Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Hunting les efficiently out of choice

Its peak rut here and I've had great success early season - best ever. I've had luck in locating and my rifle comes up on sticks or in the stand and the buck is down.

Heading out of state and I'm thinking I'm giving up perfect ergonomics, optics etc (7-08, mcmillan game hunter, supressed etc) for my old warhorse ZG 06. Slightly harder to shoot but makes me smile every time I look at it in the stand. I'll also be avoiding fields. I want a buck gliding through the trees in the mist and the soft shove of the old girl against my shoulder and I'm willing to reduce my chances of success to achieve that.

Anyone else pursue a type of hunting or use a rifle at the risk of being less 'effective'?

I’ve been known to tote an iron sighted rifle on occasion just because I enjoy it. I also do all my muzzleloader hunting with traditional style sidelock rifles and when I bow hunt it’s with a recurve or long bow.

So yes I have and do. It’s about doing what makes me happy.

Yeah, going to be toting a .50 cal. flintlock I bought in the summer. Something about that appeals to my love of history. And it's a lot of fun to shoot!
Recently had knee replacement, so I won't be hiking the hills of Pennsylvania with my 257 Roberts this year.

Nope, those get sent down the road. If they dont handle well I get rid of them.

OP, where are you at? Seems early for peak rut about anywhere...unless you're hunting some exotic in Tejas or something.

I've purposefully limited myself, for several purposes. One reason is the easier to get tags (usualy muzzleloader or archery) but also just because I felt like more of a challenge. I've killed quite a few mule deer with open sighted leverguns when I could have used a scoped bolt gun.

I've also passed shots I am sure I could have made because I wanted the fun of getting closer. Usually not though😁.

Flintlocks.
Stock handguns.
Iron sighted rifles.
Sometimes a wood long bow with wood arrows.

And when I do use scoped rifles, nearly all of them are technology dating from the 1950 and back The only "modern rifle" I own is a Mossberg MVP 308, and it's not some new kind of action. Just a simple push feed rifle and the scope on it is a Weaver K4.

I have nothing against the newest types, styles, scopes and calibers but they just hold no great interest to me. I have been killing game with guns since 1964 and when I started, the gun I first used was 30 years old at that time. a Savage 99 made some time in the 20s. I never saw that newer was really better for hunting. Target shooting.....yes. Hunting.....no.

I love to hunt. If I only wanted to kill an animal I can go to any ranch around here and buy a beef cow and knock it in the head or shoot it, and do it for WAY less money then buying some supper speed plastic stocked rifle and mounting as $2000 scope on it. Shooting game at long range for me is as fun as killing a cow in a slaughter house. If others like doing that, it's ok with me. But for my own enjoyment I want to hunt them, not just kill them.
I have killed 3 head of game so far this year and every one was with an iron sighted rifle. One with a stock M1 Garand, one with a Remington M141 in 35 Remington with a peep sight, and one with a Marlin 30-30 with a peep sight. I have 4 more to get, and I probably will kill at least 3 of them with rifles with only irons and maybe even the 4th one too.

I shoot well, and I do a lot better with scopes. But that's not the point to me. I do just as well with irons if I am close enough to be sure of the kill. The activity of getting close is what is the fun part to me. So a kill at 7 yards with a 44 magnum handgun is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more fun to me than a kill at 700 yards with my 270.

Contrats Otto

NO, I can't use open sights. The rear is only a BLUR.

Beside at 70, I'm ALL about efficiency ! LOL

Jerry

Well said, x2. Just make yourself happy, in the end, that’s what it’s all about. I still can’t wipe the grin off my face from zeroing my 49 M70 with Lyman peep earlier today. I will try to kill a deer with it this year, if not...meh

Winchester M54 .30-30 Win. and Lyman 48 WJS for the sits this year.
Dialed it in with the help of 6 or 7 Campfire members at the Savage Rendezvous this past August.

Not really for me intentionally. If I have a rifle tag, I use my hunting rifle. I really only have the one I use for pretty much everything. It's a 308 and I can use all of its potential. For coyotes and pdogs I'll use my AR that's set up how I like too. I like to bow hunt with my company pse and I can use that the way it's intended as well. Same goes for muzzleloader season. I mounted a red dot because the irons are tough to see with my stigmatism. If I pass on a shot is because I didn't have it, didn't want the animal or didn't want it to die there so I'll wait. 50 yards or 500 yards doesn't matter as long as I can make the shot count.

Everybody has their thing. Me? It's not just deer hunting; it is specifically about deer camp. After 40 years of deer hunting, that's where I'm at. The last 2 weeks of November are what I live for.

Now, having said that, it ain't deer camp if I don't make an effort. I hold the camp record and the #3, #4. . . I've got plenty of bigguns. My largest was 270lbs live weight, but the neighbors have downed ones pushing 300. If I go out with some diminuated firearm and things go sideways, now I've got the whole camp in a tiz. We've got to go chasing my deer, and when we do find it, we all play hell getting it out.
I'm 62 and the days of me digging a big buck out of the deepest ravine unassisted are probably over. If I'm going to go out and fill my buck tag, I'm bring out the A-Kit. That usually means a 30-something: 30-06, 308 WIN, 7.62X54R, maybe 8X57. I'd bring my 35 Whelen, but I never found it to be any better at bringing a large deer down. I save my experimentation for my freezer-filler exercises at the end of season.

I had to give up bowhunting because of a bad shoulder, and I've had to mostly give up iron sights because of my old eyes. That whole method-thing went out the window 15 years ago.

Yes, I've still got a yen to shoot the more challenging stuff, but I normally save that for the paper.

Recurve for my primitive stuff.
After that its boomsticks w scopes.

I don't own a scoped rifle and haven't used one in over 25 years......wait, it's over 30 now. Got nothing against them and if I were still shooting long range, smokeless competition I'd have the best I could afford. We're all different...and for me it's a WHOLE lot more about how and what with than just killing something. Most thrilling kills have been with muzzleloaders. After that, single shot, BPC rifles and after those, vintage German rifles, drillings, combination guns, double rifles...one from the 1870's and lastly the vintage Mausers and Mannlicher/Schoenauers. Some are simple open sights and others are tang/receiver/peep sights. At 67, I can still see pretty darn good......and have no idea how long that will last so I'm going to milk it til the last dog dies.