Your favorite Quarter Bore and why

[Calvin45]

I have hunted whitetails from northern sask. to the southern tip of Texas and everywhere in between. High fence sometimes but mostly low fence. There are some VERY good high fence hunting ranches. If you prefer not to use that term, no issues from me. The best high fence ranches are every bit as challenging to hunt as any low fence property.

The bad high fence ranches are very bad and usually what people refer to.

have no desire to try to change your opinion, no need to as i agree with most of what you say. I can only say i hunted with Jason and Dean for 6 years in a row. During those 6 years, never once did i see a buck multiple times on a hunt. Meaning, if you saw a buck you liked, you better kill him right then because you would likely not get another chance at him for that week, even knowing where on the ranch he hung out.

They would send game cam pics every year and only one year did i see and harvest the deer i saw previously on the game cam pics, which were nearly always at night time.

As far as baiting deer, its perfectly legal for everyone in Sask. Canada to bait deer. Its legal there, at least it was all while i hunted there.

Micro chipping deer is totally wrong in my opinion, hormone treatments are terrible in my opinion as well. Only thing done to the deer at northern giants ranch is a high quality genetic management program and supplemental alfalpha pellets at feeders. I harvested 8 bucks with them. Witnessed 6-7 more harvests personally and only 1 of those was shot off a feeder stand location.

I have never been anything but 100% honest with posting about every deer i have ever taken, low or high fence. I have only endorsed top quality highfence ranches.

Conversely, i have hunted WILD low fence properties and had the same deer walk out night after night, no fear of vehicles in any way, staying out in open fields all hours of the day, far easier hunts then northern giants ranch hunts. So to say low fence is the only right way to get a challenging hunt is also not true.

Painting all high fence hunts with a single stroke is not a well educated point of view.

Also, knowing what i do about the unethical introduction of SUPER deer genetics into most midwest "Low fence" deer populations, calling that ethical is very hard to swallow. It happens, it happens a lot in many states. And then those that hunt there and make prophit on hunting videos where they constantly chant ONLY LOW FENCE is insulting and laughable to those that know what has really happened to whitetail herds in America over the past 30 years.

I have no problem with good high fence or good low fence hunts, just be honest all around.

Agree. I have no beef with a lot of practices but as you say, microchipping and hormone modification just crosses all kinds of lines for me.

And about being honest too, a lot of hunting tv is no less BS than mainstream news these days. Gets 11 year old kids thinking it's normal to walk out into the bush and stumble upon a 160 class monster…set them up to be disappointed and not like the reality of hunting compared to the television…

 

[Calvin45]

Knowing the real story how the hanson buck was harvested hearing it from locals there in the area that lived there then and still, calling that an ethical hunt is a bit hard for me to do. There are reasons there are bullet holes on those antlers and they are not because of ethical hunting practices...... if people knew the real story of that hunt, suspect there would be a much different public opinion of that buck.

Oh really?! I don't really know the story… "pushing bush" I assume?

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I love the cold. I too have a problem with the Canadian government haha. To be fair, it would seem both our nations are "under the influence" of left wing nonsense.

Calvin
It is not "Fair" it is a "SHAME" the way both our governments are.
I always loved fishing Manitouwabing Lake before anyone knew about fishing it . 1977 to 1985 went there in the spring & fall. Caught Pike 50"+ with 26" pike inside of them. Caught "Red Trout" (Brook Trout) every cast with a spinner on side streams of the lake. The Lake was so big that when you got out you could not see land. Like being on the ocean. Almost died in a storm.
That was before anyone knew about fishing it or could get access.
Had to have a four wheel drive to get to the lake and a chain saw to cut down trees to make bridges. Brought all our gasoline in 55 gal drums and some food. Lived off of fish for several weeks.
Some of the BEST times of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manitouwabing Lake · Parry Sound District, ON, Canada

★★★★★ · Lake

www.google.com

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I have hunted whitetails from northern sask. to the southern tip of Texas and everywhere in between. High fence sometimes but mostly low fence. There are some VERY good high fence hunting ranches. If you prefer not to use that term, no issues from me. The best high fence ranches are every bit as challenging to hunt as any low fence property.

