Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Surely none of you are crass enough to use a 30-06 on deer!

I just set up my second general purpose 30-06 and plan on thinning the herd dramatically, down to a dozen or so rifles. The scheme is to use the 30-06 as my main cartridge from now on out for any big game hunting I will do in the future. The other rifles will be for shooting, home defense and varmint hunting. I started out with the 30-06 and without doubt I could have used it exclusively for the past 45 years of hunting. That said I will have a pair of 270's as backup rifles. Actually just wondering how many of us still hunt deer with the grand old 30-06.

I used an 8x57 for my buck tag this year. I planned to use my .30-'06 for a doe tag later, but than didn't happen. It was a shame too, because it was a new to me load with a 150 gr. Sierra SBT at 2900 fps that was particularly accurate I wanted to try. My old load with that rifle was the Hornady 180 gr. RN at 2580 fps, and it never failed to leave an exit wound or dead deer or bear.

I use mine mostly when the weather is bad as it's the only stainless/synthetic rifle I own.

Not this year. But, do I have a few '06s floating around here? Yeah.

And here I was wanting to buy a .30-06............what the hell was I thinking?

These new fangeled cartridges......

What is sooooooo wrong with the 3003?

I've hunted with mine all year. I find myself reaching for it more often regardless of what I'm hunting. It just flat out works.

Pre 64 Featherweight, smooth and handy. '06 fast enough, great bullet selection, no ammo shortage !

Actually this year was my first time ever to shoot a deer with an '06. In the past I've used .308, 7x57, .223 & even a .338 Win Mag; all seem to kill them equally dead.

works on hogs, too!

Hard to beat a 30-06 , I've got a few rifles but my 700 mtn rifle is the one I use 80% of the time.

#3 son, Angus was out with his WIN 670 in 30-06 on the last Sunday of rifle season, stalking in the fog. He wandered into a herd of doe out munching in the field. He took his shot at under 10 yards and filled his tag.



He says that 670 is his all-time favorite. It was my favorite for many years as well.

I carried the '06 once this past week for deer. That was it's only trip afield. I carried the 35 Whelen the last two days. Now the season is over here.

I love my 670 too. But mine is a Whelen now.

I have one, but mainly use a .308. But that is due more to the rifle than the cartridge.

I've killed most of my deer with a 30-06......never felt undergunned.

I love guns. Because I love guns, I have deer rifles that I have never even shot yet. Usually the choice of which gun gets to hunt comes down to which ones I have ammo loaded for, which ones are sighted in and ready to go. But regardless of which one gets picked, the old Remington Springfield M1903 30-06 will be with us on the hunt, because if all else fails, I know it won't.

When I started hunting in the '70's you couldn't swing a dead cat in the woods around here without hitting somebody carrying a .30-06. They're still not rare but now I'd say the .308 is more prevalent. Back then the most popular '06 rifles were Remington 760's and 742's. Now it's scoped bolt actions that rule.

I killed my opening day buck with a 30-06 this year. It worked and I was able to drive the truck right up to where it went down. So it worked well.

I have to say,I've killed a lot of deer in my lifetime with different cartridges and I've seen a lot of deer killed with different cartridges,but everytime I have killed a deer with the 30-06 I have been impressed.The thing is magic.Over a 100yrs old and better today than when it was born.