My hunting rifles

[Lost River]

I can't say I've ever found the shot to be anticlimactic, even when it was an easy one. I know too well what hunting hard country for 10 days straight is like, often not even seeing an Elk.

It's all hunting, and different people like to do it differently. I do think the Best of the West crap has resulted in a lot of injured animals. I know a few guys who are very capable of taking really long shots on game. That doesn't interest me, but as long as it interests them, I know they are gtg. Most are not.

Yep,

I like long range hunting, but my ego is not wrapped up in yardages. While I don't mind taking a longer shot, I will not do it if I think it is anything but a high probability shot. If I have a big cow elk at 700 yards, and think I can get to 350, I am going to get closer, to ensure a clean kill, and minimize an animal potentially suffering.

For some (a whole class of hunters actually), it is a dick measuring contest. Same with horns. I have been hunting big game for more than 30 years in Idaho, have killed a couple of antlered critters in that time, but have never learned how to measure a set of antlers. Don't care to either. I like a nice set of antlers as much as the next guy, but that is not my end goal.

Pretty much all the meat that ends up on our dinner table/grill, is something that I have (and now my oldest girl) have killed. That is also one of the reasons I apply for cow elk tags every year instead of hunting bulls. It increases the likelihood of having a freezer full of venison. I don't "harvest" big game animals btw, I shoot them.

Here is a pic of that 3x Weaver on a 336, the bottom rifle:

[Duelist]

I can't say I've ever found the shot to be anticlimactic, even when it was an easy one. I know too well what hunting hard country for 10 days straight is like, often not even seeing an Elk.

It's all hunting, and different people like to do it differently. I do think the Best of the West crap has resulted in a lot of injured animals. I know a few guys who are very capable of taking really long shots on game. That doesn't interest me, but as long as it interests them, I know they are gtg. Most are not.

Oh, please don't misunderstand: my heart beats faster, I have to control my breathing, etc. But compared to the months of anticipation and preparation, the days of searching, the actual shot is the smallest part and only one of many i'll have made with that rifle at whatever distance I actually shoot the deer at.

Here's my buck from last year. I wrapped my arms around his chest and stood up with him to move him around to do the cutting. Maybe 90#.

300 yard shot, and that was as close as I got to a buck last year. Got a lot closer to does, but that's usually pretty easy - we don't get to hunt them here.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Personally I am a big fan of the lesser common 6mm Remington.
......

I had an old Rem 788 6mm that used the previously mentioned load, and was an absolute hammer on yotes. If you look closely in the pic, just to the left of me in the brush is a small chunk of what used to be inside of this coyote. It literally made him go stiff leg, and tip over DRT. I have never had a runner with a 6 Rem.

Ah, memories.
As a young teenager of small stature some 35ish years ago, my dad fixed me up with a Remington 600 carbine in 6mm, with the stock cut off to fit me. It had a very distinctive vent rib/front sight. It was topped with a 4x wide angle Redfield scope, and shot like a house afire. I wish I still had it. If I knew then what I know now.

[luckyman]

Ah, memories.
As a young teenager of small stature some 35ish years ago, my dad fixed me up with a Remington 600 carbine in 6mm, with the stock cut off to fit me. It had a very distinctive vent rib/front sight. It was topped with a 4x wide angle Redfield scope, and shot like a house afire. I wish I still had it. If I knew then what I know now.

First firearm I ever lusted after. Never actually got one.

[Duelist]

You know, it really doesn't matter what rifle you have, if the only deer you see are in people's yards.

Sigh. Back to it another day.

[Duelist]

The 6.8 I'm not hunting with.

[butler coach]

Took the rock lock out today. Dad and I have been hunting this season together for 26 years.


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[Duelist]

My first rifle was a T/C Hawken caplock, double set trigger, .50 cal. Used to hunt mule deer does in Utah with it. I haven't hunted with it in AZ, and we've been here for 13 years. Was always a fun hunt.

[butler coach]

My first rifle was a T/C Hawken caplock, double set trigger, .50 cal. Used to hunt mule deer does in Utah with it. I haven't hunted with it in AZ, and we've been here for 13 years. Was always a fun hunt.

I have a .36 cap lock that I use for small game. That is a .50 T/C white mountain carbine. We have a flint lock seasons here in pa. That runs from day after Christmas till end of January. It's a lot of fun and hard.


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