f13.net

Didn't see one around, so I am going to start one up.

This year is my first year of legal Whitetail deer hunting. I live in Michigan, and plan on hunting here.

I will be hunting a lot with a friend, who happens to have a fuckin' arsenal of shotguns and rifles. For me, he picked out a 12 gauge Remmington 870 with slug barrel for our farm walks. I have read that they kick like a mule with a slug barrel on them, but I guess I'll just have to take the bruises.

The 2nd week of the season, I will be headed up to the northern part of the state where rifle hunting is allowed. The only rifles I have shot are a .22 and a .30-30 . The lever action 30-30 seemed like a nice all purpose gun, and the .22 is obviously a small game weapon. Any preference on caliber for deer hunting within 100 yards? .30-06 is the most common rifle from what I'm hearing.

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing other people's plans and weapon choices.

Well if I was ever to go hunting and had to buy my own gun (both extremely unlikely) I'd get something like a Remington Model 700 but that's cause I played too much Counter-Strike in my youth.

The 30-30 and slug shotgun are woods weapons as in short range quick drop. They are good for deep woods and are safer than the 30-06 which can go quite a ways and it is possible to hit someone that you can not see. Don't hunt deer with a 22 as you will only wound them. Guns kill deer by shock so large chunks of metal are a good choice. You will probally be hunting corn rows and wood patches so short range and safer would be my recommendation. Be safe and have fun.

<Insert PKing joke here>

But, but, their so cute...

(http://jim-frizzell.com/2007_summer/2007-08-18_white-tail-doe-with-fauns-valley-forge-pennsylvania-1.jpg)

Hunting isn't my thing, though I won't knock people for it. I fully admit to enjoying venison, as long as I don't have to look it in the eyes first.

I enjoy fishing, and don't really feel any remorse when bonking a fish over the head, but things like deer just come in to that range of intelligence where it makes me uncomfortable about the idea of shooting one.

(http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2676/bambismotherdk0.jpg)

Uh, what kind of fishing are you partaking in anyways?  :headscratch:

This is how men fish. The real question is, what kind of pussy fishing are you doing?

Well, whatever it is, you're doing it wrong. You need to take some knuckledusters and a clubbing tool of some sort and go fight the fish in mortal combat for it to be considered REAL.

(http://a270.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/49/l_cde3b00593f252359d23c7a70cac7715.jpg)

Closest I came to that, but I was cracking up reading that schildy.

Haven't hunted in years but we used a lever-action 30-30 (my fave), 30.06, and .270 for mule deer. We don't "do" the whole shotgun-slug thing here in Utah but I know it is big back east.

Here in texas we use our fucking hands. The guns are just for show and epeen.

But they taste so damn good.


Anyway, to the OP:  That Rem 12 guage will knock your shoulder off.  Hold it tight against your shoulder, mind your cheek and  you'll be fine.  I generally use a scoped Rem model 70 (.270 cal) rifle, which is fine for the deer down here, which don't get as big as the ones in your neck of the woods.  The .270 has a flat trajectory, and won't blow the other side of the deer clear across the state.

If it's going to be dinner and a trophy buck, I'll aim just behind the shoulder, so as not to mess up the head structure/rack.  If it's for the om nom nom nom goodness of venison, right behind the eye is the place to hit it.

If you've not shot the gun before (or shot much period), I'd really recommend getting out and putting some rounds through it before you head out.  Hunter safety course as well.  Be sure of your target, and what's behind it - especially if you're using a rifle.

Hehe you sort of sound like my uncle who lives in middle of nowhere texas. He always said real men hunt with their hands in texas and all the guns are for shooting people.

wait, wtf, you're a texan now, and i'm sissy fisherman all of the sudden?  :x :-P

One of my coworkers has an uncle who hunts bears.

With a bow and arrow.

I'm normally against sport hunting (as opposed to hunting for actual sustenance or ecological management), but that guy I completely respect. Balls the size of church bells.

Wait a sec. Didn't you just move to Texas? You can't claim it yet, especially if you don't even capitalize the name!

Edit: I also meant to say that I've always used a 30-30 for deer. Someday I intend to get into bow hunting, but it's pretty time consuming and I can't hit the broadside of a barn with a bow and I don't have the time to practice.

Not to mention that the last time he shot a deer was when he played WoW in beta.

