Favorite Hunt, and with it your favorite gun/cartridge combo?

18 February 2003, 10:42

<Dogger>

What is your favorite, most enjoyable form of hunting? Which firearm is your favorite on this hunt, and what bullet/cartridge combo?

My favorite hunt is still-hunting whitetails in heavy cover on the side of the local mountain. My favorite rifle for the hunt is a Marlin 30-30 lever action with a peep sight. Favorite bullet/cartridge a 150 grain silvertip.

Why? I get bored in tree stands. The still hunt is a challenge. And the Marlin 336 is a joy to carry.

Sigh, Fall is too far away...

18 February 2003, 11:05

Brad

Elk with whatever rifle I have in my hands... usually a 338 WM or 308. This past year the 300 WSM. Next year I'm going "retro" and will use an 06' for everything.

BA

18 February 2003, 11:52

Tumppi

Moosehunting with my dog! and of course with my new Blaser r93 9,3 x 62. Last autumn I shot 6 mooses with my Blaser. Maybe next autumn could be even better!

18 February 2003, 13:06

Steiny

Being a flatlander, most of my hunting is confined to short range weapons; archery, muzzle loader & shotgun. I truly enjoy my hunting trips to western and mountain areas.

Any kind of mountain game with my .300 Weatherbaby. Hope to whack a big muley this fall.

18 February 2003, 16:40

beemanbeme

favorite hunt is whatever I'm hunting at the moment. Slipping around the mountains here at home trying to ambush a whitetail with a 7-08; slithering around on the prairie with a .280 or 7RM, trying to sneak up on an antelope. Clambering around the Wyoming badlands looking for a big mulie. Since I turned 65 and broke my leg, I don't elk hunt anymore but there is still a lot left. Kicking a cottontail out of a brush pile; shooting a squirrel in the head with a .22. Listening to the beagles take a swamp rabbit for a biiiiig circle in the Mississippi River bottoms. Hell, its all good. I just can't understand why I wasted so many years holding down a job. [Big Grin]

18 February 2003, 17:32

Dave James

I know most wouldn't agree with me but the most fun i have hunting is setting on a stump and listening to the walkers and plotts run deer in the swamps. And as its shotgun only my Auto-10 is with in arms reach for that quick shot

[ 02-18-2003, 08:33: Message edited by: Dave James ]

18 February 2003, 17:45

Nebraska

Firearm hunting is fun but bowhunting is absolutely tops for me.

18 February 2003, 19:13

Flip

Sitting and waiting for Kudu high in the mountains just before dusk with my 300 Win magnum

18 February 2003, 19:14

boilerroom

The last three sept 1 mule deer oppening have been in a archery only season. Alpine hunt for those bruisers is definately my favorite. I used to hunt the sept 1 rifle hunts but over the last few years it's got too crowded. The rifle I used to use was my Ruger stainless in 7mmremmag and loaded with 154gr. Hornady Ilocs.

If I was to hit the rifle oppener this year I'd be packing my Abolt 2506 because it's my new fave.
My bow is a Mathews Q2.

19 February 2003, 09:24

sscoyote

My favorite big game hunt has to be my bighorn I took this last year with a 15" XP-100 6.5-284, in the Sangre de Cristos of South. CO. I'm 45 now, and I'm still able to get a big game animal out of the mountains on my back by myself if I need to. I don't mind saying i'm pretty proud of that. It was a 300 yd. shot, using a 3-12X Burris Ballistic Plex reticle, and after doing my homework with that set up the 300 yd. shot was no challenge at all. See testimonial section of www.perry-systems.com for a pic. if interested,

19 February 2003, 09:29

sscoyote

quote:
Originally posted by Flip:
Sitting and waiting for Kudu high in the mountains just before dusk with my 300 Win magnum

Sounds neat, I just wish I could afford to find out what it's really like.

