I was quite a natural in the military with the M16. Obviously it only relates so much. I will be hunting in southern Louisiana. I will be living in Ascension parish, so I will be driving from there to where I hunt.
I didn't mean to sound condescending about hunting deer with a .22 rifle.
The fact is that I've killed more mule deer with a .22 rifle than with any other gun, but I always picked my shots very carefully. I've never lost a deer.
In West Texas I carried a .22 rifle and a 12 gauge shotgun in my truck all the time.
In the evening when the blue quail are out on the gravel roads eating gravel, I'd shoot one quail through the body and let the others gather round to watch it kick.
Then I'd make a skillet shot across the top of the covey and get ten or twelve with one shot.
Yeah, I know, that's not very sportsman like, but I always hunted for meat, not for sport.
Sometimes a mule deer would walk out on the road and I'd take him (or her) down with a clear head shot if he/she was less than fifty yards and standing still.
I used .22 long rifle hollow points with which can drop a mulie with a heart shot if you know exactly where to hit.
I never hunted horns. I never found a way to cook 'em.
If you will be hunting in heavy brush, don't forget the marlin 35 rem. It will bring down anything you might incounter. I have two and the first shot was at a 5" paper plate at a hundred yard. open sight and dead center. could have been a little luck, but one sweet rifle.