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First time deer hunter, any advice?
- Thread starter WallsGa
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.270 and 7mm-08 are real flat shooters. But in GA, any of the popular calibers will drop deer. My first rifle was a .308; my reasoning being that it will drop any animal in North America, in case I decided I wanted to go after larger game at some point.
my personal preference is .308. Its a common enough round so if you forget your bullets when you get to the deer property (yep, happened to me and i know im not the only one lol) you can run to wal-mart for them (although covid they arent 24hrs right now so that would suck). and it will kill any game in America.
Only advice I can give is 1. know and verify your target, 2. know what is behind your target. 3 hit your target in correct location. Everything else has been mentioned.
Another vote for .308 but I’ve killed many of deer with a .270
308 with a 150 grain soft point. and a sharp knife
Another good choice is a .35 Remington, I’ve killed a few with the old trusty .35
I would keep it simple first year and make sure,Ruger American in 308 with descent Nikon optics with good mounts.i shoot 165 accubonds in my 30 caliber guns.no need for all the fancy stuff.
If you are hunting in terrain that offers shots of 100 yards or less, any big game legal caliber will do. 223, 243, 30-30, 300 BLK, 357 mag, 44 mag. Iron sights or scope. If you think you'll be in places where longer shots are possible (generally open fields, power line easements, etc.), then a caliber with bit longer punch. 308, 270. Scope probably more necessary.
Buy two boxes of ammo: one for verifying/adjusting the scope and the second for the next four or five hunting seasons.
Comfortable clothes for the weather conditions, including a hunter orange outer garment and a hat.
Eyeglasses, if you wear them.
A small backpack or fanny pack with:
Good pocket flashlight you trust. Maybe an LED headlamp.
Sharp knife of your liking.
Rain poncho.
Copy of the hunting regs.
Your license and game harvest log.
A bottle of water
Snacks
A short length (6 to 10') of sturdy line to use as a deer drag.
Binoculars, if you think you'll need them
If you haven't killed/cleaned a deer before, it may be useful to print out any of the many tutorials available online, or download a PDF to your phone. Nobody in my family hunted before me, so I was self-taught. I actually had a printout of how to gut a deer sitting on the floor of the woods next to my first deer. Kinda funny when I think about it, but it was entirely necessary.
Good luck!
Buy two boxes of ammo: one for verifying/adjusting the scope and the second for the next four or five hunting seasons.
Comfortable clothes for the weather conditions, including a hunter orange outer garment and a hat.
Eyeglasses, if you wear them.
A small backpack or fanny pack with:
Good pocket flashlight you trust. Maybe an LED headlamp.
Sharp knife of your liking.
Rain poncho.
Copy of the hunting regs.
Your license and game harvest log.
A bottle of water
Snacks
A short length (6 to 10') of sturdy line to use as a deer drag.
Binoculars, if you think you'll need them
If you haven't killed/cleaned a deer before, it may be useful to print out any of the many tutorials available online, or download a PDF to your phone. Nobody in my family hunted before me, so I was self-taught. I actually had a printout of how to gut a deer sitting on the floor of the woods next to my first deer. Kinda funny when I think about it, but it was entirely necessary.
Good luck!
Your last statement is a really important one. I’ve hunted with several people through the years that had no clue how to gut a deer. A couple of years ago, I got a text from the one of the guys that hunts the same property I do to help him and his father drag a deer they shot. I got there and they wanted to drag a decent size buck atleast a half a mile and through a creek without gutting it. I told them I wasn’t going to help unless they gutted it, that’s when I found out they didn’t know how. So I showed them and then we went to dragging. Lol they would have had a very hard time if they would have been by their selves
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