Get the Right Deer Hunting Rifle For Your Season

One of the most important decisions for you to make in your hunting career is what deer hunting rifle you should purchase.

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. If you have a deer hunting rifle that meets your needs, you’ll have a more successful season.

The Significance of the Location You will Hunt

There are two main kinds of deer hunting environments, deep woods or dense brush country and open range country. There are certain places that are a little bit of both. Each environment commands its own unique shooting style and rifle traits.

Deer Hunting Rifles for Deep Woods or Dense Brush

Deer hunting rifles with short to medium range shooting characteristics are needed for situations when you’re in the woods. The average shooting distance in this type of environment is from twenty-five to two hundred yards. You will be best served if your deep woods deer hunting rifle is relatively light, less than nine pounds including scope, and short, with a barrel length of less than twenty-two inches. Maneuverability is important when hunting in dense brush. 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. Heavy bulleted cartridges to penetrate brush are required, I recommend .270 or larger caliber and at least a 120 grain bullet. Calibers or cartridges which exceed 2200 feet per second velocity are not suggested as bullet deflection by the brush must be at a minimum. Scopes of four power or variable scopes which go down to 3X are recommended, and if your hunting terrain only permits shots of fifty yards or less then you might prefer open sights. You may want to conduct a few experiments at your local rifle range to figure out whether or not open site shooting suits your hunting style.

Deer Hunting Rifles for Open Range

The best deer hunting rifles for open areas are made for long range shooting, and most are best at shooting 300 yards or farther. Rifle portability is of less importance than accuracy and velocity in long shot environments, rifles tend to be heavier and of longer barrel length than deep woods rifles. The best calibers and cartridges for open range deer hunting, are flat shooting, and high velocity. Calibers in the 6MM (.243) caliber range or higher will be OK, and bullets from 100 grain and heavier will work. Generally, the larger the caliber is, the heavier the bullet will need to be for the best ballistic accuracy. Scopes with a 6 X 9 variable power are what most shooters will need at the very least.

Personal Preferences

When choosing a deer hunting rifle, follow the recommendations above as they best suit your hunting situation and consider your degree of comfort in using high caliber or magnum powered 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.. You may also want to consider asking any successful hunters that you’re friends with what kinds of rifles they use, and their reasons for using them. 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

If you want to know about what deer hunting rifle to use, and what deer hunting tips can help you, check out Deer-HuntingTips.com/DeerHuntingRifle

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