Have you ever wished you had "more gun"

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I was shooting my BHP in a 3 gun match with 115 grain bullets. Things were going great and I took a shot at a popper a good ways off. We heard the bullet ring but the popper didn't fall. Just for fun, I hit it a few more times- partly to see if I could hit it that far away, and maybe knock it down.

I try to use 124 grain bullets from now on.
 
Jack B. said:
I used to hike in woods where there was a pack of feral dogs on the loose. I always had enough gun but was always afraid of being out numbered and overwhelmed buy them if they were brave. Heard them lots of times but never saw them.
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Fortunately they are not brave. Hogs are mostly full of hot air and false bravado.
 
The only times I’ve ever felt a little under gunned was cruising through thick jesse bush in the Zambezi valley with a high population of cow elephant. And at times in thick alder brush in brown bear country in parts of Alaska. And in reality in either situation it was more of a question of lack of reaction time than caliber choice.

The one time I was involved in a serious and determined elephant charge it involved four cows in an open “vlaie” and they came for us from a long way off. We were able to run off the wind line and confuse them enough to give up the chase.

The critter that’s going to get you is the one you don’t see coming until it’s on top of you. And then caliber isn’t going to matter. That or a wounded critter that you leave no choice but to charge and there dang few of those types of critters in the USA. And only one that I can think of that might mess you up if it does get a hold of you and that’s a grizz or brownie. Africa offer a handful of critters that will wreck your world if they connect.

Feeling under gunned in most parts of the lower 48 is purely imaginary.
 
alsaqr said:
Wished i had something other than my Ruger 10/.22 when this very old boar came out 20 feet away. Finally found his eye in the 2.5 power scope, aimed a little further back and fired. Hog went down at the first shot, i kept shooting until hog quit kicking.

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That is what I do when I am forced by statute to use a 22 Mag for hogs. Get a good head shot. It usually then falls down but out of sight. I then walk briskly towards it until it is in view and then fire 3-4 more shots into the head. This is why I use a semi auto as well.
 
Nope, and i hunt deer with a 5.56 Nato. Always drops them. I always end up saying "wished i brought more ammo" when i go out bird hunting. I have a hard time hitting with shot guns.
 
Only once while hunting and that was this past deer season.

I was hunting a stand that overlooked a small clearing that I had planted with winter wheat and clover. Other than the atv trail that I walked in on the longest shot on that stand is ~75 yards so I tend to hunt it with a bow or my 35 Remington more often than not. That atv trail is absolutely straight and heads slightly uphill for a little over 400 yards and is about 10 yards wide so of course on that particular day I had the 35 and the 12 pointer that I had being seeing on camera in that field almost every evening for the past couple weeks walked out onto the trail about 350 yards out and starts to lazily head my way. Walked about 100 yards then turns perfectly broadside and walked into the woods. I found his carcass three days later on the side of the road about a half mile from the entrance to the property he had been hit by a car.
 
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In '63 I and five or six of my Montana friends were in Harrison Basin outside of Augusta, Montana for the opening of Elk and deer season. On the backside of the ridge on our left we heard several shots and one of the more knowledgeable hunters in our group told me to head toward the top of the ridge as Elk were more than likely to come over the top. I was about 1/3 of the way up the ridge when a huge Bull Elk came over the top and was headed in my direction. I had an '06 and I remember thinking I was I had a cannon. The basin was ringed with hunters so I couldn't shoot at the Elk and he ran clear across the basin and into cover on the other side. No one dropped him because of the safety issue with all the hunters in there but he gave me a memory I'll have forever. One of our group did drop a small 5 X 5 that day. There's another story to this that perhaps I can tell at another time!
 
While hunting, eh...I don’t think so. Now, I have wished I had brought more batteries for my thermal scope. It’s a sick feeling when your scope goes dead while you are trying to finish off a wounded pig in fairly thick woods.
 
The only time i wished i had more gun was on a quail hunt in NW Texas. We were on a large ranch camping when the ranch mgr drove up. He told us they were way over populated with jackrabbits and coyotes and he wouldn't mind if we killed a few of either. So 3 of us younger guys (this was 1985 or so) got into my dune buggy we had rigged for blue quail hunting and headed out to a field with a mouth varmint call and my .22 mag. After about 10 mins of calling we shined the spotlight around and i spotter a large cat in a crouch position about 75 yds. out. Holy cow, a mountain lion. first and only one i have ever seen in the wild. The guys with me really wanted me to shoot it, and i did too, but a previous hunt with a large bobcat had convinced me that the .22 mag wouldn't kill the cat fast enough without a brain shot. I am surprised how long it sat out there with us arguing about shooting it. We didn't even have a shotgun with us, all back at camp. I did not want anything to do with a wounded mountain lion, i had read Hathaway's accounts of dealing with wounded leopards. So i passed what will most likely my only chance to take a couger (except a couple of times at nightclubs a few yrs before that).
 
I once wished my brother had picked a larger gun as I looked back through the window and saw him holding 10/22 as my 12 year old self was trying to keep a drunken trespasser out of the house until the neighbors could get there to help (the folks were in the hay field and I was babysitting my kid brother pre cellphone) but in the animal realm or since adulthood I've made sure to not be undergunned. Younger I could have been found with less ammo from a lack of funds though....
 
horsey300 said:
I'll not dispute the hogs, but kindly point out that the feral dogs that were referenced can be QUITE bold and nasty in many cases ;).
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They sure can be, but in most cases will not charge unprovoked, will not hunt you down in retribution, and don’t press an attack to the finish like a true dangerous game animal will.
 
Hog huntin Harry said:
I was hunting in the south Texas brush right around sundown when I came across some hog tracks that looked like they belonged to a 300 pounder. I had a bolt action .243 and I started really wishing I had a Marlin 1895 45-70
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You were armed just fine for hogs with a .243. Even the larger ones are not cape buffalo, they're just pigs. I don't recommend a .243 for anti-cartel work though. :D
 
Yep, back in the shot gun deer days! When they would run out of range, stop and look back! Always wished we could use rifles in corn country!
 
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