do you select your rifle/carbine, and caliber based on terrain you hunt?

[rimrock]

do you select your rifle/carbine, and caliber based on terrain you hunt?
I know that I generally carry or bring two very different types of rifles on most elk hunts

my main ELK rifle is usually a weatherby fibermark stainless in caliber 340 mag loaded with 250 grain hornadys or my sako 375H&H loaded with 300 grain hornadys, those rifles are fairly long & heavy to carry but they will get the job done every time, yet theres very frequently days after the first few days of the hunt when I know Ill spend 99% of my time in thick aspen, conifer and oak brush, so knowing the ranges will be short and a carbine makes a better tool. I swap to a Remington 7600 slide action in 35 whelen, or a sako carbine in 375H&H or a BLR in 358 win


how about you gentlemen?
do you swap tools for a different type of terrain?

[Bushman]

For elk I figured that I would make do with one rifle that I was familiar with for my deer hunting around here. I knew that I wasn't going to get to go elk hunting as frequently, so it was a compromise to a lightened up Remington M700 in 7mm RM. That round was small enough so that it wasn't a total over kill for deer and big enough so that it would work on an elk too. I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised that I got two of my three elk inside 100 yards and the third one at only 225 yards. If I went every year like I do deer hunting, I might have a more specialized battery with a black timber rifle and a long ranger, but from what I saw out there what I brought was a pretty good choice. Especially the lighted rifle part hunting as high as we did and packing my own rifle. As I see it, I've had the wrong gun out on occasion deer hunting and it cost me a shot. Likely as not if I started packing a black timber carbine for elk, I'd see Mr. Big standing 300 yards across the canyon.

[rimrock]

its been many years since Ive even SEEN a shoot able ELK at a range of over 350 yards so I gave up worrying about having a rifle that really reaches out, as a primary concern,in selecting, a rifle that may be used for kicking elk out of oak brush draws or aspen ledges,lodge-pole, blow downs or thick conifers, besides I can,t think of a better rifle for that long range work on the first few days than the 340WBY that I generally bring (and have carried most of the time hunting ELK) as my main ELK rifle, but after about the first 3-4 days any sane ELK has long since retreated into the thicker timber or narrower side canyons in the areas Ive hunted for years, and a rifle that reaches out to about 250 yards if required is all Ive seen as useful, making even a 358 win,35 whelen, 450 marlin, 45/70 or similar caliber adequate for most hunts in the thicker stuff while you basically sneak around, follow tracks or basically jump elk, plus I generally hunt as a 2-3 man team so theres lots of times you have areas where two guys cover likely escape routes out of a canyon while the third guy sneaks thru, knowing, that theres a good chance hes moving ELK that the others may see that hes un-aware of.

[rimrock]

just wanted to add that I recently meet about 5 of the guys I usually hunt ELK with and several more guys who only occasionally hunt with the group on various trips out west for elk,at the range and for coffee, later and we discussed the changes in our equipment choices, over the years, now Id point out that many of the guys in the group are getting older and have many years of experience, now.
but the trend away from the really big magnums , long barrels, huge 6-18 and 4x12 x scopes and super fast sub 30 calibers is very obvious.
most of us own several ELK rifles
the 338/06 and 35 whelen , 358 win , 280 rem and 30/06 are by far the most common calibers we all tend to use now, with a few guys hanging onto the heavier 338 win,375 H&H, or 45/70 and 340 wby.one point all the guys seemed to agree on was that when they first started hunting elk ,looking over the trajectory tables and the loads producing the flattest trajectory were regarded as very important, now most guys just select a premium bullet with a minimum .260 sectional density
many of the guys in the group have sold off rifles as they got older but its rather obvious that the milder 30 caliber-35 calibers and shorter barreled carbines are well regarded, as elk rifles, among the experienced group , and many of us have over 30 plus elk hunts in the past
but in every case the trend is to lighter and shorter rifles and smaller scopes

[Chuck S]

I've had that ( a rifle battery) in the past but these days make do with a 30-06 in a Mannlicher, full stocked carbine. Deadly accurate, short and better at long shots than any long rifle I''ve owned, so can't complain.

[Hi Ball]

I select the caliber and bullet weight depending on the big game species I set out to harvest or Kill! I then take a hard look at where I will be hunting, mountains brings about a lighter rifle than say hunting Africa plains game, although one can in fact get high in Africa without some much as knowing your over 9,000 ft elevation.