White tail. What do you use?

[Vlad]

Ithica 87 in 12 guage, 44 mag, 300 fireball

[45Badger]

12 ga, 243, 308, 30-06

What he said, plus a .50 cal muzzle loader.

[TommyMN]

my heads about to pop. to much info for one day after hours and hours of reading, all have some perks. but due to price, availability of rounds, and grains, only a few are standing out.

[farmerj]

so break it down more...

If you are in a shotgun zone, rule out the rifle. Unless you want to shoot a pistol.

That leaves you a 12, 20, 16, 28 or 410 ga shotgun., 12, 20 and .410 are going to be the most popular.

You have autos and pumps that are common. The most common are the 870, Mossberg 500 and the Winchester pumps.

You can get them with rifled barrels or smooth bores. Sights or scopes.

Rifled barrels are good with sabot slugs, not so much so with straight lead slugs. Smooth bores give you the option of using it also double duty for home defense with buckshot. It will create a nice ring out at 25 yards or so with buckshot and a rifled barrel.

If you are in rifle country, wow, your head will spin.

Minnesota now lets you hunt with a 22 cal centerfire. If you use it, be prepared to place your shots in the right place. Otherwise, practice your tracking skills.

Most will say stay at the 6mm/.24 cal or bigger for deer. If you want to shoot coyote, it's about as big as you want to go there as large starts to do some serious damage unless you put some range in there.

Some of the "big slow and dumb" cartridges work great for brush country. .30-30, .35 Rem, 300 savage to name a few. you go up in velocity from there to the .308, 7mm-08, .30-06 and the likes. All good cartridges. Then you get into the barrel burners and the magnums. They will also have greater recoil and noise.

They all will kill a deer. Some work better for woods than others.

So to really answer your question...

Where you looking to hunt? You might be able to get a better recommendation for it from there.

Brush country, can't go wrong with a .30-30 or .35 rem in bolt or lever.
Rifle, can't go wrong with a .243, .25-06, .30-06 or .308 in a savage, stevens or other similar bolt gun.
Shotgun, can't go wrong with a pump gun in 12 or 20.

All are simple and easy to operate. Ammo is available most any place.

[Norsesmithy]

Mossberg 500 with a rifled barrel, irons, and Winchester Supreme Elite sabot slugs. 325 grain, 2100 FPS. It's coffee can accurate to 300 yards.

I've got a M96 Swede Mauser for if I get the opportunity to hunt in the rifle zone.

I also have a bow, and I've carried my 1911 for the hell of it. I figure my hot defensive load is just as good as a whole lot of popular choices.

[farmerj]

I also have a bow, and I've carried my 1911 for the hell of it. I figure my hot defensive load is just as good as a whole lot of popular choices.

Here I was going to get all idgity about using a .45 ACP for deer thinking it was illegal for deer and it's not.

Page 55 of the big game regulations.

LEGAL FIREARMS (INCLUDES HANDGUNS) FOR BIG GAME
• It is at least .220 caliber and has center fire ignition;
• It is loaded only with single projectile ammunition;
• The projectile used has a soft point or is an expanding bullet type;*
• The muzzleloader (long gun or handgun) used cannot be loaded at the
breech (muzzleloading revolvers are not legal for taking big game);
• The smooth-bore muzzleloader used is at least .45 caliber and
• The rifled muzzleloader used is at least .40 caliber;
• Muzzleloaders with scopes are legal during the regular firearms deer
seasons, but are not allowed during the muzzleloader season except by
special permit for hunters with a medically certified visual impairment.
Applications are available from the DNR Info Center, see page 127.

Might have to carry either the .357 or the 9mm next fall for deer with my 11 yo when I take her.

[TommyMN]

so break it down more...

If you are in a shotgun zone, rule out the rifle. Unless you want to shoot a pistol.

That leaves you a 12, 20, 16, 28 or 410 ga shotgun., 12, 20 and .410 are going to be the most popular.

You have autos and pumps that are common. The most common are the 870, Mossberg 500 and the Winchester pumps.

You can get them with rifled barrels or smooth bores. Sights or scopes.

Rifled barrels are good with sabot slugs, not so much so with straight lead slugs. Smooth bores give you the option of using it also double duty for home defense with buckshot. It will create a nice ring out at 25 yards or so with buckshot and a rifled barrel.

If you are in rifle country, wow, your head will spin.

Minnesota now lets you hunt with a 22 cal centerfire. If you use it, be prepared to place your shots in the right place. Otherwise, practice your tracking skills.

Most will say stay at the 6mm/.24 cal or bigger for deer. If you want to shoot coyote, it's about as big as you want to go there as large starts to do some serious damage unless you put some range in there.

Some of the "big slow and dumb" cartridges work great for brush country. .30-30, .35 Rem, 300 savage to name a few. you go up in velocity from there to the .308, 7mm-08, .30-06 and the likes. All good cartridges. Then you get into the barrel burners and the magnums. They will also have greater recoil and noise.

They all will kill a deer. Some work better for woods than others.

So to really answer your question...

Where you looking to hunt? You might be able to get a better recommendation for it from there.

Brush country, can't go wrong with a .30-30 or .35 rem in bolt or lever.
Rifle, can't go wrong with a .243, .25-06, .30-06 or .308 in a savage, stevens or other similar bolt gun.
Shotgun, can't go wrong with a pump gun in 12 or 20.

