Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What are you deer hunting with this year?

I'm blessed with a 4+ month season and a deep roster.

A few rookies will be first up in the rotation to evaluate their performance:
Howa mini 6 ARC
Howa mini 6.5 Gren will see the field as a fan favorite of the younger group
7-08 Defiance seems to be a preseason contender for rookie of the year
Tikka .308

Several reliable players from previous years will be called on in big games:
Fieldcraft 6.5 CM
M7 .308
Havak 6.5 CM
NULA 50 muzzleloader

Never know what might come off the bench to change the pace of the game.

I used my Tikka T3 Varmint in .223.





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I rotate rifles daily...or every day that I hunt. Opening day usually 7.65 Peruvian Mauser sporter. After that, a rotation of 8x57 BRNO, 7x57 BRNO, Rem. Model 30 Express '06, 6.5 Swede, 70 FWT '06, Post 70 .308, 1903 MS 6.5x54, 1904 Steyr Mannlicher 8x57. And a profusion of iron sighted classics, most of which have never made meat, unfortunately. No sense in having them if you don't use and enjoy them. One drawback, every morning after leaving the Jeep, I have to perform several drills of re-learning the safety operation.

Model 70 Classic Sporter 30-06
Model 70 European FWT. 6.5x55
Model 70 XTR 7mm Mauser
Ruger #1 45-70
Marlin 30-30 AI
Maybe some more....
Got 6 weeks to mash em' with lots of time off.

Would love to kill a big buck but antlers make poor stew...

Same Marlin .30.30 I've been using for the last 10 years or so.

So far this year I've taken two whitetails during antlerless season with a rifle, both while field hunting. One was taken with a custom Big Horn TL3 with TT Diamond, a Proof barrel, Manners stock, S&B glass, suppressed with a GemTech Sandstorm Ti. This rifle is chambered in 6.5 PRC shooting 143 gr. ELD-X over H4831SC. Shot was 350 yards. Second was taken with a Browning Hell's Canyon SR in 6.5 PRC with a Leupold VX-3i shooting a 130 gr Sierra Tipped GameKing over H1000.

When the general season comes around, I'll be hunting woods with a Browning X-Bolt SR 18" .308 Winchester with a VX-3i, GemTech suppressor, and a 150 gr Partition over Varget. Backing it up will be my T3X .308 Winchester I've posted about in the past along with the above Browning PRC.

killed a youngster 9-point yesterday with my crossbow at 20 yards.
single shot NEF .45-70 with peeps, scoutified .308 remington 700 with burris 2.75x20, 8x57 mauser wearing peeps are waiting in line ...

Only LRX I've recovered, 144.3gr from 466 yards, quartering away.

Starting with a Ruger Hawkeye 358. I may use my Sako 25-06 or my Remington 742 in 308. Not sure how much hunting I’m going to get to do.

I'm still undecided, but this one is a contender.

FA-97 in .45.

I was going to resurrect the Whelenizer this year. It's a Rem 7600 in 35 Whelen, but I was not getting the velocities or the accuracy I expected and put it aside for next year.

My go-to Opening Day rifle is a Savage 99 in 308 WIN.

I'm taking a TC Compass in 7mm-08 with a 139 grain Hornady load that's breaking 2900 fps. That should be fun.

I've got the 25-06 Mauser back with a 100 grain Speer.

My safety blanket is my KAR 98 sporter in 8X57 with a 175 grain Hornady.


This coming weekend is early Muzzleloader. I'm taking the Brown Bess.

On Sunday, I was reconnoitering my WMA and discovered they’d nuked the brushy meadows and planted food plots, so the Fieldcraft 6 might actually get a chance to do what it’s built for; well 200 yards or so anyway.

Had it out yesterday to check the zero and it put 95gr LRXs, 95gr BTs, and factory 103gr ELDXs all in almost exactly the same spot. Pretty impressive. Saturday is the first firearms opportunity, Old Men and Children days for does, bear, and turkeys. Neighbor had a bruiser of a bear on his game cam, regrettably in the wrong direction for where I hunt, but still interesting.

Season is open here already. I’m using the same rifle I’ve hunted deer with for 30 years. My savage 99 in 300 savage.

Kimber Montana
7/08
Lapua 308 hulls, Reloader under a 162 Amax (old)
Fixed 6 on top

It just kills chit.

First nice rifle I ever bought was in 1979 when I turned 18. Remington Model 700 Classic in .270 win.

Wow! Now that’s a pistol! Very nice!

Ouch! In AR & MS, I can hunt with either a Winchester 1885 qualifying as a "primitive" weapon or using a modern gun for a total of 87 days from the first week of November to then end of January. Both states combined would allow around a dozen deer harvested if I had more freezer space.


Hey geedubya, beautiful rifles as always. That 6.5x55 you posted a picture of has that same buttstock that was on the rifle tex_n_cal sold back in June. If it's not the same rifle, it looks like it came from the same batch:

windows screen capture

I plan to hunt with a Browning 1885 in .44 Magnum, an 1885 in .405 Winchester, a Ruger #1 RSI in .275 Rigby & a Sako 85 Hunter in 30-06.

The other day I went grouse hunting with a BRNO o/U 12 gauge 22 Savage HiPower, you know, in case I stumbled across a buck while I was out. *Note to self- Don't go grouse hunting during deer season. Your eyes aren't what they used to be with iron sights.

*sigh*

I usually hunt with a Savage 99 in 284 for deer and bear, but am trying to mix it up by taking others out. Problem is, you only get a chance at a good blacktail buck once in a great while and I don't want to miss my chance by carrying something like a 38-55 carbine or a 32-40 rifle. If ranges were 40 yards sure, but you gotta shoot long sometimes. It's a real conundrum.

If I hunt my new stand on a pine tree island I’ll be using my 348 O&U double rifle. It’s very thick and shots would be 30 yards at the most. A good blood trail out both sides is very desirable due to nearby beaver ponds, just in case he decides to expire in a different location.

Remington 700 Classic in 7x57 and then either a Browning BAR in 270 Win or a Remington 7600 on 3006