Being as stealthy as possible while moving through hunting grounds is essential. If you're still trying to hunt through potential bedding areas, closing in on game you spotted from afar, trying to sneak to your tree stand for a sit, or you're tracking bucks as they do in New England, every noise you make is too much.

They start from the base, rising with bumps, bruises, and little rings. At last, they turn back, bending to form a bow. With their thick bases, a pair of them sits atop a white face with dark, lengthwise stripes. Every European mountain hunter dreams of this trophy -- the horns of a chamois.

If the average American hunter heads out for a big game hunt, chances are he’s relying on the .30-06 Springfield to get some meat on the ground. Why? Well, because the ought-six has proven time and time again that it gets the job done -- reliably and repeatedly.

If his European counterpart picks his do-it-all rifle, he’ll choose the 8mm Mauser rifle every time.

Since its introduction in 1912, the venerable .375 Holland & Holland has been the benchmark for all medium-bore cartridges. Its caliber is the minimum for dangerous game hunting in many African jurisdictions, and with adequate bullets, it’s a sensible choice even for elephant hunting.

The 6.5x57, Paul Mauser’s take on the 6.5mm caliber, preceded todays 6.5mm mania by more than 120 years, yet this “antiquated” cartridge outperforms many of today’s 6.5mm darlings and runs neck and neck with others.

The .28 Nosler might be one of the most useful cartridge inventions of the 21st century. This powerful .284 cartridge is heavy and perfect for long-range shooting. It also doubles as an ideal choice for countless hunting scenarios around the globe. Everything shy of dangerous game will inevitably fall to a properly placed bullet of appropriate construction. All that out of a standard length cartridge with steep shoulders and minimal body taper to increase powder capacity.

The .220 Swift is one hell of a cartridge, often said to be the fastest commercial cartridge on the market. But is that true? Perhaps not quite! The claim might be valid in the American market, but there’s a certain german cartridge that can shoot .224 bullets of any given weight up to 100 fps faster than the Swift. To no surprise, the cartridge I refer to has a metric designation: the 5.6x57mm.