Guns you’ve used to harvest game and your thoughts about it

I've laid a few whitetails down with this old home built VZ24/Douglas XX in .338-06. Never had to track one after a dose of this..


I moved a few yrs back to a place that is in a limited cartridge zone, so do more deer hunting now with a 450BM or SBH 44. But that old Yatzee 6, nothing I've ever owned handles or shoots as well as it.....

When in my teen years, my buddy and I hunted woodchucks as practice for deer hunting, so we used the only centerfires we owned, .30-06 bolt actions. Mine had a 2.5 Weaver K-series on it and the other guy had a 4x Weaver. Still, we managed to average over 200 yards for kills we recorded for one season.

If we weren't sure of the range we kept the shots a bit low and "bounced" bullets into the critters. When we got .22-250s, we couldn't bounce them anymore and had to be more careful about range estimating, but trajectories were flatter, so kill percentages stayed about the same.

I have used a few rifles for whitetails.
- 2 Winchester 94 - 30-30
-Remington 700 BDL - 30-06 (lh)
-Remington 700 BDL - 308 WIN (lh)
-Ruger No 1 - 25-06 REM
-Ruger 77 lam/ss - 25-06 REM (lh)
-Browning A-Bolt SS 300 Win Mag (lh)
-Browning BLR 7MM-08 REM
-Winchester 1886 - 45-70 Gov
-Savage 16 SS - 300 WSM (lh)
-Weatherby Mark V ultra lightweight- 7mm Rem Mag (lh)
-Cables Hawken 50 cal Muzzle Loader (lh)

I have hunted with a few others but these are the rifles that I have been successful with.

Also several shotguns and 22lr rifles for small game, waterfowl, and wild turkeys.

Archery gear - I have used 5 different compound bows since 1977. I always felt that it takes a few years for the technology to improve to make it worthwhile to upgrade. My first bow was a Jennings Sidekick 2 my current is a Mathews Drenalin now 13 years old. The speed difference is almost double with the Mathews.
They both get the job done.

Captcurt said:

I had to back off the poundage on my Mission this year. Since retirement I have lost some upper body strength. That is especially true since Covid. I need to work out on weights and shoot my bow more. It is amazing that you can get so out of shape so quickly. Goes back to the old saying, "If you don't use it, you lose it". Probably shouldn't gripe. I shot a doe the second day of the season.

My other rifles don't see a lot of action now. The 300 WSM was only used when the deer were acorns in the timber. It had a 2-7X on it. Now I have the M18 set up with a 3-9X and it gets all of the deer until they hit the fields and I can stretch the Bergara. It is set up with a 6-18X and the 243 wears a 4.5-14X. It gets to shoot the coyotes and armadillos since the Creedmoors came in.

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Recurve muscles are different LOL.
I dont snap shoot like many, can draw and hold. Problem is my bow arm shoulder wants to lock in where i dont want it. Proly worn out the frame work.

LGS had an 85# longbow come in. Entertaining. Of course they asked me to draw it. Did, and held it back for a few seconds. Repeatedly. Do think my 28 inch draw was compressed to 27 though.

New cam designs on wheelies hurts me.
Too tight at the start IMHO. Holding weight is no big deal and i prefer the feel of 65% letoff compared to the higher newer stuf.

Biggest issue for me is mass weight of the bow. Have a touchy spot in spine that messes up shoulders off and on.

Have shot a lot of bows over the years, a couple dozen recurves, a couple dozen compounds. Hunted w some of them but changed so often a couple of deer was about all any ever got before being replaced LOL.

Same w guns.

Most deer w single item.....bow the winner a 55# Blackwidow. Gun....870 w rifled bore.

Varmints....#1 or 700 BDL in .243

Rimfire....proly a Rem or Ruger of some sort. Had a few of each and whacked rabbits, squirrels and pests w em all
Did have a no serial # 572 that liked CBs and was a good starling popper.

Right now my 760 has a couple deer to its credit. Suspect i will add more.

My old Hawken has 3 bucks, a doe and a yote....and has been retired.

Remington 700 ADL Tactical in 6.5 Creedmoor and my friends AR Pistol.

bigpower491 said:

I've laid a few whitetails down with this old home built VZ24/Douglas XX in .338-06. Never had to track one after a dose of this..
View attachment 967769

I moved a few yrs back to a place that is in a limited cartridge zone, so do more deer hunting now with a 450BM or SBH 44. But that old Yatzee 6, nothing I've ever owned handles or shoots as well as it.....

