Gun of choice for deer this year?

[NoWiser]

Alright, I know this thread gets posted every year, but I still love reading it and it gives us something to do as the minutes slowly tick by until Saturday morning.

What gun/caliber/scope/bullet/etc. will you be toting come Saturday?

I'll have my trusty Tikka T3 in 270 WSM slung over my shoulder. It's got a Leupold VX-III 2.5-8X scope on it. For bullets I'll be using some hand loaded Barnes 130 grain TTSX moving out at about 3,380 fps.

I love this gun and it's taken a wide variety if big game. Hopefully it finds a nice buck in its sights sometime next week!

Good luck everyone, be safe!

[Archerysniper]

I will have the old trusty T/C Omega with open sights and a 250 grain Hornady STS.

I love the smell of pyrodex in the morning

[eyeguy 54]

no luck with the long bullets yet so gonna try the 870 express 20 ga. brenneke slugs, open sights. will be in one of my archery stands so no long shots.

[walleye365]

Rem 700 mountian 25-06 117gr serria game king with a leupold VX11 3x9x40

[monstermoose78]

Browning A-bolt Medallion with the boss muzzle break in 30-06 with Leupold VX-II 3x9. I shoot Federal Nosler Partitions in 180 grains. However I will not be going to the cabin to chase deer this year due to college.

[Fowlmouth]

remington 742 woodsmaster in .308 Dad's gun, dropped a bear with it this fall, now i'd like to take a deer with it.

[Gordie]

I will flip a quarter on opening morning and decide that way between my Weatherby Vanguard 30-06 or my Winchester 100 in .308

I did a bunch of work to my Vanguard so I hoping for this one, but I love shooting my Winchester

Vanguard- 165 spear boattail in hand loads,with a bushnell banner 1.75-4 and my Wincghester is 150 grain Remington soft points and a Nikon 3-9 prostaff

[96trigger]

Beretta al390, hasting cantilever slug barrel, with Remington accutips

[Bear83]

I'll be hitting the woods with a Tikka T3 Deluxe in .270. Have a Vortex Diamondback 3-9X40 sitting on top, shooting Federal 150 gr Fusions. Good luck everyone!

[leech~~]

Browning A-bolt Medallion with the boss muzzle break in 30-06 with Leupold VX-II 3x9. I shoot Federal Nosler Partitions in 180 grains. However I will not be going to the cabin to chase deer this year due to college.

What! And miss the best education of your life!

My son's driving up to Outing from Mankato to be in the stand opening morning and in the cabin with the boys for at least one weekend this year!

Oh, I'll have the old standard Rem 7600 30.06 3-9 Ver Bushnell with 180 grains of Federal going down the barrel!

[Todd Caswell]

It's going to be a different deer season for me, unexpectedly lost my dad on Jan 12 this past year at the age of 75, he enjoyed duck/goose hunting, fishing but loved Deer season, the man could sit all day, see nothing but come in with a smile on his face never understood it. So this year I'm going to use his Winchester model 100, 284 cal. with 170 gr. Barnes hand loads that he was in the garage loading last thanksgiving day before dinner.. The story behind this rifle is he and my mother were out shopping in the fall of 1968 and he wanted to buy this gun, she said no couldn't afford it, next day she went in and put it on layoway, pinched pennies for the next year and gave him his gun 1 week before the 1969 season. This gun has killed alot of deer in the past 44 years. I asked him last year and he figured that gun had taken 86 deer. So my plan is to shoot one deer with it, put it back in the case until my nefew is of age to hunt, and then the next deer to be taken with grampas rifle and hand loads will be by Easton Caswell. It was my dads goal to live long enough to take is one and only grandson deer hunting, he didn't make it but I plan on filling in for him...

Seems to be right on at 100 yards

[Glenn_S]

Me: Savage Edge in .30-06 with Federal Power Shok 150 grain

Son: Mosin-Nagant with 7.62x54r 174 grain or his Bushmaster .223 with 65 grain softpoint

Son in Law: My Lee-Enfield in British .303 150 grain Prvi

Odd enough combinations for you? LOL...

[fishuhalik]

Rem 700 mountian 25-06 117gr serria game king with a leupold VX11 3x9x40

That's my exact setup, cept my Leupold is a 4-12.

Todd, sorry to hear about your dad, but I think that's a pretty awesome tribute!!

[mrklean]

Pulling the Remington 700 7mm with 110 grain barnes triple copper this year

[zepman]

SE Minnesota....

Mossberg 500 with a 24" rifled barrel...open sights.

Hornady SST's 2 3/4".

[Eric Wettschreck]

SW MN

870

Nothing fancy 2 3/4" Federal slugs.

[Early Riser]

I primarily use my Browning pump rifle in 30.06 with Leupold 1X4 shooting Remington Core Locts 180 grain.

Most shots are 30 feet to 40 yards within a mixture of walking, including the 1-2 mile hikes to my stands, and a lot more stand hunting nowadays which I have really learned to enjoy now that I am older and not as pressured to keep moving all the time.

