Select the Ideal Deer Hunting Rifle
When you go hunting, there’s nothing more important than picking the right deer hunting rifle.
The keys to achieving your deer hunting goals come in the form of the best firearm for you. When you go to pick out a firearm, you want the one with the best style, action, sighting, size, and ballistics for your hunting area and physical capabilities. Whether or not you make the kill is largely reliant on whether or not your deer hunting rifle matches up best with the criteria above.
The Significance of the Location You will Hunt
When you go deer hunting, you’ll typically either hunt in open range country or dense brush country, like deep woods. Some locations are a combination of both environments. Each environment requires different shooting styles and different rifle characteristics .
Deep Woods/Dense Brush Deer Hunting Rifles
Deer hunting rifles that work best in the woods are rifles made for medium or short range shooting. Most of the time, you’ll only be shooting from a distance of twenty-five to two hundred yards. It is to your advantage that your deep woods deer hunting rifle be relatively light (less than nine pounds with the scope), and be relatively short in length with a barrel length of twenty two inches or shorter. Maneuverability is important when hunting in dense brush. You may also want to consider rifles that have automatic functions and are easy to reload. It’s fairly common, when deer hunting in rough country, that you end up needing to take multiple shots in quick succession in order to make your kill. I would recommend using heavy bullet cartridges, .270 caliber or greater, with at least a 120 grain bullet, in order to penetrate any brush that might be in the way of your intended target. In order to prevent the bullet from getting deflected by brush, don’t get too fast of a cartridge, more than 2,200 feet/second is not needed. If your hunting terrain only allows shots to be taken within 50 yards or less of the intended target, you may want to consider using an open sight. If not, I would recommend a scope with four power, or a variable scope that can get down to 3X. Practice at the rifle range to determine if you can become comfortable with open site shooting.
Open Range Deer Hunting Rifles
The best deer hunting rifles for open areas are made for long range shooting, and most are best at shooting 300 yards or farther. You won’t have to worry as much about the rifle being light so much as it being accurate; go ahead and get a heavier one if it means better accuracy. The best calibers and cartridges for open range deer hunting, are flat shooting, and high velocity. Calibers in the 6MM (.243) range or higher will be satisfactory and bullets from 100 grain up will perform well. When shooting larger caliber rifles, heavier bullets are generally best for accurate shooting. Scopes with a 6 X 9 variable power are what most shooters will need at the very least.
Personal Choices
As you select your deer hunting rifle, heed the advice you’ve just read where it talks about the environment in which you’re hunting; once you do that, figure out what other characteristics you need to fit your shooting style. Do you really want to lug ten or twelve pounds of long rifle with you around your deer hunting terrain?
You can probably go to your local hunting rifle dealer and try out a variety of different deer hunting rifles, and get a better feel for what you want and what “fits” you.. Whenever you can ask a successful hunters what type of rifle they use and why. Ask friends to permit you to hold and handle their rifles and find out what you like and dislike about it.
I invite you to learn much more about deer hunting rifles and other advanced deer hunting tips by visiting our website here: Deer-HuntingTips.com.
You can also get our latest deer hunting course, “Secrets of Finding Monster Bucks Revealed” for free at Monster Bucks.
To your Success!!!
John Eaglesmith
Deer-HuntingTips.com
