. But that's me - old school.

Is it still the 30-06 and 223?


ddj

Right now, 7mm WSM, 300 RUM and 358 Norma Mag.

Since some guy said that headstamps don't mean much..

I use the:

105 Scenar
100gr Swift S2
162 Amax
155gr Scenar
225 Accubond

Funny how I've moved away from x bullets.

Many of the guys I have known and hunted with have been adherents of a 300 Mag of some persuasion for regular use. Generally their battery also includes an H&H and a 223 among their commonly used tools.

Any reason in particular?

For the last 5 years or so, I've been using either a 9.3x74R or a 7x65R. Have also shot critters with a .270 Win, .338 Win, .375 H&H, and .45-70. I think that's it. Have avoided owning/hunting with an '06, as I'm afraid I'd get suckered into hunting with just one rifle! I do now own a .30-06(a BRNO Effect), but haven't hunted with it yet.

Jeff

For my style of hunting mountains in SE AK for Sitka Blacktails, the higher BC bullets work fine, and are really easy to get to shoot small groups. The 338 Rum gets called into service whenever I leave my island. I am hoarding a bunch of 210 Barnes XLCs for that rifle now. Just using up 2 boxes of the accubonds that were given to me.

I didn't see any mention of the 300 WSM, how about it. Does it have much for popularity?

It sure does here in Mt.

Thx
Dober

Mark,

It's a very small spattering of people I know with short mags. Of the dozen or so, a third have 30's. More popular is the 270 WSM. Most are light Kimbers; their owners are primarily sheep and goat hunters. Of course, that (simply) means those loonies' rifles would work on anything Alaska could dish out

best,
bhtr

Yeah, I agree with Bear Hunter.

Since we've kind of got off-track concerning the original context of this thread - now we're not so much talking about our personal hunting favorite(s), but talking about what we estimate is the most popular caliber among our fellow Alaskans - I haven't noticed a lot of tendency toward short magnums, either.

However, if there is such leaning toward short mags, it seems that it's the .270 rather than the .300 and that leaning tends to be among sheep hunters, for the most part. But there again, that's but a tiny fraction of the hunting populace in Alaska.

It is my belief that the .338 Winchester magnum is probably the most popular caliber among Alaska residents, followed by the .30-06. But, that's just a layman's estimation.

I don't think any local university has ever published a research project on the topic.

Guys check out this thread:

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com...all-around-quot-AK-hunting-rifle-caliber

This vote says the 300WM, 338WM, 30-06, in that order.

Alaska is so dang big,that it's hard to say that any 1 caliber is preferred across the state. In my area, the 243 is popular amongst the native hunters and neck shots are preferred.

Yes, it's a huge state - the biggest in fact - but with a tiny population. The majority of Alaska's population resides in Southcentral and within that region, Anchorage holds more than 50% of the entire state population. Since by far and away more hunters reside within that general region than the other five regions combined and since large majority of those hunters are recreational hunters, I still believe that the large magnum caliber probably gets the nod in reference to most popular caliber among Alaskans, as a whole. But there again, I doubt any local and/or distant university has done a theoretic hypothesis and published it, concerning the matter. Would be interesting if a grad student would research it and then publish a thesis, though.

I know of no research from a university either, but a range master published the following table in AFG - Magazine a couple of years ago.



Seems to bear out the general consensus of this thread.
***
Source added - AFG seems to have removed the info, but found this.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=374903

Was that a list of range users?

1848 hunters preparing for hunting season at Rabbit Creek in Anchorage.

That's interesting anecdotal information, for sure.

Worth to you what it cost you, I guess...

Calling this "anecdotal" reads a bit "off the soap box" to me.

It didn't cost me anything, by the way.

"Anecdotal" is lay science; such as that which was garnered via the range monitor.

A thesis would result to a scientific hypothesis and that would be something more tangible and therefore, much more accurate and more credible.

Nevertheless, it's still interesting anecdotal information.

My money is on the '06 overall. .223's and 30-30's are very common in the villages.

Jeff

After living in Alaska for over 40 years and hunting / shooting almost every animal you can legally take, plus talking to a lot of other hunters.

My top 3 picks for the "MOST POPULAR CALIBER CARRIED IN ALASKA" would have been:
.30-06
.300 Win Mag
.338 Win Mag

Just as the information cmg found states, a pole of 1848 different hunters preparing for hunting season in Alaska. The top 3 on the list account for almost 60% of the hunters in that state.

