What is with these big calibres?
- Thread starter awesomeame
- Start date
There are a lot more elephant guns sold than elephant hunts. Whats wrong with that? A typical rifle is a small price to pay for keeping a dream alive, and then there are those that actually use them for training, practice hunting and their designed purpose. Besides, whats the shooting/hunting/collector supposed to when he has enough varmint, deer and big game rifles? The buck and roar of the big bores is pretty seductive.
At times a big rifle can be a source of comfort
Other times its just fun
Sometimes they just leave tracks
You might even have a stand off
But when they appear from hiding spots
Nothing else will do
This guy has done some s**t.
Good photos.
I own a couple 45 70's and a 40 65.
Both calibers designed over 125 years ago for black powder.
Started casting my own bulletts.
550g for the 45 70.
65g Goex ff.
And shooting steel with open sights out to 500m.
I use to own a Blaser S2 Double Rifle chambered for the 9.3x74R. I shot it many times at the range, however; never hunted with it. Several times my wife encouraged me to go to Africa with it, but I couldn't come to terms to shooting fish in a barrel, regardless of weapon. I sold the gun and purchased a beautiful side by side 12 gauge that I use anually for birds. Moral of my story................have no personal use for the real big calibers if I don't intend using it.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I have a .458x2inch American on an FN large ring Mauser action and I don't feel that I'm "compensating" for anything.
In actual fact my chambering is realistically nothing more than a H&H belted 45-70 and I can convert my own brass from H&H Magnum discards at the local rifle range. I think it's a very practical choice in a wildcat chambering for up here in the boreal forest. Sometimes I could just take my 30-30 hunting if I feel so inclined. Besides, some day I want to take out some wild boar and this one will be my number one choice for doing such for the big and ugly ones.
To each his own.
Cheers........
In actual fact my chambering is realistically nothing more than a H&H belted 45-70 and I can convert my own brass from H&H Magnum discards at the local rifle range. I think it's a very practical choice in a wildcat chambering for up here in the boreal forest. Sometimes I could just take my 30-30 hunting if I feel so inclined. Besides, some day I want to take out some wild boar and this one will be my number one choice for doing such for the big and ugly ones.
To each his own.
Cheers........
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Fish in a barrel was not my experience either. Perhaps, if the fish was a great white shark, shot from a canoe, in 12' seas. By contrast North American hunting tends to be on the tame side, but each to their own.
Typical short-sighted, elitist Okotoks attitude.
Of course, I've never been to Okotoks, and don't know anyone who comes from there...so my opinion of the place and its people is just about as valid as is yours of Africa.
Looks like I struck a nerve with a few fellows. Hmmmm, I didn't day anything personal to anyone, just comment on big calibers and africa hunting, whoops, I mean shooting. When I witness many bow hunters returning from Africa with 5 to 8 tags filled in one weeks hunt, well...........................fish in a barrel. Imagine how much easier it is with a big bore rifle. I had many chances to go, but sorry guys it's not for me..........more like shooting than hunting. Moreover, I don't like horned animals, I really love antlered big game...............North American big game. Try to convince me otherwise, without being personal. It seems that the terrain and small bugs were more challenging than the animal. I'll stick to "hunting" mature whitetail bucks..........very smart and challenging animal, terrain as well.
Well if you are looking at just bow hunters then I could see your point of view. For bow hunting most of the time, they are in blinds waiting over a water hole or food source.
The outfitters/Ph want people to get animals (thats what pays the bills) and trying to stalk animals with a bow is challenging to say the least. If the hunters are not shooting animals then the outfitter makes less money.
If you are not in a blind and are out on foot trying to stalk the animals then it is a whole lot different.
And just like here in Alberta trying to get a whitetail is not that hard. Trying to get a mature trophy whitetail is a whole different ballgame.
If you went to africa and were only going to hunt large trophy class animals, then you would not be shooting a whole lot.
Hunting is the same all over the world. It is what you make of it and what you decide to shoot is up to you.
Some of my greatest trophies don't have large horns or antlers.
And if you have decided that you only want to hunt antlered game in N.A. then there is nothing I could say that would convince you other wise. And that is fine. There is nothing wrong with that.
So you have no desire to chase any of the sheep in Alberta?
Why did you go after Antelope then? They are not LARGE ANTLERED....just wondering
I was saving my money for an Africa hunt, when my gunsmith talked me out of going with your very argument..He, who had gone a dozen or so times with a group of friends, said it was not at all a challenging hunt...He said he went more for the pleasure of being with friends than he did the hunt, and advised me that my money would be better spent on a horseback Elk hunt...
You do this out of a stand, or on foot?
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
Africa is for pansies. Those who want to hunt like a man need to follow "track" around, he carries bears out over his shoulders whole, while wearing shorts in fly season, without repellant!
Chuck Norris cringes at displays of such utter awesomeness.
Chuck Norris cringes at displays of such utter awesomeness.
Finding these larger cartridges in a large, well stocked gun store is one thing, but seeing them in the field in Ont is quite another thing.
