What rifles for deer hunting this year?

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Gun season is over for me as of yesterday. Saw a few while hunting a few different days in a shotgun area but no shots were offered. Only saw one in rifle zone and that day it was the Marlin .30-30's turn in the rifle rotation. Filled an antlerless tag with it and posted a pic in the 2021 hunting pictures thread. Did another 3 different days hunting in the rifle zone and used the Savage 300 WSM once and the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser twice but no luck. So overall for the season I used a total of 4 different guns if I include the 870 slug gun, ( and this thread is about rifles), so 3 rifles, anyway. My buddies place in the rifle zone is at least 1500 feet higher elevation versus where I shotgun hunt and I hunted in the snow up there 3 out of 4 times and not at all this year when hunting with a slug gun. Almost every day in rifle zone this season I got a pic of that days rifle leaning against one of the trees I had my back against most of the day. Thank God for those hot seats when your butt is on frozen ground for hours.... Marlin 30AS... IMG_3816.JPG .. Savage Mod. 10.. IMG_3845.JPG .. & sporterized Swedish Mauser.. IMG_3835.JPG .. Overall it was a good season. Lotsa good times & good memories even if I hadn't filled a tag.
 
I took back a Remington 788 in 243. Never took it out of the box. Used my H&R243 Handi-Rifle all season.
Harvested three does & a single anterlerd spike buck.
Could of shot a bunch of little deer. The bigger does didn't off that many good shots.
Once I shot a deer I hunt different set of woods. You have to leave some for seed next year.

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My wife's Ruger 99/44 .44 Mag and my Marlin 1895GBL in 45-70. We both were unsuccessful this year, not for lack of opportunities, but we were looking for big bucks.

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crestoncowboy said:
We watched a spike for a long time one day. Seen many doe. She will get her one. I'm afraid she is only horn hunting, which lots of people do. I always kind of frowned on that myself but I guess that's just the way some hunters are. Lol.

I've used the 257 Robert's many years ago. Great gun. I have a couple. I retired them years ago to carry ugly guns I don't care to get scuffed and wet and nasty lol. Ive never seen another like that remington 257 though. No sights. Super long chamber. Longest I've ever seen. To get the bullets to contact the lands I believe the bullet would fall out of the case. Lol. It was a decent shooter but a long way from great. Weighs less than all my other 700s.

Apparently there is a whole crop of young hunters around here. Her buddies all killing deer this year. 10-13 years old. Most girls. Lol
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My daughter wants to start next year, been looking at a little Mossberg youth model in .308 with a 20" barrel. Seems to fit her about perfectly...
 
Our season is winding down here but I carried my old stand-by. A custom Remington 700 in 308 Winchester. It has a light weight Douglas barrel, synthetic stock, Jewell trigger and wears a West German 3-9 Zeiss scope.

If I knew ahead of time that I was going to my stand in the "bottoms" I carried a Ruger #1 in 45-70 with my handholds and my cast bullets.
 
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22250Rem said:
Congrats, Jack! Care to fill us in with the details? Especially like which rifle?
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Sure. That is my NEF 45-70 Handi Rifle. Williams target adjustable rear peep sight. I had to finally mod that a little to make it fully adjustable and fit to the gun, as well as put a couple plastic shims under the front sight. It took a while to fully figure out I finally got it all dialed in. Shooting my own reloads with Hornady copper jacketed hollow points. The shot was about 50-75 yards. Heart shot, DRT, fell on her own feet.
 
marksman13 said:
Broke out the CZ 550FS this afternoon and took it for a spin. The deer did not cooperate, but this rifle sure does look good out in the woods.

View attachment 1046315
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What caliber is your FS? I love mine in the 9.3x62. No tracking required so far with the 5 deer and 3 hogs I have taken with it and the Norma 232 grain Oryx bullets. They are a fine looking rifle.
 
9x56MS said:
What caliber is your FS? I love mine in the 9.3x62. No tracking required so far with the 5 deer and 3 hogs I have taken with it and the Norma 232 grain Oryx bullets. They are a fine looking rifle.
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Mine is a 30-06. I’ve yet to shoot anything with it. Really wanted a 6.5x55, but I found this one and the wood was gorgeous, so I snatched it up.
 
My old Remington 700 Mt Rifle in 270 Winchester. It’s killed a score of whitetail over the last 30 years. No reason to stop now. Or change
 
Orion Jim said:
Any one of those alone would be a stand-out in any collection. Together they are just stunning.
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Like my quote says life is too short to hunt with ugly black guns.
marksman13 said:
Took the ol No. 1 RSI in 30-06 out this morning and tried to catch a buck looking for love. Let a couple young bucks walk, but didn’t see anything else. Rifle looked good in that morning sunlight though.

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It sure does
 
All you guys and your fancy rifles..
..
Back in my day, we just bought a box of foster slugs and thumbed them in our quail guns and shot at deer.
It's better now with our rifled slug guns, but I would certainly LOVE to hunt my own property for deer with a proper rifle.
I've got the rifles. Lord knows we got the deer too. 20211214_144351.jpg thus new to me 7mm-08 Handi rifle would be my first choice if I could...,:mad::mad::mad::cuss:
 
Armored farmer said:
All you guys and your fancy rifles..
..
Back in my day, we just bought a box of foster slugs and thumbed them in our quail guns and shot at deer.
It's better now with our rifled slug guns, but I would certainly LOVE to hunt my own property for deer with a proper rifle.
I've got the rifles. Lord knows we got the deer too.View attachment 1046978thus new to me 7mm-08 Handi rifle would be my first choice if I could...,:mad::mad::mad::cuss:
Click to expand...

Shotguns only on state land here also. When I was a young man I used my side by side with a slug in one barrel and buckshot in the other. Sometimes I used a Steven’s single shot from the late thirties, weighed a lot less and took care of business. This is what I’ve used for 20+ years. The red dot is nice as you get older…

99298832-C6A1-4AD0-A3C5-E6E43A165F2F.jpeg
 
Armored farmer said:
All you guys and your fancy rifles..
..
Back in my day, we just bought a box of foster slugs and thumbed them in our quail guns and shot at deer.
It's better now with our rifled slug guns, but I would certainly LOVE to hunt my own property for deer with a proper rifle.
I've got the rifles. Lord knows we got the deer too.View attachment 1046978thus new to me 7mm-08 Handi rifle would be my first choice if I could...,:mad::mad::mad::cuss:
Click to expand...
My first shotgun was an Ithica super single with a lever and a hammer. I killed a lot of rabbits squirrels and grouse with that gun. My uncle used to borrow it during deer season and he took several bucks with it even though it only had a front bead for sighting. NY you had to be 16 to hunt big game then. I still have that gun, use it to rid the garden of pests from time to time. New we can use rifles in NY so my shotguns don’t get out as much as they used to.
 
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