Why use a Semi-Auto for Deer?

The OP drank the 'what do you need that for?" Kool Aid. They can't even hunt squirrels with a semi auto 22 in Pennsylvania.

Instead of asking "what for?" he should be asking his legislators "why the hell not?"

BTW, I hunt deer with a bolt action but have a number of semis, and levers I used over the years.

Personally, I can pick at another part of your argument. The part where you seem to think there is an advantage to semi versus say a lever. You go get yourself a Browning BAR chambered in a fine deer caliber such as sayyyyyyy a .270. I'll bring the old .30/30 Marlin. We will set up a deer sized target at 100 yards. I'll bet you a months pay I can get just as many or MORE shots in the vitals in the same or faster amount of time, in OFFHAND STANDING position, that you can with your semi. You seem to forget about the recoil factor I.E. MUZZLE RISE. Some of us are extremely proficient with a lever or a bolt. Im actually damn near as quick with my Enfield actions as I am with all my levers. Your argument of unsporting advantage of semi's is completely uneducated.

I don't deer hunt with semi's nor am I really interested in it myself. Hog's on the other hand, I just put in an order for this puppy

UMSS 28”x .936” 260Rem. Extreme Range (12.5 pounds)
360 degree maxi brake
2.5 pound single stage trigger
Fat boy comfort grip
Magpul fully adjustable butt & comb stock
¾-MOA accuracy guarantee @ 100 Yards 3 shot group with selected factory ammo
Calibers – 243Win., 260Rem., 7mm-08 Rem., 308Win., 284Win.

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In 7mm.08 for the express purpose of hogs. My favorite deer rifle is a TC Pro hunter chambered in 7mm.08. One shot is all I need for deer hunting but I do NOT, nor would I EVER, begrudge someone that wanted to use a semi auto for deer. The wonderful thing about our country is that we have the freedom to CHOOSE. Don't be one of those idiots that thinks, just because it's not YOUR choice, that it is the wrong choice for someone else.

IMO using a bolt action or a semi auto, is up to the person hunting, and the laws that apply. The bolt action just takes a little longer to reload for a second shot.

Beak50: I went out deer hunting with my SKS yesterday. 10 rounds in the rifle and did not even get a shot. So you think this is unsporting for the animals? I guess the same could be said for those of us who like iron sights about all the guys that scope their rifles.

I say use what you have. The last I knew this is America. If I can legally own and use it I will.

With that being said I doubt I will ever get more than 1 or 2 shots at any deer. The hunter decides the ethics not the gun.

I had a kind of harsh reply typed up but thought better of it.
All I will say is read up (Google) on the term "Zumbo'd"

The gun community's worst type of enemy.

Well I'm glad the OP isn't allowed to decide what guns I "need" or "don't need". I see from your profile that you're disabled. What if your disability was such that a semi-auto firearm was the only action you could operate? Does that mean you should lose your right to hunt? Or would you get "special consideration" like so many law makers who decide their families are important enough to be protected by armed body guards, while the ordinary citizen is left defenseless? Why shouldn't I be able to hunt with a semi-auto? As long as the caliber is of appropriate size to do the job, what does it matter what the platform is? I don't understand why a great many people seem ok with magazine restrictions too. Why does it matter if my gun holds 3 or 30 rounds? Am I less responsible for carrying more ammunition? My first rifle was a SKS. It was all I could afford at the time (back when they were cheap), and I took it hunting on more than one occasion. An opportunity I wouldn't have gotten if my state had an arbitrary magazine restriction law. It has a bayonet and grenade launcher attachment too (the horror). You know what happened on those trips with my super evil death bringer? Nothing.... Never did shoot a thing with it. I guess no one told the deer about the unfair advantage I had. There were a few shots that I could have made with a scoped bolt-action, but it was too challenging with my relatively short range semi-auto. Funny how that worked out...

You don't understand because you don't deer hunt in pig country!
Come to south Texas and you will never ask that question again. My deer rifle of choice is an AR10 just cause I may see 20-30 pigs that need extermination while I'm deer hunting.

Why drive a Corvette, when a Kia will go the speed limit?

I own two semiautomatic rifles, and neither are proper for hunting large game, so I hunt deer with a bolt action or a lever action.