They would be a lot more common in a place where large/dangerous bears might encountered like the Yukon/Northern BC/NWT/Nunavut, but down south not so much. You want to see some large/serious rifles and folk who actually use them? Take a trip to the Whitehorse Rifle & Pistol Club.
That indeed is hunting...Even though I am guilty of sitting in a stand on rare occasion, that is not hunting either...Thats waiting!
We use hounds, but hunting on foot is by far the most testing way to go about it...It takes a ''good hunter'' to take trophy whitetails on foot...
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Like I said, each to his own. Whitetail hunting is great, anyone who likes to hunt, likes to hunt whitetails. But some look for something more than sitting against a round bail, in early evening, watching the bush line for a 200 yard shot. That doesn't seem particularly interesting to me, which is why I opted for bush hunting, and didn't do nearly as well as those who opted for agricultural deer.
Dangerous game has always been my dream, as a little boy I soaked up stories of my Dad's adventures in India and dreamed of hunting a man eating tiger. But in my early teens, the idea of hunting Africa, occurred me. Being a working guy, we certainly couldn't afford the 21 or 30 day license necessary for most dangerous game. But I could manage a 10 day hunt. Buffalo, if wounded, are arguably the most disagreeable beasts on earth, their reputation for revenge against their tormentor is the stuff of legends. If an elephant were as tough pound for pound, nothing hand held could drop him. So it was buffalo, not plains game that enticed me, and we were allowed two! I was surprised just how tough it would be to get just one.
The African thing the way we did it was a pure wilderness hunt. Hippos and a lone crocodile filled a deep pool in the river in front of the camp. Lions could be heard at night, and early morning travel usually had us meeting hippo. The early season provided only glimpses of game, due to the difficult grass conditions, which could even hide elephants. When on our 4th night, a fire ripped through the camp's kitchen, our food was primarily what we were able to shoot. Sand rivers were a new experience for us, and the heat combined with the soft sand sapped our energy quickly. It took me a couple of days to acclimatize to the conditions; the day before we left here, I was jumping on ice flows on Hudson Bay. The climate near Indian Ocean wasn't much like the climate of Hudson Bay in early July.
As it turned out getting into the middle of a herd of buffalo in the long grass was exhilarating. We were just feet away from these guys, and all you'd see was a patch of hide or the sun glint off a horn. When they became fed up with us and galloped off, the ground really did shake. There was no opportunity for a shot, but we could have been squashed by accident. On another occasion we came across a herd in thick bush near day's end, hearing these guys grunting, knocking down nearby trees, in twilight, was quite frankly frightening. Again we had no shot. There were no fish taken on this safari.
Elephants on a sand river . . .
Elephants in the long grass . . .
Our trackers burned off the grass, typically it would burn a couple of acres and go out . . .
Waterbuck on a sand river . . .
Impala in the bush . . .
What appears to be a wide flat grassy expanse you could easily walk across is shown for its true nature by the presence of the hippos. Note the guy in the center who has puffed up to make himself look larger as he prepared to challenge us . . .
Dangerous game has always been my dream, as a little boy I soaked up stories of my Dad's adventures in India and dreamed of hunting a man eating tiger. But in my early teens, the idea of hunting Africa, occurred me. Being a working guy, we certainly couldn't afford the 21 or 30 day license necessary for most dangerous game. But I could manage a 10 day hunt. Buffalo, if wounded, are arguably the most disagreeable beasts on earth, their reputation for revenge against their tormentor is the stuff of legends. If an elephant were as tough pound for pound, nothing hand held could drop him. So it was buffalo, not plains game that enticed me, and we were allowed two! I was surprised just how tough it would be to get just one.
The African thing the way we did it was a pure wilderness hunt. Hippos and a lone crocodile filled a deep pool in the river in front of the camp. Lions could be heard at night, and early morning travel usually had us meeting hippo. The early season provided only glimpses of game, due to the difficult grass conditions, which could even hide elephants. When on our 4th night, a fire ripped through the camp's kitchen, our food was primarily what we were able to shoot. Sand rivers were a new experience for us, and the heat combined with the soft sand sapped our energy quickly. It took me a couple of days to acclimatize to the conditions; the day before we left here, I was jumping on ice flows on Hudson Bay. The climate near Indian Ocean wasn't much like the climate of Hudson Bay in early July.
As it turned out getting into the middle of a herd of buffalo in the long grass was exhilarating. We were just feet away from these guys, and all you'd see was a patch of hide or the sun glint off a horn. When they became fed up with us and galloped off, the ground really did shake. There was no opportunity for a shot, but we could have been squashed by accident. On another occasion we came across a herd in thick bush near day's end, hearing these guys grunting, knocking down nearby trees, in twilight, was quite frankly frightening. Again we had no shot. There were no fish taken on this safari.
Elephants on a sand river . . .
Elephants in the long grass . . .
Our trackers burned off the grass, typically it would burn a couple of acres and go out . . .
Waterbuck on a sand river . . .
Impala in the bush . . .
What appears to be a wide flat grassy expanse you could easily walk across is shown for its true nature by the presence of the hippos. Note the guy in the center who has puffed up to make himself look larger as he prepared to challenge us . . .
