How much ammo do you carry hunting?

Black powder 5 rounds, bow 4bolts. Out of state hunts with more than one species on the menu 1box for each species.s Sometimes I bring more than 1 gun so I bring full complement for each weapon. I have been known when hunting some distance from home to come home with more ammo than I left with and sometimes not even the same caliber as my gun.
 
I always carried more ammo than I needed. Hunting deer I actually needed about 3 rounds. Usually carried about a dozen. Pheasants/Huns/Chukars about 10. I just dumped a box of shotgun shells in my vest but never used more than 10.

While hunting wild pheasant on the Snake river breaks I once heard a guy say it's about 3 miles between birds. That would be about right.
 
CoalTrain49 said:
I always carried more ammo than I needed. Hunting deer I actually needed about 3 rounds. Usually carried about a dozen.
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That's me. My rifle holds 3 rounds, and I haven't run it empty yet. Nevertheless, I carry a couple of more rounds in my shirt pocket to "top off" my rifle with after I've fired it. And then there's the full 10-round pouch on my belt - I guess I carry that for ballast because I've never used a round out of it yet while deer hunting. ;)
 
I generally hunt within a few hours of the truck or cabin, often much closer.

Deer: 10 rounds. Rifle capacity 5. The only reason for the extra 5 is that an occasional mag dump at a coyote breaking cover is not out of the question, and I like to have a topped off rifle. I have had to use all 5 on a deer before. Weird things happen in tight cover whitetail hunting. Target movement, brush, gremlins? I got the buck, hit twice. My first shot was too far back as he moved on the trigger break. One of the other 4 double lunged him, the rest likely connected with trees. Heavy brush and close property lines, I shoot until they're down even if I'm "sure" the first shot was perfect.

Grouse/pheasant...it depends. If I'm just walking the woods behind my cabin, 5 shells will suffice. If I'm running a maze of logging roads on a bluebird fall day, I'll bring 20. I've never run out, but on the best of days I've come close. Grouse are hard to hit. I always like the extra shells pheasant hunting as late season mallards or geese are a bonus bag. I carry a full 25 + 6 goose loads. Ducks use a lot of shells...see next.

Ducks/geese. I carry as many shells as practical. This is usually a "tackle" box that holds nearly 50 with a couple spaces taken up with chokes and a call. A good day of duck hunting will leave this box half empty if I only have to finish a couple of cripples. Hunting divers, all bets are off. Those devils can soak up a lot of ordnance swimming away low in the water. I also have buddies that never bring enough shells. When walking and jump shooting creeks and potholes, I usually keep the tackle box at the truck and stuff a couple of pockets full, at least 20 shells. I've run out of shells swamp hopping before and missed out on some good shooting. Lesson learned!
 
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CoalTrain49 said:
I always carried more ammo than I needed.
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I think that more than I need is just right. A bare minimum, to my mind would be one full "refill", although two full refills would be my personal minimum. Five shot bolt gun, carry 10 rounds at least. I did empty my Ruger .44 Carbine at a running deer once, and hit five trees. But way back then I carried more ammo than I do now. Probably had four refills with me.

Forgot to mention my SMLE, or the one I actually take out anymore. (My "British Stalking Rifle") I'll keep a full ten rounds in it, and then one stripper clip of five and five loose small game loads for a total of 20. But that's not for hunting, but rather hiking/trekking/exploring/map and compass and bush-craft fun.

Turkey hunting on the state land near home, I'll carry three extra loads for the Brown Bess. Being very lucky to get one shot at a Turk in a day, and only one miss to my credit to date, I can't imagine in my wildest dreams missing four Turks in a row. But I carry a sidearm for rabid human critters, often my Grand-dad's Luger just for the heck of it, and a couple of pre-packaged refills. Or, I'll take a cap-N-ball revolver so I can prime out of my pistol flask, and leave the priming horn at home.
 
If im just hunting, ill take what ever i have available for the rifle upto 20rnds (2 plastic Federal holder thingys), 5rnds being my bare minimum.
The specifics of where and what only mater in the amount of ammo i carry when special circumstances come into play.

During archery i use a 5 shot quiver, and my muzzleloader has 5 reloads in loops on its stock.

None of my hunts are multi-day, or far from civilization. Running out of ammo isnt a major concern for me.
I have lost my ammo a few times while hunting, usually one of my plastic holders will get pulled out of my pocket while rummaging for something, tho i had loose rounds fall thru a hole more than once.
 
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For deer hunting the hunting regulations say we can only have 10 rounds with us but I have more back at the truck. The most I have ever used was two rounds.
For squirrel hunting I take a box of .410 shells & a pocket of .22s, I hunt with two guns.
For dove hunts I take a box of 12 ga.
I haven't been duck hunting but I think the regs say 100 rounds is all you are allowed.
 
