whitetails with rimfire

[courtgreene]

I'm in central NC and most of my hunting is in western NC. First, the deer are plenty big, and I don't know what kind of greyhounds you have been around but Ive had a few and they are much smaller than our deer. Granted, they aren't monsters, but they aren't dogs either. Second and more importantly, it's not the guns that need to change to control the population, it's the ridiculous seasons. In the east the seasons aren't bad but in the west they push back gun season so far that we miss the beginning stages of the rut. I bow hunt, but by the time rut comes in there are so many asses poaching (probably with .22's in fact) that the pressure makes getting bow shots nearly impossible. Make gun season earlier and you solve all of those problems for law abiding hunters. Last year i called the state and begged them to help keep me a lawful hunter by addressing the western season problem... they said that starting this year the seasons would be more like the east. Cleveland county won't have those silly interrupted seasons between ML and Gun, and all of them would start earlier. We will see what they actually do later this month when the new regs come out.

 

[BushyGuy]

i wouldnt shoot anything smaller then a .223 rem for whitetail,anything smaller should be used for smaller game then whitetail deer.

 

[FLAvalanche]

I don't care what you use as long as you can kill efficiently and effectively. I'm a firm believer that unless you drop naked from a tree with a knife between your teeth onto your prey you have no business telling me how I hunt or me you.

 

[Old Shooter]

So whats wrong with hunting naked in the trees with a knife?

Are you trying to tell me how to hunt?

 

[Hangingrock]

Having hunted deer in SW-PA, Northern-WVA, VA, and NC I’m not about to say that deer in this area on average are smaller. I’ll admit to only deer hunting a couple years here in NC before quitting hunting. As an observer of deer in this area their on average par with what I’ve seen elsewhere.

I’ll concede mixed feeling about the use of a 22 rimfire. In the hands of a skilled marksman selectively applied it works.

This past winter I finished off two deer that had been struck buy vehicles. One was tangled up in a barb wire fence with extensive injuries including a broken leg and the other hobbling around on three legs dragging a broken rear leg. We have some indigent individuals in the area that made use of both deer.

Here in our part of the world if one uses a center-fire rifle for hunting one must be a minimum of 8ft above ground level (some counties specify 10ft while others have no requirement at all to be above ground level). The reason most deer are killed is the shooting distances are relatively short. Marksmanship and hunting don’t often equate. That may be why some but not all advocate certain rifle calibers thus shot placement is supposedly less critical.

 

[FLAvalanche]

So whats wrong with hunting naked in the trees with a knife?

Are you trying to tell me how to hunt?

You should try it. Slivers are a B*%#& though.

 

[NelsErik]

My grandfather has literally taken thousands of deer in the last 80 years with his .22 LR bolt gun. He did it for a reason though, he was poaching! With 14 kids and little money that's the only meat they ate, venison. I have seen him do it many, many times and every time he shoots them in the eye and they fall dead within 25 feet, except for one that ran about 100 before his dog caught up with it. I never have seen him hit a larger deer, only small white tail. He also snares them... this was a way of life for him and his family, he lived in rural IL. He had many other guns including 30-06 and .308 and shotguns, but he used the .22 because it was the most quiet.

 

[Hangingrock]

A perspective.

 

[caribou]

My father inlaw helped his parents run a caribou snare line along the banks where Caribou cross through the mountains and across Kobuk River every Fall.
They used Kayaks to paddle out and spear fat Bulls back then (early 1900's) and lined the willows with snares. They would rise early and go to the furthest animals and poke em with a lance to save shells.

No more Kayaks and lances, just small outboards and .22's today.

Heres 2 of 10 with her 10/22






These were caught in the middle of the river crossing over here to the village. Easy hunting that year, and we took 'em to the house to work over, while the freeze set in and froze the fat carcasses to eat while the waters freezing but thin. It takes awhile for safe travle conditions and with freeze up theres the onset of rut, which, in Caribou, brings on the taste of gasoline tainted meat...
The bulls get skinny chaseing females and the females are hunted till Spring, when we hunt bulls again for lean meat to dry, like now.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

theres the onset of rut, which, in Caribou, brings on the taste of gasoline tainted meat...

I think you are understating it. Last rutted up bull I shot[Mulchatna, when that herd was booming] I ate the antlers and threw away the meat.

 

[qajaq59]

It's not something I would do. But if it is legal I guess someone will do it. Hopefully they will all be very accurate shooters.

 

[wombat13]

Yes, North Carolina deer are a little smaller, probably a little smaller than the national average whitetail. Definitely smaller than our deer of the northwoods. The largest NC buck I shot was an 8 pointer in 2008 that weighed not an ounce more than 120 pounds, before field dressed. There are larger deer in NC but they are few and far betwixt.

I shot a button buck on the last day last year that weighed probably 45 pounds. But man, those were tasty morsels.

Here's a link to an interesting brochure discussing the subspecies of whitetail deer. There is a map near the end. It looks like the largest whitetail are in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and Canada while the smallest are in the Florida Keys.

http://www.whitetailsunlimited.com/i/p/bk_distribution.pdf

ETA: I thought I included the link, but I guess not. Anyway it's here now.

 

[627PCFan]

While not layed out nice and neatly by NC, I think everyone is missing what their goal is. To thin out deer in suburban areas. While not abiding by "hunting code" the state is utilizing the hunters as a means to an end. They arent asking for clean kills and a good hunt. They want the numbers cut back, apparently by any means necessary-

 

[elitesack]

Nope. Nope. And nope. As a hunter you have the responsibility to show the deer respect (even though you kill it, lol) and shooting it with something so futile turns you automatically from a hunter, to a poacher. The logical choice for a populated area would be archery. Nobody will be able to go deer hunting with a .22 rimfire and retain my respect or any one elses respect unless it is in a survival situation after a nuclear holocaust.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

.22lr and .22 mag, one million poachers cant be wrong....