Caliber for first time deer hunter.

Factors to consider:

What rifle fits the shooter best, what the shooter feels the most comfortable/capable with, and what range are they expected to be shooting at?

44 Mag was my first deer rifle but the shots were limited to 75 yards in thick brush.

223 for a first time shooter on deer is not something I would risk as there is little forgiveness for a misplaced shot. YMMV.
 
canadian hunter312 said:
Any and all guns you have that you’ve listed here are more than adequate for typical shots on deer, unless you’re into long range shooting.

As a first timer, you’ll likely be far more satisfied if you take the hunting approach (getting as close as possible) instead of the shooting approach (long range shooting) as it’s far more rewarding. Play the wind, maybe use some calls and scent, pattern the deer, stalk within range, and when you take that say 25-200 yard shot you’ll be extremely satisfied with yourself for making it happen.

Getting within spitting distance of deer is exciting, suspenseful, challenging, and extremely rewarding.

Close range = roller coaster

Long range = sitting on the couch
Click to expand...
I agree, I aint a long range shooter, withing 200 yards is what im aiming for. 100 or less if I can.
 
Jdiep said:
I got too many options, I just want to take one rifle for my first time, I live in Alberta, I got a 308, 3030, 7mm08,7 rem mag, 44mag and i guess now 223 lol. Been mostly a target shooter, what would be the best first timer caliber to take?
Click to expand...

What make/model/twist on your 223?
Otherwise, 7/08.
 
Beeron said:
This follows the "Point Blank Range Zero" which has fallen out of favour to a large degree. Especially with modern optics with Subtended reticles and dialable turrets.

A 100 yard zero is much better.

You need velocities and dope for the ammo you are shooting in whichever rifle you shoot best.
This will allow you to easily (by easily I mean there are a plethora of free ballistic apps that will tell you your holdovers for distance) know how your cartridge will perform and easily compensate for distance.

wayyyyy more accurate than the point blank method.

You want your first experience to be a positive one. Don't risk the probability of wound loss with an inherently inaccurate methodology.
Click to expand...
Actually, this isn't the true Point Blank Range method at all. That requires zeroing at a specific distance, determined from charts or apps, that will allow shooting to some other specific maximum distance without having the bullet rise or fall more than a specified amount above the line of sight. You might be required to sight in at 178 yards, giving you a Point Blank range of (for example) 314 yards on a target with a 6-inch diameter vital area. The actual numbers would vary based upon not only your ammunition but also the size of the game being shot. It works and is simple enough, although a bit cumbersome to set it up; never liked it myself.

Sighting at 100 yards is in no way superior for shooting at game at the ranges the OP mentions. If you sight in at 100, the only way you will get "wayyyy better" overall accuracy is if you actually hold over at 200, 300 and other yardages, or dial with your scope. Dialing a scope makes sense for long range shooters, but for a guy to be fiddling with his scope because the deer is at 250 and he is zeroed for 100 is just silly. Holding over is a bit faster and easier, but if you are doing that then you might as well just zero at 200 and avoid all the drama and complication.

Most of my hunting guns are zeroed at 200; easy enough to hold under an inch or so at 100 or a few inches at 300 if you really want to, but for game the size of deer it's unnecessary. If you think that you might shoot much further than that, you need to determine...by actual shooting, not by asking your phone...how much holdover is necessary. And if...big if... you decide at a later date that you want to move into the world of exposed turrets and/or complicated multi-zero scopes, you can always do so.

Dialing scopes and/or using Christmas-tree reticles are techniques that are useful and appropriate for long range shooting, but simply add unnecessary complexity to short ranges that most hunters...like the OP...will be engaged in. I recall one of those Bubba-goes-hunting TV shows in which the hero was sitting in a tree overlooking a bear bait at close range. A bear showed up, and the guy then began to dial his giant baseball-bat-sized scope down to its minimum focus distance and magnification before raising his 1000-yard gun for the shot. While this is more extreme than a deer at 200 or 300 yards...the principle is the same.

Don't be that guy. If you're hunting and shooting at 200 or 300 yards, use techniques that were developed and designed to optimize and simplify shooting at those ranges...rather than stuff intended for 3x, 4x or 5x those distances.
 
Whatevers legal with an appropriate bullet and you can shoot well enough. That last part is most important. Theres no wrong answer and its pretty hard to be undergunned on deer.

If you have any business shooting at game where you have to hold over or dial, you should have praticed enough by now to know whats appropriate and how to do that lol. If not, do a lot of it before you try. But its pretty hard to imagine having to worry about that much unless you're saddling yourself with a 45/70 or something where after 150 yards you can see it in the air lol

If I wasn't big on using monos I'd roll with the 223 you have if its legal and it has a fast twist. 77gr TMK or 73gr and heavier ELDM
 
Last edited:
jjohnwm said:
Actually, this isn't the true Point Blank Range method at all. That requires zeroing at a specific distance, determined from charts or apps, that will allow shooting to some other specific maximum distance without having the bullet rise or fall more than a specified amount above the line of sight. You might be required to sight in at 178 yards, giving you a Point Blank range of (for example) 314 yards on a target with a 6-inch diameter vital area. The actual numbers would vary based upon not only your ammunition but also the size of the game being shot. It works and is simple enough, although a bit cumbersome to set it up; never liked it myself.

