Best calibers for hunting

[R. Hare]

FWIW,

A bow-hunter got eaten near here recently. Grizzly got him, and this is out in farm country (Alberta) not in mountains.
some said "rubbish!...no grizzlys about here," so a farmer went out & took picture of 5.
Maybe same bear ate a hunter last year as well, as the same thing happened then.

Of some comfort to us using M/loaders, is the fact that the biggest bear ever shot here in Alberta was by an Indian lady with a .22.
they were contesting a path in a berry patch.

Most M/loaders have a lot more energy than a .22, but it requires enough cool to put it where it counts, and a bad shot with a big gun is better than a bad shot with a little one....providing it hits near centre!

Richard.

[northwoodsdave]

I have an antique .36 I just love, and if I had one gun to survive with, that would be it.

Of course, it's NOT legal for deer, but a close shot (and it's accurate as all heck) would take one down, I'm sure.  In a situation where one gun had to do it all, I would pick that .36 over any other for general game.

Since I live in the real world, I use a .50 for deer, and have a new .58 I haven't taken out yet.  Of course, I have the luxury of owning several rifles and, in the old days, that wasn't always the case.  You made do with what you had.

David L

[40Haines]

I have to vote for the .54.

I just seems to do a good job for deer/hog sized critters

[tg]

I jhave not been arouind thebig nears sine the 70's when I was in AK, I respect the blacks around here bit do not feel threatened by them from the encounteres I have had, the one thing in the wods that stikes fear in me like nothing else is the scteam of  cougar.....fairly close.

[R. Hare]

We're getting polluted with them as well, TG.

Few years ago, you never even heard of one.

[Daryl]

I jhave not been arouind thebig nears sine the 70's when I was in AK, I respect the blacks around here bit do not feel threatened by them from the encounteres I have had, the one thing in the wods that stikes fear in me like nothing else is the scteam of  cougar.....fairly close.

 Heard that only once. We have a few mountian lions around here as well and their population is growing with the influx and population explosion of whitetails and elk in the area.  I'm not too concerned about them though as I'm NEVER in the bush without being armed, unlike the tree-hugging hikers.  Bears are more of a problem here.

[Mike R]

Pumas are even gaining ground here in NW Louisiana! We have had a black one and a blond one in my neighborhood and a young one was killed just across the Red River from me last week in Bossier City!  My wife and I have had several close encounters with pumas--mostly in California and Colorado, but my wife surprised the black puma in our yard one morning a few years back while going out for the paper [we live about 100 yds off a rural road]--it was by our creek.  In Death Valley's Black Mts many years ago I was kept awake for a while by a screaming puma while camped on a craggy ledge at about 9000'.  But it was the blue norther that almost killed me as I slipped into hypothermia [it was winter--and yes, Death Valley can kill you more than one way].  Being a field geologist has its "rewards".

[Daryl]

 Cats are bad in some parts around here too. In southern BC - there've been some attacks in back yards - young kids playing.