Deer Hunting for Newbies

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 5/2/2018 | C Cocoles

[w1n1]

Deer seasons in most of the USA doesn't start until September – but if you’re looking to harvest some whitetail this year you’re probably already planning your hunt now.

Hopefully, you'll be out soon shooting and developing your loads for upcoming hunts and maybe spending some time hiking, working out and getting ready for long days in the field and packing that hard-earned venison back to the trailhead.

This fall some 10 million hunters will go afield in search of the whitetail buck of their dreams. On average, about 6 million deer will be harvested.

Guns
There are a lot of options when it comes to rifle and cartridges, let's take a look at some good choices for whitetail hunting to get you started down the path to a whitetail hunting career.
.30-30
You’re kidding, right? With all the fast new and sexy cartridges out there, why do I list the .30-30 first?

In all likelihood, the .30-30 Winchester Centerfire has taken more whitetail than any other cartridge. Often packaged in a compact, light and easy to carry lever-action rifle, the .30-30 makes a lot of sense.

There are a lot of whitetail in the river bottoms and thick forest and swamps. Shots will be short. You’ll likely be on a stand or stalk hunting and catch a glimpse of a whitetail sneaking through the woods.

.308 Winchester
The .308 was originally designed as a military cartridge. Sportsmen quickly realized that the .308 cartridge design was very accurate and could be housed in short action rifles, making them quite handy in the field.

The .308 gives up very little performance as far as velocity and energy compared to the 30-06. What it doesn’t do is recoil very much. Read the rest of this Deer Hunting for Newbies guide here.

[Vaquero]

Calibers I and my children have takes deer with over the past 42years:
12 gauge slugs
.44 magnum(Ruger revolver)
.45 colt (Ruger revolver)
.35 Remington
.45-70 (overkill but if you place your round right no meat damaged )
.30-06
.30-30
.357 (S&W revolver)

At close range eastern brush country, where I hunt, most anything will take down a whitetail.

[inchworm]

44 mag rifle with Barnes vortex takes deer clean with very little recoil and noticably a lot less sound blast to the ears than a revolver, high powered rifle or shotgun. Save your ears and Bullet speed is typically about 500fps more than the revolver. This round gives me outstanding accuracy in a Ruger 77/44 and CVA Hunter.

[jonno]

We go out like grand-pappy did; we take nothing but a knife and a rope...
8^)

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

BFL

[Alas Babylon!]

Here in Alabama, we can use a spear to hunt deer.

That's right, a spear!

Quote (From the Dept of Fish and Game):

Hunting Weapons and Ammunition That are Legal in Alabama
•Rifles using centerfire, mushrooming ammunition.
•Air powered guns, .30 caliber or larger.
•Shotguns, 10 gauge or smaller using buckshot, slugs, or single round ball.
•Muzzleloaders and Black Powder Handguns: .40 caliber or larger, during the special muzzleloader season.
•Long bows, compound bows, or crossbows in conformance with regulation 220-2-.03.
•Handguns or pistols using centerfire, mushrooming ammunition.
•Hunting with fully automatic firearms is prohibited.
•Hand thrown spear in conformance with regulation 220-2-.03.

Note: Legal hunting hours for deer: 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset.

[cyclotic]

Where I live, we can only use slugs or muzzle loaders.

I’m still a complete newby. Started hunting in my mid-40’s. I truly have no idea what I’m doing so for the most part, it’s a day spent sitting in a tree stand with a shotgun in my hand. Not a wasted day at all.

A friend gave me a muzzleloader last year. Looking forward to trying that out.

I have been successful once. I scared a young buck on the way to my stand and managed to get off a quick shot and got him.

[BTCM]

My Weatherby 25/06 with iron sights has never let me down—my cowboy Winchester 30/30, not so much.

[chrisser]

Thanks for the article.

Never hunted but being we now live in WV where there are probably more deer than people, I’d be interested in learning.

But it’s a pretty overwhelming endeavor for someone who hasn’t done it before. Weapons/ammunition is just scratching the surface. I’m reasonably confident with a bit of advice, I could probably kill a deer, but killing it is the easy part. All the things that happen from kill to table are just as, if not more, important and that all has to be arranged beforehand. At least that’s my perspective as a noob.

[Little Ray]

Ran the trash out last night for pickup.
There were two deer, two does, or maybe a doe and fawn, standing right across the road.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Nice list but does not apply to Massatuskey. No legal way to hunt deer with a rifle. Has to be 12ga. shotgun using slugs.

[Bitman]

The deer here are as thick as thieves. We just use a club.
8^)

[BenLurkin]

Yes, but what kind of pants did you wear?

[BenLurkin]

[conservativesister]

My Colt Sauer 22-250 has never left me down, went 2 years in a row got an 8pt & 9pt and never went again. Memories............

[conservativesister]

Actually, I’ve now changed to ground hog shooting, they are eating my tomatoes, 3 for 3 on open sites.

[nobamanomore]

For newby deer hunters, what caliber to use is basically irrelevant. It would be better to spend time with some learning how to hunt! Deer are quite easy to kill, far and away the best caliber for a beginner would be something in the .243 area.

[backwoods-engineer]

Yep, I read the spears thing in the rules. Do you know anybody in our county or hereabouts that has taken a deer with a spear? Most I know are bowhunters, but I am a gun-only deer hunter. Might try a crossbow though, someday.

[minnesota_bound]

Hunting liberals from Bloom County
https://theconservativetreehouse.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/000421-1.gif?w=640

[Vaquero]

I only shoot my own hand loads