Click to expand...

The photo reminds me of when I was sighting-in a centerfire rifle last summer over my blueberry-field range and, after firing about 10 shots, a deer came out of the woods at the right edge of the field, about 120 yards away and walked the 100 yards across the field, between me and my target. I let it walk into the woods to my left before shooting at the target again.

Thats me old range. Since I moved to the farm I'm currently on, I built my own 50 and 100. I miss that old range, tho. I could shoot 300 there. 200 about the best I could do now

Hookeye said:

Recurve muscles are different LOL.
I dont snap shoot like many, can draw and hold. Problem is my bow arm shoulder wants to lock in where i dont want it. Proly worn out the frame work.

LGS had an 85# longbow come in. Entertaining. Of course they asked me to draw it. Did, and held it back for a few seconds. Repeatedly. Do think my 28 inch draw was compressed to 27 though.

New cam designs on wheelies hurts me.
Too tight at the start IMHO. Holding weight is no big deal and i prefer the feel of 65% letoff compared to the higher newer stuf.

Biggest issue for me is mass weight of the bow. Have a touchy spot in spine that messes up shoulders off and on.

Click to expand...

I shoot better with 65% letoff and agree about the new cams. Not crazy about the shallow valley at full draw either. When I got my first compound I was shooting a 65# recurve everyday. I shot the new 70# compound for 3 days, picked up the recurve and couldn't hold it at full draw.

For the last 2 seasons my customized FN SPR in .308 has been whacking and stacking the bucks





Edit: oops, forgot to brag about it. It’s a legitimate “1/2 MOA, all day” rifle, even though it shoots that over-the-hill, antiquated, past its prime, not a creed-something, .308 Win

Used to get $.25 a piece for chipmunks at the cabin with an old Daisy BB gun, then red squirrels at $.50 ea with a single shot Remington 22 and shorts, but I had to supply the ammo. That's the end of the bounty hunting.
The same single shot Remmy for grey squirrels and the occasional grouse as table fare, a single shot 12 ga Stevens for squirrels and grouse, a borrowed bolt action 20 from an uncle for grouse, a Remington speedmaster, also for grey squirrels, two different 99 Savage rifles, one in .300 Sav, one in .308, a lefty Browning A-bolt 7 mag, followed by a lefty Browning A-bolt in 7-08, all for deer and one moose with the .300 00 Sav, an 870 for anything that flew, then a left handed Benelli SBE and a Benelli Nova pump, both for Canada geese in the states, and Snow geese in Saskatchewan, and most recently back to an 870 and a slug barrel to hunt deer in the MN "shotgun zone" where I live.

I have shot deer with a 760 Remington pump in .06,
(This was my second deer rifle and the one with the most use over the years with 17 deer kills). The rifle was a 2" gun with 150 gr Nosler BTips. 180 Barnes TTSX shoot sub minute now.
2020-07-30_09-57-36 by poofy27, on Flickr
Marlin 30-30 ( this was my kiddos rifle and he was successful with it. I worked up a load and using Speer Deep Curls, shot a doe with it.
Expansion of deep curls using IMR4350.
2020-07-30_09-57-19 by poofy27, on Flickr

Savage 111 in .300 winmag shot a doe and an elk with this rifle but upgraded the scope with a Leupold VX5HD, This was a gun bash win rifle and had some feeding issues.
2017-12-02_06-16-45 by poofy27, on Flickr

National Ordnance 1903A3 parts gun. This rifle was gifted to me, had the headspace checked, worked up a conservative load and shot a doe this past season,
2020-10-24_03-03-00 by poofy27, on Flickr

Ithaca 12 ga. I got this shotgun when the county I live in stopped allowing rifle use.
It's a 20" rifled tube, I put a 3X9 simmons on it and I use Remington copper solids after BRI was bought by Winchester and it seemed the accuracy faded with the newer version of this slug.
Savage model 30 in 20 ga. This was just before I got the Ithaca. Its a rabbit gun with no more than a gold bead. I saw a 6 point at 30 yards and pulled up, fired and got a good hit.
Ruger Redhawk in .44 mag. I use this pistol when I sit for a weakside shot if a deer comes in on that side. I made a one handed shot at about 35 yards on a button buck.
He went about another 40 yards and was down.

