Will a semi-auto get you more game than a bolt-action?

Picher said:

In Maine, I've seen deer at tagging stations and butchers, shot by hunters in "Deer-Drives" and it was obvious that they were shooting several shots at a deer and not very well-aimed shots at that. It was very sad to see how those poor deer were slaughtered, obviously by more than one shooter.

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Yep been there done that. Saw a poor driven deer that had three hunters shooting at it with 12 gauge slug guns. Lots of meet lost to those trigger happy hunters. But given how many shots they had to take the semi-auto shotguns and the fact that there was three of them was the only reason they got any meat. I think the semi-auto increase the capability of any hunter in the right situation but it does not mean it results in a "good" kill.

scotjute said:

My father has killed two deer at a time several times using auto shotgun. Said that with the first shot, often the other deer can't tell which way shot came from as sound is all over. They would freeze looking for the hunter. He could then fire and kill a second deer with auto. The noise of a manual action would give your position away. Never tried it myself as I do not care to clean two deer at once.
I have shot running coyotes with a scoped bolt action when in an open field.

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It's been my experience that cycling a manual action does not scare away the deer. I've had a few instances where I shot a doe in a group, she fell, I pumped the action of my 870 and aimed again while the remaining deer were standing there dumbfounded. I've never pulled the trigger, mostly because one deer a year is enough for me, but I was always able to get a solid aim again.

bassjam said:

It's been my experience that cycling a manual action does not scare away the deer. I've had a few instances where I shot a doe in a group, she fell, I pumped the action of my 870 and aimed again while the remaining deer were standing there dumbfounded. I've never pulled the trigger, mostly because one deer a year is enough for me, but I was always able to get a solid aim again.

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That has been my experience as well. Sometimes I shoot and sometimes not depending on the same reasons.

To me, bolt actions are not far off from a single shot. True, I have never tried to master them but I already went over those reasons.

Varminterror said:

This is a false construct.

There is absolutely nothing inherent to the design of a single-shot which does ANYTHING but fire a bullet. The mechanical device cannot and does not force any enhanced focus or prevent any reduced diligence. If a person is willing to take a sub-optimal shot, the mechanical device in their hands won’t change that.

It is true that reloading a single shot is slower than the self-loading action of a semiauto. But nothing about any of these designs forces anyone to be more or less responsible for their own actions.

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Pretty sure that user was referring to knowing they only have one shot and making that shot count, nothing to do with any inherent ability of the firearm. Ask any muzzle loader hunter enthusiast the importance of that. Just saying.

WisBorn said:

I'm a bolt action fan first then lever actions. I feel that the first shot is the important one. A follow up shot with either the bolt or lever is fast enough in practiced hands.

Never liked the spray and pray mind set that a semi automatic can induce.

Jeff

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As many others have opined, that first shot is paramount. I've found it to be rare, that a follow up shot gets much done. OTOH, I'm a firm believer in the "immediately jack another round in the chamber" practice, for a follow up shot, with a bolt action, or lever.

bassjam said:

It's been my experience that cycling a manual action does not scare away the deer. I've had a few instances where I shot a doe in a group, she fell, I pumped the action of my 870 and aimed again while the remaining deer were standing there dumbfounded. I've never pulled the trigger, mostly because one deer a year is enough for me, but I was always able to get a solid aim again.

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A few years ago a couple of us were helping a local farmer thin his deer heard during our late does seasons. The idea was to shoot as many as possible to keep the farmer happy and our access assured. We'd often shoot 13-14 does in a day, literally leaving them where they dropped, then coming back after sunset to dress and police them up. I'd end up getting home close to midnight. Then we'd hang in a barn and spend the next weekend butchering deer. Kinda like an Amish thing, wives and kids would come help wrap/package and everyone left with a cooler or 2 full of meat.

This is back when we (in KS Area 10) could buy 1 buck tag and 5 doe tags and we had a 1 week late doe season. Last few years we've been down to 1 Buck and 1 Doe in Area 10, so the big doe hunts died off. During those hunts, doubles and even a triple weren't uncommon. Whitetail does aren't the brightest animal on the planet to begin with and the shots would often echo off the distant tree line and confuse them even more. They tend to group up in the late season and it's easy to take a couple out of a group of 12-14. One day I got caught in a no-chit deer stampede (about 30 animals) with a heard running down hill all around me. Got 3 with my bolt gun at 20+ yds and less, but probably could have filled all 5 tags with a semi. After that incident I seriously thought about packing my FAL on those hunts.

