Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game How Many Shells

I am just curious, when hunting big-game, how many shells do you carry including the ones in your firearm? I usually carry 12, three in the rifle (if a bolt action) and 9 in an MTM plastic shell holder.

i carry seventeen. three in my rifle and fourteen in a shell carrier that i bought from cabelas. it fits right on to my belt and folds so shells cant fall out. deer season starts tommarrow for around here!! <P> <BR> raiderboy [img]images/icons/cool.gif" border="0[/img]

Rolly- I usually carry 5 (44Mag) in the gun, 12 in a Uncle Mikes cartridge pouch on the belt and then the rest of the box in the truck about a mile away. Also 6 in the 45 Auto on my hip. Dad also uses a 44 Mag if I run out. I always like to be loaded for bear when I hunt whitetails. [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] Bob

I usally carry 8 for the rifle and 12 for the revolver.If handgun only I usally carry 15 to 20 rounds.

I usually take whatever amount of ammo it takes to reload the gun twice more. Extra cartridges will be in the pack, or in camp. Sometimes I carry more if I'm after bears. (Just in case it wants to eat me and I can't shoot straight! [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img])~~~Suluuq

Guys, the deer must be really tough where you hunt. I load the rifle and carry one extra shell in my pocket. If I do not have a deer after that, something has to be wrong. Can not really remember when I needed more than two shots. Of course, I hunt mostly in the South and you are home every night to reload. When I hunt Montana or Canada, I usually take 30 to 40 shells along. :-) TM

What, are you guys crazy?! [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img] <BR>I never count shells, as it is bad luck to count on a set number of shots. I Just make sure it's an odd # and can reload the gun if needed.<BR>7mmbuster

For whitetails, one in the chamber and three in the magazine (700 Rem/.30/06). I usually shoot them up close from the back door or the porch, so don't need much follow up ammo. The rifle is always loaded and leaning in the kitchen corner.

I carry six in my rifle and five in my pack. <P>Along this same topic, I always continue shooting as long as I can still see the animal. If I shoot once then I continue until the gun is empty. The six shots have gone pretty fast. Maybe this is a bad idea since the chances of wounding an animal increases with distance and speed. I assume I hit the animal with the first shot and am attempting to anchor it with the rest. <P>Of course the other line of thinking is to shoot once and wait for the animal to fall. My oldest brother lost an enormous buck to this thinking when shooting uphill his bullet went low and he waited for the buck to fall as it cautiously walk away.

Load the rifle with three and then put the green and yellow box in the front zipper pocket of my backpack.

I usually carry five in my .35Marlin and ten in the bullet pouch on my belt.<BR>YH

Four in my rifle, and ten in the cartridge carrier on my belt....<P>Plus a box of 20 in my daypack...<P>Unless I'm hunting more than half a mile from my truck. Then I carry two boxes...<P>Plus seven in my left pants pocket...<P>And ten in my hat band...<P>I'll generally put two in each shirt pocket. If I'm wearing two shirts, that's eight, and those could come in handy. <P>If it's actually open season on what I'm looking for, I'll generally double this. But no more than that, 'cause I want to go light. <P>Of course, this is all assuming I'm carrying my usual five-gallon jug of water. If I'm not, then I can carry all the ammo I want.<P>OK, I really just carry the four in my rifle and five to ten in the cartridge carrier.<P>I stopped carrying the five-gallon jug of water, 'cause it was a hassle carrying a tube of those little paper cones around.

I load my gun and put one bullet in each pocket of everything I am wearing.<P>That way, in a panic rush when I have to reload, no matter where I look for a bullet I will find one. [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img]<P>When carrying my muzzleloader, I usually load two charges in the barrel for that quick follow up shot! [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img]

Good tip on the muzzleloader, there, Blammer. Thanks.

Does 26 rounds sound like a lucky number? Where I hunt I am way out in the outbacks compared to where others tread so when I break a leg or something and someone is missing me (I hope) I wan't to be able to sound them in. Has anybody ever heard anyone tell a story about running out of ammo? Not this fella. 06

I'm all for my hunting partners going out with their mags full and no more. I got a nice elk that way.<P>Hunting partner had his Rem.700 in 7mm Mag. We were on horseback. To make a long story short, we were disnmounted and following the tracks of a fair bull. Partner and I split up to pincer the bull on the other side of a section of forest.<P>When I get to my partner he's all breathless at the edge of a small park. He says "He's a nice one, isn't he?"<BR>"Where is he?" I asked.<BR>"He's right there in the middle of that feld!"<BR>"No he isn't. I just came from there."<BR>"I just shot him. He's right over there."<BR>No elk. Turns out my opartner had emptied out at the bull running across the park. The bull fell near the other side. I went back, partner went back to the horse for a reload.<P>Darkness was approaching ruthlessly, so I put caution to the wind and ran as fast as I could on the elk's tracks. Fortunately, I came to a thick portion of woods soon and paused just in time to see the bull looking over his shoulder at me. I shot him with a Colt .270 Win. He dropped like a stone.<P>My partner had made a perfect shoulder shot on the bull, only 18 inches too low. The leg was broken cleanly about midway down. That's when he fell. It also happened to be my partner's last shot, so he had to go back for more rather than go to the bull with an empty gun.<P>The bull was a 5 x 4 due to a broken tine.<P>Needless to say, that experience hasn't been lost on me. I usually carry a frame pack with an ammo box lashed firmly. That's when I'm not backpacking!<P>Talus.

This brings up a very good point!!!!! If everyone just carried three rounds in the rifle while hunting, there would be much less game wounded. Hope and chance shots would be eliminated and shooters would be forced to hunt and take good shots at game instead of just throwing lead. --- I know, now comes all the, "what if's", but just think about it realistically. Of course this is way over the young hunters heads and won't understand it. -- no

Well, as the original shotgunner who believes you can never carry too many shotgun shells, I can see some of you guy's point, particularly out West where you might conceivably have a bunch of long range chances at a wounded animal, but around here, for deer hunting rifles, I carry a magazine full and a few more in my pocket just in case I am charged by a coyote, but have never used more than 3 included an extra insurance shot on deer. Actually never had one that I thought would get away after the first one, but I pick my shots. <P>7mmbuster:<P>Hmmmm, how do you know you have an odd number of shells without counting?

I hunt with muzzleloaders only. I carry two speed loads ready but never have had to use them. I carry a Ruger Old Army when I'm hunting and have taken two deer and 3 pigs with it. I've been fortunate, I started deer hunting in my 3rd year of high school (1965)and after 5 years of learning what not to do I have filled at least one tag every year.

NO - I wish everyone thought like you. I won't hold my breath.<P>I remember on my first deer hunt, I had a full box in my pack, in addition to 4 in the gun (as well as tons of other stuff I didn't need). I never could figure out why. I never would have needed so many rounds because I had it in my head from the very beginning that a responsible hunter only took standing broadside shots, so much so that I passed on two bucks that were less than 100yds away, one of them probably 50ft, because they were facing away from me. I could have easily killed them both with fanny shots, but I didn't even try it. Go figure.<P>Then I got wiser and started just loading my gun and left the rest in camp. Never needed more, even though I also started shooting deer on the run (close shots only). But later I started thinking too much, and wondered what if my sights got knocked around or something, and it took me 3 or 4 shots to figure that out. I wouldn't be able to fix it right away or keep hunting. So now I carry an extra 3 or 4 for emergencies, but that's all.<P>When carrying a ML, I have 2 speedloaders ready. But when hunting with a ML, you don't take wild shots that waste ammo, so you rarely need more than one load. -al