If I were choosing one all-around rifle for Alaska it would be a .300 Win Mag shooting 200 grn Partitions. Shots can be long and a lot of the critters are bigger, plus some bite back.

Second choice would be a .30-06 shooting 180 Partitions, I've used that on everything from Sitka Blacktail Deer to Brown Bear with good success.

There are a lot of good calibers out there and a person doesn't have to go with a whiz bang magnum. Using a good premium bullet goes a long way in making up for power, in my humble opinion.

If you haven't yet, every one needs to hunt Alaska at least once

That could very well be, Jeff. Back in the 50's 60's and on until the early 70's, that certainly seemed to be the case. Still might be. But I'm not so sure anymore. I mean, gosh, there's a hell of a lot of guys out there in the brush using .338 Winchesters. But, it's hard to say. Would be interesting if someone did a study on it though.

Does anybody in Alaska only own one gun? haha


I actually know 1 "1" gun guy, and he slays the Sitka Blacktails and sheep with a 30-06. The rest of the guys I know own a pile of guns.

I hunted out of a small, native village this last season in moose/griz country and used a local transporter. About as remote as you can get. The older native guy had a 338 Win Mag with iron sites. His nephew had a 300 RUM.

Yes, up here I have only one rifle that I keep with me full-time. But, like you mention, I'm the exception.

How about a Ruger 375 or is the ammo too hard to find?

I talked to the manager of VF Grace a couple years ago and he told me the biggest selling rifle calibre, and ammo sales, excluding the 22lr or the 223 is the 243Win.
I thought it odd, but he stated that the natives love the calibre. After a few years behind the gun counter, I believe him, I sold a lot of them.
30-06 and 300 Win were next in line, followed by 338 Win. Just my observations though, nothing scientific.

Up here, .375 catridges are readily available, as are loading supplies for that caliber.

Thank you for clearing these things up for me.

You err, however.

Just the fact of application of scientific principle does not necessarily change the accuracy and precicion of the result.

The range master may very well have, in his way, hit the nail on the head.

I laud his efforts.

BTW - the range master never labeled this as "science".

It's just a survey of a damn lot of hunters preparing to go afield.

4 in 10 use a 30 caliber.

Albeit, 4:10 ratio at that range, however.

But anyway....

When I was on the Board of Game and even prior, when working as liaison to the BOG and also as a natural resource lobbysit at the State Capital, anecdotal information was always interesting to examine, but the fact of the matter is that science always won over the anecdotal aspect.

Anecdotes are great, but they're not science.

Nevertheless, this thread has been interesting and of course, the range employee's estimations that CMG submitted are well noted.

Anecdotes are not science.

Yet, the range masters survey was not an estimate, either.

Sound science is nice to have - I am a scientist.

Science also is expensive - so may not always be feasible to apply.

Disregarding information just because it is not "science", when nothing really is at stake, is funny.

Somebody here asked which caliber is most popular in AK.

1848 hunters at an Anchorage range in two months seem to be a sound indication - if good enough for the question asked, is for everyone self to decide.

Considering that AFG states just 7000 Big Game Tag sold for residents in AK for 2007 (example) the number in the range masters survey becomes even more impressive.

I apologize for my nitpicking and will end my part of it here.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/license/pdfs/2007info.pdf

An Anchorage range is, quite likely, only going to give you a feel for what Anchorage area hunters and shooters are using. Does it actually represent the greater Alaska area? Who knows?

BTW, what's a Ruger 375? Is that a 375 Ruger...(what's that? ), or is it a Ruger 375 H&H? (The latter is not uncommon in one version or another.) Remington Core-Lokt ammo is very common in Alaska FWIW.

Day Packer,

Not too many 375 Rugers here. I suspect that it is popular with some just getting into the .375 caliber game, though it will never gain the popularity of the Holland...in my lifetime at least. Could be that people here subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" crowd. Personally, I cannot imagine anyone that had a decent 375 H&H trading it for the Ruger. Now, buying one just because you could (another rifle loony-thanks JBar )would make sense.

There are small smatterings of .375 Bee's and some 378's, of course. Ammo (as answered previously) for the 375 Ruger is available in most places larger than 5000 net population.

Makes sense,I knew the 30-06 would be in the the top 5 but i didn't think it would #1. I thought the 300WM would have got that honor.

Some of you guys are saying that in your area the 243 win is popular,what are you all hunting with a 243. I like my 243.....alot but i would have never thought of it as an "ALASKA"caliber.

