deer rifle poll

[Holland&Holland]

On the other hand i believe we only have one type of deer.

Nope, Moose, Elk, Whitetail are all members of the deer family in MN, in addition everyonce in awhile you hear about a Mullie showing up in SW MN

[Spartan]

I like .308 .... I hunt in SW MN w/ 12 gg slugs but I like the .308 if I get a chance to use a rifle.
My next choice would be 303 british or 7.5 swiss.

I recently used a 180 grn Fusion to a take a Russian Boar = 1 shot-kill

[goalie]

There was not a choice for .270, 30-30, 44 mag which are the three calibers in rifle and pistol that I have used to harvest deer. Bow (Reflex Grizzly), muzzle-loader (Knight) and shotgun (20g) are also on the list.

30 Remington almost made it a few years ago, but the deer was too small. That would have been a nice retro caliber to add to the list.

[rugersol]

Jeez, I knew .30-06 was popular ... but jeez!

Take out shotgun 'n pistol stuff as non-rifle-zone (mostly ... probly) ... yer talkin' over 4 to 1 vs. anything else!

I honestly thought .30-30'd do better?

[old guy]

When I was young and in my prime al my deer hunting was stalk and walk, I went out looking for them in the swamps of Moose Junction Wi. Since I was not very good at it most of my shots were at deer running away at some angle or straitaway, I learned over time what it takes to punch from the rear all the way thru to the heart -lung area and out the front. Smaller deer under 150lbs go down a lot easyer than the big ones.
I have found that a .30-06 220gr will only go thru about 32 " of deer if a couple of ribs are hit, this means that if I were to misplace a shot a bit and hit the ham and the bone ( I never did) then all I would have is a gut shot deer with a broken leg, this does not take into acount any brush or trees one may hit along the way. I remember A very large buck I shot at 60 yds. with a .243 100 gr., about 20 yds be fore the deer it hit a pencil size twig that I didn't even see, it deflected the bullet from his shoulder to his neck, it dropped him like a rock and took out 7 in. of his neck bone but I never found a piece of the bullet and there was no exit hole, if this had been from a diferent angle to a softer part of the body it would have been a wounded deer. No more 243 for me. Another time I shot a 170 lb buck at 200 yds with a .338 win mag 250gr., it punched two 2" tag elders just before it got to the deer and still busted his shoulder. I once shot a 172 lb 8 pointer at 20 yd with a Ruger no.1 single shot .338 250 gr, I hit him 1/2 inch from the arsehole and found the bullet under the skin in the front of the shoulder, 48" of penitration. I could go on like this but no lite rifles for me I like the .350 rem. mag. .338 win .340 weatherby and the .45-70.

[rugersol]

I didn't hunt 'til I was in my 20's ... first 'er second time, I was posted on a near corner of a field ... drivers flushed a small buck outta the other near corner ... by the time I saw him, he was on a dead run across the field ... STRAIGHT into one of the "elders". I put the scope on him ... but he was so small ... had to be 300yd 'er so ... bouncin' up 'n down ... I coulda shot ... and if I'd've grazed him, it'd've been 100% luck ... I passed!

The "elder" waited 'til the buck was 'bout 50yd away, and shot him in the chest. Lucky he only lived 1/2mi away ... we took it over to his place 'n hosed it out. What a ****in' mess!

Told myself, right then 'n there, never take a shot more 'n 30° off a broadside.

Ain't had to pass on too many, since. Ain't seen too many, neither ... never been blessed with 100% private land.

I could see not havin' much choice, with stalkin' ... only ever drove, myself ... only time ya see 'em then is when they run 'tween ya ... wouldn't shoot then, anyhow.

[yuppiejr]

I didn't hunt 'til I was in my 20's ... first 'er second time, I was posted on a near corner of a field ... drivers flushed a small buck outta the other near corner ... by the time I saw him, he was on a dead run across the field ... STRAIGHT into one of the "elders". I put the scope on him ... but he was so small ... had to be 300yd 'er so ... bouncin' up 'n down ... I coulda shot ... and if I'd've grazed him, it'd've been 100% luck ... I passed!

The "elder" waited 'til the buck was 'bout 50yd away, and shot him in the chest. Lucky he only lived 1/2mi away ... we took it over to his place 'n hosed it out. What a ****in' mess!

Told myself, right then 'n there, never take a shot more 'n 30° off a broadside.

Ain't had to pass on too many, since. Ain't seen too many, neither ... never been blessed with 100% private land.

I could see not havin' much choice, with stalkin' ... only ever drove, myself ... only time ya see 'em then is when they run 'tween ya ... wouldn't shoot then, anyhow.

Good call, I've passed numerous shots on deer while pushing or posting knowing someone else in my party was going to get a better, cleaner shot based on the direction it was moving. With adrenaline coursing and a deer in your sights it's hard to listen to that logical/rational part of your brain that has you take the finger off the trigger but probably appreciated by the guy whom the deer was running toward. My brother in law watched the 8 point buck I ended up bagging this year walk within 100 yards of his blind (he runs a 20 gauge smoothbore slug shotgun) but elected to pass knowing it was at the outer edge of his shooting envelope and it was heading my way where I was better situated and equipped for a clean profile shot.

[Heffay]

30 Remington almost made it a few years ago, but the deer was too small. That would have been a nice retro caliber to add to the list.