My first deer rifle, a $28 Spanish 1893 in 7mm mauser kilt a deer for my BIL. I recently got a scope mount and a cheap 2X7 scout mounted scope for it. It seems to shoot 175s better than the 140s I have. I believe I'll try this rifle for our early old mans rifle doe season next year.

Bows that did me good.
Bear Whitetail hunter, Golden Eagle evolution, Ten point Invader and Ten point FX4.

I bought a Tikka today in .300 winmag so hope it'll do me good as well.
I'll go back thru the archives to see if I have pics ( didn't find much on pics )

WisBorn said:

I have used a few rifles for whitetails.
- 2 Winchester 94 - 30-30
-Remington 700 BDL - 30-06 (lh)
-Remington 700 BDL - 308 WIN (lh)
-Ruger No 1 - 25-06 REM
-Ruger 77 lam/ss - 25-06 REM (lh)
-Browning A-Bolt SS 300 Win Mag (lh)
-Browning BLR 7MM-08 REM
-Winchester 1886 - 45-70 Gov
-Savage 16 SS - 300 WSM (lh)
-Weatherby Mark V ultra lightweight- 7mm Rem Mag (lh)
-Cables Hawken 50 cal Muzzle Loader (lh)

I have hunted with a few others but these are the rifles that I have been successful with.

Also several shotguns and 22lr rifles for small game, waterfowl, and wild turkeys.

Archery gear - I have used 5 different compound bows since 1977. I always felt that it takes a few years for the technology to improve to make it worthwhile to upgrade. My first bow was a Jennings Sidekick 2 my current is a Mathews Drenalin now 13 years old. The speed difference is almost double with the Mathews.
They both get the job done.

Click to expand...

When I look back at the rifles that I have used they all stand out for different reasons primarily the terrain and shot opportunities.

Both 25-06 Rugers would be great antelope rifles and for the areas you find them. Never hunted antelope, but have hunted where they live. The rifles were a little heavy, but that at times can help when settling in for a longer shot.
The 30-30s and 45-70 great open sighted quick handling rifles and fit best in the thicker woods were I used them. I miss having the 45-70 and regret selling it.
The 300 mags are great open country rifles and enjoyed using them in those areas. I used the A-Bolt 300wm on the only mule deer buck I have shot (SD), the same day I shot a coyote, don't shoot a coyote in the front blades with a 300 mag if you want to sell the hide (not much left).
The 308 and 7mm-08 fitted with lower powered scopes are wonderful eastern & midwest whitetail rifles. Capable for longer shots and handy in a deer stand. I know that one is a bolt and the other a lever but they fit the role equally.
The muzzle loader is just plan fun.
The 30-06 & 7 mm rem mag all around rifle. I have used these rifles in the most types of terrain and have killed the most deer with them. With the 7mm being the leader in numbers of deer and the longest shots on game.

Hookeye said:

Recurve muscles are different LOL.
I dont snap shoot like many, can draw and hold. Problem is my bow arm shoulder wants to lock in where i dont want it. Proly worn out the frame work.

LGS had an 85# longbow come in. Entertaining. Of course they asked me to draw it. Did, and held it back for a few seconds. Repeatedly. Do think my 28 inch draw was compressed to 27 though.

New cam designs on wheelies hurts me.
Too tight at the start IMHO. Holding weight is no big deal and i prefer the feel of 65% letoff compared to the higher newer stuf.

Biggest issue for me is mass weight of the bow. Have a touchy spot in spine that messes up shoulders off and on.

Click to expand...

I just bought myself a new ILF recurve a few months ago and "sensibly" decided to drop poundage to 55 instead of the 60-65s I shot when i was doing it pretty often. I found that my ability to draw and hold has been compromised in the last couple years of not shooting. I usually run my ilfs cranked down and the upper limb backed out just enough to set tiller, now im running it backed all the way out.
I did also notice that its ALOT easier to spine arrows for a 55+/- lb bow than it is for a 65+/-

I have shot lots of game with more different weapons than I can recall. The first deer rifle I actually owned was my dream gun back then, a Remington 742 BDL 30-06. accounted for dozens of deer. Once in awhile it still gets a deer but it has been retired and given to my son. I like to post pictures of the 14 point buck I got with a ,223 AR to show people that think a .223 can't kill deer. My current rifle is a 7-08 Tikka that has killed every deer I saw from my stand in deer season. I have also shot lots of grouse and pheasants with shotguns started with a Coast to Coast Mossberg 20 gauge 500 pump,. A gun gun I should have kept. My best is a Beretta Onyx 686. I learned to shoot and hunt with my dad's 1942 Winchester 74.22.LR. I still have it and got it back to shooting order this year.