I had a client who with one shot at 40 feet, whacked a B&C mountain goat with a .243 Winchester. For anyone who knows anything about mountain goats, that's quite the accomplishment.

less so for anyone with a clue about bullets...

Even still, I was somewhat surprised when the billy dropped at the shot. I've seen dozens and dozens of goats killed and oftentimes they seem impervious, in both definitions of the word. That one-shot experience with huge billy killed by the client killed with the .243 was kind of astonishing.

I've carried and killed with a 6mm quite a bit, the rifle loony equivalent of a 243 that is commonly carried by many people who know how to hunt and shoot out in the outlying parts of the state. While much of my killing with it has involved the excellent, now-defunct 100 semi-pointed Pro-Hunter, what these calibers can do when loaded with a Partition or mono is not different than many cartridges bigger in bore size.

I agree. It's an excellent black bear round. I was hesitant at first to lead a goat hunting client who preferred that caliber, but I'd guided him before when he was using other calibers and I knew he could shoot very, very well. A couple of my cousins had .243's and they killed all sorts of things with that caliber on hunts in Canada, the Lower-48 and Mexico. It is quite the cartridge.

I do know it kills whitetails just as dead as my 30-06 did.

I do prefer big rifles, like one of my 7mm-08s.

OK. i'll bite.

How many shots and where was da goat hit?

Klik, Klik, Klik...............

Now you're just trolling, man!

Sorry, Mav. I missed that part.

Nice hit it seems.

i'm unconvinced about the //passing through all that hair and dense flesh\\ business.

What kind of boolit, if you please?

Why thanks!

(Nevertheless, and distortions aside, the point should not be missed that smaller, non-magnum cartridges do support a big share of the hunting which gets done in Alaska. That isn't a recommendation, BTW, just an observation.)

Yeah, I was very apprehensive about him using a .243 Winchester on a mountain goat hunt because of the density of those animals and their impervious nervous system. But, in the end I let him bring it. The bullet was a handloaded Nosler.

I'll guess partition.






Oh, Aaaaart!

Oops, I missed the "T". You troll!

I'll agree about the most successful cartridge.

I've long said that the lowly '06 has killed more grizzly/brown bear than the next two cartridges.

I just can't be bothered to do the research to prove it. nonetheless, there it is and i have a nice can of Pepsi to back it up.

Not only that, but everyone knows the 7/08 is superior to the 308...thought this was already decided.

In Alaska it is always best to be prepared for the biggest critter you may happen upon.

Sure a lot of people may have and still carry a .243 for all of their big game hunting, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to only have that in my hands when I run into a Brown Bear while hunting.

I know for a fact in a lot of remote villages most people hunt with a Ruger Mini-14 or AR-15, .223's. They use this for everything from rabbits to bears. Why, because ammo is cheap!

To a lot of people living in those areas, a rifle is a means to gather food, to feed their family or others who can not hunt. There are no Safeway stores around the corner, and they may not have a means to earn money.

They are not concerned about humane one shot kills, only the cheapest way to put meat on the table. Many places in Alaska it is legal to hunt caribou with a .22 lr. They wait for them to swim across a river, drive up to them in a boat and shoot them in the head with a .22 lr. Very cheap & effective meat harvesting.

Not saying I agree or disagree with this, just sharing the facts.

Personally I don't big game hunt with anything less then a .30-06, and when I am small game hunting I carry my .454 pistol as back up for bear or moose.

I completely agree with Alaskan Hunter and the facts he presents.

Since most of Alaska lives in Fbks. and Anchorage, I'd say the range survey would be a pretty good indication of "most popular" for the statewide population and fits precisely with my personal SWAG for the top 3. Having solid figures is hardly "anecdotal", tho not "hard" science either. "Lay science" is a good term, I think.

Out in the villages in western and northern Alaska I'd stipulate from my observations that the .22CFs and .243 would be in the majority. (Now that is anecdotal.) Some few out here think the .22Mag rimfire is the ideal caribou gun (head shots, especially from a boat). The .22 Hornet and Swift are highly thought of by owners, but again, these are few.

I quit sweating bears (within reason)years ago when selecting a firearm (several choices ranging from .243 to .338WM) to hunt my intended game and the area/conditions involved. I've hunted moose successfully with a .243 in Interior, used a .260 (no moose were hurt on this hunt, but I didn't feel under-gunned) on the Kenai in 2011 - both in griz/brown bear country, but would pack my .338 for deer on Kodiak if I ever get there...

