Forums.NitroExpress.com

Home | Ezine | Forums | Links | Contact NitroExpress.com: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY??

*** Enjoy NitroExpress.com? Participate and join in. ***

You are not logged in. [Login]

Main Index · Search · Active Topics
New user · Who's Online · FAQ · Calendar

Hunting >> Hunting in the Americas

Pages: 1

hoppdoc
.400 member

Reged: 02/03/06
Posts: 1791
Loc: Southeastern USA

SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY??
#60353 - 26/07/06 02:47 AM

All of us will sooner or later shoot big game at dusk and have to track it in the dark.

If it is just whitetail country then a handgun may suffice but if it is the Northwest or Alaska and larger game such as elk/moose/bear are present then the chance of confronting a large wounded animal or opportunistic predator beast-bear/cougar/wolf is possible. I have actually been on a hunt where a bear intervened and made off with an downed elk!! It happens!!

My personal choice for tracking at night in the deep woods is a 12 ga Beretta if possible with/without mag extension as allowed.I load slugs for encounters of the dangerous kind and am planning on mounting a surefire flashlight on the foreend.

Any comments or suggestions for a better rig?? If you had a choice what would you take into the woods at night ?

--------------------
An armed man is a citizen of his country, an unarmed man just a subject.

Post Extras:

DPhillips
.375 member

Reged: 09/10/03
Posts: 819
Loc: Alaska

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: hoppdoc]
#60361 - 26/07/06 06:19 AM

If you are hunting in Alaska, 9 times out of 10, you will be somewhere fairly remote and will likely have the one firearm with you (or maybe a .22 handgun for pot shooting grouse/ptarmigan). I can't see lugging an extra firearm for tracking or bear protection, your primary rifle should be suitable for your encounters.

Post Extras:

500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: hoppdoc]
#60364 - 26/07/06 06:53 AM

Hopdoc

Re Any comments or suggestions for a better rig??
If you had a choice what would you take into the woods at night ?

A pair of NIght Vision googles

Nothing - I'd wait until morning and risk loosing the game !

500 Nitro

Post Extras:

CptCurl
.450 member

Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 5309
Loc: Fincastle, Botetourt County, V...

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: 500Nitro]
#60370 - 26/07/06 11:05 AM

Yeah, 500Nitro, I don't think there are too many serious hunters that traipse around in the woods after wounded game after dark.

Best,

Curl

--------------------
RoscoeStephenson.com

YOUR DOUBLE RIFLE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND.

Post Extras:

AdamTayler
.375 member

Reged: 22/03/04
Posts: 688
Loc: B.C.

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: hoppdoc]
#60371 - 26/07/06 11:27 AM

I do not go after wounded game at night, but I have gutted/quartered/deboned moose, elk, and mule deer in the dark. My rifle is beside me. We had a young grizzly come investigate but he kept his distance and we left a couple of minutes later. We had a spot light instead of a flashlight to find out what was making noises in the dark. When I went on my grizzly trip, I took a rifle and a pump shotgun with slugs. I took the same combo when I accompanied my hunting partner when he got the draw.

--------------------
It's the journey, not the destination.

Post Extras:

hoppdoc
.400 member

Reged: 02/03/06
Posts: 1791
Loc: Southeastern USA

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: AdamTayler]
#60392 - 26/07/06 09:05 PM

Call me what you will but on 4-5 occasionals I have tracked and located big game at night hit hard but not finished.All this done mostly at spitting distances too.I do not like it at all even when working with friends.

Working in the dark gives me the willies.Several times when the game was NOT pursued a blood trail was found but the animal lost.As I related last year we had a good size bull elk taken from us by bear and the outfitters son killed a 500 pound bear some weeks later.

When I do have the luxury of a having a second long gun available that Beretta goes with me.I am getting the foreend with the surefire light attached prior to this years hunt for nightshooting if needed, not navagation. I'd rather try to be prepared.

--------------------
An armed man is a citizen of his country, an unarmed man just a subject.

Post Extras:

NE450No2
.375 member

Reged: 10/01/03
Posts: 942

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: hoppdoc]
#66280 - 03/12/06 01:22 PM

If I had a choice I would prefer a double rifle, either a 9,3x74R or a 450/400.

Either fitted with a variable power scope set at 1.1 or 1.5 with an illuminated reticle, with a Sure-Fire flashlight mounted on the scope.

Post Extras:

gatsby
.375 member

Reged: 05/09/05
Posts: 862
Loc: inland valley CA USA

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: hoppdoc]
#66282 - 03/12/06 01:59 PM

Why a paradox gun would surely be best and one fixed with "tiger sights" if one must enter the woods at night.

--------------------
"Recoil is insignificant when there is a tiger on the head of your elephant" The Maharaja of Cooch Behar

Post Extras:

hoppdoc
.400 member

Reged: 02/03/06
Posts: 1791
Loc: Southeastern USA

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: NE450No2]
#66302 - 03/12/06 08:20 PM

There are no flies on either Double mentioned but in North America a semiauto Shotty with mag extension and surefire
flashlight shooting slugs is a potent nighttime combination.

In Africa it might be heresy but I would like something like a 9.3 x 74 O/U with a surefire light attachment swapped out on the foreend.The mentioned SA above would be illegal.

Add a low power illuminated scope?? Nope--Guess I woould look like Flash Gordon carrying a Raygun with all that!
Come to think about it-- in Africa it would be best to not be out at night at all!!

--------------------
An armed man is a citizen of his country, an unarmed man just a subject.

Post Extras:

DoubleD
.400 member

Reged: 23/11/03
Posts: 2465
Loc: Retired in Oklahoma

Re: SHOTGUN-BEST GUN for WOUNDED GAME RECOVERY?? [Re: hoppdoc]
#66304 - 03/12/06 09:14 PM

That extended tube shot gun with a flashlight is guarenteed to hang up every stick limb, branch and vine with 100 yards, especially at night, at least in my hands.

In 45 years of hunting the only time I can think of when I had to really follow up anything was archery hunting and I spent most of night following a bad hit deer. My wife finally got it two months later when it came back in her garden during rifle season, with the broken head of my arrow still in it.

We did have some run off with marginal hits in Montana, but that's was just a matter of watching them run off over across the prairie until it falls, then go get it.

--------------------
DD, Ret.

Post Extras:

Pages: 1

Extra information

0 registered and 20 anonymous users are browsing this forum.

Moderator:

Print Topic

Forum Permissions
      You cannot start new topics
      You cannot reply to topics
      HTML is disabled
      UBBCode is enabled

Rating:
Topic views: 2095

Jump to

NitroExpress.com

Home | Ezine | Forums | Links | Contact