Originally Posted by
schoolcraft
I was talking to my Dad recently about following through on our dream to book an elk hunt.
I know someone locally who went on an elk hunt a few years ago and was made to carry a rifle of .30 caliber or greater. He has a .270 Win. that he uses for everything, and fully intended to on his elk hunt. He wound up buying a .300 WSM just for that hunt.
Has anyone run across outfitters that have a " nothing smaller than this caliber" rule for their clients?
I'm an outfitter here in Montana and our state has no min caliber requirements, however, if you say you are bringing a .22 I wouldn't let you hunt with us. Every outfitter knows his area and the average range most bulls are shot at. I don't know of any outfitter that is going to be happy about anything less than a .270. At the end of the day a dead shot with a lighter caliber and self disciple will have more success than a knuckle head with a .338 rum. Personally, I am a big fan of heavier calibers and magnums, and I hold to the old theory of shoot as much gun as you can handle accurately. Usually, most of our hunters ask me what I think they should bring, and I tell them the weapon they are most comfortable with. 99.99% of all hunters never get involved in praticing stess shooting, rather on a bench. Some of our Army guys have and do practice stress shooting. A guy who routinely practices off the bench in Wisconsin at 100 yards, may have some difficulty with shot placement at 300 yards having just humped up a steep slope in 10 degree weather. Shot placement becomes critical.