Sighting at 100 yards is in no way superior for shooting at game at the ranges the OP mentions. If you sight in at 100, the only way you will get "wayyyy better" overall accuracy is if you actually hold over at 200, 300 and other yardages, or dial with your scope. Dialing a scope makes sense for long range shooters, but for a guy to be fiddling with his scope because the deer is at 250 and he is zeroed for 100 is just silly. Holding over is a bit faster and easier, but if you are doing that then you might as well just zero at 200 and avoid all the drama and complication.

Most of my hunting guns are zeroed at 200; easy enough to hold under an inch or so at 100 or a few inches at 300 if you really want to, but for game the size of deer it's unnecessary. If you think that you might shoot much further than that, you need to determine...by actual shooting, not by asking your phone...how much holdover is necessary. And if...big if... you decide at a later date that you want to move into the world of exposed turrets and/or complicated multi-zero scopes, you can always do so.

Dialing scopes and/or using Christmas-tree reticles are techniques that are useful and appropriate for long range shooting, but simply add unnecessary complexity to short ranges that most hunters...like the OP...will be engaged in. I recall one of those Bubba-goes-hunting TV shows in which the hero was sitting in a tree overlooking a bear bait at close range. A bear showed up, and the guy then began to dial his giant baseball-bat-sized scope down to its minimum focus distance and magnification before raising his 1000-yard gun for the shot. While this is more extreme than a deer at 200 or 300 yards...the principle is the same.

Don't be that guy. If you're hunting and shooting at 200 or 300 yards, use techniques that were developed and designed to optimize and simplify shooting at those ranges...rather than stuff intended for 3x, 4x or 5x those distances.
Click to expand...
My scope is zeroed at 100 and I know it needs .6 mils to be 200 zero. So I walk around with the turret set to .6 with a zero stop. Long shot, no problem just turn the dial to the calculated number.
 
Jdiep said:
I got too many options, I just want to take one rifle for my first time, I live in Alberta, I got a 308, 3030, 7mm08,7 rem mag, 44mag and i guess now 223 lol. Been mostly a target shooter, what would be the best first timer caliber to take?
Click to expand...
My first 1 was a 6.5cm … Started about 5 years ago and have harvested a deer every year since … Never had 1 run away on me
Have shot monster bucks and small does from 60-350 yards
 
Zeroed at 200 yards is where I do most of my rifles, regardless of the cartridge they are chambered in.
With my .303 and 150 grain TSX's, a 200 zero puts me about 2" high atc100 and a tad low at 300.
Anything inside 200 gets shot with a point blank hold.
Anything past that I normally have time to range it and hold over appropriately with my 4X scope .
Furthest shot thus far has been 372 yards with that combination.
Shortest has been 12 yards .
Cat
 
Actually, this isn't the true Point Blank Range method at all. That requires zeroing at a specific distance, determined from charts or apps, that will allow shooting to some other specific maximum distance without having the bullet rise or fall more than a specified amount above the line of sight. You might be required to sight in at 178 yards, giving you a Point Blank range of (for example) 314 yards on a target with a 6-inch diameter vital area. The actual numbers would vary based upon not only your ammunition but also the size of the game being shot. It works and is simple enough, although a bit cumbersome to set it up; never liked it myself.

Sighting at 100 yards is in no way superior for shooting at game at the ranges the OP mentions. If you sight in at 100, the only way you will get "wayyyy better" overall accuracy is if you actually hold over at 200, 300 and other yardages, or dial with your scope. Dialing a scope makes sense for long range shooters, but for a guy to be fiddling with his scope because the deer is at 250 and he is zeroed for 100 is just silly. Holding over is a bit faster and easier, but if you are doing that then you might as well just zero at 200 and avoid all the drama and complication.

Most of my hunting guns are zeroed at 200; easy enough to hold under an inch or so at 100 or a few inches at 300 if you really want to, but for game the size of deer it's unnecessary. If you think that you might shoot much further than that, you need to determine...by actual shooting, not by asking your phone...how much holdover is necessary. And if...big if... you decide at a later date that you want to move into the world of exposed turrets and/or complicated multi-zero scopes, you can always do so.

Dialing scopes and/or using Christmas-tree reticles are techniques that are useful and appropriate for long range shooting, but simply add unnecessary complexity to short ranges that most hunters...like the OP...will be engaged in. I recall one of those Bubba-goes-hunting TV shows in which the hero was sitting in a tree overlooking a bear bait at close range. A bear showed up, and the guy then began to dial his giant baseball-bat-sized scope down to its minimum focus distance and magnification before raising his 1000-yard gun for the shot. While this is more extreme than a deer at 200 or 300 yards...the principle is the same.

Don't be that guy. If you're hunting and shooting at 200 or 300 yards, use techniques that were developed and designed to optimize and simplify shooting at those ranges...rather than stuff intended for 3x, 4x or 5x those distances.
[/QUOTE]

Right, i was referring to a common practice, often described as “point blank range zero”
Also known as “an inch or two high at 100”.

