"Kind of terrain mentioned leads me to think on the ground hunting or as the older fellers call it Still hunting. Spontaneous reaction under such circumstances is required. Lever 336 would be a good common sense choice in your'e type hunting terrain. Bolt rifles mentioned on the other-hand are handicapped because of their assured deflection in the bush. Such high speed rifle cartridges do better when it and its shooter is perched up high with the partridges or the point of aim is steep down."
I'm not so sure I agree with you. A few of my early hunts were done with a 30-30 but switched to a 30-06 a few years later when I had the money to buy one. Most of that hunting was done up in the Northwest corner of the state of California which is covered by thick brush, tall trees and wide open clear cuts. I mostly hunted the brush and the 30-06 worked just fine. I've hunted California's rain forest, normal type ground and wide open spaces. At no time did I ever find a bolt action rifle be a handicap when jumping a deer.
If I were to hunt that area today (fat chance) I'd probably take my Ruger 77 RSI for the good weather days and my Remington 660 for the bad weather times. It's a custom with synthetic stock. Both rifles are chambered to the .308 Win.
On what the OP said, I chose the Ruger M77 in 7x57 Mauser because it's a darn good cartridge. It'll work at the shorter ranges and reach out and touch something to at least 300 yards of more, depending on the OP's shooting ability. These days, most of my rifles have variable scopes but on the hunt after a kill, I've noticed that the scopes were set on either the lowest setting, (2 or 3X) rather than some larger number. Most of my rifles have 3x9 scoped with one a 2x7. I've never had a problem taking game with the scopes set that way, whether the animal was a 6 feet or 530 yards. Personally I prefer to keep shot at 250 yards or less but do practice for the times when I can't get closer.
Paul B.
I'm not so sure I agree with you. A few of my early hunts were done with a 30-30 but switched to a 30-06 a few years later when I had the money to buy one. Most of that hunting was done up in the Northwest corner of the state of California which is covered by thick brush, tall trees and wide open clear cuts. I mostly hunted the brush and the 30-06 worked just fine. I've hunted California's rain forest, normal type ground and wide open spaces. At no time did I ever find a bolt action rifle be a handicap when jumping a deer.
If I were to hunt that area today (fat chance) I'd probably take my Ruger 77 RSI for the good weather days and my Remington 660 for the bad weather times. It's a custom with synthetic stock. Both rifles are chambered to the .308 Win.
On what the OP said, I chose the Ruger M77 in 7x57 Mauser because it's a darn good cartridge. It'll work at the shorter ranges and reach out and touch something to at least 300 yards of more, depending on the OP's shooting ability. These days, most of my rifles have variable scopes but on the hunt after a kill, I've noticed that the scopes were set on either the lowest setting, (2 or 3X) rather than some larger number. Most of my rifles have 3x9 scoped with one a 2x7. I've never had a problem taking game with the scopes set that way, whether the animal was a 6 feet or 530 yards. Personally I prefer to keep shot at 250 yards or less but do practice for the times when I can't get closer.
Paul B.