My dear wife is glad she is on E! less these days..lol
Brook as "huntress"
Posted on 10/18/2003 11:37:40 AM PDT by dogbyte12
I am about to finally leave the urban jungle of Los Angeles and move down to both Louisiana and South Carolina. While I do fish out here, I have only gone hunting a few times with borrowed equipment.
I am interested in starting to hunt, and would love for any freepers to give me recommendations on a good beginner rifle, something that isn't so pricey, but reliable, as well as any other gear that I will need as a beginner.
I am not a stranger to handguns, or to military rifles, I qualified expert on both a .45 and an M16, so I am not starting from scratch, but I am looking for a rifle for deer hunting basically that will not set me back too much money, yet still be a decent value. I plan to not spend that much money so it can be economical. I do know how to fabricate a carcass, and would love to hunt for meat, without the cost of hunting making it more expensive than going to the supermarket.
Any help in this regard, web sites, consumer reports, etc, would be much appreciated. Thanks all.
My dear wife is glad she is on E! less these days..lol
Brook as "huntress"
As a kid I had to satisfy myself with a makshift pistol range in the basement with modified rounds and a Colt .38sp snubbie. Believe it or not, I wasn't allowed to have a BB gun.
(I'd be gone, but I'm still waiting on my issue of level III armor.)
I think I paid 80 bucks for the old M96 mauser. 200 on gunsmithing the action, bolt handle , shroud, M70 style safety, Canjar trigger ect ect , rebarreling it with a Shilen barrel. 250 on an H&S Phenolic/Carbon fiber stock, 450 on the used 6X Khales glass. Topped it off with Neoprene/Web Nylon Sling and a Uncle Mikes stock sock for 9 spare rounds of 148 gr Alaskan Ammo.
Gun itself was less than one tenth of the actual money spent ............but it was fun gettin there......:o)
Stay Safe !
Wow....you had yer own indoor range !?!?!?? Too Kewl !
Stay Safe !!
I guess I still have a little bit of boy in me. When I was a kid I would day dream that I somehow got lost in the deep woods. In my dream they would find me a month later comfortably ensconced in my "Swiss Family Robinson" type world. Somehow one of my beautiful classmates would have made it to my little paradise.
Anyway here is some of what I have although I am far from being an expert.
The Beretta and ammmo plus 2 spare mags. Several different types of firestarters including magnesium, matches, and a bunch of cheap disposable cigarette lighters. A boy scout survival manual. An Army survival manual, several different types of string, cord, wire and nylon fishing line and a box of nails. a box of candles and a collapsable candle lantern.
Two swiss army knives. A puma "white hunter" knife, a small sharpening stone. A space blanket. two B&L magnifying glasses. Several garbage bags, a whistle, A little bottle of water purifyer (which I need to replace with a fresh one), a first aid kit which I put together myself which includes 100 500mg of tetracycline.
there are probably a few more things but I would have to get it out and pull everything out to be sure. It all fits in a small gym bag.
Hey, let's go back to talking guns!
Hey I thought you were married to Brooke Burke ?:o)
Stay Safe !
Yeah, but I learn something from them every time. And I am amused with some of them.
If we just had pretty pictures, we'd be able to throw all the Out Door Life and Field and Streams away, huh?
Do you want to hunt deer or do you want to learn how to shoot a rifle?
I am always amazed at those that want to do the former, but cannot figure out the latter.
The good news is: You don't need a rifle to hunt deer. Many states limit deer hunting to shotgun slugs only. A shotgun slug is a powerful and deadly deer hunting weapon.
Absolutely! I recommend it to anyone that has a better than average shooting skill.
Contrary to some beliefs, one does not have to be a Carlos Hathcock to use a slug gun effectively.
I do recommend a quality discarding sabot slug with a rifled barrel and scope, though.
I am able to put three slugs in a 5 inch circle at 60 yards with my 1100 with a rifled barrel and a red-dot scope, with discarding sabot slugs.
With regular punkin balls thru the rifled barrel, I can still do 5 inch groupings, but only at 50 yards.
50 yards is a long ways in some of the areas that I learned to hunt in.
Of course, for the muleys and the wider, open areas such as the western areas of east Texas, I'd recomment a .308 or .30-06.
But hey, what do I know, except for experience. Said experience based on my being able to kill 52 deer in one year, using a shotgun.
Alabama has a buck-a-day season in some parts and some years had a 89 day season.
And oh, being a Game Warden at the time helped.
And every one of them was eaten.
Nothing went to waste. Sure do miss them days.
And now, I'll go back in to the woodwork.
The Venturers are really playing Swiss Family Robinson - and they have a ball doing it. My daughter's Crew went to Philmont last summer and enjoyed themselves immensely.
We used to camp out a lot in the treehouse that my dad built for us down at the foot of the hill behind our house, overlooking a rock quarry with a waterfall. He suspended it on cables between four trees, and when the wind blew it swayed. It was totally awesome - even if we did have to give each other pep talks so as not to sneak back up to the house at 2 a.m. . . . . :-D
On the level III, we're dealing with the low-tech steel plate, 10x12, not pretty, not light. I think I'll opt out of convoys as much as possible, they look dangerous. I'd prefer to put my own money into something more comfortable (more likely to be worn!), but that's not an option right now.
Anyway...maybe next season I'll take my 7.62x54R out for some whitetail and see how the antiques do. (not ME, the RIFLES!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.