What is your “go to” weapon for deer hunting ?

Drycreek

Well-Known Member
Folks, I like to think deer season is just around the corner, (but I really think it’s because it’s 96* outside and forecast is for 100*+ all next week:eek:) We need something to take our collective minds off the heat and drought so I thought it might be a good idea for everyone who wants to participate to tell us about your favorite deer hunting tool, whether bow, rifle, shotgun, or handgun. Post a pic if you have one handy.

I’ll go first ! This would be my custom .280 Remington on a Remington Model 700 action with a Bartlein barrel, Timney trigger, and HS Precision stock, the only custom rifle I’ve ever commissioned. It wears a Nikon 2.5x10 scope with the BDC retical. I figure an old guy should have at least one custom gun in his lifetime. :)2F88E020-9542-4640-A1C7-6184022010EA.jpeg
 
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I agree. I'm sure you did not need it. Like me you just wanted it. I did a .40 cal smokeless muzzle loader. McGowen barrel, hanks breach plug. I just wanted it.
 
Bow and arrow...
Swat, what kind of bow ? Before I quit bow hunting I was shooting an Elite Synergy at 60# and 30” draw length, Easton FMJs and Slick Trick Standard heads. I miss bowhunting but when I got to the point that I could no longer shoot the group that I wanted at 30 yards I put it down.
 
For me, my favorite thing about deer hunting is the privilege of getting off work and out into the great outdoors, hanging out with friends, therefore the particular season and weapon is somewhat of a secondary consideration. But, this makes an interesting topic for, like you said, the off-season, so I can't sit this one out.
However, asking which is my favorite weapon is somewhat like the dilemma of asking which one of my children is my favorite child. Should I go with the model 94 .32 special, my first deer rifle? Or my .284 BLR that I have used to fill dozens of tags and is the only weapon that I can consistently kill running animals with? My deadly new Ten Point crossbow, or my all time favorite Matthews Z7? My stainless M77 in .243 that is a multipurpose, pleasant shooting lightweight tackdriver? Savage 210 20 gauge bolt action for special regulations? Inline CVA .50 cal? Lyman Great Plains Hunter .54 flintlock?
Well, all things considered, and using the process of elimination, my favorite deer rifle is my Sako stainless Tecomate in 300 WSM with a Zeiss 5X25 Conquest scope. This is a very fine lightweight rifle made in Finland with a hammer forged barrel that has a factory trigger as good as any custom job, a very accurate rifle with the oomph to drop a trophy buck at 500 yards, pleasant to handle and a man sized recoil to go with. When shooting at deer the recoil isn't even noticeable, but I prefer a leadsled to shoot at targets.
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Great choice in calibers MM ! I too have a .300 WSM but it’s in a Browning A-Bolt. I’ve taken several deer with it and one elk. Before that my favorite was a Ruger 77 in .280 Rem that I have since given to my oldest son.
 
Swat, what kind of bow ? Before I quit bow hunting I was shooting an Elite Synergy at 60# and 30” draw length, Easton FMJs and Slick Trick Standard heads. I miss bowhunting but when I got to the point that I could no longer shoot the group that I wanted at 30 yards I put it down.

It's a Mathews that's about 3-4 years old. I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember the model. I have a really long draw, so they don't usually have a bow every year that fits me. I usually go 6-8 years between upgrades. This bow has been good to me, everything I point it at dies. I've been shooting PSE Radial X-Weave Pro arrows for 20 some years. If anyone has a line on some let me know, I'm down to my last 6!
 
I have built two 6.5 SAUMS over the past few years and have killed a pile of deer with them.

One on a Rem 700 SA shooting 130 Berger VLD's out of a 24" Bartlien barrel

Second on a Rem 700 LA shooting 156 Berger VLD's out of a 24" Proof carbon barrel

Both sporting Leupold optics
 
I carry a bow even during rifle.season. 2008 Bear Game Over. Would enjoy a newer or nicer bow but I'm cheap and this one keeps drawing blood so no need to part ways with her yet.

I know it wasn't asked but for birds I completely wore out an old Mossburg 500A. I'm kind of a dover hunter and I can't even begin to estimate how many shells I put through her in the 30yrs I carried it. That gun was an extension of me.
 
