Do You Hunt with one caliber, two, three or More during Whitetail Season

I have a .30-.06 that I used to use in South Texas, .308, .25-.06 and 7MM-08 but seem to go exclusively with the 7MM-08, like its compact size for tripod hunting and Bergara heavy barrel. Sometimes wonder why I have 3 other calibers I rarely shoot. Do any of you all regularly rotate deer shooting rifles??

I'll use what makes the most sense.

When hunting Coues whitetail in their traditional habitat, I use my 6.5 PRC due to the extended distances typically encountered. If I am hunting Coues it thicker country that still has opportunities to shoot out a good ways (ex: out to 700 yards), I grab my 6.5 Creedmoor. If I am traveling for deer and the anticipated distances are under 500, then I grab my 308 Win. If I am hunting deer where there are grizzly or brown bear, I then grab my 300 WM.

Just one.

I use my .270 until I get a nice buck or I decide that I`m probably not going to get a mature deer this year. Then all gloves are off and I`m may take my 308, 300-win mag or AR-15/223. Might even revert back to my cross bow. Hogs and turkeys are plentiful even when mature bucks aren`t.

Free, that Win. Model 70 Featherweight, .30-.06, that's what mine is...

Pretty much always the 260 Tikka. Maybe this next season I might try the 6.5 Grendel.

I have about 40 different caliber deer / hog rifles . About 20 are wildcats I developed . It takes years but I do rotate . On a hog hunt I will bring 5-8 different ones , and swap off .

308 Win or 20ga slug on the ACOE land where permitted

Either the 243 with 100 grn. orgen. With 150 grn.
Depending on the distance of the shot

Marlin 30-30 for me and Savage 7mm-08 for the wife. I will occasionally take hers out myself.

many calibers to choose from but this year 7x64 Brenneke only

If close, either open sights 30/30 or an old non scoped Jap 7.7.

100 yard or so, 30-06

From pronghorn to moose, it's a .325 WSM.

I have taken deer with everything from .223 to 12 Gauge Slugs.

As mentioned the terrain does factor in, heavy cover vs. open range, etc., sometimes it is just what rifle/shotgun jumps out of the safe at me lol. If I can't make up my mind it is a .308.

How does that 7.7 shoot? Factory ammo or do you handload for it?

I have killed with an assortment of 30-06 rifles over the years, a .270, and a shotgun or two.
The wife has killed everything with her .270

My list this deer season was:

.243 Win
.270 Win
.270 Wby Mag
.308 Win
.300 Wby Mag
.338 Win Mag
.44 Rem Mag

If you throw in last year you could add a .45-70 Govt to that list.

Since deer season ended in Feb I’ve spent a lot of time behind the thermal on the .223 and I shot 12s and 20s hunting ducks this year.

I hunt for what the cameras tell me is showing up. That could be a 80lb doe or a 500lb Stag and any number of pigs in between. I also don’t like guns that collect dust so I try to shoot as many as possible each year.

I’ll swap out my recurve bows during season.

I rarely rifle hunt for whitetails anymore. If I do it’s normally down south and I’ll take my .257 wby.

Everything we hunt up here I use my 300wsm usually.
Have broken out the 270wsm for a moose hunt though.
Pronghorn to cow bison for me on the 300wsm.

This past year, I've hunted with the following:
.270
.308
6.5 creedmoor
300blk
.357 mag
.50 cal muzzleloader

Last year I also hunted with a 45/70.

In the past, I've killed deer or pigs with all of the above in addition to .243, 30-30, 45 cal muzzleloader, .223, .45acp, and 12 guage buckshot.

I have multiple rifles that I enjoy hunting with. I tend to hunt with the .270 or .308 most often, but will mix in other rifles when the situation makes sense...or, when I just feel like something different.

In the Hill Country, I hunt with a 6.8mm SPC.
In So. Tx, I hunt with a .270 Win.

although I have many different calibers, my go-to most of the time for deer and larger animals is 7mm Rem Mag as I am comfortable with knowing it very well and where it hits out to longer distances (500+ yards) that my eyes no longer like taking a shot that far. My go-to truck gun is a 22.250 for trips to various ranches in case a pig, coyote, bobcat, etc. might step out.