In addition to the 0.270 recommendation, I'll add 22-250 to the list.  Much less kick than a 0.270, and an even flatter trajectory.  About the same size cartridge as a 0.223, but higher velocity (3500 fps with a 55 grain bullet).  I would say that if you are in the 100-200 yard range, the 0.22-250 is better, but 0.270 hits harder at longer ranges.

I kill a deer every thursday just to feel alive.

With the shotgun make sure you brace it properly.  I've placed the butt too low when bird hunting and that bruise is nasty.  If it's padded it will help some, though.

For whitetail, a .243 or .270 are good calibers.  I used a Model 700 .243 for ten years before we found a sweet Smith & Wesson .270 which I love to bits.  A .30-30 lever action isn't bad since it's more of a carbine.  A .30-06 is okay, but probably more gun than you need for a Michigan whitetail at 100 yards.  Your deer are so small, is funny to me.

You've turned into a Texas boy right quick!  I'm so proud of ya.  (It's okay to use a knife, btw.  It's easier, but getting coated in blood makes it acceptable.)

Tell that 'Michigan Whitetail are small' to my cousin in the Upper Peninsula that took a 17 point monster many years ago. I saw it in the back on the truck, it was a moose!

We have some large deer up here...maybe not the largest but I wouldn't call them small.

Now if you were talking about bass size or something I'd have to agree....a 5 pounder up here is a lunker.

I'm ribbing you.  Though many years Michigan does average small deer, due to a variety of factors.

We get to hunt exotics now.  So many have been imported to Texas then escaped, they're now ubiquitous in the area we hunt.  Axis and fallow make any whitetail look tiny.  Getting them back to camp is a royal pain though.  We even had to rig up a boat wench and pulley system to lift them high enough to clean.

Lantyssa, I could go for some fresh meat. Just call me when it's being cooked.

Yeah, don't really matter anyway. Smaller the deer, better the meat :P

The ones with spots have the best meat!!!

So you're saying that you live near Ted Nugent?

I always liked the people who do smooth bore musket hunting.  Fight that bear like it's the like its Revolutionary War!

I've shot pistols and shotguns before but never a hunting rifle. Earlier this year a friend from work invited me out to a gun range to shoot some. He was mainly there to sight in his new hunting rifle. The "sound" it made when fired was incredible. I say "sound" because you don't just hear it, you feel it. When he fired it, it felt like something hit you in the chest. I'd hate to be on the other end of that gun.

A few spots down the range, there was a father and his teenage daughter shooting some sort of assault rifle. Texas is definitely a fun place.

Not to be an ass, but the term assault rifle gets thrown around incorrectly waay too much.

An assault rifle is a select-fire weapon by definition, if the father and his teenage daughter were firing anything other than a fully automatic or burst-fire weapon, it wasn't an assault rifle.
It was a semi-automatic rifle that may look similar to an assault rifle, but looks don't define an assault rifle, functionality does.

And Lantyssa, I second Schild's request for fresh meat, I think we need to have a Texas F13 get together, complete with freshly killed charred animal flesh! Yeehaw!

I'll second (thirded?) the .270 recommendation. In addition to its other advantages it's cheap and easy to find (ammo that is) so you can pop quite a few off at the range without draining your pocketbook too much.

My best friend prefers 7mm Rem Magnum. It's got more power than the .207 but it kicks a lot harder, is more $$$ and at 100 - 200 yards who gives a fuck really?

I have a Ruger .270 (M77) that I love. Haven't renewed my hunting license though so just target atm.

EDIT: Fixed the bad its. It's not it's mofo it's its.

I am hunting with a Winchester 70 .270 this year.  It is very flat trajectory and easier to control than a .30-06.  However, we aren't hunting in dense woods so we sometimes need to reach out and touch someone here in Texas.  If you are in dense forests, a .30-30 or shotgun will do great. 

12 gauge shotgun is my 2nd favorite weapon in the world.  It doesn't kick that much.  You just have to know how to place it in the pocket.  If you don't, you will learn fast.  When I was a Sergeant in the Marine Corps, my favorite drill was making the boots shoot a 12 gauge with 00 buck from a squatting position.  You could separate the men from the boys pretty fast with that method. 

Soapstone tomahawk or GTFO.

Dear sir,

I am both respectful and enamored of your alternate history wherein bears participated in the Revolutionary War.