The bad high fence ranches are very bad and usually what people refer to.

have no desire to try to change your opinion, no need to as i agree with most of what you say. I can only say i hunted with Jason and Dean for 6 years in a row. During those 6 years, never once did i see a buck multiple times on a hunt. Meaning, if you saw a buck you liked, you better kill him right then because you would likely not get another chance at him for that week, even knowing where on the ranch he hung out.

They would send game cam pics every year and only one year did i see and harvest the deer i saw previously on the game cam pics, which were nearly always at night time.

As far as baiting deer, its perfectly legal for everyone in Sask. Canada to bait deer. Its legal there, at least it was all while i hunted there.

Micro chipping deer is totally wrong in my opinion, hormone treatments are terrible in my opinion as well. Only thing done to the deer at northern giants ranch is a high quality genetic management program and supplemental alfalpha pellets at feeders. I harvested 8 bucks with them. Witnessed 6-7 more harvests personally and only 1 of those was shot off a feeder stand location.

I have never been anything but 100% honest with posting about every deer i have ever taken, low or high fence. I have only endorsed top quality highfence ranches.

Conversely, i have hunted WILD low fence properties and had the same deer walk out night after night, no fear of vehicles in any way, staying out in open fields all hours of the day, far easier hunts then northern giants ranch hunts. So to say low fence is the only right way to get a challenging hunt is also not true.

Painting all high fence hunts with a single stroke is not a well educated point of view.

Also, knowing what i do about the unethical introduction of SUPER deer genetics into most midwest "Low fence" deer populations, calling that ethical is very hard to swallow. It happens, it happens a lot in many states. And then those that hunt there and make prophit on hunting videos where they constantly chant ONLY LOW FENCE is insulting and laughable to those that know what has really happened to whitetail herds in America over the past 30 years.

I have no problem with good high fence or good low fence hunts, just be honest all around.

I have the most admiration for you Sir. Your firearms/hunting knowledge far surpass most people I know especially me. I did not want to demean any of your hunts on Land. Yes I know about "HIGH FENCE". When you get 10.000 areas of High Fence and try to keep good genetics or just keep animals they are as wild as any free range, Yes they are "Free Range".
I was not referring to your hunts. Just making a statement on some of the so called "Hunters' I did know.
Thank you for all the great information that you bring to this Forum!
Len & Jill

 

[Fiftydriver]

Agree. I have no beef with a lot of practices but as you say, microchipping and hormone modification just crosses all kinds of lines for me.

And about being honest too, a lot of hunting tv is no less BS than mainstream news these days. Gets 11 year old kids thinking it's normal to walk out into the bush and stumble upon a 160 class monster…set them up to be disappointed and not like the reality of hunting compared to the television…

Absolutely agree!

 

[Fiftydriver]

Oh really?! I don't really know the story… "pushing bush" I assume?

Lets just say it included nearly 2 dozen hunters, lasted over a couple days and and lucky multiple people were not shot in the process as the mob chased this buck from brush pile to brush pile, surrounding the bush, forcing the buck out and everyone there lobing shots at a buck in full sprint to the next isolated brush pile with no way to really get away from the hunters that had kept him surrounded for multipule days until finally someone got a bullet into him. In fact, from the stories i heard, there is no definitive proof who actually killed this buck. But again, i was not there, he is the world record, amazing deer and must have been taken as ethically and morally as possible by only the best hunters out there…. Not flaming toward you at all but some of the stories i hear about this deer are just amazing how they want to put a shine on this hunting story when in reality, it was a full blown cluster of an event.

 

[Calvin45]

Lets just say it included nearly 2 dozen hunters, lasted over a couple days and and lucky multiple people were not shot in the process as the mob chased this buck from brush pile to brush pile, surrounding the bush, forcing the buck out and everyone there lobing shots at a buck in full sprint to the next isolated brush pile with no way to really get away from the hunters that had kept him surrounded for multipule days until finally someone got a bullet into him. In fact, from the stories i heard, there is no definitive proof who actually killed this buck. But again, i was not there, he is the world record, amazing deer and must have been taken as ethically and morally as possible by only the best hunters out there…. Not flaming toward you at all but some of the stories i hear about this deer are just amazing how they want to put a shine on this hunting story when in reality, it was a full blown cluster of an event.

