Ideal calibers for each species of big game

[Kachok]

I thought it would be fun to get everyones imput on their choice of caliber to be IDEAL for each species of North American big game. I am not talking about crazy 1,000 yd shots I am talking about within realistic ranges for that species, assuming trophy grade anamals and less then perfect shooting angles.
Here is my list.
Javelina, 243 Win
Pronghorn, 25-06
Whitetail, 6.5x55
Mountian Goat, 270 win
Couger/puma, 7x57
Bighorn Sheep, 270 WSM
Mule Deer, 270 WSM
Feral hog, 300 win mag
Black Bear, 300 Win mag
Caribou, 30-06
Elk, 338 mag
Moose, 338 win mag
Bison, 375 H&H
Brown Bear, 416 Ruger/Rigby or the biggest cannon you can shoulder
Of course several of those calibers are completly interchangable due to their near identical ballistic properties in normal bullet weights (6.5x55/260rem, 7x57/7-08, 270 win/280 rem, 300 win mag/WSM, 338 win mag/8mm Rem mag and 270 WSM/7mm rem mag)
I omited a few rare species like the musk ox and a couple exotic cats since I have never seen one in real life much less hunted one, feel free to include them.

 

[rcmodel]

Feral hog, 300 win mag
Black Bear, 300 Win mag
Caribou, 30-06

I would question the need for a .300 Mag to kill either a 400 pound hog or black bear.
And then to suggest a 30-06 for a 500 - 600 pound Caribou?

Half a gazillion hogs & black bear have been killed just fine with 30-30's and pistol caliber carbines over the years.

Matter of fact, 3/4 the list could be handled just fine with a 30-06.


rc

 

[Kachok]

Feral hog and black bear can both excede 1,000 lbs and can be alot more dangerous when wounded then a Caribou. Most places hogs won't excede 400lbs, but around here they get much larger, that is why I said assume trophy sized anamals. I agree that the 06 could handle nearly everything on that list with perfect conditions, but many of which I would not consider it ideal for, can you kill a bision with a good 200gr 30-06.....sure, would it be my first choice? HELL NO! Can an 06 drop a mountain goat halfway across the ridge in high crosswinds....you bet, is it a better choice then a 270 WSM or 7mm rem mag....don't be silly. The tiny 6.5x55 has killed many of each of these anamals, and every other game species that walks the face of the earth for that matter, but rest assured it is far from ideal for many of the larger ones.

 

[buck460XVR]

Matter of fact, 3/4 the list could be handled just fine with a 30-06.


rc

I gotta agree.................

 

[avs11054]

"Matter of fact, 3/4 the list could be handled just fine with a 30-06."

buck & rc beat me to it, but this says it all

 

[Kachok]

I like the 06 too, but if I had a chance to hunt world record class elk, moose, bear, or bison I would not dream of taking an 06 along if I had the option of a 338 mag or 375 H&H. Would you? The 06 is also far to overpowerd for avarage whitetail, a 7-08 or 260 rem is fully capable of cleanly taking the largest whitetail that ever walked the earth and will destroy alot less meat then a high powered 30 cal. With it's very wide variety of bullet weights and high level of energy the 06 is one of the most versitle caliber in existance, but not ideal for every hunting situation, no caliber is not even my favorite (6.5x55)

 

[bison]

I have yet to see a feral hog anywhere 1,000 lbs. Even Hogzilla (part domestic) was only 800. Here in CA they get real big, but 300 is a whopper.

With that said and more on the subject of the OP, I have to disagree with RC and the others about a 30-06 being sufficient for shooting wild pig given that I missed a nice 175 lb boar at 100 yards two days ago with my Win M70 in -06. Clearly the gun was insufficient....

 

[rcmodel]

Feral hog and black bear can both excede 1,000 lbs

The world record weight for an American black bear is 880 pounds.

