Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Specialized deer rifles for Whitetail deer hunting

I unloaded my gun room not long ago for some cleaning and my wife and kids were looking at the pile of rifles that a man "needs" to be a deer hunter in these parts. They just don't understand....

I had to do some re organizing a couple of days ago, put most of my rifles in gun cases. Impressive even to me actually. The wife says why would you need more than 20 hunting rifles (she doesn't know about the ones in the attic or the garage), I acted like I didn't hear her. She probably figured I am getting deaf in my old age. Hah!

Yep I have one, works great.

I have one too, kills a well as the 06’s, 300 Win mag and 300 Weatherby rifles I have

My current favorite is a Model 99 F in .300 with a fixed Leupold 6x. Does anything I need to do in the deer woods from up close to out to any range I have any business shooting. Being a fellow loony I have a safe full of other rifles that are perfectly suitable for any type of deer hunting.

My favorite woods rifle is a Marlin 336 .30-30 with 1-4x20 Leupold. Have used a bunch of different pump, semi auto, lever and bolt rifles over the past several decades and never found anything better for the woods hunting I do. For hunting where longer shots are possible, I like my Ruger 77 Hawkeye all weather .30-06 with 3-9x40 Leupold. Amazingly, neither rifle seems too heavy and they both shoot very well {sub MOA} and stay sighted in despite the crappy Leupolds.

Playing deaf....I'll remember that!


My dad took to hiding guns. I'd stop by, and he'd smile conspiratorially, and ask if I wanted to see his new rifle. Next he'd be taking me into the dry storage room downstairs, or in a storage closet. Upstairs, behind boxes. He'd tell me not to tell his wife (my step-mother). He didn't need to hide them, which made it all the funnier. She saw the bank and card statements. She always saw it as an excuse to do her own "secret" shopping. After he passed, we had lots of good laughs over it. He would never own up to buying some guns, and others he would spend a lot of breath selling her on why "they" "needed" them. He was sure a character.

I told her that was her inheritance, that every one of them is worth at least $500. She seemed to have to hold back a smile!

My favorite for the Piney woods is my 50 year old Marlin 336 in 30-30 with a 2-7 x Vortex Viper scope.

I grew up using a Rem. 742 in 30-06 with a 3-9x Redfield on it and now use a Mossberg 4x4 30-06 with a Meopro 3.5-10x 44mm scope on it in more open areas.

If I need something with a little more range I'll bring out my Sako L691 in 300 Wby with a 4.5-14x Leupold scope on it.

My favorite. A Howa SA

It was a "light weight" version but was just too muzzle-light with the pencil barrel. Put a 20" sporter contour on it and that put some weight out front, helping a bunch. Pillar bedded it, added an aftermarket trigger, and replaced the scope with a 3-10X42 SHV. It ain't as light as it was, but it's not too heavy either, and it shoots damn good, with a huge improvement offhand due to trigger and some weight out front.

Handles good in stands, moving through thick stuff, and accurate enough to shoot across a fairly wide field.

I have stainless/synthetic rifles for hunting in the snow & rain.
For the nice days and long walks I have a few lever guns with either Skinner or Williams peeps. My 2 nostalgia days guns are also in this group.
For the briers and thick stuff I take my 7600 Carbine with a 2-7 Leupold.
Variety is good.

Best we can use in Southern Michigan is the .450 Bushmaster. I love mine. I still watch a lot of deer across some of our fields I wish I could use a 7mm or .300. I know a lot of the guys North in the rifle zone carry the ole family 30-30.

For deep woods Eastern US deer hunting, a lever rifle gets it done for me. Most times the ranges are 100yards or less, and many times you might want a quick follow up shot. I personally like larger bores...35 and up. A lever gun is the right tool for my situation.

Rem 660 in 308 sitting in a Brown Pounder.
The trigger sucks, the throating is way long for the magazine,
It's easy to screw up loading it and tip the follower. What a bitch in the dark!

But, I can carry it by the pistol grip and it won't hit the ground. The stock is
cut short enough to come up perfect, even with heavy clothes. And i rarely
shoot it without killing.

When I bought it, I thought it was a short range deer rifle.
Made my longest kill ever with it.

Funny, I have several rifles I want to like better,
but why?

BLR .284 W with a 2-7 Leupold.

Ruger 77 .257 Roberts with a Kahles 3-9x50 for early and late sits and a M700 in .308 Win with a 2-7x33 VX-II for still hunting. Both 22” barrels.

My classic favorite deer rifle is a good bolt action .308 carbine with a 20" barrel with a good variable scope, For hunting on a farm where longer shots might be needed, a .270 is my choice.

Not really very specialized but I've mostly taken to using a single shot 35 Remington or a 357 Herrett pistol almost entirely. The gun season is short on public land and they both qualify for "primitive weapons" so it's just easier to use something that's legal for both seasons and call it good. The other 3.5 months is archery season so there ends up being a lot more time in the woods with a bow than a gun anyway.