Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Bloodied the 30-30

For decades I hunted midwest Whitetails with a Savage 99 250-3000, but got an itch to hunt with a 30-30.

Last Saturday was Wisconsin's opening day and at 0545 I was in my tree stand in the midst of a snowstorm. At about 0730 the snow let up and gave me a chance to survey my surroundings. On a distant hill side was a horizontal brown spot and the binos indicated a bedded buck. I attempted to laser the distance, but the snow fall did not allow an accurate reading, but from past experience I know that spot is about 225 to 250 yards out.

I was not comfortable taking a shot with the 30-30 so I decided to get out of the tree stand and put a stalk on him. After putting my Indian sneak on him I came out just above him at 75 yards. The snow increased and everything was silent except for hissing of the snow. Put the crosshair just back of the junction of the neck and shoulder with the intent of hitting the spine.

The aim was true and you can see it was almost an instant death. He just made a little hop out of his bed. Federal Power-Shok 150 grain.

Hunting with the Savage 99 now...got a doe tag to fill.

Congrats! Cool story, beautiful buck.

Beautiful buck. Nice job with a nice 336

Great buck!! Nice job

Thank you for not saddling that Marlin with a big assed variable!

Wow....nice 11 point Buck. The taxidermy bill is going to more than your paid for the Marlin 30-30 and money well spent.

Doc

Wow, what a buck. Points for the lever gun.

Very nice buck brother!

Wish I could shoot it with irons, but my eyes are not as good as they were back in the day.

You are right on Doc, I don't have that much money into that 336.

Helluva buck! I like those older Marlins before the fat stock, checkering and crossbolt safety.

Great buck, and great story to go with it. Congrats

Purty buck fur sure.

I've been looking for a 336 like that for a long time. The Serial # needs to start with AD though.

Nice buck!

Even after 120 years, the 30-30 is as mission capable as ever!

WOW! Very nice buck. Heck of a story, too.

Congrats, excellent Buck! Love the 336. Enjoyed the story and pictures. Snow to boot - something that has escaped us this season so far in the Northeast.

nice buck, congrats! and cool story too!

Very nice buck!

The type of woods I like to hunt all a man needs is a good 336 30-30. Been plenty of days I thought of selling everything and just roll with a nice 336 and quality glass....

Great buck. Congrats!

Amazing buck! I have two new (to me) 30-30s I hope to bloody this year myself.

Nicely done! Not much better than hunting in the snow, chasing deer.
I am convinced I could have shot at least 75% of all my deer with such a rifle. On my list of things to do is to actually do some hunting with just that setup. (the days of running iron sights are gone for me)

like it a lot! you do know you could have still used a savage dont ya? mine was made in 1910 and loves the leaverlution ammo. this 3030 is really fun to hunt with! keep up good hunting.

I purchased the rifle with factory irons and the sight picture was fuzzy, put on a Williams FP receiver sight, removed the front sight hood and tried it. Sight pic was better, then put on a firesight, better out to 75 yards, but not good enough for me, so gave up and went with a scope.

To scratch my itch to get a 30-30 I looked for a Savage 99 H barrel band but I realized if the irons did not work they were not D/T for a scope.

Congratulations

Great buck, great picture and a nice looking rifle/scope combo. Good Times!

r o -

Dandy buck ! Great hunt.

Jerry

Congrats on the nice buck. The more you hunt with the Marlin, the more you will like it.

Who could have guessed that a 30-30 would kill a buck that big!Nice one and good story to go with it!

WOW! I think marlin levers are good value. I also think they are of superior yet simplistic design. That buck is a toad! Happy Thanksgiving.

Good story and congratulations on the Buck.

I have had very good results with the 30-30 using several different bullets including cast.

Your story has me thinking about using one of mine for a deer hunt in Tennessee next month.

Dandy buck, congrats!! I have had an itch to shoot a deer with the same rifle in 35 Remington.

It really feels good to scratch that itch...

Wayne- well done! Congrats!
Thanks for sharing.

