First or worst deer getter

[RT2506]

First deer rifle I ever had was a never issued 1903A3 Springfield. I worked all summer mowing yards, working in my grandfathers tobacco patch, putting up hay and any other odd jobs I could make a dime at to come up with the $40.00 it cost at a local store. That thing would shoot but it would beat me to death as a 100 lb soaking wet 13 year old kid. I drug it through the mountains of TN for about 6 years deer hunting and never even saw a deer to shoot. They were few and far between back then. Killed a lot of ground hogs and wild dogs with it though. Had a cousin that was in the national guard and every month when we went to guard he brought me a 250 round can of ammo. The black tip AP stuff. It was really accurate in that rifle. I really learned how to shoot long range killing ground hogs with that old rifle and it's open sights. At age 17 I sold that rifle like a fool and bought a Marlin 336 in 30-30 Win and that is what I killed my first deer with using a Rem 150 gr HP and open sights.

 

[Red hunter]

30-30 Marlin 1974 model. I think that every scratch and ding in the stock is a marker for an animal it has dropped. 150 grain core lokts will shoot quarter size groups at 100. I take it hunting a couple times a year just because it is like on old comfortable jacket. All raggy and ratty but it makes you feel warm anyway.

 

[sconnie264]

30-30 Marlin 1974 model. I think that every scratch and ding in the stock is a marker for an animal it has dropped. 150 grain core lokts will shoot quarter size groups at 100. I take it hunting a couple times a year just because it is like on old comfortable jacket. All raggy and ratty but it makes you feel warm anyway.

Exactly!

 

[grit]

Grandpa had an octagon barrelled 94. I think it was as old as he was. He'd fed the family with it at times. I never had a prouder moment when he handed it over to me to hunt with. I loved the smell of saddle leather, gun oil, and powder smoke. That steel butt plate hurt. I killed my first big game with that rifle, a spike elk. I remember the whole world seemed to be shaking!

 

[kc]

My first Deer Rifle was an old 03 Springfield that was given to me when I was 10.
I had to hide it from my old man, like all of my rifles he sold them at the Bar.
Then my Uncle gave me his MARLIN 336sc when I was 13 and it was beat but is was and is the best deer rifle I ever took into the swamp.

 

[fmajor]

My first 'hi-power' rifle was a Marlin 336C .35 Rem.

It was a great rifle - ~1" patterns at 100yds, but it was certainly 1/4 Minute of Whitetail!!! I was re-finishing the stock and it became a long, forgotten project and the sanding was pretty bad. I sold it on to someone who could fix it up.... .

My HS graduation present was a Rem 700 ADL in 7mm RM. Love that rifle and once i'm back home in the States i plan to have a re-barrel/true-the-action job done on it (as well as puting on a new, more shooter-friendly stock).

 

[sambo3006]

I hunted deer with several different guns before killing a deer. My first season I hunted with an H&R 20 gauge single shot and rifled slug. The next year I hunted with both a Marlin 35 Rem and a 700 LH 7mm mag. The next year I hunted with a Ruger Blackhawk .41 mag (cocky, wasn't I). My fourth year of deer hunting I finally killed a deer with a Ruger #1V 6mm Rem with my own handloaded Hornady 100 gr BTSP. I was 17 years old. That was 25 years ago and I still have the antlers. I stupidly sold the rifle but have since bought another one just like it.

 

[clemens]

my first rifle was a rem 721 that i bought at a gun show for 150. Accuracy was pretty good using 165gr bullets. Unfortunetly the drop at the heel of stock was terrible and the recoil was enough to make ya clap your shoulder blades. It was only a 30-06, the 165's were manageable. 180's and above was just to painfull. My Ruger 77 7mm pushing 175's recoiled less.

 

[bigbuck]

My first deer was taken with a .22 semi auto rifle. I was 13 at the time . It was Thanks Giving Day , this rifle was used when we would kill hawgs but I decided to go walking around the edge of the pasture just for fun when a small spike came running out of the woods. I unloaded on him! the first deer rifle that was bought for me was a SKS 7.62 (not what u would consider a deer rifle) but it was all my father could afford at the time. He later sold it and gave me a 300 mag.

 

[TXshooter]

The first rifle I tried to kill a deer with was a short super light weight 308 and I was 7. The thing literally sent me and my chair rolling across the deer blind. The deer got away. So dad bought me a 7mm-08 youth rifle and then cut 2 inches off the stock to fit me. That little gun doesnt get shot much anymore but there was a time that it was unstoppable. I still pull it out of the safe just to remember those days. Mostly I'm saving it for my son.

 

[pburton]

My grandfather gave me my first "deer rifle". It is a Savage model 99 .250-3000. I was 12 years old. I shot my first blacktail buck with it that year. It still sits in my gun safe. It is dire need of repair so I haven't shot it in over 20 years. Maybe next year I will be able to have it fully restored so my son can start shooting it.

 

[264WM]

Just a few brush busters.
Model 94 30-30
Enfield 30-06
BAR 30-06
DPMS 338 Federal
50 cal Hawkin
45 ACP
357 Mag
264WM (Light brush)
7mm REM MAG (Medium Brush)

 

[montana bob]

I grew up in Illinois so I could only hunt with Slugs or black powder. My first deer gun was an Ithaca model 37 12 ga. I bought a smoothbore slug barrel for it. I was torture sighting that thing in but when you shot a deer with it the deer didn't go far. Then I moved to Ga and bought Remington 700ADL chambered in 30-06 at a gun show, it was as much fun to shoot as the Ithaca. I finally dropped down to a Remington 700 ADL in 243 and shot it for years. A very pleasant gun to shoot and I dropped more deer in their tracks than I ever did with the others.

 

[the shotty]

I carried a rem 700 in 7mm for a few years, kicked like a mule to my young mind and never saw any hair. When I was 16 I had a my car broken into and had a custom 10/22 and my 10 ga shotgun stolen, insurance paid out and I bought a tikka in 300wsm. I carried that gun for a few more years missed an elk I shouldn't have pulled the trigger on in the first place. Id always been intrigued by pistols and when I was about to turn 21 I started making payments on a ruger srh in .454 casull and took my first and only deer a year later, I was ecstatic!

shot some other critters with it too

and just because this thread needs more pictures here is another pistol kill (p32)