[Rembrandt]

Years ago I hunted Wyoming and ran across an older gentleman in his late 80's. He pulled out a worn 20 round box of 30-06 and loaded his rifle. He had six loaded rounds left in the box, rest were empty cases. All the younger guys were concerned whether they had packed "enough ammo" for the day. The old man laughed and said he only needed one round and still had enough for the next five years of deer hunting. That single box of ammo represented 14 animals and six more hunts.

I've often thought back on this and realized how inefficient we have become with our hunting. Here's a man who grew up during the depression and made the most of each round he had....that experience stayed with him the rest of his life.

Sometimes I wonder how many years we could hunt on a single box of ammo.....

[JImbothefiveth]

But are you figuring in ammo for practice? I'd say to be as efficient as that, you'd have to use some ammo for practice.

[MCgunner]

I like to carry a BUNCH of ammo on any trip. It paid off once in New Mexico after taking the 4x4 down a gawd awful road and knocking the scopes of two rifles off in the process.

100 rounds ain't too much just in case, but hopefully won't have to sight in, but you never know. I just like knowing there ain't know way in hell I'm gonna run out, I mean, since I'm shooting handloads and can't run to a store (if there was one) and buy 'em.

When I head down to my place, I just carry what's in the magazine. I ain't gonna get, but one shot, anyway.

[K3]

I usually bring about 1 box (50 handloads) for any rifle I brng with me. For the rifle I'm carrying, usually some .30 cal type bolt action, I usually load the rifle full and keep another 10 rounds on me in one of those handy cloth/velcro carriers on my belt. The rest stays at camp or the truck, with the truck being camp from time to time. I hate carrying a bunch of stuff.

Not sure how many hunts I get from a box, as I practice regularly with all of my rifles. I *probably* shoot the equivalent of 10 rounds per month from each of my bolt actions if you do the math. More from semi-autos. How can you not? :)

[nathan]

Most old timers are like . I met quite a few of them. Nothing wrong with it.

[WardenWolf]

That would depend. I like to calibrate my rifle to the ammo I'll be using. I'll get it set up, and before hunting I'll check it again to verify it still holds zero. Then I'll put it away and not touch it until after the hunt.

[Shawnee]

Currently I am at 12 deer with 12 shots. Before I wasted a shot on a tree branch I didn't notice :banghead: my string was 19 for 19.

But like some of the others - I periodically check the "zero" on my rifles and, if I am hunting away from my home grounds, I feel better taking a couple boxes with me just in case I need to re-zero for some reason. So I have no claim to the "20 cartridges = 20 deer" title. :(

:cool:

[paintballdude902]

ummmm on a box of 20 shells i get around 2-3 hundred hunts but i reload :)

i usually take 1-2 shots on a deer normally 1

[saskboy]

I bring only what my gun can hold, 3 in the clip and one in the chamber. Only ever need one for deer, a few more for running coyotes.

[elkhuntingfool]

one shot one kill - so 20 years :)

[tblt]

20 rounds should last 10-20 years or more.
I take 4 rouns with me when I go for a 3 day weekend.The most I have ever used in one weekend is 3 rouns.

[MCgunner]

Odd. Nobody ever fires their rifles unless they're shooting at game? Aside from testing sight in, I just enjoy shooting the rifles once in a while. I do a lot of shooting with rimfires, though, and SKSs with milsurp ammo.

[JWF III]

All these answers of 20 rounds = 20 years means one of two things. Either ya'll don't live in a state where insurance companies get tired of paying for totaled cars caused by deer. Or ya'll don't have big enough freezers.

I live in Georgia, with a liberal limit on deer. We can shoot 12 a year, 2 bucks and 10 does. If you get chosen for a Quota (Draw) Hunt, the deer you take there do not go against your limit. I know people who have killed 12-15 deer in one season (legally fyi), processed them into different cuts of meat, and ate on nothing but wild game for the entire year. I know there are other states with even more liberal limits. Don't quote me on this, but I believe that South Carolina and Alabama may even be 1 deer a day. In SC, that could be up to 138 deer in one season.:what:

On an offshoot of the original topic, I saw an older man (~80 yo) walk onto a dove field with a single barrel .410. He fired 12 shoots, and walked off the field with 12 birds. My uncle (who knew him well) said that all he ever carries into the field is that shotgun and 12 shells. My uncle couldn't remember the last time he didn't leave with his limit.

Wyman

[MCgunner]

Now that's a tall tale befitting a Texan! Bwaaaa, ha, ha!

[jimmyraythomason]

Alabama has changed the bag limit on bucks. It was 1 per day as you stated but since 2007 it has been 3 bucks per season with one of the three having at least 4 points on one side(does are still one per day where taking does is legal. All bucks taken must been recorded on license.