I got the 3030 itch, boght one, and bloodied it this year also. Not nearly as nice of buck.


Take a look at the hornady LE rounds... I took my buck at 220 yards with it. No problem.

Sumitch that's cool. I kinda miss the old 30/30. Had a 94 Winny when I was a kid. Nifty little cartridge.

What a great buck roundoak. Nice work!

Nice buck. Well done!

Awesome buck. Good job.

I bloodied my .30/30 this year, too. Just a meat doe, though. I used a Leupold M8-4X on mine. It worked fine.

I didn't even bother to load for it, I bought "shells" at the store (the horror of it all!!!).

Mine isn't as pretty as yours, , mine has "character" as defined by the previous owner letting it rust up a bit. Shoots pretty good, though.

Speaking of buying "shells" at the store. One of the finest factory loads for hunting whitetail ever devised, is the Remington 170 grain Core Lokt HOLLOW POINT. Holy moly!! I like loading for the 30 WCF, but there is really no need.

To the OP, congratulations on a nice buck, and style points for sure on the Marlin.

I'm with the other poster about the glass. Love the looks of that straight tube.

Congrats!!

ratsmacker and CT, I reload every rifle I own and after seeing boxes and boxes of 30-30 ammo on the shelves I decided to purchase a lever action and hunt whitetails with it this year.

It has been really fun buying factory ammo and testing them out for accuracy. I definitely have enough brass to reload, but for what little I will be shooting this rifle, going to stick with factory.

CT, I intend to purchase a box of Rem. Core Lokt 170 grain hollow points to see how accurate it is in the Marlin.

While moving around some ammo I found 7 boxes of Remington 170gr Core-Lokt 30/30 ammo and I didn't even have a 30/30 in the house. I quickly found a great 1973 model Marlin 336 so I bought it and brought it home so I wouldn't have extra ammo laying around.

Congrats on the buck. Harvested a few deer with my 30-30 over the years.

Great buck and story Roundoak.

I chickened out this year and hunted with my 8x57 instead of a .30-30 or .32 Winchester Special. Like you it was an iron sight issue. I don't hunt with them anymore.

Get ready for some stick shock when you buy that Remington 170 gr. hollow point. Instead of $13/box like the rest, the local Gander Mountain charges $30/box for that stuff.

Does Remington even offer the 170 gr core-lokt hollow point any longer?

Doc

Apparently, but you have to luckier than a unicorn shoe to trip on a box for sale.

I've got about 2 and a half boxes.

Yeah, I bought a box here the other day that was "inflated".

Wow nice buck & rifle!

I just pulled the scope off mine & bought a Williams FP & high via front blade for it. Need to get it out!

efw, good luck in making the irons work for you. Let us know your results.

Dang! Great job, great hunt, great buck. The old turdy-turdy still gets it done. I might pull mine out for a day this fall.

Great deer, story and rifle. Congrats!!!

That was my plan, too. I moved last year, and all my loading stuff is still packed away for the next anticipated move, whenever that happens. I had some 170CLs that shot pretty well, but I used WW Power Point 150s, just because. Not a fan of Remington ammo, truthfully, but I might break down and buy some more. I got a good deal on the Winchesters.

For the sake of discussion, I was perusing the Midway website a week or so ago, and noticed that the 170 grain HP is going to be loaded by Winchester as well.

It wasn't available when I was shopping, but it is apparently in the pipeline.

We have two Wal-Mart Super Centers where I live and each year in the past before hunting season they always had plenty of Remington Core-Lokt ammo available in the more common calibers including .35 Remington.

This year they didn't have any ammo sitting out. Nothing. The lady behind the counter was clueless. I don't know what Remington is doing now because in the past they would make a once yearly run on less common ammo. They sure know how to lose customers by not having ammo available and now marketing the crappy firearms they build now. I guess it's their new ownership run by libs and bean counters.

Well then. You blew your shot to win the Dink-A-Thon.

Happy Thanksgiving

Snow...classic "woods" rifle...and a very nice buck! What else could you ask for in life.