Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles which State is shooting what??

Most people I know personally in Colorado use a 30'06, and a few of them use 270's.

Almost everything I have killed has been with my old wood stocked 30'06 Savage.

Most of the guys I know use either 338wm, 300wm, or 30-06. tom

I live in the state of confusion, so I hunt with a whack of different cartridges.

243, 303, 30-06, 300WM, 405Win, 45-70, 12 guage, 22LR. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Kansas deer camps that I've been in seem to lean toward bolt actions in .270/7mm to .30's. In the same day you might be hunting brush or looking at 400yd shots. Lots of oldtimers are shooting .270Win's that were purchased to use on coyotes and Colorado Elk before we had a deer season. Me included. Jack O'Conner and Outdoor Life had something to do with that. Good luck.

George

Georgia.. opening day last year

8-30'06
3-308
3-7 Remmag
1-35 whelen
1-7-08ai
1-7-08
1-25'06

1 Encore rest Bolt.. 1/2 custom

Here is the inventory of guns at my Deer camp in the mountains of Maine last year

1) .30-06 Benelli R1
2) .30-06 Remington 700BDL
3) .30-06 Remington Mountain Rifle
4) .30-06 Remington 742
5) .30-06 Remington 740
are you seeing a trend here?
and
6) 30-30 Marlin. (there is one in every crowd)

I also haven't seen a Krag used in a while. Seems like most use the 30-06 or 270 around here.It's still nice to see 35 Remingtons used though!

Last year's breakdown for the PA deer woods as follows:

270 Win (5)
270 WSM (1)
30-06 (1)
280 (2)
7mm-08 (2)
260 Rem (1)
257 Weatherby (1)
257 Roberts (1)

" 6) 30-30 Marlin. (there is one in every crowd)"
...That a pretty good one. HWGTYD !!

It does seem like the venerable 30/30 has seen its glory days gone by. Of course those shooting them, may be out scouting not writing...lets hope so. (Any of the said 30/30 folks using the new Hornady ammo?)
Steelheads 233AI. Who knew?... but I don't get out much.

Minnasota Machinegun!! Way to get the lead out!
I've been told that the Reemy semiauto is also the ax of choice in Maine's snow country when tracking deer.

PA, too bad about the 30/40 Krag. I always thought that rumor was kinda cool. Out of curiosity, was it at one time more popular there than in other states?
I especially like that in Derby Dudes' Montana... MONTANA!!! The Porkchop Hill 308W is knocken 'em real hard.

The 300WSM? I think that one will stick.

30/06 you still the King with the 270 as your forever Queen.
Hope to dig up some more stats from the shooting associations...
HC

At our Pennsylvania deer camp its: 300 savage, .308 win, 30/30, .243, 7mm-08. Most of the guys in the woods are carrying those mentioned and the 30-06, .270.

Still mostly 30.06 and .270 in my neck of the woods.............547

I'd say most popular is the 30-06, followed closely by the 270, 308 and the 30-30. 12 and 20 Gauge shot guns still out and about as well.

NH Hunter.

A senior salesman in a big gun outlet in Houston told me they sold far more .270 Winchesters than any other caliber.

goll dang it... the firat reply!1 the very first reply had to be what i hoped i wouldn't see... "MN Machinegun"

I still don't get it, haven't seen it for myself.

I know we've milled this over several times in the past between us MN boys... I guess they must have there pockets of popularity or something but I don't know of anybody that uses one. I visit a lot of camps across the north half of the state & I just don't see them. I see mostly bolt actions, 270 is king in the far northwest to north central that I know of, 30-06 seems to take over towards the north east (iron range) but there's a hell of a mix, I see everything from .243, 7mm-08, 25-06, .308, 7mm in what ever variety, not many 260 or 280... some 300 win mag, a few 338 win mag, some odd balls like a 308 norma.... a few older levers in some classic sav type offerings like 300 sav, 250, always a 30-30 kicking around in someone's camp.... I see BAR's, BLR's I see A bolts, 700's, M70's... some sporter mausers... savage 110's... I just don't see many jam-o-matics up this way though.

Our Kentucky camp last year:

1 30-06 Savage 110
1 270 Win Remington 721
2 30-30 both Marlins
1 300 WSM Savage
1 T/C Encore 50 cal MZ

Here in Western Washington the terrain is rather varied, and I would expect that you would find find about everything from 45-70 Govt on down to the .243 Win (.24 cal is the smallest legal hunting caliber). I don't think there is a clear favorite. I see lots of the usual suspects: .308, 30-06, .270, .30-30, etc.

South Dakota -

I'd guess 80% are either 30-06 or 270

After that, you'll see a few 7 mags, 243's, 308's. 25-06 seems to be gaining popularity, but it's still quite a ways behind.

30-30 used to be huge, but you don't see it much anymore around here.