Like any hunting it's all fun till the animal(s) is down.

Having hunted my entire life in Wisconsin north woods, my go to rifle has been my Remington 742 carbine, in .308 Win. I know I've killed 50-60 deer with it and not a one over 100 yards away. hdbiker

Quotes from the past master, Theodore Roosevelt: “The truth is any modern rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun.”

Caveat. This quote is paraphrased: No amount of rapid fire will atone for a poorly placed first shot.”

Just sayin,

Picher said:

One day, in my early deer hunting years, I chose a semi-auto shotgun with all slugs, for hunting in tight going and jumped a deer almost into a patch of alders. It ran from right to left about 35 yards away as I stood several yards in an adjacent field. I fired several "aimed' shots, but each round hit one or more alders and deflected away from the deer. It was disconcerting to see how poorly they "managed" the conditions. Some hit several alder branches.

Another time, I was hunting with a shotgun and slugs in a snowstorm and followed a smallish doe's tracks in light woods, with about 4 inches of the white stuff. As I stopped for a minute and looked ahead, the deer was standing broadside, under an 8" diameter fir. I fired, and as I recovered from the recoil, the deer was visible anymore, so I expected to see it down. I got to the tree and the deer wasn't anywhere to be found and there wasn't any hair or blood. I looked at the tree trunk and found that my slug had hit a little more than an inch from one side and remained embedded in it, going only part-way through the 3" thickness near the left edge. If I'd made the same shot with my 30-06, it would have gotten the deer, which was only a foot or so behind the trunk. That was one of the last times I used a shotgun to hunt deer.

I recall hunting deer with a shotgun and slugs only once since those times, but it's a long story, so I'll spare you this time.

JP

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My experience too. I live in a slug zone but rather drive 200 miles to hunt with a modern rifle. I had also been on slug zone deer drives and saw many semi auto misses but also deer survive multiple hits and still need long tracking and more shots to finish off. I have not seen any of those problems with rifles. Most are clean one shot kills. This year I had to take a second shot due to deflection in brush. Happened to be shooting a bolt action. Made no difference.

I think that it depends on the game and the terrain. Shotgunning would be a maybe, although I prefer to shoot a stack barrel. As for rifles, I can see where an AR could be the way for hogs where you probably have a herd come through. I could handle nearly everything else with my bolt guns. In days passed I shot a lot of deer on the run, but seldom risk it anymore. I shot an 8 pointer 3 or 4 years ago, but I had him at 100 yards running across a wide open field. Rolled him the first shot, but had to finish him. The offhand practice helped.

I believe it will get you more shots....whether that translates to more game depends largely on the nut at the end of the stock...

Old Maine proverb. One shot, meat on the table, two shots, maybe, three shots, still running. Paraphrased.

bassjam said:

It's been my experience that cycling a manual action does not scare away the deer. I've had a few instances where I shot a doe in a group, she fell, I pumped the action of my 870 and aimed again while the remaining deer were standing there dumbfounded. I've never pulled the trigger, mostly because one deer a year is enough for me, but I was always able to get a solid aim again.

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earlthegoat2 said:

That has been my experience as well. Sometimes I shoot and sometimes not depending on the same reasons.

To me, bolt actions are not far off from a single shot. True, I have never tried to master them but I already went over those reasons.

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I've had more experiences where cycling the gun DIDNT result in animals running, but I've had quite a few where it did. I've never hunted with a slide action seriously, but ive had stuff break at the sound of my bolt being lifted offten enough that I don't even bother to do it quietly anymore, I just run it and deal with what I've got afterward.

Sheep and goats will usually stop at least once after you spooke them. So if you can connect on two shots quickly then stop, you'll offten get at least one more when they stop and look back. If you don't stop shooting they keep running.