Caliber isn't as important as bullet construction and most plain-janes matched to purpose will do fine. You can do some trading off here - the premium bullets are arguably "better" - but placement is vital with anything.

Heck - if you are good enough at what you are planning, you don't even need bullets, so the rifle itself becomes a mere prop to the hunting situation.

I'll give you the short version of a yarn I posted some years ago. Much of the humor is in left-out details, and Gaylen tells it so much better than I do, anyway.

My friend Gaylen started his teaching career about 5 decades ago as the head/sole teacher in a small interior village. He was the only white man in town, and the locals mostly packed open-sight .30-30's. When the caribou migration showed up and started crossing the river ice in Oct/Nov that first year, the chief showed up at the one-room school and pulled all the kids out. At first Gaylen thought he'd screwed up and was in big trouble, but the chief explained the caribou were coming through and the kids were needed to help in the hunt.

Gaylen tried to negotiate keeping at least the smaller kids in school so as not to lose a day out of the calendar, but the chief explained "Big kid - big piece of meat, little kid - little piece of meat." Next, Gaylen suggested he go along, point out some anatomy, etc. on a dead caribou to the kids and count it as a "field trip", and so not "lose" that day of school.

"Good idea, Teacher." They got the kids all bundled up, and as the chief left with the last of the little ones, he turned back and suggested, "Why don't you bring that big gun (scoped .300WM)of yours, Teacher - maybe you shoot caribou too".

The whole village was out there, except for a few sick, elderly, babies/moms, or very pregnant, lined up in the willows along the edge of the river. Men in front with their .30-30s, women and children back in, out of the wind.

The chief, standing next to Gaylen, offered him the first shot, but cautioned him to let the first couple dozen "pathfinders" go through. Gaylen shot the first caribou the chief pointed out, and continued to shoot 'bou as fast as the chief pointed them out, one after the other, reloading several times. Only when the chief told him "That's enough, Teacher" did he realize no one else had been shooting. A quick somewhat fearful survey of faces showed him big grins everywhere, however. And 17 caribou down on the ice.

Hmmmm. Having been a cop, Gaylen knew how to put an investigation together, and a few "innocent" questions over the next few days confirmed it. Except for Gaylen's "big gun", there wasn't a round of ammunition in town, and wouldn't be until trapping fur produced some revenue.

No one ever let on to the con, but years later Gaylen ran into the chief in Anchorage, and asked him about it. The chief broke into a big grin and said, "Yeah, that was pretty good, huh?"

"You didn't really need all those kids out there, did you?"

"Hell no. Kids big damn bother! But I knew if I left you even one kid, you wouldn't come hunt with us."

So there you have it: plan your hunt, stalk the game carefully, keep it unaware, and place your shots precisely. It will even work on animals.

"Heck - if you are good enough at what you are planning, you don't even need bullets, so the rifle itself becomes a mere prop to the hunting situation."


LAS:

What? Care to explain that statement?

Maverick

To clarify, local rural folks tend, often, to be very skilled at one shot kills, and many times disdain meat wrecking lung or body shots; head or neck only IOW. And there are very limited places in Alaska where a 22 rimfire is allowed to hunt caribou - and they must be in the water perhaps... I think. (IOW, a rimfire is illegal unless you've checked the specific regs.)

Correct. However, only swimming caribou in certain units along the Brooks Range can be killed with .22 rimfire cartridges. And, in terms of the motorized boat killing, it's also in those same units along the Brooks Range and, the motor must be shut off and all motor-driven progress must have ceased before shooting.

The villagers that conned Gaylen into shooting caribou for them not only did not need bullets, the empty rifles they carried were mere props to the well planned, well executed "hunt". I guess I didn't make it clear that all the village men had lined up in the edge of the willows with empty rifles for credibility purposes to the con.... sorry about that.

FYI: In units 23 and 26 caribou may be taken while swimming with ".22 rimfire cartridges", presumably either handgun or rifle (pg 19 of game regs). If a guy could throw the .22 ammunition hard enough, no gun would be needed at all...

Units 23 and 26 are specifically excluded from the "underway" restriction. (pg 18)

"You may not take game by : A motor-driven boat or motorized land vehicle unless the motor has been shut off and progress from the motor's power has ceased, EXCEPT: a motor driven boat may be used as follows: - in units 23 and 26 to take caribou.

I've heard stories from the locals about things getting dicy when several boats close in at high speed from different directions on a bunch of swimming caribou, with fire coming from all the boats at once. I think I'll stick to spot and stalk on land.