One caliber, one set up, one load. .308, Tikka CTR, 20", Leupold VX5-HD 3-15, Hornady Superfrormance 165 gr. SST. I have a pile of rifles but until my buck is on the ground I want to go with what I know is best for me.

For a one gun affair it’s really hard to beat a .300 mag in any flavor.


Mine is probably also my favorite, not only do I love the round it’s also my favorite rifle, and scope. Hard to pick up anything other than that rig when hunting anything other than a whitetail

I use a 270 and wife hunts everything with a 30/06. Sometimes I use her rifle.

I have several to choose from, but most of the deer I have taken have been with my trusty 30-30. I got it for Christmas in 1980 and it remains my go to for hunts where shots are likely to be within 150 yards. When longer shots are anticipated, 308, but recently purchased a 25-06 and have a feeling it will become my preference. When more likely to see hogs, .223.

I rotate between 5 or 6 rifles. Kinda depends on my mood.

I have cut way back on the number of guns I hunt with, this year just the 357 Mag, 44 Mag, 38-55, 6.5 Grendel and 7-30 Waters. I do not hunt much where shots over 125 yards are possible these days. IIRC over the years I have harvested deer with 33 different rifle or handgun chamberings.

DQ, its not a Featherweight, but the rest is correct.

I switch off during the season.

I have shot a 30.06 since I got one for christmas when I was 15.

I just bought a 300 Win Mag, i am excited to have the flexibility with range and loads that it provides.

I learned to shoot on a 22LR rifle with iron sights in the late '50's & early '60's , and chased mostly vermin with my crippled up Grandfather, who had had a Dallas Fire Engine loose it's brakes and pin him to the back wall of his Fire Station, crushing one of his legs. After that I started to go with him to drive for him, when he started buying and selling land out around Weatherford & some of the surrounding County's, and it became "my job" to put meat in the pot for dinner.

After I announced my wedding plans he "gave" me a half of a SAKO 243, that I had to pay the 2nd half on when his Payee could not keep up the Payments on his Loan from Grand Pop....and Pop was too bad out of condition any more to go back to Alaska to Hunt Caribou every year, hunting out of a eskimo dog sled but with the old '03 A3 30'06 I'd picked up lack of dependable accuracy I was not invited as I was still making payments on it to a Pawn Shop on Harry HInes in Dallas and it would not reliably hit the "broad side of the barn at 50 feet", and sold it to finish the payments on the SAKO so I was without a big enough caliber rifle for Caribou ....little did I know much of anything about guns in general at 21 years old. Long Story Short ... the 243 SAKO also taught me how to reload using a $10 Lee Loader Kit on the dining room table of that 1st Apartment, across the street from the 1st Dallas Police Range.

Since then I have repped both a large Wholesale House in too many shooting items to tell ya'll about & repped SAKO in 5 states. Was offered Gloch for a line in 5 Old South states about 10+ years ago, and passed when the President of the Line could not guarantee my orders would be fulfilled more than 25-30% for the coming couple years until they could get the new plant in Atlanta off the ground....'cause I was making good $'s selling "fancy bath towels" and in every Dillards in the US every 90 days & same gig in Foley's, and all the chains in Ohio and Midwest, Old South & Mtn West yadda yadda

Sure looks like I made a bad mistake there but I had 2 son's in College that came 1st. Been having Daydreams of getting back in the Bidnizz in my old age...gonna turn 90 in a couple years and except for fighting the Shingles these last 2 years my overall health is capable of running around 4-5 states again ...but all my old Big Chain contacts are no longer there....ETC, and worked Shows in the other 2 Wholesale locations in Denver & Ellett Bro's in Chapin, SC with their 125 Phone Sales Reps. I sold Walmart more stuff that I made decent $'s off of and several other mega hitter's that used to pay my Overhead Bill's, ....But ....Now that both Son's are On Their Own and Daddy's checkbook is ALL Mine Again....hmmmm mebbe I can find something again and keep the Better Half from handing me a Honey Do this and Do that sheet.

