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< 16ga. General Discussion ~ Big game hunting |
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Posted:
Thu May 30, 2019 6:52 pm
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Joined: 08 Mar 2016
Posts: 120
Location: South Dakota
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I know this won’t be 16 gauge related but who here also hunts big game? Particularly western hunts like elk, mule deer, pronghorn, or anything like that.
I put in for pronghorn in Wyoming this year and was just curious what other hunts you guys participate in beside carrying the old 16 around? Maybe even throw in your rifle used that’s equivalent to the 16 if your into that. |
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Posted:
Thu May 30, 2019 7:18 pm
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Member
Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9469
Location: Amarillo, Texas
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Me and a Texas Forkhorn
Remington 721 in 30-06
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Last edited by skeettx on Fri May 31, 2019 9:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 3:31 am
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Joined: 26 Apr 2016
Posts: 369
Location: Vermont
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Nice rifle and buck skeet. I have a 722 in .222. Going to Montana this year for elk and deer with my son, it will be a rifle hunt i've only done it with a bow. He has never hunted elk before so we are looking forward to it. Quick trip to SD for the pheasant opener first. I still do quite a bit of bowhunting and rifle hunting for deer. |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 5:06 am
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Joined: 22 Jan 2015
Posts: 345
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Hey OP, I primarily hunt whitetail here in the east, and do so every year to augment the freezer. I go out to west TX every few years or so to get one there too. Have taken fewer deer lately cause I find that I’m getting lazier! When I’m on stand and have a good opportunity, I’m catching myself thinking 🤔, do I really feel like dragging this one out, and spending tomorrow morning butchering it out?? Seems like answer has been mostly “no” of late and I’m hearing about it a lot from the wife!
Anyways, good luck on your draw for antelope. I love goat meat, and want to do a muly hunt as well. I learned a valuable lesson last year about Wyoming antelope draws. I’ve always heard they are a sinch to get a successful draw for, so I simply took someone else’s word for where within the state to apply for. I failed to get drawn. Found out after the fact that the places I put in for have low success rates for the draw due to high demand and lower permits being issued in thise areas. If I had done my homework and chosen districts with less demand, I would probably have drawn a license. Keeping up with all that mess about building preference points is not my style, so I’m not likely to ever get one of those “special” areas to hunt, but will try again for a meat hunt someplace there. Please report back with pics if you get there. |
_________________ 1929 Thomas Bland 16ga SxS 28"
1947 Browning A5 16ga 28"
1948 BRNO 16ga SxS 27.5"
1949 Stevens 530 16ga SxS 28"
1950 Stevens 311A 12ga SxS 30"
1952 BRNO 12ga SxS 28.25"
1963 Superposed O/U 12ga 27"
1968 V Bernardelli SxS 12ga 28" |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 6:26 am
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Joined: 22 Feb 2019
Posts: 63
Location: United States
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the 16ga is an excellent big game gun using a 3/4oz slug or a sabot. the 16ga drilling is a winner as well. |
_________________ This is really Byrdog with a new E-Mail address.
I make the Shortcut Shotshell Cutter. PM me here to inquire |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 7:00 am
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Member
Joined: 27 Jun 2012
Posts: 1115
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A few years back I had access to a ranch north of Glenrock, WY where I would hunt antelope and mule deer. Then CWD got into the mule deer herd, so I just hunted antelope. The rancher figured out he could make a lot more money on oil leases and the drilling along with the attendant vehicle traffic pushed the game off the ranch about the same time I got my second GSP, so I sold the wall tent and got a nice trailer and now just hunt birds out west.
In the day, my favorite guns for western game were a couple of 280 Ackley Improved rifles and a sweet 6.5-06. Originally I used the Nosler Partitions, but when Nosler came out with the Accubond, I switched over and never looked back, what a sweet bullet! Being a gunsmith, I built myself an arsenal of hunting rifles to cover any foreseeable big game, using barrels by Krieger, Hart, and Lilja. Stocks are either McMillan or pressure laminated birch. The calibers are, 6.5-06, 280 Ackley, 30-338 mag, 338 Win Mag, and 416 Taylor. Scopes on the flatter shooting guns are Leupold 3-9X with either the Boone and Crocket or Premier Reticle multi-aim-point reticles. Had a lot of fun chasing big game, but find now (turn 78 in a couple of months) that I enjoy bird hunting more and the grouse, pheasant, partridge, and quail are a lot easier to handle than elk quarters in some blow down hell-hole. |
_________________ An elderly gentleman, his faithful dogs, and a 16 ga SXS. All is right with the world. |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 8:33 am
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Member
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 605
Location: Topeka, Kansas
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Grew up deer hunting in Virginia with a 16ga SXS shooting #4 buck. Took 13 deer that way before I joined the Army and started moving again.