[paintballdude902]

jfw in nc its 2 bucks and no limit for antlerless deer its a fairly new harvest program to reduce the number of deer in the eastern section of the state where we have tons of deer but they are small (ie a big buck weighs 150 dressed and a monster is 170+)

[caribou]

How many years can you get outta a box of shells?

A few years, if your me.:rolleyes:


I guess I'm a rank amature, only feeding 11 people in the house.

One bullet a year would certainly starve us, or turn vegitarian:barf:

Then again, I do miss, make bad hits and sometimes lose shells as I go. Done all that, and probly will again.

IF I had only one shot, then these fellas would certainly have had to line up....~LOL!~
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/edwardhailstone/goodoldones0053-1.jpg
4 days of hunting there, 5 per day's our limit, so I always bring plenty of shells...I often stay out that many days anyhoo...The pict is taken out my window, and its 20 above in the pict, and they are all frozen for later.

Oh, ya, I buy ammo by the wooden box, 800rds of Cxech LPS, and lord only knows how many I shoot just for fun.

[retrieverman]

A "box" of ammo won't last me a week. I shoot my hunting guns at least weekly all year, and that is why I started reloading. During hunting season, I keep a deer rifle with me basically 24/7, and I always have at least a 20-30 reloaded rounds in my pack/truck at all times.

[skers69]

I had a good streak going on one box of 20. I was 6 for 6 before my first miss. One box for "hunting" ammo that lasts over 10 years is kind of cool. Now I will shoot "other" ammo out of my deer gun for target pratice all the time.

[Jorg]

That's the way my dad hunted deer when I was a kid. He shot 2 rounds per year. One to make sure the scope was still sighted in and one for that year's buck.

[.38 Special]

I remember reading about some Inuit hunter who used a single shot .45-70 and black powder. He was almost always able to recover his bullet from the animal, upon which he would pop it into his mouth to clean off the blood and guts and then reload it as-is.

So it sounds like the old gentleman in Wyoming was pretty wasteful, to me.

[Georgia Gunner]

I normally shoot a box (20 rds) a year. A few to check the zero/practice and the others to actually hunt. I have yet to have to take more than one shot on a deer or coyote, but then again I'm very careful when taking my shots.

[interlock]

i reload my own ammunition. i also tend to only take one or two shots per hunting trip and i very very occasionally miss. i have taken 15 or so animals in the last 3 months.

But i take at least a box of 20 rounds in addition to what i might expect to use. It maybe that the Rifle gets a big knock and needs to be rezeroed.

I shoot plenty of ammo in practise and would stick my neck out and say that if you are a hunter you should get plenty of practise from a number of different positions using the rifle and the ammunition you use for your hunting.

If you don't you are reckless.

it's not about how few rounds you use it is about taking shots within the area you are comfortable and competant in to ensure a quick kill. so we must practise.

interlock

[altez]

If your rifle is sighted in and you don't need to make any more preparation, I would say a box of ammo should last you a few years. This year I took 9 shots, and got 8 hogs ... missed one. Still very angry at myself :fire:

[zammyman]

My grandma hunted grouse with a 22 LR growing up because they couldn't a shotgun. I do agree we may take more ammo than we need to the field- if we're willing to carry the weight and not get an itchy trigger finger, what's the harm?

[TAB]

it could last 10 years np. 1 shot to make sure its sited instill and 1 shot for the deer. Not every one enjoys shooting.

[qajaq59]

Years ago I met a guy in Maine that did that exact same thing. He had a box with 17 rounds fired and the guys that I was with said that every one of the fired cases had dropped a dear. He had one less before I left that day too. He was at least 75 and he could go thru the woods like a ghost without making a sound. My hunting skills even 40 years later, never came up to his levels. He was one impressive hunter.

[CoRoMo]

If you reload the empties... many, many, more.

[rcmodel]

When I was about 15-16, I hunted with a very old single-shot full-choke 12 ga. shotgun.

It was not at all uncommon for me to get my limit of 8 quail with only two or three shells.

See, I also had a crazy Irish Setter bird dog that caught one flying in the air on every covy break she sniffed out!

Most of the time, I couldn't even get a shot, because she was about 5 feet in the air with a quail in her mouth between me and the covy.

rcmodel

[2RCO]

I remember reading about some Inuit hunter who used a single shot .45-70 and black powder. He was almost always able to recover his bullet from the animal, upon which he would pop it into his mouth to clean off the blood and guts and then reload it as-is.

This guy must have been using .45 round balls and never hit a bone. Or more likely this story is a load of Moose ^&*(.