I also will spend some time walking and stalking with the Marlin 30.30 with open sights, if we get a decent snowfall during the day, or the following day it the snow is thick on all the branches. Core loct 150 grains through that one. It was my first deer rifle and I have some fond memories of many deer taken and days afield with that gun when all my hunting was spent on the ground as I was learning the lay of the vast land tracks out the front door of our old homestead well up past Grand Marais, and before decent hang on stands were available. Our 16 year old son loves this rifle and he will use it when he comes up to camp.

I did pick up a great deal on an H&R single shot handi-rifle in .223 with Bushnell sport view scope 3x9 from a neighbor up north. He used it to shoot beavers off his pond. It is accurate and I just tried it in the cabin yard to take out a raccoon that was destroying my bird feeders with a head shot. I bought some barnes tsx rounds for the weapon, thinking it could be a backup deer rifle in the hands of the experienced hunters in deer camp. I have one stand in particular that it would be fine for given the typical shots I have taken there. It lives up at the cabin now, so it is there already anyways.

Our 19 year old son has taken to the Browning A bolt with Leupold 3X9, which he shoots 150 core locts through. He has taken his first deer with this rifle.

[Gordie]

It's going to be a different deer season for me, unexpectedly lost my dad on Jan 12 this past year at the age of 75, he enjoyed duck/goose hunting, fishing but loved Deer season, the man could sit all day, see nothing but come in with a smile on his face never understood it. So this year I'm going to use his Winchester model 100, 284 cal. with 170 gr. Barnes hand loads that he was in the garage loading last thanksgiving day before dinner.. The story behind this rifle is he and my mother were out shopping in the fall of 1968 and he wanted to buy this gun, she said no couldn't afford it, next day she went in and put it on layoway, pinched pennies for the next year and gave him his gun 1 week before the 1969 season. This gun has killed alot of deer in the past 44 years. I asked him last year and he figured that gun had taken 86 deer. So my plan is to shoot one deer with it, put it back in the case until my nefew is of age to hunt, and then the next deer to be taken with grampas rifle and hand loads will be by Easton Caswell. It was my dads goal to live long enough to take is one and only grandson deer hunting, he didn't make it but I plan on filling in for him...

Seems to be right on at 100 yards

Sweet looking gun Todd and that's the next one for my collection in .284

[cavalierowner]

My hunting partners (and probably you guys too) are going to think I'm crazy, but I carry two (!!) rifles! My primary rifle is a 50 cal. Pedersoli Frontier caplock loaded with 80 grains of 777 and either 295 gr Powerbelt or a patched roundball. I STILL haven't decided for sure on Powerbelt vs. roundball!! By backup is a .308 lever action Savage 99c with 180 gr. Corelokt. The scope on the .308 is a Leopold VXII, 2x to 7x. I plan to only use the .308 if I see a deer beyond about 75 yards (unlikely where I hunt); while the rifle is capable of accuracy well beyond that, the combination of open sights and my old eyes is not all that great beyond about 75 yards.

Our group hunts up by Isabella. I am getting beyond excited about deer hunting!

[TattooedHunter]

Savage Mod 14 in .308win topped this year with a redfield 3-9x44mm revenge, next year hope to have either a ziess conquest or vortex viper.

Fire-formed brass, hand loaded 180gr nosler accubonds.

[paceman]

Remington 742 woodmaster in 30-06, with a a nikon 3-9-40 on top. My lucky go to gun. This past summer I also bought a Browning a-bolt 7mm-08 from a relative. A sweet shooting gun that might go out for a day or two....

[Monkster]

East central MN:

Son: Savage .308 with 180 grain (he hunts a gas line clear cut)

Me: Smith and Wesson .44 Mag, 10 inch barrel, Red Dot scope (I hunt in the thick stuff!)

[MNice]

Remington 710 in .270 Ya that's what it is, but ugly, but it shoots great. Nikon 3-9, Winchester super x 150 gr. Still regret not buying a 700 BDL, just for the pretty wood.

[Cicada]

I bought a Remington 788 in .243 just before I turned 14 years old. It was used (made in 1952) and we had the sport shop dealer in Cooperstown throw in an extra clip and a box of shells for $150.00. Only deer rifle I have ever owned and I still love to use it.

We hunt in NW Ottertail County around Whiskey Creek and as I always say, "It tastes nothing like the stuff." Very fortunate to have the place to hunt. I sit above the creek out in the open, so there's really nothing to scout. I am dependent on others moving deer around. It has worked out pretty good for me, averaging a little over a deer per year since I got the spot.

These photos were taken about five years ago. Got to my spot ( a different location) and someone had torn down my stand within a couple of days before the opener. Kind of a bummer when you walk up to it before sunrise and find it this way. Turned out ok, got this one from the pile of rubble.

And, used the boards from the vandalized stand to make this.

[MUSKY18]

I will be toting the old reliable into the deer woods once again.

Winchester Model 70, chambered in .270. Shooting Hornady 130gr SST Superformance bullets. First year with this ammo and am excited to see how it does on deer after shooting it at the range.

My son will be toting a Savage chambered in .243. Shooting Federal Vital Shock with 80gr bullets. He is sighted in dead on at 100 yards. Will be able to shoot up to 200 out of the stand, but I don't think I will let him take that shot. Even a 100 yards is stretching it on his first deer.