How many rounds do you pack in with you on a hunt?

[atmat]

I carry 4 in the rifle, 5 in my vest and 18 or 20 on my belt. I used 10 one time in a thicket with 50 mph winds. Elk stood still but I kept hitting the tree next to its head.

Worst I heard was a friend went out after school with just a magazine full. Wounded a bull then used up his shells in a running gun battle through a bunch of cliffs. Someplace in there lost his knife and his brother found him 4 miles later on the county road trying to finsh off the bull with a rock.

I'm prone to plan for oh shits.

I don’t think I want to hunt with you or your friend lol.

 

[Formidilosus]

What is the accounting of shots that you carry 20+ cartridges on a hunt?

Just hunting, not culling, I have hunted and killed a lot and seen or been a participant in lots of rodeos. Almost always involving a wounded animal and trying to get it stopped. For example, two involving scopes catastrophically failing- in one case causing groups to be about 5 MOA, and another being about 12-15 MOA; one a very nervous hunter, and one a bedding problem with a rifle that caused random serious POI shifts based on how the rifle was held.
Both of those scope failing instances were only found after the first shot wounded the animal- there was no “if I can’t get it done with 5 rounds I shouldn’t be there” nonsense. In one case it took 14 rounds to kill the deer, in the other it was 10 or 11 rounds.
The instance with the nervous hunter was that he barely missed an elk with the first shot, the second the shot wounded it, and then he fired every round he had trying to kill it. 14 rounds, hitting it three times- twice in the hips, once in the stomach. Then, two of us hiked out and grabbed another rifle, while the hunter kept eyes on the elk, and then he killed it with the second rifle. The hunters rifle was a 300 PRC and his statement when asked if he had enough ammo when we left the truck was “I’m not gonna shoot 14 rounds”.
The rifle issue was caused by a stock fitting/bedding that depending on how the rifle was held or rested, caused the action to move and the barrel to have intermittent contact. The Hunter was a world class shooter, extremely capable with guns and killing, and needed up wounding the deer with the first shot, and firing 8 rounds (all that he had), and hit it 3 times trying to kill it. He ended up borrowing my rifle to finish it. His statement when we left the truck as to whether he had enough spare ammo was “man, I ain’t shooting 8 rounds at a deer!”



I carry just a few more rounds than I have ever needed in the field. I am generally using an AI mag- so 5 rounds in the gun and a spare 10 round in the bino pouch. Then, a 10 round ammo sleeve in the pack. If using a Tikka mag, it’s the small one in the rifle- 3 rounds, a spare 5 rounder in the bino pouch and a 3 rounder in a pocket, plus the 10 round sleeve/enough mags in the pack to make 10 rounds. I also carry an emergency round that never gets touched excepting emergencies. The mag in the rifle and a spare mag are mandatory, and the 10 rounds in the pack is for issues rezeroing, topping off a partially used mag, signaling in an emergency, or so someone I am with can use my rifle if theirs fails or runs out of ammo.

 

[Doc Holliday]

10

 

[ARK_Ginger]

20. I don't rifle hunt out west, so I'm likely to kill a hog or 3 while I'm out. I likely wouldn't change much if I did rifle hunt out west.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

13....3 in the gun and sleeve out a box...I like to have few extra rounds in case my scope gets banged up and I have to re-zero in the field.

 

[Firth]

I ran out of ammo once shooting ground squirrels as a kid. Never run out since. I generally carry whatever the gun will hold plus a box of 20 + or -.

 

[grappling_hook]

I also carry an emergency round that never gets touched excepting emergencies.

I do this as well. I actually keep it in my emergency bag with the medical supplies, etc. (up to the point where it would be the actual last round I have, in which case it goes in the chamber) so it doesn't get mixed in with the rest.

 

[Formidilosus]

I do this as well. I actually keep it in my emergency bag with the medical supplies, etc. (up to the point where it would be the actual last round I have, in which case it goes in the chamber) so it doesn't get mixed in with the rest.

Exactly the same.

 

[Wiscat]

7: Always 7. Jim Corbett wrote about tiger hunting with 7 rds. Stuck with me since I was a kid.

 

[Macintosh]

For several decades I mainly bird hunted. Its funny to me actually, that people have a definite number of shells they carry in the first place—my superstition that has developed over many years is that if I actually count them, I am 100% certain to be wrong (ie too many causes you to see few birds, too few causes you to have the most awesome day of hunting in the history of ever) so I simply start with a full box dumped into a shell-pocket, and when it starts feeling light I dump in a new full box, and this random approach causes the Gods to smile upon me. Maybe I need to adopt this strategy big game hunting since it seems a 15+ round rodeo is the standard!

 

[Stillness0039]

I carry 4 in the mag and 5 more in my bino harness. Sometimes there’s a couple more in my pack, in case stuff gets real western. But that hasn’t happened since I was about 14 years old.

"real western" - now we wanna know what happened when you were 14

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[Duh]

"real western" - now we wanna know what happened when you were 14

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Let’s just say there was an antelope that actually died from a heart attack and a young boy that ended up about 8 miles away from the vehicle lol

 

[Conrad101st]

3 in gun.
Plus 10 rounds - usually 3 on stock sleeve and rest in ruck.

 

[orlandot]

2-5 in the mag and 5 on my harness


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[TaperPin]

I ran into a guy who was dropped off on Afognak Island for a solo elk hunt - had a brain fart and didn’t pack any cartridges. Deep down in a bag he found one left over from another hunt. He can confirm that making the first shot count IS a mindset, and that if you’re unarmed on an island full of bears that run to gut piles, it’s possible to pack an elk many times faster than you ever thought possible. Lol

 

[BradArnett]

I carry a 3rnd mag in the rifle, spare 5rnd mag in the pack. 3rnds in the bino harness. Another 5-10 stashed in the pack.

On just a day hunt from the truck I sometimes just have the 3rnd mag and the 3 in my harness.

 

[Raypo]

4 in a mag, and 6 in a ammo pouch that goes in my front pocket with a range card.

 

[Trapperkid]

I don’t ever count really my tikka fits 3 and I normally bring five more or so never needed but my dad always jokes and says better bring them just in case you have to shoot your way out

 

[MaddMatt]

Depends on the hunt. My back yard? Full rifle, and an ammo wallet (4-6 rounds depending on cartridge). Travel/pack hunts, 20 in the truck, and 20 minus rifle capacity in a pack.

 

[Trophybulls]

I mainly hunt the backcountry, I bring 50 rounds on the trip. On the average days hunt I take 8 rounds with me.