You know it depends on the type of hunting that you do. If you do gentleman hunts like driven pheasants, or deer blind/stand hunting, you can take a nice gun out and it is no different than going to the range, but if you hunt ducks in a swamp, chase chukar up a talus slope, spot and stalk deer in the rim rock, You will get scratches on your gun. So why beat a nice gun?
Fine guns were ment to be show pieces and not really day to day hunting tools. Despite what some may say. I heard the story of actor Larry Hagman taking his brand new FAMARS out in a blinding rainstorm for a duck hunt. Why? just to say you can? The synthetics that I have show wear less than do my wood models and they do hold their zero better than the wood stocked rifles. Fine guns are to be admired, but I have yet to see one next to a 190" mule deer in Eastman's Hunting Journal. The top hunters in the world use modern equipment, not pretty guns.