Ugh. I hate that BS. Got some local
Idiots that hunt like that around here too, can't stand them. There is a reason I very much prefer to hunt completely alone. It is amazing more people haven't been accidentally shot.

My dad used to be a conservation officer further north still, from just a little further up
Than we are all the way to uranium city which is just below the border to the Northwest Territories. He has some horror stories of the kind of morons he's encountered and had to charge and revoke hunting privileges from or confiscate illegally killed game from over the years. The kind of people that give ample ammunition to Those who think ordinary people shouldn't have guns and that hunting is unethical and dangerous…there are indeed some people that shouldn't hunt or own firearms!!! Heck some of them you wonder how they got a driver's licence!

 

[Fiftydriver]

I have the most admiration for you Sir. Your firearms/hunting knowledge far surpass most people I know especially me. I did not want to demean any of your hunts on Land. Yes I know about "HIGH FENCE". When you get 10.000 areas of High Fence and try to keep good genetics or just keep animals they are as wild as any free range, Yes they are "Free Range".
I was not referring to your hunts. Just making a statement on some of the so called "Hunters' I did know.
Thank you for all the great information that you bring to this Forum!
Len & Jill

There are bad ranches out there for sure and unfortunately when high fence ranches are spoken of, mainly the terrible ones get mentioned. I had a conversation with a group of hunters a couple years back and they were just ripping me for taking a specific buck at northern giants even though i always up front made it clear exactly the conditions this deer was harvested under. The fact that this deer was over 200" as a typical 5x5 not counting his two NT points on his right antler seemed to really bother this group of guys. In all honesty the report of the hunt was a report on the performance of my then new 27 stalker and the 129 gr barnes LRX being tested on this field test hunt

anyway, let these guys rant and rave about how i was not a hunter at all for quite some time and then i asked them about all their time hunting in south africa. Having read their posts about many hunts in the past i knew where they hunted and i asked them about hunting high fence ranches in these two countries. After they stumbled all over themselves to try to claim that the vast majority of south african hunting is not done behind high fence and come up with excusses on how its totally different….. they finally said high fences was a requirement in south africa to protect the game from poachers and predators…. i said you mean to say these ranch owners over their have the right to protect their property with high fences and charge hunters to come in and harvest this game for prophit but doing the exact same thing in north america is unethical……. Sounds a bit judgemental, uneducated and hypocritical on their part. Pretty much ended the conversation. Took no offense from your comments at all. Just want to make sure people out there understand, there are very different levels of hunts, high fence and low fence and the best of each are great and the worst of each are very bad…..

 

[tooth doc]

Knowing the real story how the hanson buck was harvested hearing it from locals there in the area that lived there then and still, calling that an ethical hunt is a bit hard for me to do. There are reasons there are bullet holes on those antlers and they are not because of ethical hunting practices...... if people knew the real story of that hunt, suspect there would be a much different public opinion of that buck.

where to get the real story?

 

[Calvin45]

Ugh. I hate that BS. Got some local
Idiots that hunt like that around here too, can't stand them. There is a reason I very much prefer to hunt completely alone. It is amazing more people haven't been accidentally shot.

My dad used to be a conservation officer further north still, from just a little further up
Than we are all the way to uranium city which is just below the border to the Northwest Territories. He has some horror stories of the kind of morons he's encountered and had to charge and revoke hunting privileges from or confiscate illegally killed game from over the years. The kind of people that give ample ammunition to Those who think ordinary people shouldn't have guns and that hunting is unethical and dangerous…there are indeed some people that shouldn't hunt or own firearms!!! Heck some of them you wonder how they got a driver's licence!

The worst one I heard of from him was about a pair of young guys that were "sound hunting".

