Aletheia
Member
As with all my tools (and guns for me are just tools) I try to use the best tool for the job. I very seldom deliberately select a screw driver to remove a nut from a bolt, or pound a nail with a wrench. Same with guns.
Do you actually use the best most optimal firearm/cartridge you have access to when hunting?
- Thread starter mcb
- Start date
Armored farmer
Member
The older I get, the more "sporting" I become.
Maybe that should read "less bloodthirsty".
However,...If I were to travel to Alaska for a real big game hunt.....I would probably be pretty well outfitted.
Maybe that should read "less bloodthirsty".
However,...If I were to travel to Alaska for a real big game hunt.....I would probably be pretty well outfitted.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
I carry what I think is a fairly optimal caliber for me, but the bullets I shoot are quite varied as I do a lot of ammo testing on animals I hunt. If I wasn't testing ammo anymore, I would have 2-3 options to use that I thought all performed comparably, but better than the rest I have tried.
Usually. At this point in my life I often let game walk, but if I have the opportunity to take a true trophy I want to give myself every edge I can. Occasionally I'll pull one of my lever guns out and hunt with it, but not often.
When it comes to archery gear I still prefer to use a 50+ year old recurve bow. I do have a compound bow, but just don't enjoy using it and I've no interest at all in using a crossbow. Since crossbows were made legal to use during archery season there is almost no one using anything else.
I've never gotten into muzzle loading. The ML season here is classified "Primitive Weapons" and only 1 week long. I can hunt that week with my bow. But if I ever did get into muzzle loading I'd not be interested in a modern in-line.
When it comes to archery gear I still prefer to use a 50+ year old recurve bow. I do have a compound bow, but just don't enjoy using it and I've no interest at all in using a crossbow. Since crossbows were made legal to use during archery season there is almost no one using anything else.
I've never gotten into muzzle loading. The ML season here is classified "Primitive Weapons" and only 1 week long. I can hunt that week with my bow. But if I ever did get into muzzle loading I'd not be interested in a modern in-line.
Same for me. I use the best choice firearm until the freezer is pretty full, then switch to something more challenging.
hawg
Member
Absolutely not. I fell in love with the 30-06 when I was12 and it's always been my mainstay but I've used most everything from a muzzleloader to a 30-378, no puny calibers tho. For squirrels and rabbits etc I'll use a .22 or a 12 gauge. For birds it's a 12 gauge.
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,399
Oh. Absolutely. Why wouldn't you? Sure I could hunt moose with a 22LR. Much lighter to carry, but why would I? In all serious, though I only hunt with one of 2 guns: a 243 if I'm hunting on open tundra/taiga, or a 30-30 if I'm hunting muskeg swamps/heavy brush. But I handload for both to optimize each one.
OP
OP
mcb
Member
Because you might have a gun that is not as capable as another one but you want to hunt with it anyway.
For example:
You have a 450 Bushmaster sitting next to the 44 Mag carbine and you take the 44 Mag for brush hunting deer.
You have a modern bolt gun in 270 Win with a nice scope and choose to take the old surplus Mauser in 7.65x53 and iron sights.
You have have a 12 gauge and a 410 and you take the 410 rabbit hunting
You choose to hunt deer with a revolver rather than a rifle.
You choose to hunt deer during modern gun season with a muzzle loader or bow.
Bazoo
Member
I handicap myself by using an iron sighted levergun or a handgun.
OP
OP
mcb
Member
Your last concession works for the first three whys. Someone wants a challenge. Or the lesser gun has some sentimental value that makes you want to use it. Or the lesser gun is new to you and you want to see what you can do with it. There are lots of potential reasons, when putting meat on the table is not critical or taking the best trophy is not the primary focus of the hunt.