The average one half that or less.

rc

 

[Kachok]

There was a 780lbs feral hog killed in my county a couple years ago (he took 3 shots from an 06!!), and an 1,100lbs feral hog killed in SC in 2007. They do get darn big here in the south. In 2005 a 1000lbs + black bear was hit and killed by a truck in Ontario, it does not go in the hunting records because it was not hunting. Wish I could post the links but my paste button is not working for some reason.

 

[Kachok]

And not all large feral hogs are domesticated, a friend of mine had a bad run in with an agressive monster hog who chased him, he jumped into the bed of his ford ranger thinking that was safe, the hog proceded to attempt to flip the truck to get to him! He was hunting so he had his 06 handy, and proceded to shoot the hog point blank four times to no avail. The monster finnaly got tired of trying to flip the truck and walked off as if nothing happend. This sounds unbeleivable, and had I not known this guy to be so honest I would not have beleved it myself. He did have have damage to the bed of his truck as evidence of the attack. He estimates that hog was around 600lbs. This happend in Anderson county Texas in 1996 if I remember correctly. In all fairness we did have a bad drought around that time that drove the feral hogs mad, attacks on livestock at that time were commonplace.

 

[rcmodel]

had his 06 handy, and proceded to shoot the hog point blank four times to no avail.

Well, he was using varmint bullets, or he missed four times in all the excitement.

Regardless of that, if a 30-06 wouldn't kill it, a .300 Mag wouldn't kill it either.
They shoot the same weight bullets, only a little faster.

So they mushroom more, faster, and probably penetrate less at point blank range.

rc

 

[Kachok]

I did not ask him what kind of bullets he was using but seeing as he was deer hunting I imagine it was a 150-165gr fast expanding SP of some variety. He said they just would not penatrate the frontal skull, I have never killed a 600lbs+ hog, but I imagine that a .30 cal 200gr heavly bonded bullet @2800+fps through the heart and lungs would put down any hog with a quickness.
With cup and core bullets you are correct, penartration would be limited by extra speed, but with a high SD bonded bullet you are going through the vitals I don't care how tough he is. With a bullet like that magnum speed will just widen the wound tract through the vitals.

 

[der Teufel]

Feral hog and black bear can both excede 1,000 lbs [\QUOTE]

A good friend works with a company that processes feral hogs and sells the meat in Europe. She said the largest feral hog they have ever had come through their plant weighed 504 pounds. It was so large they had to kill it in the trailer, it wouldn't fit into the kill chute.

While domestic hogs might get up to the 1K Lb. range, it's pretty darn rare for a feral hog to reach half that weight.

I use a .30 caliber on hogs and don't worry any about not having enough firepower.

 

[Kachok]

Look up the 1,100lbs moster they killed in Fayette county SC. There is no way that is a domestic pig, he might have some domestic blood in his breeding but that is a big black monster. We have killed plenty of those little 100-200lbs pigies with everything from a 9mm handgun to a 308, but there is a world of differnce between those and a monster hog. When I was a kid we always had to watch out for snakes when hunting, now the snakes don't seem like such a big deal anymore, every single person I hunt with has been treed by a hog at leased once, so we kill every one of them we see.

 

[Gunnerboy]

Im crazy enough to use my 6.5x55 on that whole list

 

[rcmodel]

He said they just would not penatrate the frontal skull,

I ain't buying it.

My late daddy killed 250-300 pound butcher hogs every year with a .22 LR between the eyes.
Or old vet put down sick 1,800 pound range bulls with a rusty old 30-30 with one shot between the eyes.

I don't care how dang big that hog was, if he had hit him in the head with any 30-06 load, the hog would have either been DRT, of knocked out colder then Jimmy Hoffa.

At that point he could jump down off his truck and stick another one in his ear if he had too!

But I'm here to tell you he wouldn't of had too.

rc

 

[Loosedhorse]

Well, it is an interesting list.

