Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What did you use to kill your first deer?

Winchester M70 30-06. 180gr Partition. Same rifle/load I killed my first elk with as well.

Just spent time reading this entire thread.... a lot of good memories from those days, told by other campfire members.

No one has mentioned it, but its amazing of how often the 30/30 from multiple manufacturers is mentioned... then the old 870 Remington Shotgun. Seems we were also able to make real cheap scopes ( by today's campfire standards) work, often mentioning Tascos, in 4 power, or the 3 x 9 x 32. Heck I've bought the 4 power Tasco for like $25 to $29 in the last 10 to 15 years, and the 3 x 9 x 32 for $39 to $49 in the same time period....

First scope I ever bought on my own, I put on a 30/06 in a Rem 700 ADL with a gloss wood stock, a 3 x 9 x 32 tasco. I thought I was styling after using open sites on a 30/30 before that time. This would have been 1980. I think I paid $179 for the Model 700 in 06, at Sears in the Twin Cities. And the Tasco was probably $25 or so., then the rings like $5.00 a set back then. It still worked just fine in Northern MN north of the Iron Range were I hunted with my wife's family... at least until I breathed on the scope's glass and it instantly iced over for the rest of the day... So I beat that problem by going to see thru mounts., and later changed to hinged mount, I could push over to the left and go to open sites.

The first two deer I ever shot were in 1966 at Ft Bragg... Model 94 and then my younger brother got to use that, and I was stuck with the 870 Remington 12 gauge.. still have both of those.

We all sure got by with a lot of inexpensive stuff in your youth....that most of us wouldn't even admit owning these days, much less paying for something that inexpensive. Funny tho, we seemed to make do with what we had in those days... so why not these days?

As for myself, I use to think the bigger caliber I had the bigger badass hunter that made me. Nowadays, a good old 22.250, or a 6 x 45, or a 6.5 Grendal is more than "all I need"....My favorite scope use to be a 2 x 7... nowadays, I have quite a few 4.5 x 14s on rifles...but then I can shoot stuff at much further distances than I could in my youth. Hell in those days in my world, a 200 yd shot being successful, is what I'd consider a 900 to 1000 yd shot being successful in today's world.

The thread, after reading the entire thing today.... Times sure have changed in our minds for many of us, compared to what we thought was the best option in your younger days....

I think the third rifle I ever bought, was my 444 Marlin... that thing was a cannon! I still have that rifle also... but I handload it, and it kills just as well, but a lot less recoil than factory fodder.. yet only gives up about 10 to 15 yds point blank range... with the right scope reticle on it, it doesn't give up ANY PBR. It usually has a 1.5 x 4.5 shotgun scope on top these days...with a Circle X reticle. Most than " all ya need".

But I'm sure there are others on here also... but the time has come, that I need to start passing these treasures on to younger folks....who can use and enjoy them... but I hesitate due to giving away other rifles to someone, who used them once and then sold them for a cheap price, just to blow it on something stupid like a couple cases of beer.. or probably some dope ( common around here )

Interarms Mark X .270 win w 150gr partitions, bushnell trophy 3-9

Remington model 742 30-06.

Model 740 30-06. Fresh out of the Navy and reunited with my best friend who ignited my admiration for the Savage 1899/99. year 1966

75 years ago, when I was a baby, my dad got a deer with a rock. We were on a ranch in SE Oregon where Dad was a ranch hand and Mom was teaching in a 1 room school. One lazy Sunday afternoon when everyone was off work, Dad had walked down to the creek and saw a forky standing in the water. Dad had played baseball on a town team and had a very good arm. He threw a rock at it and it dodged it but didn't run. Dad threw a couple more and the deer kept dodging them, but still stood there. Then something distracted it and it looked to the side. Dad pitched another one and hit it in the side of the head, cold conking it. He didn't have a gun or even a knife so he dragged it to a fence and tied it to a post with his belt. Then he walked back to the ranch for a knife and gun. He told the other men that he had a deer tied to a post and they all laughed but several did follow him back to the creek. By this time the deer was awake and struggling. Dad shot it and dressed it and had lots of help dragging it back to the ranch.

12 gauge Lefever shotgun loaded with #1 buckshot.

If you are going to use buckshot, 12 ga #1 was the best. Patterned very well. In NH it was banned years ago because the pellets weren't 30 cal. The only deer I ever killed with a shotgun was killed with Winchester Mark V in #1 buck.

Beat- up savage 99 ,250-3000 lever with at a peep-sight. 100 gr win silvertip. Dad had bought the rifle from a coworker for $75. My brother & I both shot our first deer with it. Some POS stole it years later. Wish I still had it. Some things are worth more than money.

A #4 Mk1 Lee Enfield .303 British with my handload using a Hornady 150gr spire point and IMR 4895 powder, in 1971. The deer was a cow-horn spike buck. I killed my first seven deer with that rifle and load. My Grandfather had "sporterized" the rifle by removing the top wooden handguard and then shortening and rounding off the forearm with a handsaw and wood rasp and wiping a little linseed oil on it.

I hunted southern Michigan so I used a shotgun. Winchester Model 25 in 12 gauge. I was using Remington Sluggers. A buck sneaked behind me at 25 yards and I dropped him stone dead. It was 11am on opening day. Everyone else was in eating lunch then but I told them that I was staying out until dark. They thought I was nuts.


I cleaned it out totally on my own, after watching it done exactly once. The look on everyone's faces watching me drag that half rack buck already cleaned into camp was priceless. I was on top of the world.

Win 94 in 30-30.for white-tail ( still use it as my walk-about rifle up here)
Mauser 98 in 30-06 first muley
First moose and black bear, Marlin 336 in 30-30.
First caribou, first goat, sporterized 03-A3 in 308 Norma Mag
First ram Rem 700.243.(Have)
First pheasant Savage 410-22
First sharptail, first duck a Damacus steel hammered double in 12 ga. (I shudder now that I think of using that thing with modern shells!)
First dove, first goose, first sage hen Savage-Fox 12 ga double, 30 " bbls(Have)

Never did hit one of those damned Huns. With anything. Not for lack of trying. Stupid guns.

6mm Rem for 1st Mule Deer (1977)
.243 for 1st whitetail
.300 Weatherby for 1st elk
.300 Win Mag for 1st antelope
.375 Ultra Mag for 1st bison
.375 Ultra Mag for 1st Oryx

Stevens 12ga pump with rifled slug

Marlin 30AS in 30-30 Win, still have it.

Old S&W 38 Special with 6” barrel and factory sights.

Win '94.......32 Special