Back in the day, I hunted squirrels and cottontail rabbits with my .54 caliber black powder muzzleloader. Only took shots at still targets and the distance was always pretty close. I used the same load I used for hogs and deer. It was how I practiced. A 425 gr. Buffalo Bullet would make their heads evaporate. Never too much gun, just good bullet placement.
Is there such thing as too much gun for sheep?
- Thread starter dave_halsey
- Start date
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Don't be so hard on yourself. I am sure you were a fine teacher!
Bigger doesn't always mean deader quicker especially on smaller critters. I have seen alot of run out of deer center punched with magnums of all sorts. High shoulder usually has them curled up even with the smaller calibers. On broadside shots that don't get a shoulder or CNS more often than not less is more.
Andrew Massi
Well-Known Member
Not a sheep hunter by any means but if I ever draw Ill justify buying a Winchester featherweight in 270, Fixed power Leupold and good ole cup n core 130s. I have lighter rifles in newer cartridges but something about the nostalgia of the O'Connor special would really put a special twist on a once in a lifetime hunt
zb338
Well-Known Member
My Son has a Grand Slam on sheep all shot with a 340 Wby. None of his
guides complained. The sheep were all killed with one shot.
Zeke
guides complained. The sheep were all killed with one shot.
Zeke
PAGSDIII701
Well-Known Member
What number?
I just picked up my new (to me) 340 Weatherby last Monday. Haven't been able to find factory ammo and my reloading dies are on backorder for who knows how long. I have factory new brass and everything else I need so I am thinking about using my 378 Wby dies to seat the bullets. Should work. Got some big hogs coming to my feeder.
littlebighorn
Well-Known Member
I have taken all four North American sheep and none required heavy medicine. The only bear encounters I had during my five different sheep hunts were in Stone sheep country and my guides always carried rifles suited for close up bear possibilities. I never felt threatened.
To me big bore calibers are overkill for sheep hunting for several reasons:
1. A big gun might be useful to fend off a bear but that is one of the main reasons you are required to have a guide. He takes care of bears and you are there to kill a sheep. (If you are a resident without a guide then that may be a different story, but studies indicate bear spray is more effective at keeping you safe than a gun anyway)
2. Sheep are not big boned animals and if a good bullet of any reasonable caliber (6mm up) is placed in the vitals they die quickly.
3. For the majority of us, we are more accurate with smaller caliber rifles with less recoil.
4. Sheep live in nasty places and big guns generally mean more weight. If your rifle weight keeps you from getting into good sheep country, or wears you down before the hunt is finished the big gun has ruined your hunt.
If you can get a large caliber rifle under 8 lbs., which for me is maximum sheep hunting weight, and shoot it accurately, then what I said doesn't apply to you.
For what it's worth, I toted a 6.5 man bun on my final stone sheep hunt and did it with confidence. And that's my take.
To me big bore calibers are overkill for sheep hunting for several reasons:
1. A big gun might be useful to fend off a bear but that is one of the main reasons you are required to have a guide. He takes care of bears and you are there to kill a sheep. (If you are a resident without a guide then that may be a different story, but studies indicate bear spray is more effective at keeping you safe than a gun anyway)
2. Sheep are not big boned animals and if a good bullet of any reasonable caliber (6mm up) is placed in the vitals they die quickly.
3. For the majority of us, we are more accurate with smaller caliber rifles with less recoil.
4. Sheep live in nasty places and big guns generally mean more weight. If your rifle weight keeps you from getting into good sheep country, or wears you down before the hunt is finished the big gun has ruined your hunt.
If you can get a large caliber rifle under 8 lbs., which for me is maximum sheep hunting weight, and shoot it accurately, then what I said doesn't apply to you.
For what it's worth, I toted a 6.5 man bun on my final stone sheep hunt and did it with confidence. And that's my take.
Agree
Gravel Road
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2018
- Messages
- 81
Yeah, he was probably talking about a mountain goat. Whole different class of animal and I'd want more gun for them than a sheep.
Red Brandy
Active Member
it will take at least a 700 Nitro.
John McLaughlin
Well-Known Member
Littlebighorn saw griz while Stone's sheep hunting. I too have hunted Stone's twice and on both hunts was within 200 yards of one large boar and a sow with two cubs on the second go-round. In my case I had the same guide on both hunts. A licensed guide is required by BC law for non resident aliens, and both hunts he was unarmed. This man had guided for 39 rams at the time in both BC and the Yukon. He later was a licensed big game outfitter and owned a hunting concession in the chilcotin region of BC for several more years. Some of the game available in that area were big horn sheep and griz. After I sighted in before the hunt he apparently decided not to bring any hardware. These were fourteen day horseback hunts, each of us leading a pack horse as well as riding our mounts.
If I was going on a back pack sheep hunt in griz country I would take my 340 Mag in case I met a big bruin while carrying out meat, hide and horns. I have walked thru thickets of alders on trails where generations of griz have mashed the lichen down, leaving a bare depression in the moss and dirt where generations of bears had placed each paw. Meeting a griz in that country would be very up close and personal. Sheep are mostly found above timberline. When the hunter is coming out down thru the alders and spruce thickets hoping to find a moose trail to make it a bit easier I'd have a round chambered and ready for action. I much prefer to be able to at least help myself in a dangerous situation and not to hope a guide would come to my rescue. JM
If I was going on a back pack sheep hunt in griz country I would take my 340 Mag in case I met a big bruin while carrying out meat, hide and horns. I have walked thru thickets of alders on trails where generations of griz have mashed the lichen down, leaving a bare depression in the moss and dirt where generations of bears had placed each paw. Meeting a griz in that country would be very up close and personal. Sheep are mostly found above timberline. When the hunter is coming out down thru the alders and spruce thickets hoping to find a moose trail to make it a bit easier I'd have a round chambered and ready for action. I much prefer to be able to at least help myself in a dangerous situation and not to hope a guide would come to my rescue. JM
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
340 Wby for hogs?!?! Ummm, cool. Send pictures when some of them get slain with that 340!
Till I shot the barrel out of my 378, I used IT quite often. It was just fun. Not much damage with heavy bullets. Most damage was to the tree behind the hog.