Last edited:
Bazoo
Member
There is another reason someone might use a choice that is less than the "best". I do things my own way. I go against the grain a lot. If I want to use a levergun, I do, regardless of peer pressure. I suspect that there are a lot of people like me but they just don't say a whole lot because of the kickback that happens on forums. Heck I got kickback on another forum for wanting to hunt with leverguns. The attitude was, either use a real gun or just hunt with a bow if you want a challenge. Well, the type of guns I like are leverguns and sixguns, not bows or scoped bolt guns. I do like bows and scoped bolt guns by the way.
I'll give you an example of hunting my own way. I hunt deer from the ground. I find a spot where I can sit and watch. Everyone else uses tree stands. They all are more successful than I am, but my goal isn't merely the end result. The deer I have taken that way, from close ranges were very satisfying and memorable.
I'll give you an example of hunting my own way. I hunt deer from the ground. I find a spot where I can sit and watch. Everyone else uses tree stands. They all are more successful than I am, but my goal isn't merely the end result. The deer I have taken that way, from close ranges were very satisfying and memorable.
I find it funny reading the replies about using better more effective cartridges to fill the freezer and then switching to a lesser cartridge since when I was growing up my grandfather basically put every piece of meat we ate on the table primarily using a Savage 340 in 22 Hornet loaded with cast bullets at around 2,000 ish fps and a single shot 16 gauge shotgun, and all the time owning a Winchester Model 70 in 270 Win and a Model 94 in 30-30 along with 2 Browning A5's and several other shotguns.
.455_Hunter
Member
The only whitetail I have ever hunted was using an original.45-70 Trapdoor Springfield loaded with commercial cowboy ammo. Does that count?
alsaqr
Member
No: i currently own at least a dozen center fire rifles perfectly capable of taking deer and wild hogs. i choose one of several muzzleloaders.
d2wing
Member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 6,431
In general yes. I feel like I owe it to the game to use a weapon suited to a fast and accurate kill. I may use a weapon that is not as powerful as some others for a particular reason but I would always use a weapon that is legal and suited to the game.
.308 Norma
Member
No, not “always.” For me, the gun I pick for hunting not only depends on what, it also depends on when, where and why I’m “hunting.”
These pictures (which I’ve posted before) are of my wife, but they could have just as easily been of me. As you can see, the one picture is of my wife and the nice mule deer buck she killed probably 20 years back with her 7mm-08 - a Ruger 77, I think. Like me, my wife selects the best tool for the job for hunting Idaho mule deer. And someone can argue if they want (but they’d be wrong
) - for hunting Idaho mule deer, a bolt action 7mm-08 with a good scope is as “optimum” as “optimum” gets.On the other hand, the other picture of my wife shows her about to shoot a ground squirrel over on our friend’s ranch last spring with her .22 LR Ruger “Bearcat” revolver, while she has a more “optimum” (for ground squirrel “hunting”) scoped, bolt action .22 LR rifle hanging on her shoulder. I did the same thing many times last spring - if a ground squirrel (there were thousands of them) popped up out of its hole less than 20 yards away, I’d sometimes just shoot it with my .22 LR handgun (a Glock G44) instead of the more “optimum” scoped .22 LR bolt action rifle I had hanging on my shoulder.
Back in the early ‘90s when there was a lot of deer in this part of Idaho and we were allowed 2 deer per season (as long as 1 of them was antlerless), I’d use my scoped Ruger 77, 30-06 (yet another “optimum” rifle for Idaho mule deer hunting) to put a venison in the freezer. After we had at least one venison in the freezer though, I’d usually switch to my old Model 94, 30-30 for the rest of the season. I’d occasionally luck out and kill a second deer (a doe) with that handy little rifle too.
Last edited:
OP
OP
mcb
Member
I was in a similar situation. I wanted to hunt deer with a lever gun but I lived in Ohio, that at the time, was a shotgun only state. Lever action shotgun were really hard to come by at the time. Then Winchester came out with the Winchester 9410, a Win 94 but chambered in 2.5-inch 410. Everyone told me 410 slugs were not sufficient for deer. I decided since they were legal for deer in Ohio (and about half the states in the US) I would do some testing. My testing convinced me if I hunted with in some pretty sever limitation the 410 would get the job done. It was far far from the best gun I could have been using for deer hunting, even within my limited collection at the time just out of school but it was the challenge I was after. I thoroughly enjoyed several years of hunting deer with my lever action 410 slug gun. I manage two nice bucks despite the limitation of my chosen gun. Both were shot stalking in a manner similar to the way you hunt. I have always enjoy stalking, though I like being in a stand sometimes in the early morning and at last light.
