Dinny, I'll tell ya what I've been doing....I've always preferred light hunting rifles, I hunt big areas and walk a lot, the area is closed to vehicles, but there are lots of old roads left over from the turn of the century logging that was done there, consequently I can walk for a couple miles before I get to the area I actually hunt, since I end up carrying a rifle a LOT more than I do shooting it, being light and handy makes a big difference. So my choices always go towards the lighter rifles I have, the 30-30AI last year, 35 Remington for the two years before that, I didn't hunt the previous year and I think I muzzleloaded the year before that. Anyway to bring this to a point, this year I wanted to hunt with something I hadn't used before and I didn't have a rifle sighted in due to poor range opportunities this year, my 25-06 Ultra was sighted in because I carried it a couple days year before last, but it's a lot heavier than I like with the laminated stock set, so I put a set of the new syn stocks on it, made a big difference in weight, but it didn't shoot worth a darn with them, used up most of the factory ammo that I had that shot good in it.
So getting down to crunch time, season opened on the 17th over a week ago, I reluctantly put the lams back on it and it shot great as usual, even with some other factory ammo I had never tried. Last Saturday was the first day I got to hunt due to waiting for my son to hunt with us, I carried it, 1½ miles in and I was really regretting it, that monster liked to wore me out, it wasn't comfortable to carry in the crook of my left or right arm and even slung, it was a real drag, the 26" barrel is just too top heavy and cumbersome when slung, and I haven't carried a rifle slung while actually hunting for as long as I can remember. My GPS tells me I went about 5 miles Saturday, and it was a long 5 miles, gonna do it again later this week, but I sure don't look forward to packing that beast, the other reason I chose it was the timber company made a bunch of huge clear cuts in the last several years, and they're just becoming productive, shots of 500yds would easily be possible in them if I was capable of it, and long shots may be the only chance for a shot at a legal buck which must have at least 3 points on one side to be legal. Anyway, carry the one you enjoy hunting with, that's the right one.
Good luck and thanks again for your service and sacrifice.
Tim