Signed,

Me

Going target shooting with the 12 gauge with whatever slugs would be good. Slug barrels fire differently, and aim is important if you don't want the deer to get back up. I'd suggest firing at least a box of whatever slugs you're planning to use to get used to the kick, and aim. Just remember to hold it firmly back against your shoulder, if your body takes the recoil it won't hurt, like having it loose or padded, where the firearm will kick you.

However, the last time I went deer hunting was with a Dragunov, which I think is the bestest long range rifle for hunting any large game. No kick, great consistency, and accurate to over 1000m. Nothing like dropping a deer in a herd without spooking any other. But I'll echo the .270 recommendation for shorter range rifle.

We have a family of deer that has taken up residence near/on my property recently.  Mainly because of alot of recent subdivisions going up around here.  They are just too awesome for me to shoot, although they are tasty!

I hunted randomly with my Step Dad's family when I was younger.  Mainly birds, which is actually quite fun because you just sort get to blast the sky as waves and waves of them fly in, knocking them out of the sky.  We had the whole family out one time watching a pond, and it was like the sky over Baghdad when we opened up on an incoming flock.  It's good times, and you usually kill the thing right off, so no messy suffering and what not.

However, out on my Step Dads ranch, we would also hunt bore sometimes.  There was actually a pretty good population living up in the hills, and they were really god damn big (and mean), though we never got any when I was along.  Then we managed to scare up a pack and I managed to hit one right behind the shoulder with the 30 ought 6 I had.  However, it didn't kill it, and the thing laid on the ground and thrashed around grotesquely with its front end only, paralyzed from the back down (must have hit the spin or something).  All the while Screaming endlessly in this horrible scream that only pigs can do.  I then I had to walk up to the damn thing and shoot it in the face with a pistol, while it screamed at me with tear filled eyes.

I sort of lost my enjoyment for hunting after that, but I'm also sort of a pussy like that.   :awesome_for_real:

That sounds incredibly dull.  :rimshot:

The first time my wife fired a shotgun, her friends suckered her into thinking the stock should be held *away* from the shoulder.


I know a guy who used a rock once (he was out of bullets.)  But this is Idaho, not Texas.

Hunting deer with a sniper rifle just doesn't sound overly sporting :P

mad props to any bow users



...and... that's about it.

I'm just not strong enough to use a 40# draw, which is the legal minimum, and lower than I feel comfortable with for a solid hit.  Were I stronger I'd love bow hunting.  I much prefer a clean kill though, so I'll stick with guns.

Ambush them with a samurai sword. Seems clean to me. Then you'd be even more awesome than a gun or bow user.

Deer tenderloin is one of the most delicious meats.  Gimme.

I have been going hunting for years with my father, and he uses a .243 almost exclusively (sometimes a .223). He uses a .270 for antelope, but said it was overkill for close-range deer shooting (we usually hunt in the high-cascade units, where if the deer is far away, it is going to be on the other side of a deep valley or gorge).

I detasseled corn many a summer to save up for a Mossberg 500 (http://www.mossberg.com/products/default.asp?id=3&section=products#), I got the slugster version (24" barrel, I shoot sabot slugs with it), pretty darn accurate out to 100 yards with it.  But in Indiana, we can't use long rifles, so most of our deer is less than 100 yards, hell I scare up deer in stone throw a lot.  Plus it is a utility gun, I can change the barrel and use smaller loads/shot and go small game (rabbit or squirel), put on the slug barrel and go for deer, or change up to water fowl with it (I think some are now taking the 3' shells, mine is the older 2 3/4 shells).  But I saved up for a Ruger 10/22 that I use for small game.

Now I need time to hunt anymore...mostly take my child to the parents house and shoot the bow or paintball guns or bb guns, a lot cheaper.

Ruger makes a lever action 44 mag rifle, great if you aren't going to far for shots.  For a long time, your cheapest bet would have been an old M1 Granada with a scope kit, it would have been cheap, deadly, and accurate.  Problem is you won't find them cheap anymore...

Hands or nothing. While a sword packs a cool power most things don't, meat just tastes better when you feel the soul of a creature pass between your fingers as it falls to the ground never to be heard from again.