Best "trip" I ever made was when I won a Holiday Inn trip good for any where in the world, with 10 days Free Lodging & Round Trip Air Fare Booked it and and started seeing the sights in England ...and SAKO paid for rest the trip to Finland & a Moose Hunt...and I got to shoot Proof Rifle's for an hour+ in the 100 meter underground range. Oh to be under 50 years old again ...

In answer to the title of this thread...I hunt with what ever rifle I have ready to go that shoots the most accurately, and uses ammo big enough to reliably anchor the chosen game critter.
Ron

I carry the same #1 rifle almost every day.

A few days a year I use #2 for a special purpose and #3 for a different special purpose.

I rotate a bit between 270, 308 and 6.5 PRC. They're all different in their own ways, some have better scopes, the 308 can support a suppressor. Just sort of whatever mood I'm in or hunt situation. The 6.5 PRC can poke at a pretty solid range so if I'm in a stand with a lot of open country views it'd be the choice.

I'll admit I'm a gear guy so I think it's fun to mix it up -- also nice in that I can get different rounds and inevitably ALWAYS have some for one of them.

I have multiple guns I’ll hunt with during a single season. They all do the job as long as I do my part.

I'd like to switch it up, but every time I go to the safe that dang .308 Tikka jumps into my hands. I bought it off a forum member on here in 2010 or so.

I carry my 16" suppressed 308 Win as my primary rifle for basic hunting. When we switch to thermal night hunting, I'll run either my 224 Valkrie or currently, my 300 Blk Out. I'll use a 300 Win Mag or for ELR, my 7mm-300 WM for out to 1 mile.

I started hunting with a .280 and got a 7mm-08 for my kids to learn on when they were large enough..... and it became my go to rifle. The .280 hasn't been out in a long time.

7mm Rem Mag - Drops 'em

This year hunter with 30-06, 270, 7mm08, 300 wby and 300 BO

Normally I take my Winchester featherweight 270. When I'm going specifically looking for a doe, I'll carry the 243 featherweight. There are others, but these two are my go-to deer rifles.

I killed three deer this year, all with a 6.5 CM. Last year I killed 8 deer, 4 each with a 6.5 CM and a 6.8 SPC. I have three other deer calibers in the safe.

I sometimes use 4 different rifles in one weekend. The gun is a big part of the experience for me. I have a good number of them and enjoy using them, even if "using" is just toting it to the blind and back.

.223 Wylde serves me well for these "monster" white tails we have around CenTex.
Everybody and their cousin is moving to the country and feeding them in the front yard so it takes about as much skill as hunting cows.
Don't even need optics to shoot them in the yard.
Surely don't need a magnum anything since they generally just stand there and look at you.
Don't need a call, just a coffee can with some corn in it to shake and they will come running, looking for the corn - take your pick.

That's how it is here, it's just too easy.....YMMV.

Mostly 30-06 but on occasion 22-250 and 243

Whitetail is 308 Win... in Texas. This may become something less.
Whitetail is 45-70 Gov... in other states where bottleneck cartridges are not legal. This may become a 350 Legend.

Last year deer hunted with three.....7mm-08, 6.5 CM, and .308. Typically only kill one deer per year.

For decades I used my faithful 30-06 but a few years ago I bought a Savage Axis 25-06 on sale and it is a tack driver right out of the box. I have been using it for several years until I fill my big buck tag, then I switch to my 7.62x39 AR for pigs and/or spike and doe....

I ended up carrying 5 different rifles throughout the season.

Tikka CTR 260
Tikka CTR 308
Custom on Rem 700 action 25-06
Custom on Sav 116 action 7 Rem Mag (killed a deer with it)
Rock River AR 5.56

I've used 3 in the last year...300wsm, 6 Gaymoor and 6.5 saum...currently working on 2 additional with a couple more still gathering parts for.

I hunt almost exclusively with virtually the same setup....except my rifle is a Savage with a heavy barrel and my scope is a Zeiss. It drops everything in their tracks, so why switch? (Of course, sometimes I'll shoot its twin rifle in .223 just for fun.)

Last year only 2.
Ruger M77 tang safety .338 Win Mag, topped with a Leupold 4.5x14 (Elk gun).
Weatherby Mark V .240 Wby, topped with a Leupold 3.5x10 (Deer gun).