Been thinking about hunting at home for a bit, and just remembered something that's kinda funny.
Eventually I got pretty good at identifying WHO was shooting by the sound of the rifle, and where it came from......for the most part, a sequence of pop, pop, pop, didn't alarm me.
But there were a couple guys who id hear shoot, and anything more than 3 or 4 rounds....well..... I turned off my radio.....

whughett said:

Pretty sure that user was referring to knowing they only have one shot and making that shot count, nothing to do with any inherent ability of the firearm. Ask any muzzle loader hunter enthusiast the importance of that. Just saying.

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Possessing the knowledge that a consequence follows an action doesn’t functionally prevent the action, as it has been demonstrated nearly infinitely in our society that awareness of a consequence RARELY actually influences the decision to act.

Varminterror said:

Possessing the knowledge that a consequence follows an action doesn’t functionally prevent the action, as it has been demonstrated nearly infinitely in our society that awareness of a consequence RARELY actually influences the decision to act.

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Unfortunately you are probably right far more often than not. That said at least for me personally there is some truth to what @wheghett says. I know I attack a USPSA or IDPA stage very differently with my Revolver than I do my Limited gun due to the lower capacity of the revolver. Taking that extra shot with the Limited gun is likely not nearly as costly as with the revolver as an extra shot likely means an extra reload and that is a lot of time and a lot of score lost. I will risk shots with the Limited gun I won't with the Revolver. To a lesser degree I am probably also just a bit more deliberate with my shots during muzzle loader season than I am during gun season, especially if I am shooting a semi-auto. I admit I should not be, the critter I am shooting deserves the careful "muzzle loader shot" whether it's the muzzle loader or the AR with 20+ rounds in it. But knowing I have a fast follow-up shot does change my approach none-the-less.

Iggy said:

I was elk hunting a feller that had a semi-auto 30-06. Well he was sitting at the edge of a meadow and a bunch of elk came through. It sounded like a war broke out.. I went over to see what had happened and he had fired 8; shots and not hit anything. There was a track of a bullet hitting the snow 20 feet in front of him.. He was mad at me because I told him he would only need one box of ammo when we were getting ready for the trip.

He didn't get an elk that year.

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NICE!!! Note to self: Don't be that guy!

jmorris said:

I am quicker on a 2nd shot with an O/U or side by side than any of my semiautos can cycle.

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How about that third shot?

Captcurt said:

I think that it depends on the game and the terrain. Shotgunning would be a maybe, although I prefer to shoot a stack barrel. As for rifles, I can see where an AR could be the way for hogs where you probably have a herd come through. I could handle nearly everything else with my bolt guns. In days passed I shot a lot of deer on the run, but seldom risk it anymore. I shot an 8 pointer 3 or 4 years ago, but I had him at 100 yards running across a wide open field. Rolled him the first shot, but had to finish him. The offhand practice helped.

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"Hunting " Hogs is really more of a pest control exercise. Semi-auto is almost mandated.

Iggy said:

I was elk hunting a feller that had a semi-auto 30-06. Well he was sitting at the edge of a meadow and a bunch of elk came through. It sounded like a war broke out.. I went over to see what had happened and he had fired 8; shots and not hit anything. There was a track of a bullet hitting the snow 20 feet in front of him.. He was mad at me because I told him he would only need one box of ammo when we were getting ready for the trip.

He didn't get an elk that year.

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...sounds like somebody didn't zero their optic...

Iron sights.. Bullet tracks all over the place. He was pointing and jerking..

deleted.

Will it? No. Can it? Definitely. That being said, my .50 muzzleloader killed more deer than my . 270 semi. Many other variables are more important than the action with regards to the success of a hunt.

Iggy said:

Everybody I hunted with used bolt action rifles. If you heard shots, it was 1st shot, Meat shot, 2nd shot, Maybe meat, 3rd shot, No Meat.

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Your post reminds me of when I was a teenager. We were making deer drives and my Dad came up to an older fellow at the end of the drive. He told my Dad that he heard me shoot twice but didn't think I hit anything with my out west bolt rifle. Another hunter walked up them and said to my dad that I had 2 deer down. The old guy said, I guess I'm wrong.

WisBorn

mshootnit said:

How about that third shot?

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See post #34.

It may not be the fastest spits between shots I can reproduce but it’s legal to hunt with.