I kid you not! These jackassess were in the bush hunting moose off of "sound". As in, if they thought they heard a sound in the trees they just opened fire in that general direction. My father managed to remain somewhat professional as an agent of law enforcement
but suffice to say he put the fear of God into them by the time he was done and took their guns away in the interest of public safety, and theirs too!

 

[Kiowa Cowboy]

Meanwhile on the Quarterbore thread... I have hunted with a 25.06 for almost 4 decades in western Oklahoma. My dad, brother and I have shot countless deer, coyotes, pigs, and 2 elk with the 25.06. I love it! It is low recoiling and flat shooting. When I was purchasing my first rifle I studied the ballistics charts and read all the stories about the .257 wby. mag. I bought a Remington 700 LSS in 257 Wby. Mag. thinking it was an improvement. I shot 7 pigs and 2 deer with it using the wby. 115 gr. ballistic tips. I was not pleased with the performance. I am sure one of the other wby. rounds would have performed just fine but they did not shoot well out of my rifle and I am not a reloader. Also, the additional recoil was enough that I could not see the impact on the critters, the way I can with a 25.06. Finally, every time I pulled the trigger it cost over $3 to $5. I like to shoot. But it does not seem practical to spend $60 to $100 per box. No mangey coyote is worth a $5 bullet, which is what I have hunted the most.

For all these reasons, I purchased my own Sako 25.06. That was over 20 years ago. Ammo is much cheaper. I have never looked back. I still have the 257 Wby but I never shoot it. In all of this, I learned a valuable lesson. New is not always better. Don't get me wrong, I love all the choices and hearing about all the LR advancements. If you are going to purchase a mag you probably should be prepred to reload.

For me the 25.06 and 30.06 are the perfect combination. I can either sight in 1.5 high or with the new scopes (which I am learning) simply make a couple of clicks. To me, the 25.06 is the Goldilocks caliber, because I can see the impact on the critter. I have never lost a deer with 25.06. If you don't have 25.06 give it a try! You won't regret it.

 

[Lee7588]

Guess just so i can get validation that it ACTUALLY HAPPENED!
My 25 Stalker is the replacement to my old 257 Allen Magnum. It is based on the 300 norma mag parent case, necked down and fireformed to my APS case design.
View attachment 512504
300 norma case on left, necked down 257-300 norma in middle ready for fireforming and formed 25 Stalker on right.

View attachment 512505
this was the last sight in group fired with this rifle which was my personal Stalker Hunter that i used that year. And yes, it was producing a legit 4135 fps out of a 27" barrel with the 100 gr ttsx and obviously sub 1/4 moa potential. After my hunt in Canada where It was record breaking hot for that time of year, i decided to throttle back the load to 4075 fps which made it an extremely comfortable load pressure wise.
View attachment 512506
this is the exact rifle used that season.
View attachment 512507
two rounds on the left are the 25 Stalker loaded with some 110 gr accubonds for testing which broke 3900 fps pretty easily. Still i settled on the Barnes TTSX 100 grain for that season. The whitetail buck below was taken just a couple months after the target group above was fired. My largest Montana whitetail still to date at 173" and some change. He took the 100 gr on the point of his shoulder and collapsed to the shot.
View attachment 512508
if your in the market for a laser beam, thats what the 25 Stalker is designed to offer out to 1/4 mile or so. The 26 Stalker is far more flexible as it still offers the hyper velocity with 100 gr bullet weights but also has the ability to drive the heavies such as the berger 156 gr EH to well over 3500 fps making it a legit 1k medium game option. A wee bit more potent then the magical creedmore…..

What is the cartridge to the right?