Poper
Member
One of my more memorable hunts was with my old iron-sighted Remington 788 carbine in .308 Win. Didn't get a deer nor did I fire a shot in anger.
I went out really early the morning after a no-wind, overnight 2" snowfall and picked a ridge overlooking a nice little meadow that had a heavily traveled game trail under the snow cover and not a (yet) single track other than my own. I sat down with my back against a tall pine tree, my rifle across my lap and the sun peaking over the distant ridge onto my face. And when the sun warmed the light chill from my bones, I promptly dozed off. An hour or so later, I awoke and surveyed my little patch of the Black Hills Bear Lodge Mountains from under the bill of my hat without moving my head. Not a critter in sight, but a whole lot of activity happened while I had been dozing. There were deer tracks from multiple critters all around my seat. Some small, some large. Some had come within 20 yards of me.
I guess I didn't belong and the locals thought I should be checked out.
That happened almost 30 years ago and I still get warm fuzzies when I think about that mid-November morning....
I went out really early the morning after a no-wind, overnight 2" snowfall and picked a ridge overlooking a nice little meadow that had a heavily traveled game trail under the snow cover and not a (yet) single track other than my own. I sat down with my back against a tall pine tree, my rifle across my lap and the sun peaking over the distant ridge onto my face. And when the sun warmed the light chill from my bones, I promptly dozed off. An hour or so later, I awoke and surveyed my little patch of the Black Hills Bear Lodge Mountains from under the bill of my hat without moving my head. Not a critter in sight, but a whole lot of activity happened while I had been dozing. There were deer tracks from multiple critters all around my seat. Some small, some large. Some had come within 20 yards of me.
I guess I didn't belong and the locals thought I should be checked out.
That happened almost 30 years ago and I still get warm fuzzies when I think about that mid-November morning....
Last edited:
9x56MS
Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2021
- Messages
- 887
Now that’s a hunting story!One of my more memorable hunts was with my old iron-sighted Remington 788 carbine in .308 Win. Didn't get a deer nor did I fire a shot in anger.
I went out really early the morning after a no-wind, overnight 2" snowfall and picked a ridge overlooking a nice little meadow that had a heavily traveled game trail under the snow cover and not a (yet) a single track other than my own. I sat down with my back against a tall pine tree, my rifle across my lap and the sun peaking over the distant ridge onto my face. And when the sun warmed the light chill from my bones, I promptly dozed off. An hour or so later, I awoke and surveyed my little patch of the Black Hills Bear Lodge Mountains from under the bill of my hat without moving my head. Not a critter in sight, but a whole lot of activity happened while I had been dozing. There were deer tracks from multiple critters all around my seat. Some small, some large. Some had come within 20 yards of me.
I guess I didn't belong and the locals thought I should be checked out.
That happened almost 30 years ago and I still get warm fuzzies when I think about that mid-November morning....
Captcurt
Member
It depends on the time of the season and if I am hunting fields or woods. Case in point, I once took my Bergara Creedmoor into thick timber and had a herd of 4 does come by at about 35-40 yards. When I looked through the scope the deer filled the scope. It was a 6-18X Vortex. I killed the deer but when I went back the next day I had my Savage 10 300WSM with a 2-7X Leupold. If I am still hunting in timber and around fields I will have my M18 Mauser wearing a 3-9X Leupold. I am pretty comfortable with it out to 300 yards. Yeah, it is a Creedmoor too.
9x56MS
Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2021
- Messages
- 887
You have drank the coolaid and it slaked your thirst!
Captcurt
Member
I like it.
Similar threads
- Locked