For most of my adult life, I hunted with a .270. Then I started hunting hogs from horseback, so I got a .30/.30 and would occasionally carry it to the blind for a change. Then my Uncle Bill passed away and I inherited his Weatherby .223, and that became my go to rifle, light and easy to carry, accurate, with Zeiss Conquest glass. So for about 5 years it was the only rifle I hunted with.
Then for no discernable reason I started hunting with my .270 again.
As most of you know my Dad passed in Feb of 22, so this last year every time I went to the woods I took a different one his rifles, from the coolest to the ridiculous (for Southeast Texas whitetails). So last year I hunted with:
Sako .308
Marlin 336 in .35 Remington
Remington 600 in .222
Tikka T3 in 30-06
Ruger 77 in 7mm Mag
Winchester 70 in .243 (that I killed my first deer with as an 11 year old punkass kid)
And now for the ridiculous (just wanted to carry it ) a pre-64 model 70 in .338 win mag.
ATE the only deer I shot last year was a cull buck that I shot with the .35 Rem

I hunt with several rifles, ones I bought and ones I inherited. Sometimes I will use five different rifles in one weekend lol. Some of the guys on the lease laugh at me but I just tell them rifles are like golf clubs, sure you can play a 18 holes with one club, but who the hell wants to do that!

Several. I hunt with scoped bolt guns and open sight lever guns and occasionally a single action Ruger. I will have a bolt gun and levergun in the blind.

I have killed about 8 deer a year with my 308 for about 20 years now. My wife uses a 243, both are proven killers.
I was given a 6.5cm for Christmas and it shoots great. I shot 5 deer already without any issues. I like it with a suppressor
I think my 308 will still be my go-to gun.

Remington 600 in .222........very nice.

3
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8




OK, and a 12 gauge

Could be any combination of:

Rifle
6.5 CM
.300 Ham’r
.30-30 Win
.50 cal muzzleloader

Pistol
.44 Mag
.50 cal muzzleloader
10mm

If I’m serious, I’ll hunt with a single rifle. For does, I tend to take something different each trip to the lease.

270
25-06
257 Bob
AR for pigs and yotes

This past season I used my Sako 243, Weatherby Vanguard 25-06, and a new Bergara B14 Ridge in 7mm-08. I didn't kill a deer with any, but killed a pig with the 243 and 7mm-08 and 4 pigs with the 25-06.

Five if I decide to take one of the .270's.

I own quite a few calibers and even multiple flavors in several calibers but my go to is almost always one of my 308s.
Once in a while I'll take a 243 or even a 270WSM or even a 300WM but 99% of my trips to the stand I have a trusty 308 in tow.

I few, but my trusty 270 has always been dead on. Never missed in about 20 years with that rifle. And it’s the only rifle I own with the 100 dollar scope it came with.

The gun doesn't know or care what scope is riding on top, lol...If it shoots good, why change a thing, why they make good, expensive binocular glass, lol....

Truth! Proof is in the pudding!

I mix it up. I have a .270, 25.06, 6.5CM, 30-06, .243 so I like to show them all some love. Then the caliber will depend on exotics that I am hunting as well.

It's the expected weather and shot range that often dictates which rifle I intend to hunt with that day. If rain is expected, I'll usually take my Savage 6.5 CM with a synthetic stock. If the shots might be 200 yards or more then I'll take the Winchester Model 70 chambered in 25-06. If I'm hunting the thick woods where expected shots are much closer, I'll grab one of the 30-30's. Otherwise, it's just a matter of which one seems to carry the most luck, since after all, it's pure luck that usually matters most.

i mainly use my .308, but I take a doe and some pigs with my .30-06.

Just one of my four favorites.

Last 3 seasons it’s been my Sako 308 Finnlight II

308 Winchester
300 WSM
280 AI
7 Weatherby

...What Erny said ...I have used lots of calibers & brands of bullets ...I do have a pair of 270's, a SS Marlin & and a WW that are the base choices these days, but I'm working on getting into another 7Rmg or a 300 Wmg just for Old Times sake...prolly not gonna get back into a 9.3x62, or my first Deer caliber of a 243, only 'cause I am running out of time to go back and recreate ALL of the calibers that have harvested meat for me.

