Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles first deer rifle survey

Ruger 77 flat bolt in 220 swift.
I was 7 years old

1969, 13 years old german 98 8mm mauser my dad cut down and sporterized

Had a couple Handi Rifles before it, but the first one I actually used deer hunting was a Ruger 96/44 44 when I was 18. Used it a couple seasons then moved on to more accurate rifles, because that thing was about a paper plate shooter at 100yds at its absolute best. Kicked like a mule compared to any other 44 Mag rifle I've ever shot, too.

My first Deer Rifle was a Glenfield (Marlin) Model 30 in 30-30 that I bought myself at age 16.

I previously hunted with a beat up Westernfield (Mossberg) 20 gauge bolt gun using pumpkin balls. It was rendered a single shot due to no magazine and broken extractors. I used an old beat up Case knife to dig the cases out of that. It was so hard to manipulate the Safety that I used to leave the bolt open and carry while holding the shell in the barrel with my thumb.

ETA: I used that Westernfield from age 12.

clockwork 7mm;
Good morning/afternoon to you sir, I hope this finds you well.

The first deer rifle I used was a Model 100 in .308 with what I recall as a Bushnell 4X scope mounted. With it I took a first rack whitetail just east of the Torch River in north central Saskatchewan when I was 14.

As life goes sometimes, that was not my first big game however, as I'd used a borrowed Model 70 .30-06 with a Weaver scope if memory serves, to shoot a kongoni almost a year previous to that.



Funny, I kept the case from the kongoni and it's RWS factory ammo - handloading being unlawful in Kenya back then and possibly still is, I don't know?

Thanks for the thread and the memories, though some are better than others, it's good to remember where we've been to get where we are isn't it?

All the best and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Marlin 336 30-30 in 1971 at age 11.

That's a heck of a way to start hunting!

The most interesting part of this thread so far is how old people were when they started... I imagined the beginning age being younger. But maybe that's a combination of laws that didn't allow hunting big game until 12 and recent trends of starting kids younger because ARs and better bullets for 223s (and the 6.5 Grendel, etc.) make it possible from a shooting standpoint?

I had hunted a couple seasons with a shotgun when I was like 14-15 but wasn't hunting in a rifle deer state until I was 18. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, so there were several years Dad didn't do any big game hunting at all.

clockwork 7mm;
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

The hunt itself was a grand experience, as was the getting there to Kenya. The reasons behind our family being there were fairly complicated and not all positive, but hey, that's life is it not?

For all appearances it seems I've survived it anyways, you know?

If memory serves, back then in Saskatchewan the minimum age was 12 to hunt. Maybe just big game, but maybe anything, sorry that part I'm not sure about.

Here in BC it's 10 and when one turns 10, one can hunt anything and everything that there's a season for. I for one have thought that a graduated "small game" for younger kids wouldn't be an altogether horrible idea, but I'm apparently next to the only one who thinks that!

Here's our two girls with their first bucks, they were 10 and 12 in that photo. The 10 year old on the left is shooting a .250AI and the 12year old a 6.5x55 that she'd inherited from her late Grandad.



Way, way back in the ancient days here on the 'Fire, someone asked what our most memorable day hunting was. That photo is mine sir.

It beat me getting some decent deer, the first black bear, a bull moose and even a California Bighorn. I doubt I'll ever top it.

Thanks again and all the best.

Dwayne

For me, age 12 with a Ruger 77 .243 with a 4x Bushnell Banner. I’da hunted sooner except for the stupid minimum age law PA had at the time. There’s no such goofy minimum age law in AK, so my kid started at 8 with a Ruger Hawkeye compact 6.8 SPC and a Leupold 1-4.

Remington 760 in 6mm Remington. I was 15.

Remington 742 '06. It had a Bushnell Scopechief 4X on it. The scope had a ring that you turned to go from cross hairs to heavy post and cross hair. Funky integral mounting system also.

Got it for my 15th Christmas in '71.

Still hasn't jammed.

35 Remington in a Remington 14 with rear tang sight. 22 years old

My dads model 94 32 special. I still have it. It is 60 years since I got my first deer with it. Used my grandfathers model 54 .30-06 after that first deer. Until Iwas in my early 20's. I still have both and hunt with them once in a while.

I shot my first rifle deer with a Marlin bolt action 22 magnum then was given a Marlin 922M 22 magnum and used it two years.

When I was 9, I went to a Browning A Bolt 243 and at 12 graduated to a BAR 30-06.

My kid starts this year. He’s 7 years old and he is shooting his grandfather’s Win 94 with iron sights. He’s super excited about it.

Winchester 1894, made in 1927. 30-30

Sako L579 Forester in 243. I was 11 years old Deer hunting with my Dad on opening morning, my Dad shot the first 2 point he saw and after we gutted it and hung it in a tree my Dad decided he needed a nap...............I got bored and picked up my Dad's rifle and was going to go hunting on my own when a 3 point appeared a few yards away BOOM my Dad's nap was over !!!!!!!!!
Luckily my cousin didn't fill his tag and was happy to take it.
My Dad gave me this rifle several years later when I graduated High School, one of my grandsons will end up with it some day.

My parents gave me a sporterized 03-A3 Springfield, .30-06, for Christmas when I was 14. It was equipped with a Redfield peep sight. Over the next few years and into my College age, I took several mule deer with it. I still have the rifle, but it hasn't been fired in many years.

At 12 with a winchester 70 ranger compact 243 with a redfield widefield 2-7.