Hey all,

I'm in a heck of a mental pickle... I got an invite from a friend to go hunting for Sitka Blacktail deer and Dall Sheep on Kodiak Island this fall... Right now I have two workable rifles for this... a Savage 11 Lightweight Hunter in 7-08, and a Remington 700 in .280AI. The Savage has a 2.5-8x36 Leupold VX3 on it, and the Remington has a 4.5-14x40 Leupold VX3 on it. Both are sub MOA rifles with Barnes bullets (140gr tsx in the 7-08, 150ttsx in the .280ai). There are two deciding factors:

-Weight: the .280 is coming in at 8.5lb... the 7-08 at 6lb.

-Terrain: possible short shots in the dense woods, but above the treeline, alpine shooting... 300 yards easy.

-Scopes: I have the 7-08 setup for Oregon hunting (short range, walking/shooting) and I don't want to play musical scopes and rings...

What are your thoughts/advice/experiences on this setup or this hunting? Thanks!

--SRS