How come everyone packs multiple guns? Is it part of the strategy for spouse management - honey I took four guns and didn't get a deer. I need five next year. . It does make for more exercise loading and unloading the truck, but I can think of more effective conditioning. I can't think of the last time I brought multiple rifles. If they aren't trustworthy, they go down the road.
I suspect YMMV!
There are a bunch of reasons for me.
One gun can usually get it all done. However, stuff happens, especially with telescopic sights. Most all of my guns are scoped. I've had two instances over the years where something has happened to a rifle and I suspected the scope had been compromised. Rather than try to figure it out in the field, I just went to the backup.
When I started deer hunting, I was primarily a bow hunter. I hunted with a rifle from the same stands I hunted with a bow. Treestands have their own requirements. Usually that translates out to shorter barrels, low power scopes, and shorter LOP. When I started hunting other kinds of venues, my needs changed. When I'm hunting one of my long, narrow pastures, I prefer higher magnification, and a chambering that won't start to poop out at 150 yards.
Another good reason is weather. I have rifles that I just do not like taking out in the rain. I'm sure I would not wreck them, but I'd hate to muck up the finish or warp the stock. I now have other rifles that do not require any fuss, and for the past decade, I kept a Remington 7600 as my designated "Rain Gun."
There is also a huge difference between warm and cold weather. I need a longer LOP when I am down to a sweatshirt on a warm afternoon versus the multiple layers needed to survive a morning sit after an arctic cold front has come through.
Lastly, there's the fact that sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't. Some days I really want to hunt with my Garand, or take out my Rem 1100 with slugs and pound the cedar thickets. Sometimes I like to sit with a nice bolt gun on my lap and contemplate. Normally, once I bag a deer, that rifle goes out of the rotation and something else goes in.