I never really got the 'sport' part of hunting. You're going out to blow the heart/lungs out of a deer for meat. Shouldn't you do it in the most efficient way? Growing up we hunted a lot, shotgun, bow, and rifle where allowed. If you want to go for a walk in the woods, do so. You don't need the excuse of hunting. You want to hunt? Use power and accuracy to make a nice clean kill. One of the downsides to deer season in NJ was all the gutshot deer you'd find in the mountains the next week.

We just need to reintroduce wolves in massive numbers to the eastern seaboard to keep populations down. Deer populations. Really.

I've never gotten the sport part of it either. My father gets the hunting channel on DirecTV, and he tells me the guys are morons. They miss 75% of their shots (which just seems impossible to me, unless they do it on purpose).

Missed... 75%...  :ye_gods:

I've missed, maybe, three deer.  Ever.

I've only killed 3 deer, but I've only shot at 3. And I intentionally missed all the squirrels growing up, I mean, what kind of sick fucker kills a squirrel to eat? Yet everyone hunting would always allow me to take the shot, as they knew I was a good shot, but never had successfully hit a squirrel.

Dunno if they ever figured it out. And I think I've gutted about 50 deer overall, I just got good and fast at it, so I ended up doing it whenever someone else shot one. Or every 3 months when my brother would total his car hitting one  :uhrr:

Chicken Fried Squirrel with milk gravy made from the drippings, served with mashed potatos, add some corn, peas, and biscuits and it was a great Saturday night meal.  BTW, we switched to 22 cals almost all the time for squirrels, since I hated having to cut and chew really careful if you shot the squirrel with the shotgun.

I can do it, but I almost always made my dad do the field dressing.  The only time I can remember doing it alone it was too hot to let it sit and dad wasn't going to be back for several hours.  Even with gloves, it's icky.  Skinning and cleaning I don't mind at all though.  Unless it's 40 degrees out.  Again, that's what dad is for. ;D

It's easier at 40 degrees, stuff congeals faster. And you can do it quicker barehanded. The throat is hard to clear on a big deer unless you have long arms too.

Which led to the time my father tried to run me down in his driveway. My brother hit a deer in the evening, called me to gut and hang it for half the meat. So around 10pm I come out of the garage shirtless, covered in gore (solid impact with his truck so everything was quite bloody) right as my dad is coming up the driveway. Fun ensued. I didn't speak to him for a couple years after that.

Because you were killing a deer to eat? wat?

I think it was probably more along the lines of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLjkenN8xew

We had a deer hung up at the cabin and while skinning it my uncle somehow hit some tendon on the leg and it up and kicked him. Split open his forehead pretty good. Fun time.

How can you eat such patriotic animals?

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/Abagadro/captdf6ff064344148d49280ce38db1bff6.jpg)

I got bad news for you, pal. Honestly, unless you've killed one yourself, you probably haven't noticed. But, it makes me want to ask you - who's the America hating chump now?

Went Pheasant Hunting on saturday with my one year old brittany spaniel.  He found, one deer, pointed one possum, and one pheasant.  I promply shot it, it went down and he was carrying it around for abotu an hour and a half.  Which was o'k by me for that was the first pheasant he has ever gotten and at this stage its about him having fun out there more than anything else.

I'm not a hunter, and probably never will be.  Shooting a deer strikes me as too much like shooting a dog; it's not something I'd be into.  I could handle bird hunting, though, because I can't really anthropomorphize them.

That said, deer are horrible, nasty creatures.  You people who grew up in cities have no idea how nasty deer can be.  They make bizarre, unsettling noises, can trash your yard when they're rutting, and have been responsible for destroying one of my cars.  Blast away, I says.

Well, one hunting trip under my belt but no Buck for me. Passed up some great shots on some does (due to not having a doe tag, could have taken it anyway without much fear of DNR but decided against it). Deer camp rules though.

Friend shot a nice 6 point, he woke up from his drunken coma and was staring at a buck about 70 yards away. Will be headed to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to try to get a gnarly old buck next week.

A 12 gauge Remington 870 is the shotgun I use for Pheasant/Quail. It's been a great shooting and reliable gun. Use slugs when we see coyotes and it really doesn't kick that bad. Use a regular 24 inch barrel. Honestly didn't know you could get a slug barrel and don't know if that would make it kick more or not.

For deer/elk use a 30.06 and my .22's are only for teaching my son gun safety and target shooting.