I almost forgot....... I used my Marlin 336 30-30 and a 170gr. Remington Core Lokt bullet to kill a hog in GA. Spine shot and finished it with my 4in Model 66 with a Gold Dot 158gr.

Also shot another hog a few years later with my buddy's .300 Win Mag with a 180gr. bullet. It was looking right at us about 75yds away and I leveled the horizontal portion of the crosshairs on the ears and squeeeeeeezzzzzzed. The hog went out of sight after the shot. We both thought I missed him. We walked up to the area and were looking around and lo and behold it was on it's back, legs in the air and dead. Real dead. I hit it right betwixt the eyes and it looked like someone blew it's head up with dynamite. It was grotesque.

bigpower491 said:

Thats me old range. Since I moved to the farm I'm currently on, I built my own 50 and 100. I miss that old range, tho. I could shoot 300 there. 200 about the best I could do now

Click to expand...

I can get about 430 yds., but only did it once. Shot about a 3" group at that distance, but haven't shot that far since. I think it strained my barrel.

I started my hunting "career" around 12yrs, with a Daisy Pump BB gun, then after a few red squirrels at the camp, graduated to a .22 caliber, single-shot pellet rifle that could be pumped-up to provide reasonable killing velocities on red squirrels at camp. The next step-up was a Savage 110, .30-06 which three of us friends handloaded ammo for and used to shoot woodchucks and a rare crow or two. A Weaver K-2.5 provided semi-adequate accuracy for some pretty good groups and impressive long shots. A Bishop inletted blank (shown) was carved/filed, sanded and finished with many coats of thinned varnish was really nice, but years later, I sold it to buy a .22-250 Remington 700. I've offered the new owner to buy it back, but he loves it and it's worked great for him.

Browning's, both of them. .30/06 BAR and 12 Gauge Auto 5.

Not many photos but there's been a bunch.
Rifles: .20 & .177 air rifles, several .22 LR, .22 Hornet, .243, .250 sav, .257 R, .270, 30/30, .308, .30/06, .338 Win mag, .350 Rem mag, .44 mag, .45/70, and a few I've forgotten about.
Handguns: .22 LR, .38 spl, .357 mag, .44 mag, .41 mag, .45 acp, .45 Colt.
Muzzleloaders: .32 flintlock, .36 flintlock, .45 flintlock & caplocks, .50 flintlock & caplocks, .54 caplock, .58 caplock, .62 smoothbore flintlock, .45 cap & ball revolver.

A few years ago I began hunting squirrel with an 12 ga 870 express using 1oz #6 loads. It was all black, utilitarian, and didn't give me much pride in ownership. However, my job often prevented me from being with family for holidays so the 870 was used to acquire a main course of squirrel for Thanksgiving 5 years ago. I later gave it to my brother who wanted a gun for sporting clays after I introduced him to the sport. I don't have any pictures (who wants to see a bland 870 anyways) but I'll always have memories of the first gun I used to take game.

For several years I had only a 1894 Winchester, oh horrors a 3030. With that particular rifle I managed to harvest at least 4 big mulie bucks, 1 antelope and 3 elk, 2 spikes and a cow. This of course was well before the game animals became immune to the 30-30, as they apparently are now..being a kid and not knowing anything was to blame.
Graduating to a real rifle, a scoped Rem 721 3006 accounted for several more species, and as a young man lusting for bigger, newer, faster I traded for 7mm magnums 300 Weatherbys 22-250s 243s.
I finally tired of searching for the ultimate toy and concentrated on rifles I could shoot easily, accurately and fit me to do what I wanted without the endless " my 6.5 __________ or 338________ is the best because. Not lusting after this or that allowed me to fine tune loads, optics and above all know the smaller selection I now have intimately.
For me at least it's not about which one I use, it's about the connection I have with it, and the experiences that we both have in common

First deer of the season was a doe shot at 79 yards with a 20” barreled Ruger No. 1 RSI in 30-06. The bullet used was a Hornady 150 grain SST which entered high shoulder on her right side and exited even higher in the shoulder on her left side. Deer dropped at the shot, struggled to her feet and ran 11 yards before collapsing and expiring. Massive exit wound and copious amounts of blood on the ground.