I don't hunt with dogs. Not because I think it's immoral, or unsportsmanlike, I don't like the risk to the dogs. I don't mind if others do it.

I call troll. 30 rounds in seconds? Full auto maybe. Very ignorant post.

We will set up a deer sized target at 100 yards. I'll bet you a months pay I can get just as many or MORE shots in the vitals in the same or faster amount of time, in OFFHAND STANDING position, that you can with your semi.

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Challenge accepted. However I'm using a 30 round mag. Hope you can reload that marlin FAST.

Agian I'm sorry if I got some people all riled up.

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Well what you have done is taken the anti belief that somehow it's the gun that is the problem, not the idiot holding it. The anti's already do a good enough job of that on their own without supposed pro gun people helping them.

You want to argue for ethical hunting that's fine, but the moment you blame the gun you are firmly in the camp of the anti. I don't think that's where you want to be, but that's where you wind up.

There are more unethical hunters and poachers out there using bolt action rifles than semi's, ask a game warden sometime. The gun type doesn't have anything to do with it.

My very first Buck I took with a .308 Browning semi auto way back when. Nothing wrong with a semi -auto rifle for hunting.

Once Buck fever hits dosn't really matter. Lever actions, pump actions, semi autos, even bolt actions. Once you start spraying lead it's all the same. No advantages. Many States have magazine capacity rules (AZ its 5 rounds) but they don't limit the amount of magazines you can carry.

TIMC, I would so love to do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiHmYsyVniE

Looks like it would be a blast, and I have to say some good aerial shooting on smallish running targets.

The ability for a quick follow-up shot is good for the hunter and better for the deer.

Please write poor marksmanship on the board 50 times and then go practice. If the 1st shot misses odds are very slim that the next few will be as well placed...you may feel better spraying lead but that is all you will feel.

Because I already own one?
Because its the better caliber rather then my bolt gun?
Its a dull finish whereas my bolt gun is gloss?
Because I have a shoulder (or other) injury and recoil is softened in a semi?
To get attention in camp at sight-in,as most hunters still think semi's aren't accurate ?
Because my Grandpa & Great Uncles did after WWII & Korea?
To preserve the ability as an American to use any rifle for any lawful purpose?

I guess the reasons can and are indeed many as determined by the user!!

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This.
Not to mention, semi-autos are generally more conducive to the mounting of suppressors, which I value. It minimizes flash and decreases noise, maintaining night vision and hearing (as I generally hunt without hearing protection, in my AO cougars and wolves are making a comeback). Also, my semi-auto 6.8 SPCII AR15 is lighter than most bolt- or lever-actions. Follow-up shots are sometimes necessary, nobody's perfect. I'm no tree-hugging hippie, but I don't want to watch an animal suffer. So, increasing the speed of follow-up shots is useful to me. If I can get another round on a wounded animal to end it's suffering. I don't take shots I'm not confident in, but again, I'm not perfect. I can't plan on every wind gust, sudden movement, etc. that might mar my shot.

As I mentioned before, cougars and wolves are bad news. While the likelihood of attack is very low, I know that with a semi-auto rifle, I can fire more rounds faster without breaking cheek weld, not to mention my Aimpoint is easier to follow-up with than a 3-9x42 or 2-7x30 scope.

Now, you're saying "that cougar/wolf pack will get you before you know it's there". Maybe. But I have multitudinous reasons to carry my AR already (weight, size, follow-up shot speed, etc. as I've already outlined). But, I'll take every advantage I can if I'm on something's menu (and yes, you are on a cougar's menu. If the wolves get hungry, you're on their menu too).

Just my mileage.

I read alot of post's on this sight"My Main Forum".I live in P.A. and have a camp in Tionesta were we go for first day ect..Semi's aren't allowed for hunting in P.A..I would feel kinda unsportsmanlike using a SKS,AR or other semi-auto's for hunting.What state's let you use semi's anyway?I could see using a semi if the deer could shoot back.Dosen't it kinda give the hunter a advantage that would make it not even like hunting,

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Did not read all the post so excuse me if I mention something already said.

I hunt lite. Sometimes I only carry one mag with 40 rounds and hunt all night and still have ammo left over. Other times I might carry two mags...... By the time I have water and a snack my chosen weapon(s) for the night (or day) that is enough to be lugging around for an extended walk in the great outdoors.

