Steve West of Steve’s Outdoor Adventures took part in a combination mule deer/whitetail deer hunt in Montana recently, and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous. It has been years since I’ve been on a hunt, and Montana seems to be beautiful, largely unspoiled country, with deer that are much larger than we generally see in the Carolinas.

Steve ends up harvesting a very nice buck, but I’m as interested in the Bergara Rifle he’s shooting as I am the the deer.

Steve is shooting a custom Bergara Mountain Hunter, a lightweight custom rifle. His is chambered in .338 Winchester Magnum.

I’ll soon be receiving the above Bergara Long Range Hunter for review. I put several rounds through it at the Professional Outdoor Media (POMA) conference a week ago, and was very impressed with the rifle’s features. I suspect that the Long Range Hunter might prove to be a solid compromise for those shooters interested in picking a rifle that would excel as both a hunting rifle and a rifle for precision rifle field shooting competitions. I know a number of shooters who have invested a lot of time and money in a tactical rifle system for field shooting competitions, only to turn around and spend as much on a second rifle, scope, mount and rings for hunting, easily spending $3,500+ per system.

Unless you simply want to see how many gun safes you can fill (and some folks do), it makes more sense to me to make an investment in one really good rifle, scope, mount and rings combination that can handle both kinds of shooting.

This promises to be fun.