All are simple and easy to operate. Ammo is available most any place.

thank you very much for the very thought out post. the area i'll be shooting in a good amount is a half hour east of hinckley. pretty brushy but has some nice open grassways. its rifle as far as ive been told. as for a shotgun i should be purchasing a saiga 12 here soon enough and can make that work if i have too. i was looking mainly rifle now. mainly for whitetail. never really considered shooting much else. mainly reading .270, .308, and 30-06 stuff now. i won't be shooting far enough to really need a flat shooting round so i wasnt looking into the extreme velocities or the smaller rounds.

i'm really gonna go nuts after i pick a caliber, then from that caliber a gun, and then from that gun a scope. it's all so new to me and i'm kinda over thinker so who knows how close i'll put myself to the looney bin

[Snowgun]

A correctly sighted in 25-06 or 7mm rem will work just like a laser out to 300-350 yrds. Normal recoil, hard hitting, not to heavy gun, dead sexy, bang flop deer.

Using 140 g barns triple shock (all copper bullet) (3200 fps doubletap loaded ammo)
yd in drop Energy
0 -1.5 3182.7
50 0.8 2947.8
100 2.2 2728.1
150 2.5 2522.3
200 1.8 2329.7
250 0 2149.1
300 -3.1 1979.9
350 -7.6 1821.4
400 -13.5 1672.9
450 -21.1 1533.9
500 -30.4 1404.1

Boo ya!

[TommyMN]

Guys at work love the 25-06. They all seem to like speed and the least amount of recoil to get there. 7mm I know nothing about besides a quick read.

A correctly sighted in 25-06 or 7mm rem will work just like a laser out to 300-350 yrds. Normal recoil, hard hitting, not to heavy gun, dead sexy, bang flop deer.

Using 140 g barns triple shock (all copper bullet) (3200 fps doubletap loaded ammo)
yd in drop Energy
0 -1.5 3182.7
50 0.8 2947.8
100 2.2 2728.1
150 2.5 2522.3
200 1.8 2329.7
250 0 2149.1
300 -3.1 1979.9
350 -7.6 1821.4
400 -13.5 1672.9
450 -21.1 1533.9
500 -30.4 1404.1

Boo ya!

[Norsesmithy]

Here I was going to get all idgity about using a .45 ACP for deer thinking it was illegal for deer and it's not.

Page 55 of the big game regulations.

LEGAL FIREARMS (INCLUDES HANDGUNS) FOR BIG GAME
• It is at least .220 caliber and has center fire ignition;
• It is loaded only with single projectile ammunition;
• The projectile used has a soft point or is an expanding bullet type;*
• The muzzleloader (long gun or handgun) used cannot be loaded at the
breech (muzzleloading revolvers are not legal for taking big game);
• The smooth-bore muzzleloader used is at least .45 caliber and
• The rifled muzzleloader used is at least .40 caliber;
• Muzzleloaders with scopes are legal during the regular firearms deer
seasons, but are not allowed during the muzzleloader season except by
special permit for hunters with a medically certified visual impairment.
Applications are available from the DNR Info Center, see page 127.

Might have to carry either the .357 or the 9mm next fall for deer with my 11 yo when I take her.

Yup, they dun changed the rules 2 or 3 years ago. Makes sense. There are cartridges that were banned by the old rules that were arguably better than many that weren't.

I figure that a 230 grain XTP at 950ish is plenty for a deer.

[antimatter]

Sako Finbear .270. If I had time to go...

[Srigs]

A Marlin 1894 357 with Remington softpoints. Works great out to 65 yards so far.

[FJ540]

What do your buddies hunt with?

There's something to be said for sharing calibers amongst others in the deer camp.

Also, do you reload? When looking at high end hunting bullets, you can roll your own boutique "uber dead deer" cartridge for about the price of bottom shelf domestic ammo.

I shoot either .308 or .25-06

[TommyMN]

What do your buddies hunt with?

There's something to be said for sharing calibers amongst others in the deer camp.

Also, do you reload? When looking at high end hunting bullets, you can roll your own boutique "uber dead deer" cartridge for about the price of bottom shelf domestic ammo.

I shoot either .308 or .25-06

Dont reload currently. Camp shoots 30-06, 44 mag carbine, and rifled 12s.

[rugersol]

i'm really gonna go nuts after i pick a caliber, then from that caliber a gun

Ya gonna order it? ... or buy off the rack?

If off the rack, and yer lookin' at .308, .270, and .30-06, I'd start lookin' at guns ... see what's available in what ... and how it feels. Why pick .30-06, then pass on a perfectly good .270 'cause it wasn't the caliber ya picked? Watch the .308's ... lots of 'em have got heavy bbl's.

Based on the area you described, I'd go with a shorter bbl, if ya can ... 20in ... lever-rifle? ... Ruger Scout? If ya gotta bushwhack it at all, a longer bbl's like tryin' to carry a broom through there.

How are yer eyes? A peep sight's jest as good as a scope ... if not better ... if yer concerned about 150yd+. Otherwise, if ya gotta bushwhack, figure ya'll hafta pluck all kinds of **** outta yer scope mount.

If yer serious about it, some guys end up with two guns ... one fer heavy brush ... the other fer bean fields. Figure which one ya'll use most, to start ... maybe get the other in a year 'er two. Sounds like yer buddies are already doin' that ... ".30-06 and .44/12ga"?

I'd go with a Marlin .30-30 ... with the Hornady LeverEvolution stuff, it's good to 300yd. I'd run with a peep. But, ya could also put a rail on it, and mount a scope on that ... with a tall 'nuff peep, ya might clear that rail, with the scope removed ... best of both worlds!