Second deer was a small buck that I would normally have given a pass, but this farmer has pretty strict instructions to shoot every deer that walks out, so he got shot. Rifle used was a Ruger No. 1 Varmint in 25-06. Ammo used was standard 100 grain Remington Core-Lokts. Buck was shot behind the shoulder, broadside at 236 yards. Bucked jumped straight up in the air at the shot, dropped his tail and made a mad dash for the wood line. Ran approximately 70 yards from the point of the shot and crashed. No blood trail whatsoever. No exit would. Lungs were completely destroyed. The blood seen in the picture was the only external bleeding which took place until I started moving the deer.


Third deer of the year was a mature buck shot with a Ruger No. 1 in 270 Winchester. Shot distance was 252 yards and the bullet used was a 130 Sierra Game King loaded by HSM. Deer did not exhibit any outward sign of being hit at the shot. Trotted into the wood line. Fell dead approximately 30 yards into the woods. No exit and no blood trail. Bullet entered low in the shoulder, broke the left leg and both it and several bone fragments hit the heart.


Pig was shot at fifty yards with a 6.8 SPC. Ammo used was a 120 grain SST from Hornady. Bullet entered the shoulder and destroyed the heart and both lungs. No exit. No blood trail, but the pig dropped in it’s tracks. Fired an additional round into the bottom of it’s head as it struggled to get up. Bullet grazed the left front foot on the way to the head. Follow up shot was not needed, but it was there, so I took it.

I've taken deer with a .30-30lever@300, .30-40krag carbine@30, .300 wm vanguard 1 at all kinds of distances, .243 (win rem sav) at all kinds of distances multiple angles, .303brit at several yardages, son took a nice muley buck with a .22-250, rabbits with everything, prairie dogs with everything, upland birds with .410-12ga, coyotes with handguns, shotguns, and several chamberings up to .300 rum. Pronghorn with all kinds of chamberings. My thoughts? Between myself, many relatives, and friends, gun fit is key. Practice is essential. A hunter who KNOWS their gear is invaluable. And the "experts" are often paid more than the guys who REALLY know what's going on.

Any critter? That’s too much to list. Just deer or coyote while deer hunting is a more concise list.

Marlin 62 .256 Winchester Magnum was the first. That was followed shortly by a Glenfield Marlin 30a and a 336. Then I bought my Remington 700 in .270, and a Brolin Arms .50 muzzleloader (worst gun ever). I upgraded from the Brolin to a Knight Wolverine also in 50 cal. A Taurus 689 was probably my most enjoyable gun to hunt with as a teenager. Meanwhile I was headed off to college (yes this was almost entirely while I was in high school) and for a few hints I just borrowed friends guns (ruger m77, Winchester 70, weatherby...mainly in .243 or .308) because I lived in the dorms at first, so no guns. Back to the trusty old 700 for a while, a m77 .243 that I bought stupid cheap and traded away for a months rent. Then a TC contender in 44 mag was a sledgehammer on both ends. Swapped barrels for a 7-30 waters and like it a lot better. I tried hard to like a 10mm 1911 but I bought a Colt and couldn’t like it based on the unsupported chamber for a high pressure round. I didn’t hunt for 5 years since my last kill with the 10mm. This year I hunted with a 6.8spc ar15, a 12 ga AR10, the contender, and my buntline 357, but I didn’t take a shot.

What have I learned about guns in this? Speed destroys flesh and mass breaks bones. They all work in their own way. Handguns work too but have to be used responsibly as they are much less speedy, and they slow down fast to a point where the mass is no longer effective. The most effective gun is the one you shoot the best, and the least effective one is the one you can’t operate (read that as me being used to a no-safety marlin and trying to use a safety equipped marlin and snapping on the hammer block with a pretty nice buck 20 ft away). Handguns are more fun, and rifles are easier.