And I know some folks would disagree.

The OP mentions being spoiled for choice in calibre and having target experience.

I infer the ability to holdover and/or dial a subtended scope.

I hunt mostly blacktail deer and bears. Occasionally WT and moose if I draw. Bears and moose seem to volunteer but both BT and WT are notoriously flaky.

I routinely range and holdover or dial on all game that I cant easily shoot offhand and I do it quickly because I practice. My offhand max is about 60yards, maybe 80. I could probably make further shots but why?

Everything else gets ranged and shot from a stable position or I simply don’t take the shot. No running deer. No wobbly squeeze and pray.

Aim small, miss small.

Most of us who have been hunting for a while have either had or been party to a bad hit with meat loss or a lost animal. I know I have seen both.

Better to lose an opportunity because you were working to make a perfect shot than to have a bad experience because you relied on a less precise method just because it was quicker and “it works most of the time”.

My advice was for a new hunter with plenty of calibre choices and shooting experience and is intended to maximize success and minimize the likelihood of a bad first experience.

I stand by it.

As to your example, I am never surprised how stupid people on tv can make “hunting” look. Sitting in a tree over bait at close range isn’t even hunting imo, its just harvest. And anyone who is hunting from a blind or treestand who doesn’t already have their zone of fire ranged out and their optic appropriately set up before an animal appears is shooting themself in the foot.
 
Last edited:
Depending on what your 30-30 is, I’d recommend that. Nothing like carrying a lever action with good iron sights in the woods. Like learning how to drive on a manual transmission. Everything else comes a lot easier after that
 
Don’t think too much on the caliber. Most of it is just marketing. A lot of hunters are always buying new guns for new calibers and there honestly all pretty much the same. Anything that starts with a 3 will be fine. The actual rifle and scope/sights on it matters a lot more. I have hunted with a 223 but wouldn’t recommend it if you have other options
 
308, easy simple works cheap to feed, accurate, easy on meat! Easy on the shoulder, can be add in a short package that is easy to carry! Sighted in 3” high at 100m and you don’t have to think about anything else than outing the crosshair on the vital and squeeze the trigger up to 300m….. i would suggest you get closer than 300m cause games are not paper or steel plates lol but the idea is that with a zero like that inside “normal” hunting distance and of course “normal” environment like mild wind low declination etc you will hit the vital w/o issues if you do your part!
150gn bullets should do the job quite well and it doesn’t need to be a premium bullet either!
 
Last edited:
Beeron said:
This follows the "Point Blank Range Zero" which has fallen out of favour to a large degree. Especially with modern optics with Subtended reticles and dialable turrets.

A 100 yard zero is much better.

You need velocities and dope for the ammo you are shooting in whichever rifle you shoot best.
This will allow you to easily (by easily I mean there are a plethora of free ballistic apps that will tell you your holdovers for distance) know how your cartridge will perform and easily compensate for distance.

wayyyyy more accurate than the point blank method.

You want your first experience to be a positive one. Don't risk the probability of wound loss with an inherently inaccurate methodology.
Click to expand...
Dude, this is way more complicated than it needs to be to shoot at deers inside 300m!!
 
Diagger said:
My scope is zeroed at 100 and I know it needs .6 mils to be 200 zero. So I walk around with the turret set to .6 with a zero stop. Long shot, no problem just turn the dial to the calculated number.
Click to expand...
Until in the excitement of the moment you make a turrets twirling that is off and then you are off and you might end up with a wounded animal! KISS, this is hinting not sniping, the simpler you keep things the less chances you have to screw up!
A friend of mine missed a moose last weekend cause the moose was really close but his high magnification sniper scope with Christmas 🎄 reticle was cranked up to max so couldn’t see the damn thing so couldn’t shoot… and of course the moose was gone and out of sight before he had a chance to readjust the scope to the lowest setting! Inside 300m a fixed 4x is all you need… maybe not all you want but that is a different story lol!
 
DGY said:
Until in the excitement of the moment you make a turrets twirling that is off and then you are off and you might end up with a wounded animal! KISS, this is hinting not sniping, the simpler you keep things the less chances you have to screw up!
A friend of mine missed a moose last weekend cause the moose was really close but his high magnification sniper scope with Christmas 🎄 reticle was cranked up to max so couldn’t see the damn thing so couldn’t shoot… and of course the moose was gone and out of sight before he had a chance to readjust the scope to the lowest setting! Inside 300m a fixed 4x is all you need… maybe not all you want but that is a different story lol!
Click to expand...
.6 mils is 2in high at 100 meters (.308 178g). It is okay whether you adjust it or not.

I took an Elk at 350m on my 3x-15x "sniper" scope cross legged opening day. I had it set for a 500m shot and kept calling him closer and re-adjusting my dope as needed. Your friend just needs to remind himself to reset to his snap shooting setting after sitting down.

Besides, the scope only goes above .6 mils and 3x if I am actually taking a shot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DGY
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom