Two Rifles For your State?

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jmorris said:
If I could only have 2 rifles they would be 30-06 and .22. I shoot .22's all the time and I don't think I have ever killed anything that a 30-06 couldn't have, in any State. Last time I hunted with one was in the '90's though, so there are lots of other choices that can work as well.
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Same. Hunt in Idaho, live in Washington.

Though, for most of my early hunting days, I hunted with a bolt-action Model 70 XTR Featherweight in .257 Roberts. Shot my first deer, antelope, and elk with it. All one shot, one kill. I still have the the two boxes of ammo that my dad gave me for it nearly 40 years ago. One box of Remington Core-Lokt factory loads for the deer and antelope, and one box of custom loads using 120 grain Noslers. I retired it in my early 20's for a Ruger M77 in .30-06. Still have both rifles, but haven't shot the Winchester in decades.
 
Obturation said:
Been working on it and I'm at the point of having most if not all the required equipment (for deer or turkey ) and the will. The things I'm short on are time and property. I'm working on getting permission for this fall and there is an experienced hunter willing to come with me. Don't know if it'll happen but I'm trying.
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I wish you the best of luck in developing the family hunting tradition. Passing on a love of hunting and passion for nature is ine of the greatest things we can pass on.
I know that there is a few larger areas of state land in central Illinois (Sand Ridge) it has a campground where you can stay or drive from Pekin an stay in a hotel (just a thought). Good luck :)
 
In MN, I like my 280 Rem. Truth be told, in a lighter package, that could do everything I could ever wish for big game hunting here from BB to Deer to Moose if we ever have a season or I get to go on another native hunt. Mine happens to be a heavy barreled sedentary gun, so not much good for tight cover, but I'm in love with it, so until the barrel is cooked and needs a new one, I'm stuck with it as-is. My second is a Savage M99 with a vintage 2.5x Weaver on a tip-of mount in .300. This is really a perfect setup for the tight cover I currently hunt. IF the .280 were lighter, my second rifle would be a handgun. My Ruger BH .41 mag would be the go-to for deep cover stalking.
 
WisBorn said:
I wish you the best of luck in developing the family hunting tradition. Passing on a love of hunting and passion for nature is ine of the greatest things we can pass on.
I know that there is a few larger areas of state land in central Illinois (Sand Ridge) it has a campground where you can stay or drive from Pekin an stay in a hotel (just a thought). Good luck :)
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Thankyou for the info, I'll look further into that - looks like about 3.5 hours from here. I may be hunting challenged but I have camped a lot and can certainly do that part successfully.
I have cousins in northern wisconsin that hunt but it's a long drive and they hunt other people's land, not their own so it's not ideal and I'm not big on asking for favors.
I really appreciate the recommendation , exactly the type of help I need.
 
MCFLYFYTER said:
It is amazingly difficult to start hunting with no experience. It sounds so simple, and it is really, but the little details hunters "just know" are many. My son is 12 and can get a mentored tag that the season starts really early. Maybe we will go run around like idiots and try to make something work this year. Best of luck
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A lot of those 'little details hunters just know' are in books (and thus, often online) these days. I suggest for starters, Dr. Ken Nordberg's excellent series on deer hunting. He also has some on bear hunting. They were written with info gathered from Minnesota deer herds, but except for dates, (things happen earlier the further North you go during hunting season) the behaviors are the same. It is basically a PhD course in deer behavior, written by a PhD in wildlife biology and lifelong hunter. Add in your good shooting ability and ethical hunting practices, and it optimizes your probability of getting deer without resorting to drives.
 
I grew up in PA/NY. If I had to pick two for the northeastern hardwoods and groundhog fields, I could be satisfied with a pair of Remington Model Sevens, one in .223 Rem and the other in 7mm-08 Rem.

I haven't hunted since moving to TX, but assume a little more range would be in order. I'd probably keep the .223 for the low end, and swap a .280 Ackley Improved for the 7mm-08.
 
entropy said:
A lot of those 'little details hunters just know' are in books (and thus, often online) these days. I suggest for starters, Dr. Ken Nordberg's excellent series on deer hunting. He also has some on bear hunting. They were written with info gathered from Minnesota deer herds, but except for dates, (things happen earlier the further North you go during hunting season) the behaviors are the same. It is basically a PhD course in deer behavior, written by a PhD in wildlife biology and lifelong hunter. Add in your good shooting ability and ethical hunting practices, and it optimizes your probability of getting deer without resorting to drives.
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Dr. Nordberg gave a lecture at the Anoka Outdoor expo a few years ago and I bought his book or maybe two of them. Read them and you will know more about deer than many hunters. I have nephews and grandkids that would like to know what I know about hunting and shooting but they always have something else to do when I offer to take them shooting or hunting. My son still hunts with me once a year.
 
Olympus said:
This brings up a secondary topic that I wonder if it's ever been discussed. Guys talk about the versatility of a single caliber, where you can go from a really soft plink load to a full load elk load and everything in between from just one caliber. While I understand that, to me the work involved just in developing each individual load, plus re-zeroing your scope after switching from one load to the next, it just seems so much easier for me to just buy more rifles in calibers dedicated for the power level I'm looking to achieve. Sorry, that was off-topic but it's always something I've wondered about.
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The first cartridge that came to mind is the 300AAC, but I think if you reload, you could vary your load for most anything, however shot placement would be more critical.
 
Obturation said:
Thankyou for the info, I'll look further into that - looks like about 3.5 hours from here. I may be hunting challenged but I have camped a lot and can certainly do that part successfully.
I have cousins in northern wisconsin that hunt but it's a long drive and they hunt other people's land, not their own so it's not ideal and I'm not big on asking for favors.
I really appreciate the recommendation , exactly the type of help I need.
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Northern Wisconsin has a bunch of state & national forests. Maybe you can work with your cousins to hunt it (I Miss Wisconsin).
 
Obturation said:
Thankyou for the info, I'll look further into that - looks like about 3.5 hours from here. I may be hunting challenged but I have camped a lot and can certainly do that part successfully.
I have cousins in northern wisconsin that hunt but it's a long drive and they hunt other people's land, not their own so it's not ideal and I'm not big on asking for favors.
I really appreciate the recommendation , exactly the type of help I need.
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You don't have to go to Northern WI, Central has a lot of public lands also. I used to grouse hunt extensively from Adams County North to Mosinee roughly following the WI River and also a large area West along Hwy 10 in the vicintity of Neilsville and Black River falls. Brushy oak/pine scrubland. Very tight cover for the most part, keeps the riffraff closer to the trails, you can find good isolated hunting spots by going into the bush a bit. Was mostly county forest land, with some FCL industry managed industry lands and state land mixed in. Various camping options available.
 
We've been allowed to use straightwalled rifles in Ohio for a few years now during deer gun season, but I don't get time to deer hunt much. So I haven't gotten one. I haven't shot a centerfire rifle at a living thing in years, so basically I'd be just fine with a .22 and a .50 muzzleloader.
 
.308 Norma said:
Really? Not even squirrels, rabbits, grouse or small varmints? What state are you in?
Just curious.:)
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I'm on the island of Oahu. We don't have squirrels or rabbits, although we do have mongoose. I believe bird hunting is limited to shotgun, but I'm not a bird hunter so I could be wrong. I think .22 LR is allowed for eradication/control, but I'm not familiar with the practice. Our mammal hunting in the state include deer, mouflon sheet, hybrid sheep, goats and pigs.
 
Legionnaire said:
I grew up in PA/NY. If I had to pick two for the northeastern hardwoods and groundhog fields, I could be satisfied with a pair of Remington Model Sevens, one in .223 Rem and the other in 7mm-08 Rem.

I haven't hunted since moving to TX, but assume a little more range would be in order. I'd probably keep the .223 for the low end, and swap a .280 Ackley Improved for the 7mm-08.
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I don't think either of those choices are inappropriate for Texas, 7mm-08 was one of my two rifle choices. I don't know where in Texas you live and / or plan to hunt though, nor your rifle and load details you plan to use.
 
BigBore44 said:
To have every conceivable base covered? 375H&H and 22 Hornet.
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I like that. Although, as much as I'd like to have a 375H&H, I haven't dreamed up a reason for buying one for hunting in my home state of Idaho - yet! Give me some time. I'm pretty good at dreaming up reasons for buying a new gun.:D
But the 22 Hornet instead of a 22LR for the smaller of two rifles for Idaho? When I first read that, I thought, "Naw, a 22 Hornet would be okay for Idaho varmints, but it would just explode rabbits and squirrels and such. But then I remembered a guy I knew who used to shoot cast bullets in his way downloaded 22 Hornet. He did real well with it too. It was good out to about a hundred yards, it didn't make much noise, and he killed as many ground squirrels as I did with my tricked out 10-22.
I don't know if that guy ever used his downloaded 22 Hornet for small game or not, but I can't see why it wouldn't have worked as well as a 22LR. Besides, working up cast bullet loads in a 22 Hornet would give me a chance to pursue my other passion - handloading.;)
 
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