Vancouver Island big game rifle
- Thread starter jaydog
- Start date
30-06 is great on the island.There is still a chance to find a buck with some weight,my brother shot a buck on the island a couple years back was 186 lbs. in the dead of the rutt .But, most of the time 140 is a good one.On, the gulf islands thats another thing ,your lab is a monster to the deer.
if I moved to the island..... (soon soooooon), I would probably take my Rem Mod 7 ss/lam in 308. 2-7x33mm leupold. my idea of the "perfect" island gun. light, short, excellent caliber choice for the smaller deer to to the larger blackbears and elk. scope fits the tight coastal rainforest and the open cutblocks...
Your going to laugh, but when I hunted the island I used a 338win with 250 grain bullets.
The deer are so small you need something super clean or you will blow too much meat away.
I know it sounds weird, but it works very well.....You can eat right up to the bullet hole.
Unless you know when and where to hunt you'll end up with a small black bear. The biggest bears I have ever shot have been across high timber cuts...the shots can be fairly long and in poor light.
The deer are so small you need something super clean or you will blow too much meat away.
I know it sounds weird, but it works very well.....You can eat right up to the bullet hole.
Unless you know when and where to hunt you'll end up with a small black bear. The biggest bears I have ever shot have been across high timber cuts...the shots can be fairly long and in poor light.
bullet construction & placement, caliber is irrelevant when it comes to meat damage.
You might be right in theory. Bullet construction is relevant as is placement.
In reality I have seen nothing mess up less meat than a low velocity 338 load.
Shoot a deer in the shoulder with a 338 and you will loose some meat. Do the same thing with a 270, 30-06, 300mag, or 7-mag and kiss most or all of it goodbye...I don't care whether Nosler Partition, Barnes X or whatever bullet you use.
I've also shot some deer with a 358win, 9.3X62, fast 338's, 375's, and 416's,. Section a 416 bullet and you'll see tough construction first hand. Yet the 416's bruise quite a bit more meat than the 338.
My short experiences with the 358 Win and the 9.3X62 showed a lot of promise, but for the meat hunter nothing I have ever used beats the 338 Winchester.
Get a 338 and shoot some game....You'll see what I mean!
why shoot anything in the shoulder? 
for the meat hunter I can think of little better then a 270 win..... 8 head of game Ive shot with mine, no meat damage.... just like my .450, 30-06, etc....
but then again I would never take a shoulder shot...
for the meat hunter I can think of little better then a 270 win..... 8 head of game Ive shot with mine, no meat damage.... just like my .450, 30-06, etc....
but then again I would never take a shoulder shot...
If I was to hunt deer on the Island alot with a larger rifle, like a 375, I'd use a big slow moving bullet, too. Work fine to 300 yards or so.
On the Island any legal cal will do. Black tail are small & frigile. Remember in areas that have people around hunting takes on a different aspect. If deer are living off apple in your back yard & watch your kids play,are they fair game,are they wild. This is a big deel in the lower island. Not just tree huggers like to see them. In the wild ( I hunted around Buttles Lake a long time ago) they are fun and fast. Again this is only my .02 about the islands.
Well I was born and raised on the island and knowing it pretty well all you really need is a 308 win or 270. I live on the mainland now and all I use is the 308 for coyote up to bear and moose it's a good all around cartridge!
A 6.x55 swede is ''made for the island''-plenty of gun for blacktails and will put a black bear right down with a shoulder shot.As said-typical island shots could be close[my closest was 6']-reaching way out across a clearcut-but my average shot is about 50 yards.The little swede with 4X scope will handle anything you will run into on the island nicely-if you hold it straight!
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