And what do you want to bet that most of those rifles are push feeds?

Thanks for the clarification concerning the "underway" exemption. I hadn't read those specific legal descriptions in a while. I'm sure that whomever might be considering a "boat hunt" in the Brooks Range might find that info valuable

30-06

Wrist. Rocket.

375 ruger for fishing and spring bear, .30-06 for everything else.

Out here where I live it'll be the .223 Remington.

I know a guy who has a nice Remmie 700 BDL in .243. My supervisor has a Mossberg he bought years ago in .25'06. A guy I know up in Kotlik has a stainless Ruger .300 Win mag. A couple of local guys have .223 WSSM and LOVE them.

But the majority are .223 Rem.

I carry a .375 Weatherby and a .500 A-Square if I am in an area known for bear. A FAL with 20 rounds of .308 when blueberry picking.

Have to put "popularity" into perspective...

10yrs ago guy at Mountainview Sports in Anchorage confided to me that "...nobody reloads anymore. Guys come in buy 1 or 2 boxes of premium ammo and that's it".

.30-06 is cheap, always available, offers heavy bullets; although don't see any 220gr rn factory loads anymore, and generic ammo at wallyworld is cheap. Did I mention ammo is cheap?

.375 H&H and .338win are similarly available and relatively cheap. .300win mag is probably sufficient, but anyone who's seen brown bear or mature moose up close will want something more. The rationalizers read Phil S's comments and stay with their .30-06s.

Never one for popularity, I favor a .338/300win wildcat and load 250gr bullets, but am working up loads for a 290gr rn cast from wheelweight alloy and have some 300gr boattail match bullets I intend to experiment with.

Also have a .35Gibbs barrel in the rack that I would like to work with soon as find a mold for 250gr or more.

Actually, quite a few .375 Rugers here and growing. I know of at least five people myself included who have upgraded, yes that's right, UPGRADED to the 375 Ruger. Yes I'll admit, Rugers 375 rifle has flaws, mainly the piece of junk stock but the round itself is definetly an improvement on the H&H and anyone who thinks otherwise is just an old dog and well, you know what they say about those.

My favorite's-
My heat seaking fur finder, Browning m-1000 eclipse, .204ruger
My Kodiak deer buster, Rem 700, .243
My black bear stand rifle, Marlin, 32 special
My Big antler chaser, Ruger m77, 270
My camp defender, Rem 870, 12g

Excellent thread and lots of good info.

WS

I'll give you $50.00 for your old H&H. It's probably not worth it being outdated and all... and not able to kill as well as it once did, but hey-I'm feeling generous

I'll raise Bear Hunter by $25.00 and offer you $75.00 for the old H&H.

Mav and BHTR; some admissions being made?

I swear by my old Mauser action Whitworth .375 H&H. It's saved my butt a few times, and not only with bears. I love the thing. Might of even married it if it were prettier.

What about being an old dog?

I know beerhuntr is one.

Personally, I like my 270 Win for caribou and wolf; I grab the 375 H&H for moose and bears.

While serving search warrants in villages I have the opportunity to check out the firearms collections of those I am visiting. I find the most popular chocees are: 22LR, 30-30, 30-06, 223, 300 WM, 243 Win and an occasional 25-06 or other oddball. Most also have a 12 or 20 ga shotgun.

During my time in Dillingham and Kodiak, I saw the 338WM and 7RM being the two most common.

I used a 7-08 and 358STA and did see a few other 7-08s on Kodiak.

I guess you could class me in with the "old dogs", since I'm probably a little older than some others who post across this site. I mean, another few years and I'll be knocking on the door of 60 .....

You could have (at the least) referred to me as an old fart. Much more appropriate...don't you know

beerhunter

OMG, say it ain't so!

Unfortunately, it's because they just don't know any better

What I saw of the villages and the places I flew to when I lived and worked there is that , they don't have much to begin with, so yea they use what they can afford, and for a lot of them they can't afford much. While I lived there I shot a 338 Winchester, I still have that rifle and I had a 7 x 57. I didn't shoot the 7x 57 much since I didn't bring reloading stuff with me. There is just so much you can take when you take a job of the road system. I should be back in late summer if all goes well with my medical condition. Two or three boxes is enough ammo to keep you in Moose steaks for a while.

Oops.

Just about everyone I've ever hunted with has a .338win mag. I think 30-06 deserves a mention here also.