Get the Right Deer Hunting Rifle For Your Season

Choosing and setting up your deer hunting rifle is one of the most important hunting decisions you can make.

Selecting a firearm which has the ballistics, design, action, sighting and size to accommodate your hunting area and personal capability is the basis of achieving your goal once your prey is hunted and located. 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.

Where Will You Be Hunting?

There are two predominant types of deer hunting environments ; deep wood/ dense brush country and open range country. Some locations are a combination of both environments. Each environment commands its own unique shooting style and rifle traits.

Deep Woods/Dense Brush Deer Hunting Rifles

Deer hunting rifles with short to medium range shooting characteristics are needed for situations when you’re in the woods. The average distance you will be shooting in this environment runs from 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. When in dense brush, you have to be able to move around. Deer hunting rifles which can be reloaded quickly, such as automatics and lever actions, are suggested in rough country deer hunting since fast follow up shots are frequently needed. 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. Any cartridges that travel more than 2200 feet per second have a higher chance of being deflected by the brush, and are therefore not well suited to densely wooded terrain. I would recommend a scope that goes down to three power with variable power, and you may prefer an open sight if you can only shoot within fifty years of your position, If you want to find out if open site shooting works for you, test it out at the range.

Open Range Hunting Deer Hunting Rifles

Deer hunting rifles which are good performers in open areas are those designed for longer range shooting, up to three hundred yards or farther. In this situation, mobility is less important than being able to shoot accurately, and the ability to make long distance shots. That said, most open range deer hunting rifles are heavier than their deep woods counterparts, and have a longer barrel. In open range shooting, high velocity rifle calibers and cartridges are needed. Calibers in the 6MM (.243) caliber range or higher will be OK, and bullets from 100 grain and heavier will work. If you have a bigger caliber, you need a heavier bullet to stay accurate. The minimum required scope for most shooters is a 6×9 variable scope.

Personal Preferences

When choosing a deer hunting rifle take the recommendations above as they apply best to your hunting environment and then Consider your ability to maintain a comfortable shooting manner when shooting high caliber or magnum caliber rifles. How willing are you to lug around ten to twelve pounds long rifle across your 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 have the chance, ask successful hunters what they use and why. If you’re really interested in learning about their firearms, you could ask your friends to let you hold and handle their rifles, and ask if there are any things that they don’t like about them

You can learn so much more about deer hunting deer hunting rifles, and even get great deer hunting tips, by checking out our webpage dedicated to choosing the best rifle here: Deer-HuntingTips.com/DeerHuntingRifle.

And I also invite you to learn about deer calls and grunts here: Deer-HuntingTips.com/deer-grunts-and-calls.

To your Success!!!

John Eaglesmith

Deer-HuntingTips.com