Well, never ended up getting a shot on a buck this year but took down a nice doe for the meat. Dropped her with a .30-06

Friend took out a 6 pointer with a Weatherby .270 at about 400 yards. Was an awesome trip to Michigan's Upper peninsula.

I have a question about this because of regional idiosyncrasy.  When you say "six pointer" do you mean that it had six total points or 6 on each side?  Here in Utah, a buck with three prongs on each horn is a 3 pointer but I've heard back east they call that a six pointer.

6 pointer = 6 total points.

Yep.  Antlers usually aren't symmetrical so you can have 3 points on one side and 4 on another.  Hence, why we count total points.  This is for white tail, at any rate.  Maybe mule deer are different and that's why you guys count them that way?

If it's different we usually call it a half point. So a 2/3 would be called a 2 and a half.

To me, a 5 pointer makes more sense :)

Who ever said Utahans made any sense?

:ye_gods:

Basically, on the night before opening day we drank all night. Like, barely got a cat nap.

We got my friend out to his spot, and he passed out for a while, and we thought the story sounded better if you said 'he came out of his drunken coma' and blasted the deer. The really is how it went anyway.

I guess you are commenting about the safety of the situation then? Yeah, wasn't our finest hour. Beer Deer camp is like that sometimes!

Deer camp is fun.  Staying up late, drinking, chatting and playing dominoes.  They didn't care I was underage, either.  As long as I didn't go crazy about it.  Morning hunts are too cold anyways, so I was fine sleeping in.  Grab a bite to eat, and as all the people are trickling into camp I got to go on a quiet walk.

3 point in WA. A deer with 3 on one side and 2 on the other would still be a 3 point.

Weirdo Northwesterners  :awesome_for_real:

My grandmother taught me to hunt using a Remington 30.06, so that's always been my sentimental favorite.  For some reason, that style of hunting lost its appeal for me when I was in my 20s (no particular reason...my interest just sort of faded).  Then a friend introduced me to falconry, and I fell in love with it.  At the time I entered the sport, not many women were falconers, but nobody gave me a hard time over that, and I had some wonderful mentors and teachers.  I haven't the time or proper facilities for falconry these days, but I still go out with falconer friends to hunt pheasant and quail when I can.

Falconry is really fun for small game (birds, rabbits)...but I do miss venison.  I make the best venison chili in the world, but while some of the great birds I've hunted with would certainly take down a deer if they could, haha, it's not something our North American raptors are capable of doing.  I suppose that someday I could try hunting with a Harpy Eagle, but I'm not sure my nostalgia for venison chili is worth the risk ;)

Falconry sounds sweet. Just being around birds of prey is pretty cool, I love the look of them.

Damn, now I'm really hungry :) I might have to try to throw together some kind of veni chili tonight. That or you could just PM me a nice recipe. You would be my favorite new poster ever...and stuff!

I've seen a few falconry demonstrations, but never anything in the wild.  Sounds like it would be a lot of fun.

I really want some deer meat now, though.  I'll have to convince dad to take me out west after the Christmas holidays.

Sorry for the necro but didn't think this deserved its own thread.

Can anyone here recommend a good place online to buy 7.62x54R ammo? Never bought ammo online and a little leary of it. Not picky between corrosive and non but if have a choice prefer non and aware that will probably cost more.

I can't recommend anything personally, but there are lots of places so long as you're not looking for 7N1 or similar. MidwayUSA are very well known and stock Wolf. A friend uses them.

www.gunbroker.com

I've bought several pistols from there, but never ammo.  I can't imagine how much you'd pay in shipping charges.  Besides the weight, it's probably classified as HazMat.

Best recommendation is try and find a local gun show in your area where you can buy in bulk and negotiate price.  We have one about once a month, through the Abba Temple/Shriners.  Also, the price of ammo has been through the roof.  With the gun nuts expecting Obama to make firearms illegal and the Chinese buying up raw materials left and right, it's gotten really expensive.  REALLY not trying to turn this thread political, just stating the facts.

Um, what exactly do you hunt with 7.62 ammunition anyway?

Try AIM Surplus http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/7_62x54R.html (http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/7_62x54R.html).  20rds for $3.95 or 800rds for $150.00.

Anything you want  :awesome_for_real:

Well played.

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

It's not really for hunting. I picked up a mosin nagant pretty cheap and just want to shoot it.

High school? College campus?

Walmart? Wall Street?