Very sad...but true...and I totally agree with his statement of the visual appeal of the new stocks.

"Old-school deer rifles are a dying breed. They can still be found in used-gun racks, but new rifles with fine walnut stocks, blued steel, and attractive checkering are as elusive as a unicorn. The majority of new deer rifles sport synthetic stocks of fiberglass or plastic and have the visual appeal of a skin rash."

My ARs are used for both work and play. Try as I may, I just never could get into bolt guns although I can certainly appreciate the beauty of their fine wood stocks and deep bluing. If I'm looking at a wood stocked gun it will either be a lever action for traditional muzzleloader.

I like them all..

I have different weapons for diffrent applications and reasons. I enjoy shooting them all

Same here. I have some nice looking weapons and some that are butt-ugly. They all perform the jobs I need done.

All of my hunting rifles are all wood stocked. I prefer wood, I even had an AR that has a wood stock, took me about 2 years to make the parts. But a guy offered me a lot of money for the wood, so now it's back in it's plastic shell.

Pre 64 Winchester 70's can still be found. To me, it just doesn't get any better.

If it isn't raining I will use a rifle with pretty wood. In the rain I have two stainless synthetic rifles, one scoped the other with iron sights.

The manufactures like plastic stocks because they have low material costs and very little labor. The marketing department tells the customer how much better it is than wood.

Mark

I really love the look and feel of a nice wood stock and overall that's what I prefer. However, I also appreciate the utility and lighter weight of synthetic stocks. My primary go to gun is my Tikka T3 Lite with a synthetic stock, but I have regretted not getting the wood stock version. My plan is for my next rifle purchase to be a Ruger M77 with the tang safety. I think the wood and bluing on those rifles is outstanding for a factory mass produced rifle. Another one at the top of my list is an older Winchester Mdl. 70 Featherweight. I had one in 30-06 years ago and it was absolutely beautiful.
With all of that said, when I go back to Alaska next year I'll definitely be taking a synthetic stock rifle because of wet weather and weight.

Like them all as said before. I prefer bolt action normally for deer and hog. Have a beautiful Browning Medallion whose stock has ever seen the light of day due to a camo sleeve. 20 years old and countless deer it still looks brand-new. I bought a Tikka stainless synthetic stock 5 years ago. One sweet rifle and she cleans up great. Tack driver and have shot many a deer and hog with it. When I am spot and stalk in thick cover I love my old Marlin 30AS lever action. Sometimes I will even break out my Mossberg shotgun with a rifled barrel- open sights and sabot slugs. Each has its purpose and feel fortunate to carry any of them in the field.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I've got a Marlin 336 with a beat up wood stock and several spots where it needs to be reblued. She has dropped every deer that she has fired at though. I think she's beautiful.

Wood stock only. Everything else is for the LGBT community.

I'm partial to wood stocked guns myself.

My first rifle was a Rem 700 Sendero with the standard black synthetic stock with white webbing. It looks good, I like it a lot and it shoots better than any gun I have ever owned. Its the gun I lay on the bench and know before I pull the trigger I'm going to be happy with the target.

After hunting with it a few years I got the itch to buy another gun and I can tell you none of the others I have bought shoot as good, but they are a far cry prettier! My next two additions were a wby delux and a savage American stainless classic. I don't care what people say about savages if you buy a nice wood stocked one they look pretty good!

I think the G community likes wood.

I like my tactical weapons but I hunt with a classic rifle. I have both composite and wood stocks. My favorite rifle is my .264 win mag from about 1964. I will never let it go.

I like the balance of a remington 700, savage 110, and pre-64 winchester 70. If it's not a comfortable fit I don't chance it because I know how it will turn out.

More so than the rest

TBH what am I even saying. My primary hunting gun up until last year wears a turreted Zeiss scope and is synthetic stocked.

The most common deer rifle, seems to be, your $450-1000 out-of-the-box synthetic or plastic stock 270-30.06-308-243 with a $300-1000 scope on top of it. From what I gather, see at the range, and see new hunters buy, at least. Heck if a brand new person asks, that's what our club people tell em.

I think the most common are synthetic stocks because they are generally cheaper.

I have a safe full of classic, wood-stocked, blued rifles. I use a different one, each time that I hunt because I can!.
My 7mm mag is overkill on whitetails, but I have it in case I ever get the opportunity to hunt Elk. Same for 45-70, bought to use on black bear hunt
I grew up learning to make the FIRST shot count, so I have no problem with my Ruger #1's.
I have no problem with people who hunt with black rifle's, AR's and the like but they are not my cup of tea.
When I hear some far off shooter cut loose with a barrage of shots, I know that at least one deer gets to live another day.

Now that might be me letting loose on a sounder of hogs with my AR in 6.8SPC.
I hunted 10 years using a Swedish Mauser in its sporterized military stock. Not pretty, but the gun was accurate.
Wanted to try a 6.8 so I built an AR and hunted with it exclusively for two seasons. Its compact and light and a great gun for out to 250 yards for deer and hog.
Joined a lease this year so I restocked the Swede with a Boyd's laminate stock so the shiny Walnut guys wouldn't laugh at me.
I bring both to camp and use the one that best fits where and what I'm hunting.

My wood stocked Sako av and my custom 03 Sporter are my babies.

TX, There are NO hogs within 20 miles of my ranch, just sayin