Recent content by BuckeyeRifleman

Wasn’t trying to dig on you but I’ve experienced that attitude before from guys that were big backpackers but haven’t hunted. I took a guy one year who was a big time backpacker but didn’t have much experience hunting elk, or being in the high country of Montana in late Oct. He scoffed at my...

I hear what you are saying, in fact, in my first post on the subject I admitted that if I was doing a true backpack hunt I probably would ditch the stove and even the tent and just take a tarp. But I’m not sure you are listening to what I’m saying. There are areas I hunt where I know elk are...

We didn't carry them in SERE either. Thankfully when I elk hunt I'm no longer stuck with military issue gear or packing lists.😉

Of course it's not making you survive. But it can help you stick it out a little longer in sh$tty weather and actually kill something you might have otherwise not killed. I could probably survive under a bushcraft/lean to shelter for the night by throwing on all my puffy layers, making a sleep...

Yeah I’d agree anyone that says hunters are bad backpackers hasn’t done much backpack hunting. They are just taking a look at pack weights and making assumptions about something they don’t know much about. I’ve had “backpackers” absolutely fail on their first late Oct backcountry elk hunt.

I’ll chime in to the stove thing. I mostly hunt with tipis and usually a stove. If you are spiking into an area a few miles I find them to be incredibly nice and well worth the weight. I had a big backpacker buddy go with me one year and he similarly scoffed at the idea. By day 3 he was...

My recommendation would be to go after doe antelope or mule deer first. Go unguided. A DIY trip for something like that can be done fairly cheaply minus gear. The tags aren’t going to be expensive and relatively speaking available for someone with zero points. That trip you can figure out your...

Good luck… If you have zero points it could take a decade to draw a general elk tag unless you’re willing to jump to special pricing. Nobody knows how the new pricing is going to affect the draw. It’s a tough time to get into the western game.

Bump, this should be a cool thread. Guess not that many people here actually hunt.

I like debates on performance like any gun nut, but I like pictures and data more. Let's keep this one focused on the latter. List the bullet, weight/caliber, recovered weight, approximate impact velocity, and any other pertinent data along with pictures (obviously.) 150gr BDII from a 7 SAUM...

LOL, new copypasta material right there. Try decaf.

It's a funny thing to witness about human nature, the more someone is given, the less happy and appreciative they seem to be about it. The folks that that live in the practical nirvana of hunting opportunity in the entire world seem to bitch more about their hunting opportunities more than...

They are rag horns… But they are bulls, most importantly elk as I’m primarily a meat guy not a horns guy. As pointed out, Montana manages for opportunity, which I’m 100% ok with. Point being nonresidents seem to get all the blame for “bad” hunting, but the reality, as TopPin pointed out is...

I hunt for a max of six days at a time as a nonresident, usually five, as that is all my schedule allows. I would say I’m more typical than atypical in that regard. I’ve hunted Montana 3 out of my 4 elk hunts as a nonresident. I’ve had shot opportunities 100% of the time opening day and have...

Well second bull shot with the badlands Bulldozer II’s went much better for me than the first. This was a longer shot, 540 yards. 150gr BDII’s with a MV of 2906 out of a 22in 7 SAUM. Impact velocity of approx 2260. Bull was shot twice, first impacted in the lungs just below the spine and just...