It seems odd to me to declare an ideal caliber just by species. If I'm hunting white-tail in dense woods, I might go for a different "ideal" caliber than if I'm in grass with occasional wood stands, mostly because of the distance at which an expected shot will take place.

Also, several "ideal" calibers are absent: .30-30, .358, .45-70...and of course, the .41 and .44 Magnums!

And it is interesting how much game can be taken well with just a .270 and a .338 (even if .30 is king).

 

[MCgunner]

I've shot and killed 200 lb hogs with a .22 caliber NAA mini revolver. I've killed dozens, have no idea the count, won't start, and never used anything other than the handgun I had on me when I checked the trap. I've killed several outside the trap in hunting situations with the .357 magnum revolver, one with a 3" Taurus M66 and a 140 Speer JHP carry load. I wasn't even hunting, just strolling down to check my trap. Of course, I've never seen a hog over 350 lbs, not a wild one, ever. Over 400 lb hogs may exist on the net, but real world?

Now, there's a lot to know first for the "ideal". One is the terrain. Is it dense forest, south Texas brush, mountain canyons? I have one gun I'd chose for any large game I'll ever hunt any where, a little stainless Remington M7 in .308 Winchester that's 3/4 MOA accurate, light, handy in the brush and compact in a tight box blind. It sports a 2x10x40 Weaver KV. Now, there may be some theoretical better for a certain game and terrain, but this one, given the right load, work just fine as will many others, just happen to be partial to my own ideal hunting rifle. Yours is YOUR choice. One thing that influences MY choice is that I'll never hunt anything larger than, probably Nilgai. I'd say elk, but I may never get a chance to hunt elk. If I get to go Nilgai hunting, I'll take my 7 mag, though, and load it with 160 grain Nosler partitions. I know an outlaw that kills 'em with 6mm Remington, but I might not get a head shot.

Now, from quail, dove, rabbits, squirrel to moose and brown bear, the ONE caliber that can actually do it ALL, perhaps not ideal, but CAN do it all is not a caliber, but a guage. 12 pure lead balls the diameter of it's bore weigh a pound.

 

[Kachok]

As I said in the OP, at realistic ranges for the species, whitetail deer range from dense brush to wide open beanfields, while feral hogs are almost always hunted in dense brush, and mule deer are almost always taken in the wide open, if you can sneek within 150 yards of a west Texas mulie you are a better stalker then me
Loosedhorse I think the idea of ideal would cover a wide range of distance, I hunt the brush with my 6.5x55, it can in theory cleanly kill a deer out to 700 yd (over 1800fps and 1000 ft/lbs) not that I would ever take a shot that far, but I find it quite fitting up close too. I could in theory be just as happy hunting the brush with a 30-30, but if one runs out into the peanut feild I could not ethicly take the shot. Hence I would say the 6.5x55 is a more ideal whitetail round. The 7mm rem mag could just as easly take that deer as well but hunting with it in the brush is a messy proposition, sure it will put the deer down but it is likely to destroy half the deer at close range, so I still say the 6.5x55 is more ideal since it puts them down every bit as quick without making a mess of the deer. Feel free to disagree with me anytime. One could argue the finer points of the 7-08 or 260 rem vs the 6.5x55 as the ideal deer caliber, but you are really splitting hairs there, I chose the Sweed because I happen to like how easy they are to handload.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Kachok, On the "hogzilla" topic, it is common knowledge that those hogs over 400 pounds are grocery fed recent escapees (or turned loose for the "hunters"). In the wild, it is near impossible for a hog to gain and maintain that size on foraged food source. Limiting factors are food source, exercise, sounder size, and of course genetics. When a hog doesn't have to forage for food, it can gain lots of mass. But if it has to not only forage but also fight for it, then that will take away a LOT of growth potential. And trust me also on this, your buddy was full of crap. You hit a hog of ANY size point blank in the head with an 06 that hog will be going down. Maybe not dead right there from some sort of fluke, but it will at the LEAST be knocked out. 4 shots from an 06 point blank in the head and it shrugged them off???? Please ask your buddy to leave the pipe alone. He has destroyed too many brain cells.

 

[Kachok]

I don't know for sure, I was not there, I have never shot a feral hog in the front of the skull because I was always told how hard it was, but a 9mm behind the ear will put 200lbs hogs to sleep for sure. I have heard it said that all hogs over 500lbs are from domestic bloodlines, and I used to beleve it, not so sure anymore. Here in the deep south we have a year round growing season, heck it is so warm my AC is running right now. If there is food growing year round and they are constantly eating why could they not reach the size of domestic hogs? Would a domestic hog kill cattle and humans? If that 1,100 lbs hog was released for hunters then why had he been running the whole area for years outside any fences? And why did he look so different then domestic pigs? Why was his tail not cut or tusks removed like is standard practice in the pork industry?

 

[MCgunner]

and mule deer are almost always taken in the wide open, if you can sneek within 150 yards of a west Texas mulie you are a better stalker then me

I've been within 40 yards several times. Jumped a nice buck in the Guadalupes at 25. I was still hunting, not even trying to stalk. Actually, I was moving toward some I'd seen on the other side of this canyon and jumped these in cover. They were feeding there and I never saw 'em. I've also shot them 350 yards across a canyon out there, but if I go back, it'll be for black powder season. AND, if stalking won't get it done, you can, if you scout the area and know the trails they're using to move here and there, become an ambush predator. Jim Bridger didn't have no 6.5x55.

 

[Kachok]

I was out in Fort Stockton, there is not cover there for MILES, the only time I have been within 150yd of a live one was when they were running across the highway, for someone who had only seen whitetail his whole life those things looked HUGE, I jokingly called them horses with antlers, I know some of them I saw were well over 300 lbs. A few of the mature bucks I saw I would swear stood 8' tall to the top of their antlers.

 

[Loosedhorse]

Loosedhorse I think the idea of ideal would cover a wide range of distance

Well, I get that. Still, you mentioned that

The 06 is also far to overpowerd for avarage whitetail

And I would agree. But I'd also say that 6.5 is "over-powered" for white-tail at 40 yards--not bad at all, just not ideal, especially as the Swede shines at distance because of the BC and SD of the bullets.

But perhaps we are just talking at cross purposes: you about species at whatever range, and I about most animals in a given terrain (which tends to set the range): not sure I'd change my rifle choice much for white-tail vs moose at 350 yards; and not sure I'd need more than a .30-30 on either up close.

Of course, we don't have much beanfield hunting here in MA.

 

[MCgunner]

I had a lease near Pumpville for some years. Pumpville is 13 miles west of Langtry on hwy 90. Yeah, it's open, but somewhat rugged country laced with canyons and dry washes. It's down in those washes where you'll find the deer, mulie or whitetail, hogs and javelina for that matter. Walk down in that thick stuff and there's deer sign on top of deer sign.

We're discussing perhaps looking to buy out around Dryden/Sanderson area. There's some good places I've found for cheap, could buy a couple hundred acres and actually afford it. But, there'd better be some topography to the place or 200 acres is little more than a back yard out there. LOL! I'm kinda debating that area vs a lot less land around Edwards county, western hill country. That area is wetter and has more cover and has lots of escaped exotics that spice the hunting up a bit. It'll be this time next year before I can do anything. I'd sure like to sell my place on the coast, here, first, to free up the money, but selling is a problem right now. It's a buyer's market. I'm thinkin' I'll have to buy first, sell my old place later.

Anyway, I LOVE hunting out in the trans-pecos. I would miss my duck and goose hunting, but hell, I have a travel trailer. And, I might not move out there, just build a camp there and make regular visits. I may wind up there in the trailer if the economy goes to squat, but then, that's another story.

It's pretty flat around Ft Stockton, big plateau.