Help! Hunting weapon options

if i could only pick 1, i'd go with whichever had the longest season.

all of the above. but I would start out with a low cost rifle or muzzleloader. Use these to hone your blind making skills as well as all hunting skills in general. Remember the closer the shot the better the hunter. Then go get a good bow like a martin, bear, or pse that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and shoot all of these year round. This way you have all the bases covered and can become a truly great hunter.

Hunting is learned through experiences and some are better than others. I recommend a good 30-06 bolt action rifle, or if you are already skilled get a 30-30. Both can take all the above game.

A 270 or 7mm-08 bolt action.

A Savage bolt action in .30-06 will take anything in the United States !

As already stated, there are several cartridges that would work well, such as .260 Rem, .7-08 Rem, .308 Win, .270 Win, .280 Rem, .30-06 Sprg. All of these, and many others would be perfect for hunting large game, especially when loaded with proper projectiles.

In terms of rifles, wow, good luck selecting one of the dozens available. Remingtons are nice, Winchesters are nicer. Weatherby Vanguards are as-nice-as Winchester, but given the economy, I prefer USA-made. For my likes, I would opt for a Winchester M70 that is chambered in readily available cartridge such as .308 Win, .270 Win or .30-06 Sprg. Any of these three, especially when handloaded, can reach out with serous authority.

Remember that the cost of the rifle is only about 1/2 to 1/3, or even 1/4 the total cost of setting up a nice hunting package. You still need a case, sling, scope base, scope rings, and of course the scope itself. Check into how much funds you have in total, then balance it out. Go for a point of rationality: the best quality that the given amount of available funds will buy.

Let us know what you decide.

Geno

A good .30-06 will do anything you want it to do in Colorado, when like Geno said, the correct bullet for the job is chosen.

30-06 will get the job done every time, killed my first two whitetails back to back (15-20 seconds apart) with one. Put both down one shot. Can't imagine mules would be any different, just use the right ammo.

Rifle, Ought Six you pick the firearm. If on a budget look around used racks or discount store for a nice combo ready to roll.

Just about any bullet in the .30 caliber range will do the job. Basically, anything from around .270 on up should be satisfactory. The choice of rifle is a combination of perceived quality and personal preference. Some folks like wood stocks, some like stainless steel barrels, others don't.

I suspect the people who recommend a particular do so because they happen to own a rifle in that caliber and like it. I'm no different. I recommend a .308 because:

a) It has sufficient power to take down anything in the lower 48 states.
b) You can get ammo just about anywhere it's sold.
c) The .308 has been proven to be inherently more accurate than the 30-06.
d) The choice of bullet types, weights, designs is extensive.

Be sure and purchase good quality optics to go on top of your rifle this is were most people tend to skip I for one feel that a good quality production rifle needs a good quality production scope to go on top of it. For the money Nikon's Buckmaster series is hard to beat. I have a 6.5-18 ( it's a bit overkill but it's on my varmint rig ) and I'm very impressed with the quality of the glass.

if i could only pick 1, i'd go with whichever had the longest season.

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In New Mexico, that would be black powder. Not sure about Colorado, but if....strike that...when I go back to hunt New Mexico, it'll be with my Hawken caplock. Not only is the season a LOT longer, but the weather is better. First snows normally come along around rifle season. Of course, that can be a good thing, too, for finding tracks. But, I'm a southern boy and I'm gettin' too old to be cold. In New Mexico at the time, haven't looked in 20 years, you could only hunt ONE season in ONE compartment. You could not hunt rifle AN primitive seasons in the same year. Might not apply anywhere, but there and they might have changed that, don't know.

Gettin' inside iron sight muzzleloader range is a might harder than getting inside 7mm Rem Mag range, too. I prefer to have to stalk. That's the fun part of hunting out there, planning a stalk. Don't work a lot of the times, but it's fun to try. It ain't hard to spot good bucks, but those things have ears like radar and you have to be aware of the wind direction, then you see what cover you can use. It can be tough when you gotta get inside 100 yards.

Great fun. Be aware that if you chose a BP for BP season, I'm pretty sure in Colorado it must be a sidelock using caps or flint, no inlines and no optics. You're doing it like Jim Bridger did it. When I rifle hunted, I used a 7mm Rem Mag. The STW was out and all the rage back then, but I decided 7mm brass was going to be more available. I didn't know at the time whether the STW craze was going to pass or not, but I just didn't wanna go there. The 7 has great exterior ballistics with high BC bullets.

