What did you use to take your first animal of other species?

[Blkram]

In continuing the vein initiated by 358Goat; What rifle or weapon did you use to take your first animal of other species?

Me, I used the following on:

• black bear: Winchester 94 in 30-30 (my Dad's rifle when I was 21)
• moose: Parker Hale in 30-06 w/ open sights
• buffalo: Sako Finnbear Deluxe in 300 Win Mag - first animal taken with a scoped rifle (a rifle gifted to me by my father)
• mule deer: Browning A Bolt in 280 Rem - first animal taken with my own handload (Hdy 162 gr BTSP), in the first rifle I bought myself
• stones sheep: Rem 700 Classic in 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser
• elk: Winchester Model 70 in 270 Wby
• grizzly bear: LH Rem 700 BDL in 338 Win Mag
• mountain goat: Rem 700 in 7mm Rem Mag
• caribou: Marlin 375S in 375 Win
• rocky mountain bighorn: LH Sako AV in 7MM STW - first animal taken with a custom rifle
• wolf: LH Rem 700 in 300 WSM
• pronghorn: LH Sako AV in 7MM STW
• red stag: LH Browning X Bolt All Weather in 6.5 Creedmoor - first animal on an international hunt and first guided hunt
• fallow buck: LH Browning X Bolt All Weather in 6.5 Creedmoor
• nyala: Ruger M77 Mk II in 300 Win Mag - first animal taken with a PH's suppressed rifle
• impala: Ruger M77 Mk II in 300 Win Mag
• bushbuck (cape): Ruger M77 Mk II in 300 Win Mag
• kudu (cape): Ruger M77 Mk II in 300 Win Mag
• warthog: Ruger M77 Mk II in 300 Win Mag

I can vividly recall the details of each of these hunts!

 

[TackDriver284]

Blackbuck : 7 STW / Rem 700 Sendero / 140 Ballistic Tip
Impala : 7 STW / Rem 700 Sendero / 140 Ballistic Tip
Axis : 7 Mag / Sako M995/ 150 Ballistic Tip
Nilgai: 338 Lapua / Sako / 250 GameKing

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Blkram, I have to hand it to you brother, these are great thread topics and fun!

My first cartridges:

Rattlesnake - .22 LR
Cottontail - .22 LR
Coyote - .243
Cougar - .22-250
Mule deer - .300 Savage
Whitetail deer - .30-06
Mouflon ewe - .270
Aoudad ram - .30-06
Elk - 8mm Rem Mag

 

[Guy Miner]

With a 22 Marlin 39 Mountie at age 7 I was terrorizing the muskrats, ground squirrels, jackrabbits, cottontail, rockchucks, probably illegal birds, coots... I thought it was small game hunting... No, I was an unleashed young rifleman with blood lust! Poor critters! Dad and Grandpa were quite indulgent. This was all on a big local ranch, or a big local farm. Both the farmer and the rancher were tickled to have their "pests" reduced a bit... Okay, more than a bit. I'd come back to the ranch house or farm house mid-day for a sandwich, fill the canteen, and ask if I could have another box of 22 shorts then head out again... Sometimes I had additional juvenile delinquent company... Sigh... Good old days? I have that rifle now, it may be astounded that I turned the corner and became such a conservationist and such a dedicated rule follower... Church, Boy Scouts, and the Marine Corps did that to me. But at 7, I was kind of a wild-child hunter/poacher with a 22 Marlin...

Guy

 

[Blkram]

Blackbuck : 7 STW / Rem 700 Sendero / 140 Ballistic Tip
Impala : 7 STW / Rem 700 Sendero / 140 Ballistic Tip
Axis : 7 Mag / Sako M995/ 150 Ballistic Tip
Nilgai: 338 Lapua / Sako / 250 GameKing

Axis deer and blackbuck are two of my Bucket List animals!

 

[Blkram]

Blkram, I have to hand it to you brother, these are great thread topics and fun!

My first cartridges:

Rattlesnake - .22 LR
Cottontail - .22 LR
Coyote - .243
Cougar - .22-250
Mule deer - .300 Savage
Whitetail deer - .30-06
Mouflon ewe - .270
Aoudad ram - .30-06
Elk - 8mm Rem Mag

It's fun to learn what others have used and what they have hunted!
And fun to recall those memories!