The Ultimate North American Hunting Round?

Best North American Hunting Round

  • .270 Winchester

    Votes: 70 8.4%

  • .270 WSM

    Votes: 11 1.3%

  • .30-06

    Votes: 358 42.8%

  • .35 Whelen (tough to find, yes, but solid)

    Votes: 19 2.3%

  • 7mm Rem Mag

    Votes: 67 8.0%

  • .300 Win Mag

    Votes: 147 17.6%

  • .338 Win Mag

    Votes: 67 8.0%

  • .375 Mag (H&H or Ruger)

    Votes: 54 6.5%

  • .300 Ultra Mag (tough to find, but hard to argue with)

    Votes: 8 1.0%

  • .300 WSM

    Votes: 35 4.2%
  • Total voters
    836
I have never seen a polar bear in my life but I would not feel under gunned facing down a grizz with a 30-06 and I have seen boatloads of them (coastal and interior). In fact I know some people who carry pump action 30-06's for bear defence. Maybe not the best round but it's their ass I guess.

I know for a fact I would feel over gunned shooting down a defenseless blacktail with a .300 win mag.
 
Don't worry about the defenceless Blacktail, they don't care they die either way. Heck I've shot Lynx with a .375 H&H, no such thing as over gunned for game, definitely such a thing as overgunned for shooter. The only real limitation is what the shooter can pack and handle, you're certainly not handicapping yourself with a .300.
 
I'd agree....correct me if I'm wrong Ardent but the point of this thread wasn't to worry about being over gunned but being appropriately gunned for bison and the big bears. Whatever will kill them will definitely kill a blacktail or antelope. Things can never be too dead but they can be under dead...especially when they have long teeth and claws. The trick is finding the cartridge for the big stuff that will still handle the requirements of hunting the little stuff well.
 
Can it really be considered dangerous game hunting if you're packing a magnum? :dancingbanana:


sigh, guess I had better get a blr in 300 win mag.
 
Ardent said:
Don't worry about the defenceless Blacktail, they don't care they die either way. Heck I've shot Lynx with a .375 H&H, no such thing as over gunned for game, definitely such a thing as overgunned for shooter. The only real limitation is what the shooter can pack and handle, you're certainly not handicapping yourself with a .300.
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Here's something from the flip side of the coin and back from the days when cartridge and firearms were far below todays level of development. Back from the days when ;)men were men and sheep were scared.



The lady in question and in the photo was well known in the B.C. central interion for her forte of hunting Grzzly with a Savage 99 in .22 Savage High Power. Mrs. Betty Wendle and her husband Joe. Talking to her when she and her husband were still living in Barkerville, she had apparently shot five, four of which she had the hide mounts hanging in their stairwell to their upstairs area. One of the five had required two shots, the other four required only one. I 'believe' she accomplished her Grizzly hunts in the late 30's and early 40's. When one consideres the development level of her firearm and the ammo of the day, perhaps the '06 isn't such a bad choice after all. :stirthepot2:The larger calibres don't always compensate for lack of skills and ability.
 
sheephunter said:
I'd agree....correct me if I'm wrong Ardent but the point of this thread wasn't to worry about being over gunned but being appropriately gunned for bison and the big bears. Whatever will kill them will definitely kill a blacktail or antelope. Things can never be too dead but they can be under dead...especially when they have long teeth and claws. The trick is finding the cartridge for the big stuff that will still handle the requirements of hunting the little stuff well.
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No... the point of this thread is the ultimate hunting cartridge (and maybe platform) for hunting legal game in NA... if, as I do, hunt 99% of the time for Canada moose, whitetail deer and black bears, coyotes and wolves and similar game... why would I do 99% of my hunting with a cartridge that is optimized for grizzlies, bison and polar bears... for this thread, I would choose a cartridge that can handle those animals if pressed into service, but one that is better and more specifically suited to what I hunt 99% of the time... and I still say, that of the options, that is the .30/06. If I were to go on a hunt for any of the big three (for lack of a better term), I would choose another cartridge, since this is all just babble on the internet, and in reality I have many options... but if you forced me to follow this criteria, I would choose a .30/06... I would have to find one though, since I don't own one.
 
hoytcanon said:
No... the point of this thread is the ultimate hunting cartridge (and maybe platform) for hunting legal game in NA... if, as I do, hunt 99% of the time for Canada moose, whitetail deer and black bears, coyotes and wolves and similar game... why would I do 99% of my hunting with a cartridge that is optimized for grizzlies, bison and polar bears... for this thread, I would choose a cartridge that can handle those animals if pressed into service, but one that is better and more specifically suited to what I hunt 99% of the time... and I still say, that of the options, that is the .30/06. If I were to go on a hunt for any of the big three (for lack of a better term), I would choose another cartridge, since this is all just babble on the internet, and in reality I have many options... but if you forced me to follow this criteria, I would choose a .30/06... I would have to find one though, since I don't own one.
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You may want to reread Ardent's original post.......I think Ardent just threw it up for fun to see thoughts on the ultimate NA cartridge....not the one that suits 90% or your hunting. For you personally, I'm sure your choice is ideal but it seems to me most missed the point of this thread. Oh well....Ardent's post was beyond the 140 character concentration limit on the internet! The results were inevitable.

