H&H, I very much get your point.
Its also why I post here, to share the way I hunt, as well as those people around me. Its certainly like no other hunt.
I have never advocated small cartridges as "Big Game" cartridges,, but I do know what they can do, and they cannot be discounted. Sometimes they are the perfect choice.
Subsistance hunting is quite a different hunt than Trophy hunting for sure.
I hunt for a living, so the thrill of chasing animals across tundra and packing them back to the boat is long gone. I try to do things as effeciently and as economicly as possible without injury or going hungry. Sweating in -20 winter alone can kill a fella 20 miles from home.
Shooting Caribou in the back of the head with a .22 while in a river IS hunting. When you want to take home 20 or so Caribou as Meat , with perfect meat at that, thats how its done.
We harvest Caribou in the rivers, like Indians did with Buffalo and 'Jumps", strictly to get alot of choice food at the right time,only at the end of Fall with a 4-5 day "window" for a hunt.
The other 360 days of the year, we hunt like the rest of the world.
Theres a fine edge between getting choice meats, rut arriving and the river freezing. Were able to catch them and freeze them whole, and make it home before thin ice cuts up the boat on the trip home.
I have posted detailed info on that kinda hunting because its unique and I think folks here are interested in all types of hunting. I have gotten little negeitive feedback, but I didnt consitter how folks would understand my methods, so you have a good point.
To me, shooting Caribou from the boat is much more of a "Hunt" than sitting over them in a tree, waiting for them to come to the feeder.......but that ,too, is called "hunting"
Depends on where you are and what your hunting...
If you look at the pictures you might notice that we shoot Browns in the Spring, because we can negate the brush, as its filled 6 feet high with snow. Tracking is easy, shiny dark balls of fur stand out against the snow very well..... and the Bears have lost all the rotten salmon taste to the meat, and are usually very fat and tastey.
Hunting Browns for meat is alot like hunting Caribou in the rivers. We take our best advantage and are quite happy with the results.
As I noted too, I take away all advantages from the animal.
I will not meet a Bear or any other animal I'm hunting on their terms, and hunting Browns in thick brush is near suicide.
The gun for that type of disaster is a 12 gauge with slugs and a death wish.
A Bear in brush is best delt with by getting above 'em, or bait them out into the open, if legal.
Browns in the brush are in their territorys, and having them come out in the clear, then you can size them up and see if the have cubs, a big no no to shoot.
If a Bear Im hunting has made the brush unharmed, I hunt another day.
I use a Mosin in7.62X54r and its" 30 cal", moving as fast as a .308, so the end results are exactly the same. I would use that against any Bear, anywhere.
Im not a guide or a guided hunter, so the problems that relitivly new to Bears hunters have with "Buck fever", fatigue, unfamiliar territory and "New to Alaska" and "New to Bear hunting" in general, are not a factor. Nor can I throw $$$ at the problem, and buy a gun/shells just for Bears.
What I have works VERY well, through my experiance.
By all means, hunt with what you feel is nessarry, as long as you can hit what you intend, and regular like at that.
Learn anatomy of the animal your hunting and have fun.
Bell and his .257rigby would have had a ball here, dontcha think?....