It is time I made meat with my M70 FWT 7x57 though, as it shoots SST's really accurately when I do my part.
Ron

The wife and I killed over 40 white tails this past season, She took about half with my AR-15 in 300 Ham'r and her Wilson Combat/Ruger American in 300 Ham"r. I took my mine with 300 Ham'r early in the season then switched to my 7-08 for about 5-6 kills.

Martin Cougar Magnum. My wife bought it for me back around 2002 or so.
CVA Accura 50 cal
Ruger American Ranch in 300BO
Ruger American Predator in 223
Ruger American Predator in 243
Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Grendel
Encore Prohunter in 7 mag
AR15 in 223
AR15 in 300BO
AR15 in 6.5 Grendel
AR10 in 308
Winchester model 92 in 44-40 Made in 1904, my dad's before he passed
Winchester model 94 in 30-30 My Grand dad's.
These last two mean more to me than all the others i own.

I usually use either my .308 PA-10 or my Mossberg 4x4 in 30-06.

I may pull out my 30-30 and 270 next season.

Depending on my mood, situation, etc., I'll use either my bolt .243, .308, or suppressed SBR in 6.8 SPC-II.

There's an old saying among the old timers; "Fear the man with one rifle"...Chances are he knows how to use it.
Adios,
Gary

The 6.8spc pretty much lives in my truck in the off-season, got a 3 pigs last weekend, and a 2'fer on coons yesterday evening. It gets switched out for a 708 during deer season and I'll hunt with the .280ai now and then too.

I have gone by the one gun theory for 50 years. No plans to change.

My deer caibers - the 22-250. All handloads.


l

I'll have a temporary crush on one of my rifles and decide that's what I'm going to hunt with. Usually it's going to be a controlled round feed Mauser variant or a rem 700. Have been smitten by the Howa 1500s lately.

I do carry two rifles in my work truck that are not intended for hunting. Springfield M1A and an M40 copy in 308.. The mags for the M1A are loaded with ammo that the bolt gun likes and I can grab the mag carrier and go if I have to.

Two - 6.8mm SPC in the Hill Country & .270 Win in South TX. 130 gr bullet in both.

Always one , 6.5 cm

Variety is the spice of life… 270 is probably my favorite. Also really like 7-08 and 7RM. Recently have been buck hunting mostly with 7RM. I like 30-06 and 300WM too. I shoot several does each year with .223. I also hunt some with assorted .357 magnums.

One gun for deer. .270 Rem 700 BDL, 150 grain.

Seems to work just fine

I have had the same gun for 31 years. Weatherby Vanguard in a 7MM Rem. Mag. It has done an outstanding job on everything from coyotes to moose!

As always, I'll answer St Peters trumpet call carrying a 270 of some sort. Right now I only have a pair, a SS Marlin that has had extractor problems that have now been resolved, and a 270 M70 that was suposedly built in Portugal that was produced by Winchester for a USA government contract, and came with a black uncheckered composite stock with a 22" barrel . I was fortunate enough to find a cherry of a takeoff stock from a kind THF'er from Midland Tx and it was a perfect drop in assembly. I also have a cherry 7x57 M70 Fwt that I am toying with the idea of using the black composite stock with to preserve the FWT stock, like my TC 6.5 CM is

Would really like to find another 7Rmg too, now that the bone spurs in my shooting shoulder are all gone thanks to a traveling VA medic who was preaching about this new treatment drug he was injectied into my right shoulder socket in several places... that WORKED !!!! ON ME ...after not being able to lift my right arm over my head or extend my right arm completely for over 5 years , when one
VA Doc in Bonham told me I was gonna be a cripple the rest of my life after an hour + of probing the shoulder with a electric jolting wand.

Could also like another well fitting 300Wmg too but could probably make do with a hopped up '06. My days of ever shooting a 9.3 x62 or getting prepped to hunt dangerous african game are over though.
Ron

My daughter takes the 7mm08 and my son takes my 6.5 CM.

When I do go sit in a deer blind, I'm usually unarmed, or take my .204 in case a coyote steps out.