I don't mean the round you enjoy in your little corner of the country and feel applies to all the continent equally. I'll admit my impetus for doing this, and no doubt this thread will prove a colossal argument with little consensus, is the frustrating statement "Good for anything in North America". This is constantly thrown around to describe what I view as quite inept all around North American chamberings, I recently saw the .25-06 labelled this way for instance, and it's not even legal for Wood Bison in at least two of the places you can hunt them. Now, the .243, .25-06, .260, 7mm-08, etc etc are wonderful cartridges, in their niche. All rounders they are not. I'm going to make a list of what I view as the sensible choices for use on coastal Brown Bear in Alaska and BC, really big Moose, Roosevelt Elk, long range mountain Sheep and Goats, dog treed Cougar, speedy and distant Antelope, Wolves, desert Bighorns in Mexico and the US, stretchy Gemsbok in the desert, tree stand Deer, you name it. This is a rifle for the travelling hunter, someone who experiences as much of the game available as possible, not just Saskatchewan bucks or Newfoundland Moose etc. Ammunition availability is a real consideration, and a bias must be thrown to the big stuff as the bigger cartridges perform wonderfully on the smaller game, but not vice versa, and the rifle has to be truly last home hunting anything on the continent not just side showing in it.
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hoytcanon said:
No... the point of this thread is the ultimate hunting cartridge (and maybe platform) for hunting legal game in NA... if, as I do, hunt 99% of the time for Canada moose, whitetail deer and black bears, coyotes and wolves and similar game... why would I do 99% of my hunting with a cartridge that is optimized for grizzlies, bison and polar bears... for this thread, I would choose a cartridge that can handle those animals if pressed into service, but one that is better and more specifically suited to what I hunt 99% of the time... and I still say, that of the options, that is the .30/06. If I were to go on a hunt for any of the big three (for lack of a better term), I would choose another cartridge, since this is all just babble on the internet, and in reality I have many options... but if you forced me to follow this criteria, I would choose a .30/06... I would have to find one though, since I don't own one.
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Bingo and very much the same point of focus as in my post #253.
 
bearkilr said:
And this is where it doesn't......

http://4.bp.########.com/-TLS9ARy4CCo/UlN0Gwk2fzI/AAAAAAAAFdY/OUtch2FhNBo/s1600/Antelope-SC1-2013-(1-of-3).jpg
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.338WM sure does though! Even at that range the 9.3 could easily get the job done with proper optics. Pretty easy to get any moderate velocity cartridge out to 500 yards these days.
 
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bearkilr said:
And this is where it doesn't......

http://4.bp.########.com/-TLS9ARy4CCo/UlN0Gwk2fzI/AAAAAAAAFdY/OUtch2FhNBo/s1600/Antelope-SC1-2013-(1-of-3).jpg
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dont know why it will not work ... it has been proven up to 600 yards with a Leupold CDS turret more than once... maybe above what most of the hunters can do and of course there is better caliber for long distance shot with all kind of animals that we can hunt in NA the 9.3x62 is one of the best ...
 
In the end, it's all interpretation. Sheep is right that I'd rather be appropriately gunned for Wood Bison, Grizzly, and Polar Bear than marginally so, and don't see any problem using a heavier chambering on small animals. Hell I've hunted everything from 25lbs to 2,500lbs with .375 H&H nearly exclusively for a long time.

Hoyt is also right that I seek an accross the board North America cartridge, and most of the species are under the magnum threshold. Essentially it becomes a hunter's personal preference at that point and everyone is right. Any cartridge on the list will do the continent, which is best we all have our own interpretation of.
 
Ballistic reticles and external turrets have brought the bulk of medium velocity cartridges into the fringe of long range. If people consider a 30-06 ideal...pretty hard not to look at a 9.3 in the same light...in regards to range anyhow.
 
bearkilr said:
And this is where it doesn't......

http://4.bp.########.com/-TLS9ARy4CCo/UlN0Gwk2fzI/AAAAAAAAFdY/OUtch2FhNBo/s1600/Antelope-SC1-2013-(1-of-3).jpg
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Finally got my draw this year, and out of what I have available, it was going to be either the .270 Win or the 7x61 S&H.



The 7 got the call and even that I thought it was on the 'bigger' side of appropriate.

Gotta' go!!! Purolator just delivered my 'package', a BFR in 45-70.;) Would it work on Speed Goat?
Laugh2
 
As with most threads, things have gone to hell.

10623_monkey-computer.png
 
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Ardent said:
In the end, it's all interpretation. Sheep is right that I'd rather be appropriately gunned for Wood Bison, Grizzly, and Polar Bear than marginally so, and don't see any problem using a heavier chambering on small animals. Hell I've hunted everything from 25lbs to 2,500lbs with .375 H&H nearly exclusively for a long time.

Hoyt is also right that I seek an accross the board North America cartridge, and most of the species are under the magnum threshold. Essentially it becomes a hunter's personal preference at that point and everyone is right. Any cartridge on the list will do the continent, which is best we all have our own interpretation of.
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If you get tired of your current career, you might consider politics...
 
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when men were men and sheep were scared.
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:d

Or maybe more appropriately for this case "when men were men and women were too"


Any Alberta boy worth his salt could put the stalk on those 'lopes and pop them with his .22 :stirthepot2:
 
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