Matching the gun, with the game country and the game animal.

[Guy]

Looking back on decades of hunting, I realize that I could have done all my big game hunting with just a good 30-06 or similar rifle.

But it's been a lot of fun getting different rifles, working up loads for them, and hunting with them. An awful lot of fun.

Antelope, whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear, hog, grizzly - the 30-06 could handle it all, near and far, but... It's been fun, getting to know other rifles and using them.

 

[buffybr]

Looking back on decades of hunting, I realize that I could have done all my big game hunting with just a good 30-06 or similar rifle.

But it's been a lot of fun getting different rifles, working up loads for them, and hunting with them. An awful lot of fun.

Antelope, whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear, hog, grizzly - the 30-06 could handle it all, near and far, but... It's been fun, getting to know other rifles and using them.

Exactly!
"Antelope, whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear, hog, grizzly"...I've never hunted hogs, but I have hunted all of these others with my .30-06. I even used to load 125 grain bullets in my .30-06 for shooting prairie dogs...where I was once stopped by a Game Warden who wanted to know why I wasn't shooting a smaller cartridge.

It's also fun to take my .223 or .22-250 out for a day shooting gophers, but my shoulder or wallet couldn't stand that same days shoot if I used my .375 RUM.

There's an old saying about "Fear the man who only has one rifle, and knows how to use it." But I like being in the group "that has a safe full of rifles, and knows how to use them all"

 

[shrapnel]

Nothing like wide open spaces, antelope and a Sharps model 1877...

 

[ludville1]

Exactly!
"Antelope, whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear, hog, grizzly"...I've never hunted hogs, but I have hunted all of these others with my .30-06. I even used to load 125 grain bullets in my .30-06 for shooting prairie dogs...where I was once stopped by a Game Warden who wanted to know why I wasn't shooting a smaller cartridge.

It's also fun to take my .223 or .22-250 out for a day shooting gophers, but my shoulder or wallet couldn't stand that same days shoot if I used my .375 RUM.

There's an old saying about "Fear the man who only has one rifle, and knows how to use it." But I like being in the group "that has a safe full of rifles, and knows how to use them all"

^^^This!

 

[Hertervillian]

I agree that the game and terrain dictates the weapon. Deep northwoods bear and whitetail call for Marlin 1895. Rockies Elk mean a Tikka lite in 300 Winmag. Weatherby in .257Weatherby is waiting on a Pronghorn hunt. There is a Ruger Hawkeye Compact 7mm/08 waiting on my grandson to take his first whitetail.

A safe full of rifles is to a hunter what a cabinet of tools is to a mechanic. The Remington 870 Combo is the Crescent wrench.

 

[BrentD]

A safe full of rifles is to a hunter what a cabinet of tools is to a mechanic. The Remington 870 Combo is the Crescent wrench.

I'm still looking for the carpenter and mechanic that pays to upgrade the wood for their hammers and drop 4 figures for engraving their block planes.

 

[Lyfter1013]

I'm still looking for the carpenter and mechanic that pays to upgrade the wood for their hammers and drop 4 figures for engraving their block planes.

Well might not exactly be the same
But I work for a manufacturing plant and a couple of the mechanics took out loans for roughly $4k rolling tool boxes. That’s just the box tools don’t come Included. Those boxes didn’t do anything my $400 Husky box from Home Depot didn’t do.

 

[Redman]

For years I have been buying guns for this reason. It was always exciting to get a new "tool" for the job. Now I find myself grabbing my Browning Hells Canyon Speed rifle in .308 for everything. It just does everything I ask of it and it has never let me down.

 

[belshawelk]

Now that I am able to enjoy the finer things in life and taken my time to acquire exactly what I want, I am a gun/caliber specific hunter. Not than you need to be, as there are lots of 1 guns that will do just about everything. Its like a skier, we have multiple skis for different conditions and type of skiing. When you golf you could use just one club, but why. Take boots for example, I have summer/scouting boots, fall boots and winter boots. Sure one pair could do it all. Here are my guns for critters.
Nosler M48 custom in .30 Nosler for bull elk, or larger
Browning X-Bolt Pro in .28 Nosler. Cow hunts or cow hunts/deer combo or when I have a bear tag in combo
Tikka .270WSM for deer/Antelope
Tikka .243 for deer ( doe) Antelope and coyotes
Marlin .338 ME for bear or thick brush elk hunting
Ruger Scout .308 for brush deer hunting

Still want a Weatherby Mountain Ti MK5 in .257 , Nosler M48 Mountain Carbon in .27 Nosler. Don't need them, just want them.