Decisions, decisions, why does it have to be so hard. A huge amount of calibers out there and a new one pops up every year. It is a good thing though, since we all don't like the same caliber or rifles. We like different pick ups also, thank God we have a choice.

Any of the calibers that the other guys mentioned would do the job. I have used 30.06's, 7 MAGS. and my 300 WIN. MAG. on deer. To tell you the truth I can't tell a big difference in the killing ability of any of them since most of my hunting is 100 yards or less. I am sure that if I was shooting at longer distances the 7 MAG. would really shine. I have about come to the conclusion that it is hard to beat the 30.06 for deer. Smaller calibers will do, but you can't go wrong with the 30.06.

I would hunt the high powered rifle seasons in the lower elevations near farming areas because you have more of chance to be successful. I hunted several years in Colorado and my choice of the calibers you list is the 30-06. In fact I would recommend the 30-06 even if it wasn't on your list. Bolt action rifles chambered for that cartridge are readily available at any price range. Ammunition is available at any store that sells ammunition. A quality 165 grain bullet will take anything you may want to shoot. BW

I will second the 30 caliber option. 308-30-06 300 win ammo is found almost every where. 7 mag is pretty popular as well. Pick a Rifle and scope combo that fits you and your budget.

As far as a compound bow goes the field is wide open as well.

This is the advise I give about picking a new bow to my bow hunter ed classes.

First do yourself a favor and buy from a pro shop, not a box store. When it comes to setting up a bow and tuning it you really need someone who knows what they are doing. The goons at the box store have no idea what they are doing for the most part. You might get lucky and find one or two that do but they are the exception to the rule. The guys and gals at pro shops really do know their stuff, and have the knowledge to get you set up and shooting straight.

Second, is to figure out your budget, how much money do you have to spend on the whole package.

spend the largest portion of your budget on the bow and the release. You can get by for a few months with a 20-30 dollar rest and sight.

When picking a bow, you can either get a entry level package deal or a bare bow and build it up. If you are not sure how much archery hunting or shooting you are going to do, or if you are even going to like it, then the package deal is the way to go. If you know that you are going to go into it full bore then get a higher quality bare bow and buy quality accessories as you can afford them.

Either way when picking a bow you need to shoot all of them that you can in your price range. If they will not let you shoot the bows, don't buy from them.

You need to shoot each bow several time, and at close range to their target. You need to shoot a couple time with your eye's open and a few times with your eyes closed.

You need to have it set light enough that you can easily pull it back slowly. When pulling back the first few times pay attention to how it pulls over and comes to a stop. They all will feel just a little different. While doing this shoot with your eye's open and pay attention to how the grip feels in your hand and feel for the vibration in the shot. This is the only time you should death grip the bow. Grip it tight for a few shots and pay attention to the vibration. The more vibration the more noise it is going to make when shooting it.

Next take a few shots with your eyes closed and just listen to the bow. You want quite. The less noise the better. Animals can hear the bow shot and will react to the noise.

Again spend your biggest portion on the bow and the release. Up to a point with each the more you pay the more quality you get. All bows are equal in quality. If any one manufacturer has the market cornered on this it would by Hoyt. They would have a slight edge only because they do not produce a bow unless it will survive 1,500 dry fires. (dry firing is a major no no for bow.) I shoot a Mathews.

Pick up a cheap rest and sight initially unless you can afford to get good ones with the purchase of your bow.

The rest is also a very important part of your equipment. So buy a quality one next.

The sight Does not help your shooting ability but nice ones are well nice. Because sights do not affect how you shoot as much as the bow, rest, release you should upgrade this last.

Arrows are also important, but until you get good at hitting your target buy some cheaper ones, its less painful when you loose cheaper ones.

If you have any other questions about bows just shoot me a PM and we can talk.

If any one manufacturer has the market cornered on this it would by Hoyt. They would have a slight edge only because they do not produce a bow unless it will survive 1,500 dry fires.

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Correction..

Hoyts dry fire claim is for their limbs. It has nothing to do with the rest of the bow.. i.e. CAMS, bearings, spacers, etc. etc.




Only other comment about archery that hasnt been mentioned by the above poster.

If you head down the archery path.
please give your self at least 6m or more practice before thinking of taking game..

As far as being able to use the weapon the longest, bow wins hands down.

For my dollar I went Muzzleloader because i can use it during BP season which is longer, and during gun even though its BP. Plenty of trigger time during season-

Not according to the Hoyt Pro staff shooter that shoots at the club I belong to.

Get a rifle in whatever caliber is legal for the game you want to shoot. Learn to shoot it well. When you feel comfortable using it, move on to a bigger challenge.

^^^plus one^^^