Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters A Close-in Deer Rifle

I wasn't thinking about the Savage 300 case being the one that generated the idea of the 308 Winchester. I was thinking from the 35 Remington end and why did Remington pick that head size for the 35 Remington which is different from nearly everything.

I would love to have my 12 gauge Rem 870 rifled with a 1-100" twist for round balls. Do you remember who did the rifling?

I may have had a Dog with me that day...In fact some of the nicest Bucks I've crossed paths with was with a Dog running in front of me while hunting Grouse. However, while being quiet is one thing, many of my Deer have been shot while walking thru the woods, while trying to be quiet, but not making a job of it. Most times I caught them watching me while I was walking along. Or saw them move, then stop to watch me. Have also shot a few running, after bouncing them out of their bed. Or if they didn't go that far before stopping to look back. Some obviously made a fast escape and left me with nothing. However an all day hunt, not trying to make a sound wouldn't be all that much fun.

Have shot two within steps close. Model 70 Fwt for one and a Kimber Montana for the other. Others have been shot close on Deer drives with Model 70 FWT's


Addition: Familiarity with a good mount and getting into the scope, will make most rifles work close.

Have mentioned this before in such discussions, but have killed running bucks and pigs at 10-20 yards with 6x scopes, or variables set on 6x.
But have also killed big game out to 350 yards with iron sights.

And have friends who are even better at it. Mine was a bull caribou, about the size of a cow elk. Have a good friend who's done it, first shot, on a pronghorn a little farther away. And mine with with an aperture rear sight. If I recall correctly, his was with open sights--and a Savage 99.

It depends mostly on the hunter, not the rifle. Which has been said in many ways, many times....

The most informative discovery I made was on stocks . This one rifle should be painful and isn't. I wondered why ? Another comes up quick. I wondered why ?

I think that if you act like a predator, then animals treat you accordingly. They can tell when you're walking along doing something else.


Okie John

I've taken several deer in excess of 200 yards and one at just over 300 with an aperture sighted Winchester 94 .30-30. Doesn't mean an iron sighted .30-30 is particularly well suited or a good choice for hunting deer out in open farm fields. Neither is a 6x scope well suited to hunting deer at short range in heavy cover. Just means sometimes a good marksman can often make do with whatever happens to be in his hands.

blackheart,

You are a good example of the word "provincial." Unlike you, I have hunted a wide variety of big game, not mostly deer, and have taken plenty of others at 50 yards or less. (There are seven legal species of big game other than deer just in Montana, but also travel to other places quite a bit.) Just went through my hunting notes, and found I've taken 13 other species at 50 yards or less, ranging in size from under 100 pounds to around 1500, including Cape buffalo and a grizzly.

As for 6x scopes being a poor choice, much of the myth that 6x's too much for closer shooting appeared when scopes were much "skinnier" than nowadays. The major factor in field of view is the rear (ocular) lens, which is essentially the "viewing screen" in scopes. In older 6x scopes it was very narrow, but modern scopes have much wider oculars. The typical field-of-view for new fixed 6x scopes or variables set on 6x is at least 20 feet at 100 yards, which means 10 at 50 yards, and around four feet at 20 yards. Since the front end of even the biggest whitetail or mule deer isn't more than four feet tall, this means there's plenty of field of view to make a 20-yard shot--or closer--IF the shooter is reasonably well-practiced with a scoped rifle.

Those that can shoot a scope with both eyes open have fewer issues with higher magnification. At least that is my experience.

If the rifle is pointing in the right direction, it helps the sight picture. Not as critical as a shotgun, but the same sort of thing.

Unlike you I have killed many deer at close range in heavy cover with a wide variety of rifles and scopes. Not sure I'd be giving advice on what works best there if I'd only taken 22 total at less than 50 yards and 3 at less than 20 in 56 years with a limited variety of armament. A reasonably competent hunter could easily rack up those numbers in 10 seasons here and a good one might well do it in five. Multiply your sub 50 yard totals by 6-7 and you'll be getting closer to my neighborhood. In fact I have killed 6 inside 50 and 3 inside 20 in just the last two seasons and I missed most of last season due to illness leaving 4 tags unfilled as a result. Like I said before, my experience may not be wide but it runs fairly deep. Oh and BTW, I do have a modern 30mm variable and the field of view at 6x is still less than I want for those sub 20 yard shots which occur for me pretty much every season and often multiple times per season.

I and the Dog were both acting like a predator in that we were both hunting Grouse. In those situations the Deer was concerned with the Dog and how it would respond to a possible threat. Similar to a Coyote. I could have shot the Deer easily, since its attention was not on me. Seen it happen with Deer enough that if allowed, I would have little hesitation of doing it often. Train the Dog to just wonder around out front and it would be deadly.

As far as being constantly on sneak alert...I agree with you. It isn't necessary to be successful. There is a lot going on in the woods and if a Deer had to flee at every sound, they would be running into trees.

Addition: The big ones may play a different game. If it is not the rut, they make few mistakes in the daylight.

Hunters every year are drawing back bows and killing Deer at close range. It is even easier with a rifle. Even one that isn't considered a close range woods rifle.

Yep. Killed a bunch with a bow, shot placement is the key

How many have you killed with arrows, how many of those were while still hunting or snow tracking, how many with a bow wearing a 6x scope and how many were on the run ? If the answers to these questions is none, how do you know how hard it is ? I have killed deer with arrows flung from both compound and crossbow and it isn't terribly difficult from a stand or blind. In fact, in some ways it's easier as the deer are more relaxed and move about much more naturally than they do during rifle season. Which is why rifle hunters here bellyache about bowhunters killing all the big bucks before rifle season opens. I killed a 7 point buck at 17 yards the first day of crossbow season last year within 5 minutes of climbing into my stand. The seat didn't even have time to warm up. The year before I killed a doe 1.5 hours into the first day and a buck a half hour into the second. That buck was the third one past my stand that morning..

I’ve never killed a deer on foot with a bow, always in a tripod

Two and then I quit the game of bow hunting, because I would rather hunt rifle season. And I could have killed them with a rifle and it would have been easier. What is your point?

I certainly have killed at least 60 plus Deer with a fixed 6x. And more with 4x our 3x. And most have been under 50 yards. It's not that hard.

Anyway, I've posted these previously..

Leupold 6x...Around an 8 pound Model 70. The Deer was on a serious run after being bounced. Around 30 yards.




Leupold 6x at 3 big steps max....Kimber Montana




Leupold 1.5-5x....Set on 5x...McMillan stocked Pre 64 70....Bounced out of its bed. It made the mistake of stopping to look back. 80 yards +/-





Before you start calling me out, perhaps you should come up with something other than talk.

It may not be that hard but it certainly isn't optimum or neccesary either. I know a lot of very successful trackers and still hunters here. Haven't known one who used or advocated for the use of a 6x scope. I killed my first buck and several thereafter with a .22 rifle. That doesn't mean it's a good choice or even close to optimum but it wasn't very hard either.

What does that have to do with another's success. You seem to do well with your .30-30...So what? What does it prove? Actually nothing, except it works for you.

And that .30-30 would be far from a first choice of the "successful" Deer hunters I know. But again, that would prove nothing.

As long as it works for you, it all good!