 

[Lee7588]

Meanwhile on the Quarterbore thread... I have hunted with a 25.06 for almost 4 decades in western Oklahoma. My dad, brother and I have shot countless deer, coyotes, pigs, and 2 elk with the 25.06. I love it! It is low recoiling and flat shooting. When I was purchasing my first rifle I studied the ballistics charts and read all the stories about the .257 wby. mag. I bought a Remington 700 LSS in 257 Wby. Mag. thinking it was an improvement. I shot 7 pigs and 2 deer with it using the wby. 115 gr. ballistic tips. I was not pleased with the performance. I am sure one of the other wby. rounds would have performed just fine but they did not shoot well out of my rifle and I am not a reloader. Also, the additional recoil was enough that I could not see the impact on the critters, the way I can with a 25.06. Finally, every time I pulled the trigger it cost over $3 to $5. I like to shoot. But it does not seem practical to spend $60 to $100 per box. No mangey coyote is worth a $5 bullet, which is what I have hunted the most.

For all these reasons, I purchased my own Sako 25.06. That was over 20 years ago. Ammo is much cheaper. I have never looked back. I still have the 257 Wby but I never shoot it. In all of this, I learned a valuable lesson. New is not always better. Don't get me wrong, I love all the choices and hearing about all the LR advancements. If you are going to purchase a mag you probably should be prepred to reload.

For me the 25.06 and 30.06 are the perfect combination. I can either sight in 1.5 high or with the new scopes (which I am learning) simply make a couple of clicks. To me, the 25.06 is the Goldilocks caliber, because I can see the impact on the critter. I have never lost a deer with 25.06. If you don't have 25.06 give it a try! You won't regret it.

What was not pleasing with the Wby performance?

 

[Calvin45]

Meanwhile on the Quarterbore thread... I have hunted with a 25.06 for almost 4 decades in western Oklahoma. My dad, brother and I have shot countless deer, coyotes, pigs, and 2 elk with the 25.06. I love it! It is low recoiling and flat shooting. When I was purchasing my first rifle I studied the ballistics charts and read all the stories about the .257 wby. mag. I bought a Remington 700 LSS in 257 Wby. Mag. thinking it was an improvement. I shot 7 pigs and 2 deer with it using the wby. 115 gr. ballistic tips. I was not pleased with the performance. I am sure one of the other wby. rounds would have performed just fine but they did not shoot well out of my rifle and I am not a reloader. Also, the additional recoil was enough that I could not see the impact on the critters, the way I can with a 25.06. Finally, every time I pulled the trigger it cost over $3 to $5. I like to shoot. But it does not seem practical to spend $60 to $100 per box. No mangey coyote is worth a $5 bullet, which is what I have hunted the most.

For all these reasons, I purchased my own Sako 25.06. That was over 20 years ago. Ammo is much cheaper. I have never looked back. I still have the 257 Wby but I never shoot it. In all of this, I learned a valuable lesson. New is not always better. Don't get me wrong, I love all the choices and hearing about all the LR advancements. If you are going to purchase a mag you probably should be prepred to reload.

For me the 25.06 and 30.06 are the perfect combination. I can either sight in 1.5 high or with the new scopes (which I am learning) simply make a couple of clicks. To me, the 25.06 is the Goldilocks caliber, because I can see the impact on the critter. I have never lost a deer with 25.06. If you don't have 25.06 give it a try! You won't regret it.

I love my 257 Weatherby but you're absolutely right, ifwasn't a handloader AINT NO WAY id fork over the money for Weatherby factory ammo. .25-06 is much more practical and gets awfully close to .257 wby performance with a lot less fuss all around.

But what you said about the recoil, trajectory, and killing power, is exactly how I feel about my .257 weatherby. I can't not feel sort of in love with the thing haha, it kicks less than my .270 win, shoots flatter than anything else I own, flatter BY FAR than even my .243 or .300 win mag, and is packing muzzle energy comparable to full house .30-06 loads. And in small framed big game the hypervelocity really has its own bracket of terminal performance, the poleaxe effect. I'll still take the 30 cals and up for moose and elk thank you .


The downsides of this cartridge are the overpriced brass (but it's not hard to resize 7mm rem mag or .264 Winnie, neck is a bit short this way tho) and ammunition, short barrel life, and In some contexts the muzzle blast is undesirable. My .257 weatherby pushing well over 70 grains of Imr 7828 or rl25 (in most loadings) through a quarter inch hole and only a 24 inch long barrel is FREAKING LOUD.