18 February 2003, 22:56

1894

Stalking (read still hunting) roe on a cool late April morning in the (not enclosed) 500 acre park of a 18th century Jacobean mansion I am lucky enough to manage the deer for. The grass is mown in many places, the copses well managed and easy to see through and there are many many deer.

My 6mm rem on my shoulder and my dog at heel. Shots must be well executed - his Lordship has a telescope!

18 February 2003, 23:09

King Baboon

- Driven wild boar with either 7X65R double or 300 wby.
- Warthog, termite hill-stalking , same rifles.
- Any hunt with lots of walking. Ambush gets me bored pretty quickly.

19 February 2003, 03:02

Bob257

The only "big game" animal I can hunt here in Pa is Whitetail and Black bear. I have around 16 "deer rifles", but my favorite is a Remington Classic in 7x57. The rifle shoots under an inch at 100 yards with 139 or 140 grain bullets and has accounted for many one shot, drop right there, kills.

Bob257

19 February 2003, 03:23

<phurley>

My hunt would be for Elk on Thornburg Mountain in Northwest Colorado. My choice of rifle would be my Winchester Model 70 in .358 STA. My favourite load would be a 250 grain North Fork bullet loaded in front of RL-22 powder and Fed 215M primer, at approx. 3080 fps. It has managed to get my Bulls the last two years, each an in his tracks take down. [Wink]

Good shooting.

19 February 2003, 05:46

<hunting1>

Elk in Arizona or New Mexico, with a bow and arrow during the rut! A close second is whatever I can hunt and whatever rifle/weapon is in my hand. [Big Grin]

19 February 2003, 08:39

Bear in Fairbanks

My favorite type of hunting is a fly in hunt for Dall sheep for about 2 weeks with my .270 Win. using 150 gr. Nosler partitions. Bear in Fairbanks

19 February 2003, 10:42

Taurus Bill

I hunted with a revolver this year for the first time in upstate NY. I was lucky enough to take a spike whitetail, my first harvest with a pistol and also my first buck. Beginner's luck, maybe, truly an amazing experience, absolutely! It seems to me that every time I try something new, it becomes my favorite. Five years ago it was ducks, before that wild turkeys. Maybe next year bear or 'yotes.

Weather it's the sound of wings in the predawn marsh, that first gobble from a tom a lot closer than you thought or the first glimpse of movement as a whitetail works its way through the brush, the common thread is the simple fact of just being there. Time enjoying what the powers that be gave us is why we all hunt.

What's my favorite hunt? The last one I was on.

Bill

19 February 2003, 11:45

Kensco

I've had so many great hunts, it's hard to single something out.

For being perfect from so many angles, the elk hunt near Ft. Union in New Mexico was hard to beat. The first morning we stopped the jeep up on top and sat in the dark for a while. Then bugled. Within 15 seconds we got a response. We sat tight then as the sky started to lighten in the east we hit it again, and got an answer.

We started working our way towards the bull, and within fifteen minutes we saw a string of elk moving through the trees. We got responses to our calls and watched as two satellite bulls moved in to check us out. They came in to about thirty yards. They weren't what I wanted so we let them peel back to the herd.

We caught up with possibly the same herd the next day, and crept within 100 yards of four bulls that had laid down. The herd bull that bugled occasionally turned out to be a 5 x 6 and I passed.

The next morning we went to a new area and as we topped out on foot, we saw about 70 elk down in the meadow at about 800 yards. Three bulls were excellent. The biggest a massive 5 x 5.

We started our move up a long draw that crossed the meadow and got stumped. Right there in the draw was a young bull and a cow. There was no way, and we watched the entire herd feed into the trees.

That evening we were back on the far saide of the meadow and took our chances on a thin tree line that fed out of the dark timber. An hour later a cow stepped out. Then a bull. I got in a sitting position and let them move to us. When he cleared the trees at about 100 yards, and I saw the six points to a side, I popped him behind the left shoulder and he went down. His front end came back up and I hit him again in the shoulder and that was that.