I wish I had the pictures, but they got lost somewhere over the years. |
_________________ Michael
Topeka, KS |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 11:34 am
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Member
Joined: 09 Dec 2009
Posts: 1370
Location: Cheyenne, Wy
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Gran16 wrote: |
I know this won’t be 16 gauge related but who here also hunts big game? Particularly western hunts like elk, mule deer, pronghorn, or anything like that.
I put in for pronghorn in Wyoming this year and was just curious what other hunts you guys participate in beside carrying the old 16 around? Maybe even throw in your rifle used that’s equivalent to the 16 if your into that.
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For antelope in Wyoming, I used a .243 Winchester, don't need a big rifle, as Antelope aren't very big. A good scope is very helpful. Used the .243 on deer also.
For Elk and moose .270 and above, 30-06, etc. Contrary to gunwriters, they aren't armour plated! Just use a rifle that YOU can shoot well, and you will do fine on antelope.
I have lived in Wyoming all my life, and the most problems I see with Eastern hunters is being overgunned, not knowing how to judge distance, and shooting too fast.
Dale |
_________________ One man with courage makes a majority.
...Andrew Jackson... |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 11:38 am
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Joined: 28 Oct 2015
Posts: 166
Location: SWMO
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We antelope hunt about every other year. Here was an 'as it lay' picture right after I shot a small buck. Kimber Classic Select .257 Roberts laying on one ridge, if you zoom in far enough past the end of the barrel there is a dead antelope at about 200 yards, just shows as a white spot in the picture.
Got my first elk last fall, a decent 5x5. Had ate tag soup a handful of times previously. Last year was carrying a Model 70 Winchester Sporter that I had a Lilja barrel chambered in .300 H&H put on.
Pic of brother in laws wall-tent setup with horses and mules for getting to the hunting grounds.
This year will be antelope, 2020 will be elk, and 2021 thinking hard about Caribou in Alaska.[/img] |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 12:39 pm
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Member
Joined: 09 Dec 2009
Posts: 1370
Location: Cheyenne, Wy
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Cheesy, nice pictures. Where was the antelope taken? What state? Looks like land around Gillette, WY. Or Shirley Basin.
I sure like that .257 Roberts, I always wanted one, never did get one. I went with a Win Mod 70 in 6.5x55 in 1990, have been very happy with it.
Like that hunting camp set up you have there, thanks for sharing.
Dale |
_________________ One man with courage makes a majority.
...Andrew Jackson... |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 3:37 pm
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Joined: 15 Mar 2019
Posts: 13
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I’ve got the rifles for big game hunting out west, but I find western hunting to be cost prohibitive so I’ve never done it. |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 6:56 pm
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Member
Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 9469
Location: Amarillo, Texas
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Today was a different kind of hunting
22 inch Walleye and 13 inch Crappie
Lake Meredith 60 miles from Amarillo, Texas
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_________________
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USAF RET 1971-95 |
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Posted:
Fri May 31, 2019 7:39 pm
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Joined: 28 Oct 2015
Posts: 166
Location: SWMO
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Cheyenne08 wrote: |
Cheesy, nice pictures. Where was the antelope taken? What state? Looks like land around Gillette, WY. Or Shirley Basin.
I sure like that .257 Roberts, I always wanted one, never did get one. I went with a Win Mod 70 in 6.5x55 in 1990, have been very happy with it.
Like that hunting camp set up you have there, thanks for sharing.
Dale
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Thanks for the kind words. That picture was on the southern end of unit 32, straight south of Casper. Put in for doe tags there this year and buck tags over between Laramie and Rawlins. That’s a good spot to have your transmission temperature sensor go bad in your truck. An hours drive from anything. Speaking from experience...
I just picked up an old JC Higgins model 50 in .30-06. Ditched the plastic stock somebody had put on it and found a Model 51 stock to put it in. Bought it for the FN action and was going to do a ‘custom’, likely in 6.5x55 as I already have dies for it and no rifle chambered. Then I shot the donor. It’ll likely stay a .30-06 for quite a while. |
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Posted:
Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:01 am
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Member
Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 3373
Location: The Great Northwet
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I'm thinking about rifle hunting for deer and elk again. I used to hunt with a longbow, but it is very time consuming, I don't have the time to practice, and I watched numerous bucks and bulls walk away at 50+ yds that would have been meat in the freezer with a rifle. Frustrating. I miss venison. I've been looking at a Tikka in .308, and have passed up numerous Husqvarna 30-06's, although I think just about any well made rifle .270 or above will do the job. |
_________________ Gun art: www.marklarsongunart.com
Gallery art: www.marklarsonart.com
The man's prayer from the Red Green Show: "I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to. I guess." |
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Posted:
Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:58 am
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Joined: 26 Apr 2016
Posts: 369
Location: Vermont
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Cheezy thats a beautiful 257. I load 100 grain Speer bullets in mine, I have only shot one buck with mine a long time ago although I've had it for over 30 years. I usually take something else out instead. Gotta put it into the rotation. |
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