Great choice in calibers MM ! I too have a .300 WSM but it’s in a Browning A-Bolt. I’ve taken several deer with it and one elk. Before that my favorite was a Ruger 77 in .280 Rem that I have since given to my oldest son.
I'm going to guess that your favorite cartridge is the .280 Remington!
You talking about your .280's jogs my memory back 40 years to when Remington changed the name from 7mm Express back to .280 in 1981 and the rebranded caliber caught my eye as an impressionable young man with a lever-action .32 special and a hankering for a "real" deer rifle with a scope, and so I purchased a new .280 Remington in 7600 pump with an engraved wood stock and forearm, going all out with a 3x9 Leupold scope and Millett mounts and bases, and I'm guessing that I was probably grinning from ear to ear as I left the gun shop with the new box.
The 760 pump was always a favorite of Pennsylvania hunters, but my purchase was a major mistake, the gun shot inconsistently, putting multiple shots right on bullseye, then randomly changing point of impact, shooting 10" wide with no explanation. I took it to a gunsmith for a total examination, he hammered on it with a boresight installed and it was solid, and he was puzzled as well. Nobody ever did figure out what was the issue, although I did eliminate the scope as being a part of the problem by removing it and using it on another rifle, and I still us that scope today. Maybe the barrel wasn't seated tightly in the receiver as the 7600 didn't have a very heavy receiver, or maybe the bore was compromised, but whatever it was, it seemed to be a bad rifle from day one, although no fault of the .280 caliber. Eventually, after fighting through it for several seasons and missing a very nice buck I sold it to a friend who ridiculed my analysis of the gun, and the friend also missed the first buck he shot at, and quickly sold it again.
That rifle floated the neighborhood with a bad reputation until it finally disappeared into oblivion, but the .280 caliber had left a bad taste in my mouth and I switched reloading dies and everything to .284 Winchester. However, the .284, once known as one of the best deer calibers ever, one of the few cartridges with a rebated rim making it a big favorite with reloaders, has since faded off the shelves as well, now it's now left to reloaders only.
In the meantime I started hunting in Saskatchewan, and the First Nations guides there disliked all things 7mm, claiming that 7mm's resulted in many lost animals, and so to keep the peace in the gang that I was with I turned to a .300wsm in Model 70, and, while it's a bit overkill for the average shortrange whitetail, a .300 magnum can handle a long shot on a bigger bodied buck with ease, plus the occasional bear or moose, plus, the WSM doesn't have a belted case to contend with. I have a Browning, Winchester and Sako right now, but the Sako is definitely one step above the others. Anyway, @Drycreek thanks for bringing back so many memories.
 
MM, I used a Savage in 7-08 for several years between the Ruger .280 and the Alamo Precision .280. I never met a deer, pig, or coyote that could tell the difference between the two. ;) But yes, the old school .280 Rem is my favorite for deer hunting. If I go specifically for hogs or coyotes I take an AR chambered in 6.8 SPC, basically a short .270 shooting a 115 grain bullet. I’ve killed hogs up to 270 pounds with one shot to the high shoulder.
 
MM, I used a Savage in 7-08 for several years between the Ruger .280 and the Alamo Precision .280. I never met a deer, pig, or coyote that could tell the difference between the two. ;) But yes, the old school .280 Rem is my favorite for deer hunting. If I go specifically for hogs or coyotes I take an AR chambered in 6.8 SPC, basically a short .270 shooting a 115 grain bullet. I’ve killed hogs up to 270 pounds with one shot to the high shoulder.
I bought several 7mm-08's for the youngsters in the family and they proved to be very deadly on deer. The 7mm-08 Remington is an overlooked gem, lots of energy with low recoil, great selection of bullets, it's as accurate as the legendary .308, and a great cartridge for ladies and children. If I was limited to only one gun for pigs, groundhogs, deer, bear, coyotes, and turkeys, it would be a tough decision between the 7mm-08 Remington and the .243 Winchester, which, in the hands of an experienced marksman, is one of the most versatile calibers there ever was. So little time, so many great guns to shoot...
 
Most of my deer have died from a Remington Model 7 308 Winchester and 165 grain bullets of some sort or another. The last few years I have been using a Remington 700 30-06 I inherited from my Dad that I had some work done to.
 
I'm a 270win guy at heart, My father used one, and all the articles by O'Connor did sink in as a kid. But later in life I ended up behind a badge. Then later made Chief. In that capacity I found myself at a trade show with ammo and bullet makers trying to peddle there product to LEO's. I ended up in a conversation with an engineer who made bullets for a well known company. I was more interested in hunting bullets than duty ammo, and so was he. I told him of my hunting with the 270, and he told me something I always remembered.
" We make bullets for a window of velocity", he stated, "we want that window to be a big as possible with a test standard for minimum terminal performance, but you can only go so far. One of the reasons the .270 is so good is we don't make .277 bullets for any other cartridge, the only other is the 270 Weatherby and its running exact same bullets. There is just not enough market to invest in a different jacket die. In a .308 caliber that is tougher, if we make a run of 308win and a run of 300 Win Mags we can use the same bullet jacket and just tweak the formula of the lead hardness with mixture or temp control. or switch dies to make changes to the jacket. However when we just sell boxed bullets its normally middle of the road hardness and jacket design. Because we don't know what velocity it will be used." (The same way know one will know how far away an animal may be, rh) "The .270 shines" he said because every .277 bullet is made to fit the velocity window of that cartridge as exactly, because its the biggest seller by 99% in that diameter."
That always stuck with me if I'm choosing a caliber look for a stand out best seller in that diameter, as the chances of the bullets being made to match it's velocity window are much higher, at least in bulk bullets. Now granted that conversation was close to 20 years ago. all this may have changed a bit, but I still notice that you have to call and aske a bullet maker about the velocity window the bullet was designed for. They don't seem to want to put that on the box so to speak. Technology has changed too, and I bet those windows are much bigger now. And there are a lot more bullets, and calibers so that has probably different like everything else around me, but thought I would share...
 
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