I used my old Remington Model 600 in .308 Win. with 168 gr. Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips. I started big game hunting with that gun in about 1964. It felt great. A satisfying hunt in all respects.

19 February 2003, 13:30

Painted Horse

My favorite hunt has always been for Elk. There is nothing quite like sneeking up on a large herd of elk. Listening in the pre dawn darkness as the bulls bugle.

As the day light approaches you can see the big bulls lighter colored coats first. You scramble to position your self for what you think are the biggest bulls, but you can't yet see the cows because of their darker color. And you have to watch out they don't see you first.

As the sun raises you realize there are 30-40 bulls and 200 cows feeding on the mountainside in front of you. You just about forget about shooting and just watch herd pollitics as the bulls push the cows around and the smaller bulls evade the herd bulls.

You hear a crack of your buddy's rifle and realize the herd is now moving out of the canyon and you had better get your animal or the herd will be gone.

Then you spend the next day getting the meat and horns back to your truck.

19 February 2003, 23:31

bearstalker

Alaskan-Yukon Bull Moose with my 338 Win. Mag. and 250 grain Nosler Partitions. [Big Grin]

20 February 2003, 03:50

MAC

Favorite hunt? Anything in season, anywhere I can go, Anytime I can get a hunting trip in. [Wink]

Favorite tool to use? Remington Model 700 ADL in 7mm Rem Mag, loaded with 160 gr Noslers. Hasn't let me down in over 25 years. [Razz]

Mac

20 February 2003, 05:06

hvyw8t

For me its looking over an ocean of sagebrush with my 6mm ackley looking for wild E coyote. next would be late season elk hunting with my 270 weatherby mag.

20 February 2003, 20:45

sscoyote

Hvywt8t, I second that 6mm AI in a sagebrush flat, but make mine overlooking a canyon, that's 6-800 yds across.

22 February 2003, 03:28

Grizzly Albert

I've hunted elk in Colorado and moose in Alaska and I loved it. It's so different from hunting in the South. Mountains, snow, long views, and BIG critters are part of the lure.

I use a .388-06 Mauser. [Cool]

22 February 2003, 05:29

Atkinson

My favorite hunt is for Bison on the ranch I book for in Nebraska, It is a tough hunt and no piece of cake unless you just get very lucky...I like the added challange of using my double rifle, or a sharps, muzzle loader, whatever...

It is very simular to hunting Cape Buffalo in the Selous' hill country...The bison are wild and smart and can cover more country in 10 minutes than Seattle Sue....You see a lot of Mule deer, whitetail and some of the largest elk I have ever seen, a few turkeys and several coyotes. You can shoot birds of most species in the evening.

It is an inexpensive hunt, fair chase and then some, great lodge and food, the shoo-fly-pie alone is worth the experience...I love this place.

22 February 2003, 06:25

RickF

I'm lucky in that living in BC I have about 7 different big game species to hunt every year, all with just a resident tag. Elk, caribou, moose, you name it. However, as much as I love backpack sheep hunting, nothing beats chasing a mature buck, be it mulie or whitetail. A mature buck gives me far more "buck fever" than a 60" bull moose ever could.

22 February 2003, 10:35

I like pig hunting with my 45/70 in the outback.

22 February 2003, 13:38

<JOHAN>

Hhmm
This is soo hard since I like most types of hunting and have a few favorite rifles [Confused]

A few are:
Redstag/ fallow deer with my 300 wby.

Wildboar hunt from stand with my 9,3X62 with the moon as only company.

Roebuck and a 7X64 from the old three stand in the oak

I particular like Mauser boltactions.
/ JOHAN

[ 02-22-2003, 18:45: Message edited by: JOHAN ]

23 February 2003, 02:49

gas57

On safari for plains game in RSA with my Browning Stainless Stalker in 338 Win. Mag with Alexander Stene as my PH(As fine a man that I have ever met!!!).
Jeff

08 March 2003, 09:38

Craig Nolan

So far, my favorite would be hunting trophy mule deer anywhere I've hunted so far in the open-West, be it Washington/Utah/Idaho/Montana or New Mexico. Choice of rifle at this point would be my .270 Wby ultralight w/140 gr. X's .. This could change in a hurry, as I'm going to Alaska this fall for Dall sheep and moose....... [Smile]

08 March 2003, 09:55

<PWN>

Squirrel hunting with my father on a early fall day while using my Ruger M-77/22 with Federal Gold medal match ammo. It reminds me of the days when that was a major event in my life and made me feel like a man, even though now I hunt Africa and a few places in the west each year that are certainly more exotic and exciting.

Perry

08 March 2003, 12:36

Canuck

I really can't pick...

Probably backpack hunting for Stone Sheep in the Northern Rockies, with my pack dog and my 6.5 Gibbs.

Could be elk hunting in the rut with my recurve bow.

Could be hunting mule deer and bighorn sheep in the Southern Rockies in October (6.5 Gibbs again).

Could be hunkered down in a blind calling in ducks and geese with my bird dog (aka "pack dog"), 12ga Beretta in hand.

Could be sneaking up on whitetails in the Kootenays in November, with a lever action in my hand (30/30 or 45/70).

Could be hunting bison up the Halfway river at 40 below with my Dad, using a 375 H&H (although I think it would be a 416 Taylor if there is a next time).

If I could afford it, I'd happily be in Africa every year. That was something I'll never forget.

I guess my absolute favorite hunting trip is probably just the one that I am on. I hope I never have to pick just one.

Cheers,
Canuck

08 March 2003, 12:48

p dog shooter

This is a hard one. I love to hunt and I love guns. So any time I am in the woods hunting is good. One of the best hunts was a black bear hunt in Can. that I still hunted and shot a nice bear. That rifle was a 788 in 308. Can't say I have a flavorite rifle I really do like most of them.

10 March 2003, 13:29

RMiller

I like to stillhunt. Mostly I have hunted moose and deer . But I when I got my first elk I had found my favorite. Can't wait to elk hunt again.

I am always hunting with different rifles but mostly a scoped bolt action.
My new favorite is a rem 700 375 ultra stainless. I put a 3x9 leo compact on it and shot some 270 failsafes in it this morning for the first time.
I am more than pleased.

10 March 2003, 16:32

Ray, Alaska

Still hunt, mostly moose in bear country. I only have and use a Stainless Ruger M77 in .338WM, topped with a Leupold Vary-X III, 2.5-8x scope. I use 230-grain Lubalox coated FS bullets, then will switch to another bullet unless Winchester comes up with a non-Molycoated FS. I may use 250-grain Nosler bullets, or 250-grain Swift A-Frame in the near future. I plan to give the 225-grain "blue coated" bullets a try and see how they shoot.

11 March 2003, 09:01

fla3006

Dogger- My favorite type of hunting is very similar to yours. I like sitting on a hill side, glassing for whitetails. For many years my weapon of choice was a pre-64 M-70 30-06 but now I prefer a Mauser G33-40 in 6mm Remington.

12 March 2003, 07:01

clearwater

Favorite hunting experiences have changed for me over the years, but the current tops is sitting in a box blind here in the Texas Hill Country with my 10 yr. old nephew waiting for the right whitetail to come out. Notice I said "waiting." It's just a matter of time, but the learning experience gained by young hunters as to which deer, mostly does, to harvest and why far outweights the prospect of a Boone & Crockett buck in MY sights. Don't get me wrong in a few more years he and I both will be after the big one, but first he's to learn shot placement and patience. Almost forgot the gun. He's got a Remington 600 that was originally a 243. It was my and his fathers first deer rifle. I had it rebarrelled with a SS Shilen barrel chambered for 250 Savage and finished at 20". I cut the stock to 12" LOP and mounted a 4X Leupold scope and couldn't dream of a better finished product. It's not a Dakota, but it's golden to him and he can shoot it very well. Sorry for such a long post, but it's really a fun time for us. Uncle Roger.