I have taken a double pops due to range and wanting to be sure the animal was DRT (pigs) but that is not the norm. If dear, ducks or anything else were armed and shot back we would be calling it something else besides hunting and there would be mucho fewer hunters IMO.

We have guys who hunt with black powder, Bows, and even spears so if they are able to bag their target then good for them.

Funny how well meaning people always want to tell someone else what they can and can not do especially when they(regulators) have never done or been exposed to the real world of a particular individual. Think what I am trying to say is one size does not necessarily fit all. Pa. wants you to use bolt action booger flippers that shoot only red M&M then abide by the law or move, "Up to you". Said in a nice way.

P.S. Went back and read a few of the prior replies.....think you got the point said much better than me....No hard feelings.

Well, to begin with I don't know ANY hunter that would rip off 30 rounds at anything other than paper (for fun) in a few seconds. I know at least one hunter that uses a semi and hasn't fired more than 5 rounds in the past 2 years. That being said, some people get more than one deer tag. I don't know about you, but I'd sure like to have a semi auto if I'm sitting there with a trophy pair of bucks squared off in a field 50-60 yards away, ignoring me and the two whitetail buck tags in my pocket.

Subsistence hunters, and anyone hunting varmints, pests or small game (hogs, coyotes, squirrels (tree rats), etc) can definitely benefit from the softer recoil and quicker follow up shots allowed by the semi-auto rifle. For that matter, anyone planning to take more than one shot, anyone that perhaps misses or gets a less than ideal first hit, or pretty much anyone that isn't jumpin jack flash on the bolt handle can benefit from a semi-auto rifle when hunting.

It's not unsporting to take a second shot, but it's cruel to let an animal get away injured because you couldn't get that second shot off in time. Even shot deer can run pretty dang fast sometimes, and I can't always be sure I'll have a clear second shot even with a semi-auto, but the semi increases the size of that safety window. That 1-3 seconds it takes to work the bolt handle and get back on sights could mean the difference between dinner and a night spent tracking a wounded animal.

You go get yourself a Browning BAR chambered in a fine deer caliber such as sayyyyyyy a .270. I'll bring the old .30/30 Marlin. We will set up a deer sized target at 100 yards. I'll bet you a months pay I can get just as many or MORE shots in the vitals in the same or faster amount of time, in OFFHAND STANDING position, that you can with your semi. You seem to forget about the recoil factor I.E. MUZZLE RISE.

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Challenge accepted. However I'm using a 30 round mag. Hope you can reload that marlin FAST.

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I Love it when people choose to NOT read. Never seen a Browning BAR with a 30 round magazine.

The advantage is to have a faster follow-up shot. No matter how fast you can cycle that bolt, you can re-acquire the target faster with a semi.

See, the problem is, anti-gunners want to divide us into different categories of gun people. Hunting gun people and fighting gun people. If they can get hunting gun people to say that there is no reason for fighting gun people to have them, they will be willing to throw them under the bus to save their hunting guns. Divide and conquer.

Look at it this way. You are projecting YOUR idea of what it 'fair' about hunting game. You say that semis have an unfair advantage. My grandfather wouldn't use a scope, because he thought it gave the hunter an unfair advantage. And you know full well, when repeating rifles were invented, there were people who said that they were unfair, and that we should just use muzzle loaders. And the whole time, there were native Americans who said that if you used a firearm at all, you were using unfair advantage. This has always been about using the most recent advances in technology to be successful. To say that one advancement is fair, but NEWER ones AREN'T, is unreasonable.

Ive been hunting for 50 plus years. In that time, i have taken 2 "follow up" shots. One in a bean field in extreme northwest missouri in the freezing rain....my first shot wasnt even close. a clear miss i can only assume as he didnt even raise his head, so i fired again. it killed the deer. Second time was on a pronghorn in wyoming. I made a poorly placed shot and took the second to be humane. I read a lot of hunting post and see a lot about follow up shots and i wonder....really...how many times is that even a real possibility? the vast majority of the time its a one shot affair, there no time for a follow up shot that is anywhere near effective. btw i do like to use a BAR in .270, as well as bolts and levers and single shots...depends on my mood. they all kill them dead.