I recently read a post on a page I am a member of and it prompted me to have a bit of a think about a few things. A young man was asking a question as to what caliber of rifle he should purchase to hunt Deer with. A reasonable and responsible question to ask I thought as there are some States that have minimum caliber requirements.
However rather than sage advice and constructive comments the young man received a steady stream of useless comments and jibes, so much so that he deleted the post. My advice to anyone in the young mans situation would be.
If you are planning on seriously hunting Deer ask yourself a few questions first.
How often will I hunt deer and what other species do I plan on hunting.
How recoil sensitive are you, yes I know we like to think we are tough enough to handle anything, but if it hurts you you wont shoot well with it. As responsible hunters we all owe it to whatever animal we hunt to shoot well. Go to a range with someone that owns the caliber you are thinking of purchasing and fire it in a variety of positions. Do you ever plan on hunting different species overseas like Tahr in NZ or African game.
How many different calibers do you really want or need to own.
Having hunted a variety of species in Australia, NZ and Africa over the past 30 years if I had to choose 2 center fire calibers to cover all my hunting needs i would choose a .30-06 and a .375H&H. My reasoning being those two calibers cover every single species of game on the planet in every environment.They may not appear to be the right choice for you but just think about what you want to hunt in future.
I only wish someone had given me that advice 30 years ago
However rather than sage advice and constructive comments the young man received a steady stream of useless comments and jibes, so much so that he deleted the post. My advice to anyone in the young mans situation would be.
If you are planning on seriously hunting Deer ask yourself a few questions first.
How often will I hunt deer and what other species do I plan on hunting.
How recoil sensitive are you, yes I know we like to think we are tough enough to handle anything, but if it hurts you you wont shoot well with it. As responsible hunters we all owe it to whatever animal we hunt to shoot well. Go to a range with someone that owns the caliber you are thinking of purchasing and fire it in a variety of positions. Do you ever plan on hunting different species overseas like Tahr in NZ or African game.
How many different calibers do you really want or need to own.
Having hunted a variety of species in Australia, NZ and Africa over the past 30 years if I had to choose 2 center fire calibers to cover all my hunting needs i would choose a .30-06 and a .375H&H. My reasoning being those two calibers cover every single species of game on the planet in every environment.They may not appear to be the right choice for you but just think about what you want to hunt in future.
I only wish someone had given me that advice 30 years ago
You got it right on the nail. I grew up in Africa where we hunted to put meat on the table for ourselves and for the village. We didn't eat the elephant meat but not a bit of it was wasted, as the villagers did. My dad had .375 H&H for elephant and buffalo and a .30-06 which also took down several buffalo and everything else.
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