I am rarely hunting when only one species is in season. Got to have enough rounds to put that deer down and maybe the odd coyote or bobcat or the every present up-armored opossums. I got a nice buck a few years ago and while waiting for my brother and dad to show up and help me haul it out of a very steel and deep ravine I plug two armadillos with my muzzle loader. My one shot in the gun and four speed-loader tubes was starting to seem a bit sketchy when I was pouring my second to last shot into the old T/C Big Boar. :D
 
King Medallion said:
1 tag, 1 round. Any more is dead weight.



Right???
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1 shot per tag/animal is definitely the ideal, but ive found it to often not be the reality.

Still even in best case scenarios, still need that 1 round per animal.
Out here the e only tag hunts Ive done I've had 3-5 tags in my pocket, and limited take areas usually have multiple species available.
 
Big game rifle: a gun full (usually three or four rounds) plus five in a belt wallet.

Big game handgun: a gun full (usually six rounds) plus six more on a belt slide.

Bow: I used to carry a back quiver with a dozen arrows, but that was loud and got snagged all the time. Now I carry a traditional leather hip quiver which holds six arrows in individual clips, with the broadheads safely covered in a pouch.

All of the above is for one-day hunts. On backpack hunts, I usually carry the above, and also toss a full box (20 rounds of rifle, 50 rounds of handgun) into my backpack.
 
Rifle hunting: 10 rounds and just load the box or magazine without the +1 top off. Lever action normally 4 in the tube.
Crossbow quiver holds 4, three with Rage Crossbow tips 1 with a target tip to shoot the bow when done for the day.
Compound three arrow quiver two with Rage tips, one with a muzzy tip, incase I need a second shot to finish an animal. Rage tips are expensive.....
 
.308 Norma said:
That's me. My rifle holds 3 rounds, and I haven't run it empty yet. Nevertheless, I carry a couple of more rounds in my shirt pocket to "top off" my rifle with after I've fired it. And then there's the full 10-round pouch on my belt - I guess I carry that for ballast because I've never used a round out of it yet while deer hunting. ;)
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You could use an 1885 Win. and be just fine. Actually most people could but they wouldn't feel good about it.
 
Well, I'll say again, just because one has never fired more than a couple of shots when hunting, does not mean that they never will. You just never know what might happen.

I'd feel good about carrying anything "Winchester". !!! I could, and often do.
 
Deer hunting is 20 rounds for rifle
Hogs is AR with 2 mags = 60 rounds
Muzzle loader is 6 loads
Crossbow is 4 bolts w/broadleaf and 2 blunts/small game
Quail/dove is 25, plus a box or 3, in the truck.
Squirrel/rabbit is box of .410 or 10-22 with 50 round mag.
Duck/goose is 50 rounds

Always with revolver and 24 rounds


Several years back, 4 guys make an 8 hour trip for a 4 day turkey hunt. Jackrabbit were thicker than grasshoppers.
We took 21 guns and 11k rounds.
.22LR, .22mag, .222, .223, .22-250 and 12ga

Fun weekend, we almost ran out ammo.
 
I've run out of bait while fishing more times than I can count, but never run out of ammo when hunting.

If we were doing deer drives in the Ohio gun season, typically 15 slugs was the recommendation.
Stand hunting, muzzleloader or bow...4 or 5.
Squirrels, usually 2 full 5 round .22 mags in case I had a mag fall out (I have)
Rabbit hunting, when I had a decent hound I'd only take 6 or so shotshells.
When I had worthless dogs, I'd take a whole box and plan on having to jump my own rabbits.
 
Hog hunting, I'm never very far from my truck. I usually carry a 30 round magazine in my rifle, but I've got a box containing several more magazines in the vehicle. Sometimes, if I'm walking some distance from my truck (maybe a ¼ mile or so) I'll bring along an extra magazine on my person. It's pretty seldom that I need more than ten rounds, but it does happen. I also carry a pistol, either a 9mm with 8 rounds plus a spare mag or (usually) a .22 with a dozen rounds.
 
I have a slip-on cartridge holder on my buttstock that holds 9 rounds. I typically always have those filled but I usually only load 2 rounds into the gun (my main hunting rifle has a blind box mag so I have to hand cycle every round back out of the gun - if I had a hinged floorplate or detachable mag on that gun I'd probably load more). The cartridge holder is mostly just there so that I don't have to worry about tracking down the ammo when I'm ready to go hunting - I just grab the gun and I know there is ammo already stored with it.
 
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