What was your first deer rifle?
#32
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Walnut MS USA
Posts: 871
RE: What was your first deer rifle?
My first was a Marlin 336, 35 Remington. When I lived in Ill I took my first deer with a Mossberg bolt action 20 ga. I just removed the screw-on choke and it shot pretty straight. I now use a Remington 700 custom in .35 Whelen. I don' t have to track very many deer, they drop.
Russ
Russ
#35
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Sackets Harbor, New York
Posts: 2,509
RE: What was your first deer rifle?
.300 savage, model 99, lever-action. It is my dad' s, and he also has the matching .250. The .300 is a lightweight model. I just have the open/peep sights on it, i don' t know if i could get used to using a scope.
#36
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Williamsport PA. USA
Posts: 293
RE: What was your first deer rifle?
My first rifle was a Savage model 340 in 30-30 caliber. I worked all summer on the neighboring farms doing chores like cuffing hay bails and milking cows and cleaning stanchions! I think I paid $69.00 for it brandy new, and the gunstore owner threw in a sling for good measure. Shot a tiny little squeaker of a doe with it that fall while hunting with a neighbor. We ran into a whole herd of deer while walking through a grove of white pines, and I emptied my clip once, reloaded, and shot all but one shell, and noticed a deer head peering from behind a great pine trunk, so I leveled those open sights on that deer' s cheekbone and shot her right below the eye! Man I was proud as hell, but my dad said " Good Lord, you shot a puppy!"
#38
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 204
RE: What was your first deer rifle?
My first gun was a 12 guage single shot. My dad gave it to me about 21 years ago and it is still in service today. As a matter of fact I took tree-rat with it last year. My son will probably hunt with it when he gets old enough.
I was 11 when I took my first deer with that gun. It was a doe that weighed about 100#' s on the hoof. It was a cold Dec. day in 1982 when I took her. I was sitting on a hickory ridge when she came up on the right of me. I had to shoot her left handed. I love that gun and my dad for getting it for me. It was my dad who had showed a lot of patience because I had missed 3 other times that day.
I was 11 when I took my first deer with that gun. It was a doe that weighed about 100#' s on the hoof. It was a cold Dec. day in 1982 when I took her. I was sitting on a hickory ridge when she came up on the right of me. I had to shoot her left handed. I love that gun and my dad for getting it for me. It was my dad who had showed a lot of patience because I had missed 3 other times that day.
#39
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 170
RE: What was your first deer rifle?
My first deer rifle was a British Enfield .303 series II. I bought it for $79.99 in PA in 1989. I went out that you a novice deer hunter (my dad was not a deer hunter). I had no one to teach me except the tv shows, which aren' t the greatest of teachers. Anyway, I failed to apply for a doe tag and all I saw were does the first couple of days. The next time I went out at on a friends land and saw a nice buck at 100 yards. I took a shot and missed under his legs. He just stood there and I took another shot. Another clean miss that kicked up dirt and he took off. I got so mad that I traded that rifle in for a Marlin .32 Winchester Special lever action rifle. I took that thing to the range and it fit me like a hand in a glove. Unfortunately, I did not see another deer the rest of the season.
I moved to MD after that year and did nto deer hunt for another three years until I moved home to KY. My little brother took me out on at a high school buddy' s farm that year. I brought my .32 with me, but my brother insisted that i use his .270 that had an incredible scope. Since I had shot the rifle before and was familiar with it, I agreed. He set me up on a good trail and then went to his stand. About 45 minutes later I had a doe walk towards me on a trail about 20 yards off. I took her with one shot and was hooked from then on after.
I have since sold that .32 and have gone thru several more deer rifles until I settled on a T/C Encore which is now my baby.
Matt
I moved to MD after that year and did nto deer hunt for another three years until I moved home to KY. My little brother took me out on at a high school buddy' s farm that year. I brought my .32 with me, but my brother insisted that i use his .270 that had an incredible scope. Since I had shot the rifle before and was familiar with it, I agreed. He set me up on a good trail and then went to his stand. About 45 minutes later I had a doe walk towards me on a trail about 20 yards off. I took her with one shot and was hooked from then on after.
I have since sold that .32 and have gone thru several more deer rifles until I settled on a T/C Encore which is now my baby.
Matt