[rcmodel]

I vote for the load of Moose &$^#%@ theory!

rcmodel

[06]

As a kid we brought home 26 squirrels out of the 27 bullets we had. I have a Winchester md100 that I sight in once a year with one round usually. I have adjusted the scope two clicks since 1968. I hunt now with a Ruger Md 77 in 06 and I seldom ever fire it over twice to check zero. Now my playing guns get plenty of time busting caps. I sometimes hunt with my M1-A. I run the sight back down but 32 clicks gives me a fine 200 yd shot. wc

[.38 Special]

So we'll believe MOA AK-47s but my poor old Inuit is made out to be a liar. Humph.

He's probably dead by now, if it makes you feel any better. :p

[gentleman987]

a box of 20 will equal about 10-15 deer

[Thor Bloodax]

My buddy Johnny in Monroe County Georgia bought a new Win 94 and one box of ammo. He had his own property and his goal was to get the first deer of the year with one shot. He was going to retire the rifle when he had his 20 deer. He made it to 18 and then some xxxxx stole his guns! (He did build very high deer stands in those tall Georgia pines. A hawk landed on a tree branch and just looked at him for awhile wondering what kind of creature was this high up in his tree!)

[Dksimon]

I dont really have a clue as far as deer hunting goes. The ammo varies by the location i will be hunting so im not sure how long one box lasts.

With my shotgun i am very picky about the shots that i take. if i think the bird is too far and it wont be a quick clean kill then i wont take the shot. I dont always get my limit but a box of shells will get me 22-23 birds. OTOH a buddy that i pheasant hunt with alot will go through a box in about an hour. He usually shoots each bird twice before they hit the ground and he will shoot at birds so far away that im surprised they even hear the muzzle blast

[Dksimon]

I dont really have a clue as far as deer hunting goes. The ammo varies by the location i will be hunting so im not sure how long one box lasts.

With my shotgun i am very picky about the shots that i take. if i think the bird is too far and it wont be a quick clean kill then i wont take the shot. I dont always get my limit but a box of shells will get me 22-23 birds. OTOH a buddy that i pheasant hunt with alot will go through a box in about an hour. He usually shoots each bird twice before they hit the ground and he will shoot at birds so far away that im surprised they even hear the muzzle blast

[Dksimon]

I dont really have a clue as far as deer hunting goes. The ammo varies by the location i will be hunting so im not sure how long one box lasts.

With my shotgun i am very picky about the shots that i take. if i think the bird is too far and it wont be a quick clean kill then i wont take the shot. I dont always get my limit but a box of shells will get me 22-23 birds. OTOH a buddy that i pheasant hunt with alot will go through a box in about an hour. He usually shoots each bird twice before they hit the ground and he will shoot at birds so far away that im surprised they even hear the muzzle blast

[TheTriggerHappyIrishman]

with my .308, one box of 20= one kill. i shoot twice to check the zero, then 15 times for fun, then one for the kill, with two extra (that i waste at the range next time). but if i was not trigger happy;), i could get bout 15 out of a box of twenty.

about the ol inuit guy, it is possible, but i dont think so. some durn fool made that up along with his made up story of going hunting.

[Big Bill]

I learned to shoot as a child when I got my BB gun. I was 5 YO. Back then there wasn't much on TV, if you had one. So, my brother and I build a Fort Apache in the top of our haystack close to the granery and propected it from sparrows. Dad bought us all the BBs we wanted. And, that old Daisy lever gun was real effective. Our neighbor had a straw bail roofed barn and at night dad would take us over there and shine a flashlight up into the holes the sparrows would make in the straw and when they poked their heads out, we'd take turns blasting them.

I killed my first dear at 12 with my Winchester M94 30-30 (I also field dressed it.) and killed a pheasant and some mallards with my SS .410. I used my 30-30 for big game (elk and bears) till I after I was married.

I got another shooting education at basic and AIT (11B) in the Army and that also stayed with me.

So, I don't feel the need to go out to the range (We don't have one anyway.) on a regular basis and shoot up a bunch of valuable ammo. I'll shoot some before a hunt, but not much.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Depends on whether my scope gives me fits when sighting in. But ideally, at least 3 years and 6 animals from a box of 20, preferably more.

[mio]

depends on my gun.

i have a .35 rem pump it holds no real value other than my dad gave it to me and he thinks its a really great thing. i honor his feelings about it because i know how much it meant to him so.
i havent had it reblued even though it needs it and ive never shot a doe with it even when i had a permit.

i shoot one shot from it before rifle season to be sure it still hits a pop bottle at 50yrds and i dont hunt with it if the weather is bad or its late in the season and ill take a doe. and i dont take a shot im not sure of with it.

ive been useing the same box of ammo for 10yrs. my other deer rifles get shot much much more.

[Titan6]

I couldn't tell you. Since I switched from bolt and lever actions to semiautos for all my hunting needs I don't really keep track of my ammo expended. I can tell you this though. Every shot from the rifle in the last five years out hunting has been successful and resulted in food on the table.