You still should have taken the shot. The gun needs fresh blood.

[crbutler]

While I usually hunt whitetails with a 12 ga., it is by no means my preference. Rifles I have had no losses of deer, but shotguns, lots of funny things seem to happen.

As far as I'm concerned, a deer rifle is over .224 bore. Sorry, but the varmint guns are not deer rifles- they are capable of killing a deer under favorable conditions, but not optimal.

.25-06 and .30-06 are what I usually use if left to my own choice, maybe a bit overgunned, but not much, and in any case every deer I've shot with them has been a 1 shot stop.

You may be surprised by the .30-30, I'm not. The big issue with the .30-30 is that its a rimmed case. Anything that headspaces on the rim is not as accurate, having said that, its about ideal for short range white tails. Hand load a 7.62x39 and you get the same power with a more conventional cartridge and headspacing- I know a guy who has a bolt actioned .30 russian that is a sub MOA shooter, and its a great deer gun- under 300 yards. Given that the folks here are pretty gun oriented, I would think you are less likely to come across folks who have been using grandpa's old thutty-thutty and getting their deer year after year here.

[ex-LT]

Jeez, I knew .30-06 was popular ... but jeez!

Take out shotgun 'n pistol stuff as non-rifle-zone (mostly ... probly) ... yer talkin' over 4 to 1 vs. anything else!

I honestly thought .30-30'd do better?

Consider though, that the .30-06 vote also counts .308, .300 Savage, .303, etc. I put a vote in there because I occasionally hunt with a .308 (my primary is a 7mm-08).

[goalie]

30 Remington almost made it a few years ago, but the deer was too small. That would have been a nice retro caliber to add to the list.

You still should have taken the shot. The gun needs fresh blood.

There's a reason I have never shot a deer twice. A man's got to know his limitations.

[rugersol]

Jeez, I knew .30-06 was popular ... but jeez!

Take out shotgun 'n pistol stuff as non-rifle-zone (mostly ... probly) ... yer talkin' over 4 to 1 vs. anything else!

I honestly thought .30-30'd do better?

Consider though, that the .30-06 vote also counts .308, .300 Savage, .303, etc. I put a vote in there because I occasionally hunt with a .308 (my primary is a 7mm-08).

Ya, I realize some .308's 'n such are in there ... although, I only opened up the 2nd option fer the guys who couldn't choose 'tween 12ga 'n a rifle ... didn't figure on guys votin' two different rifles.

Still, even if it's everyone's 2nd favorite, the results are remarkable.

[rugersol]

The big issue with the .30-30 is that its a rimmed case. Anything that headspaces on the rim is not as accurate

I loaded my .338 Marlin to .35 Rem. levels and got some VERY nice results! ... 'bout as good as anything else I got.

I'm sure when yer talkin' Benchrest 'er such, there's somethin' to what ya say.

I'd say the two bigger issues, typically associated with .30-30, are ...

1. traditional blunt-nose bullets fer poor B.C., and probly don't help accuracy too much (not even factoring in the jump-shot trajectory)

2. can't use fire-formed brass

I like accuracy as much as the next guy, but I really don't think #2 is a significant issue in a deer rifle. And the new Hornady LeverEvolution stuff appears to have made significant inroads with #1.

Another potential issue is the prominence of open-sights on such guns. I personally believe they can be as accurate as most scopes ... particularly off-hand. But it wouldn't surprise me if a lotta folks realize better accuracy with a scope ... particularly off sand.

[rugersol]

Well, as of this post, 64 votes total ... seems a shame to not try to make some sorta sense of the results ...

First 'n foremost, if I had it to do again, I'd split out .308 from the .30-06 group ... and all the rifles from the 12ga group ... and also list the pistol calibers twice ... once fer handguns ... once fer rifles ... oh well.

I think it's safe to say, most of the folks voting in the 12ga and pistol groups were voting based on the restrictions of the shotgun zone ... so I'll jest set them aside, fer now ...

I'll also set aside the leverguns ... if ya want a levergun, ya'll get a levergun ... nothin' to do with ballistics 'er such.

We're left with (23) .30-06, (8) magnum, (6) sub-.30 std, and (5) short-action ('er similar performance).

Arguably, the sub-.30 std's have similar recoil to most in the .30-06 group ... but EVEN if I count 'em as "less recoil", with the short-actions and sub-.30 milsurps, we end up with ...

31 - .30-06 and magnums
11 - sub-.30

If we were to put the sub-.30 based on .30-06 in with the .30-06 and magnums, it'd be 37 to 5!

I'm guessing ... most of the magnums are 7mm? That would make 7mm Rem. Mag and .30-06 among the top choices in Minnesota. (probly most of the country where deer season's popular)

Ya, there's some .308's in that .30-06 group ... but not that many, I'd bet ... even still, I see a lot more heavy-bbl .308's on the rack than sporters.

[Holland&Holland]

Considering that the .30-06 is often reported as the most popular with .308 often as number 2, this is not supprising. I know at one point 7mm mag was reported as number 3 so there ya go. Add in .270, .30-30, and .243 which are right up there as well, then go figure. Then add up the fact that a large part of the state is forced to use either shotgun or handgun and viola!

Got the whole thing explained for ya! Thank me later