Of course for years I used my Remington SPS 700 in300WM for 20 years as my only gun and killed multiple of everyone of the about species with it. I still have her, it was my first big game rifle I ever bought. She gets to go once in awhile as a backup

 

[mtmuley]

Beware of the one rifle hunter. mtmuley

 

[Hertervillian]

I'm still looking for the carpenter and mechanic that pays to upgrade the wood for their hammers and drop 4 figures for engraving their block planes.

I was thinking SnapOn and automotive stuff. You don’t see mechanics reaching for their 12” extension every time they grab a ratchet they get what the sit calls for. That’s not to say they can’t make do either.

Have you seen some of the roll cabinets out there? Electrified, WiFi enabled, a regular arms war. They spend more money on the cabinet than on their truck.

 

[44hunter45]

I seem to have the opposite problem. I rarely end up at my "plan A" spot. I tend to follow my feet and often just go where others are not if I know the mountain. This often means if I grab my 264WM I'm dragging a long barreled 11 lb rifle through the brush. I grab my 22" .30-06 or my 30/30 1894 and I end up glassing over the wide open. It's surprising how many elk I've killed by putting in a 1/2 mile down the road when my trail head was full of trucks. @Big Fin would say the mattress is tied to my ass and I'm the last one to the trail head.

So yeah- The right tool for the job and all that, but there is a lot of overlap.

 

[Black Elk]

A rifle specific to the terrain and the game I am pursuing is how I like to hunt. To me, the hunt doesn’t start opening day and it doesn’t end when I have punched my tag/season end. I like the process of researching, tinkering, practicing, and then reliving it all again after the hunt is over. Those memories/stories are what do it for me.

 

[Don Fischer]

Beware of the one rifle hunter. mtmuley

I used to think that also. What I found out over the years is that few of them shoot enough to become really good at it. Most are adequate at best.

 

[Europe]

Looking back on decades of hunting, I realize that I could have done all my big game hunting with just a good 30-06 or similar rifle.

But it's been a lot of fun getting different rifles, working up loads for them, and hunting with them. An awful lot of fun.

Antelope, whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear, hog, grizzly - the 30-06 could handle it all, near and far, but... It's been fun, getting to know other rifles and using them.

I certainly agree Guy and in your case if you only had used the 30-06, you would have missed out on all the fun you had with your Glenfield

So yeah- The right tool for the job and all that, but there is a lot of overlap.

Exactly, admittedly I didn't use only the 300 H & H, but I could have. But if I had done that I would have never had the opportunity to hunt with the greatest 6.5 ever invented --The Swede .

I like the OP's, "I don't need no stinkin' bipod!" I'm that way also, but I have these two sticks I cut out of a brushy fence row at the last moment on the first time I hunted elk with a rifle. I laced them together with an old boot lace and figured I'd just toss them aside at some point if they got in the way.

Now, nearly 30 yrs later, I won't leave home without those same two sticks. The leather laces have been replaced once or twice, and I put some .45-70 shells over the top ends where they were splitting and some steel studs for getting purchase on rocks and the like. I don't know how many animals have been shot over those stick with nearly uncountable different rifles, but I'm not leaving them behind anytime soon.

I have a couple of " I can not hunt without" items and to those of you who think this is crazy----dont confuse us with the facts or logic, our mind is made up !

 

[44hunter45]

Exactly, admittedly I didn't use only the 300 H & H, but I could have. But if I had done that I would have never had the opportunity to hunt with the greatest 6.5 ever invented --The Swede .

I'm itching to get my M96 Swede back from my riflesmith. He is slow but he is REALLY good.
"Dead soft" anneal and new heat treatment, new barrel, new @#)(#-on-open with 3-position safety, new bottom metal, deep blue re-finish, new flamed maple wood with ebony tip.
I will take MissT in with me to get the stock fitted to her.

 

[JLS]

I have my light rifle and my really light rifle. It makes fitting them pretty easy. Hard hunt or really hard.

 

[Michael Case]

Relatively new to hunting, only been at it for 3 yrs now (in my mid-50's) but fully addicted now. Took my first mule deer last season (308, 165gr Trophy Bonded Tip, 225 yds, deer dropped in two steps) and still looking to fill an elk tag. Been solo backpack hunting the whole time and every year getting into more and more elk. Just haven't closed the deal with a shot I was willing to take. So, what would folks recommend as a next rifle to compliment my 308? Likely going to extend my options to moose, maybe sheep. Don't see myself going after antelope though.

Like potato chips, no one can eat just one

 

[Michael Case]

Nothing like wide open spaces, antelope and a Sharps model 1877...

View attachment 182731

Do they call you Quigley?