Question:
After many years of work, I am going toi retire and move back to
Alabama where I plan on enjoying life and doing some deer hunting, next
season, I will be hunting onsome of the prettiest oak ridges in the
world, IF I remember right, you can see 100-200 hundreds, down he
hollows, I used a 30-30 as a young man to hunt, but now I am
wanting to buy a 270 or a 30-06, what do you guys think I
should buy?
Answer:
Yes. Since I retired, I do much more hunting and have even lined up
invitations from friends to hunt in additional states should I be fortunate
enough to fill my tags early in the states I plan to hunt each year.
The choice of cartridges for deer hunting is an often discussed topic on
his forum. The choice of a rifle seems, however, to be somewhat
neglected.
I was again reminded of the advantages/disadvantages of different rifle
types for hunting differing terrain this past season. My usual rifle for
Pennsylvania deer hunting for the past 30 years has been a Remington
model 760 carbine (18 1/2 inch barrel) pump action 30-06. Two years
ago I added an ultra-light (5 3/4 pound) bolt action .270 with a 24 inch
barel to my collection of hunting tools in the hopes of someday again
drawing another bighorn sheep and/or a mountain goat license in my
home state of Colorado. That year I harvested a nice buck with the .270
while stand hunting early on opening morning in Pennsylvania (from the
ground - I don't allow tree standson my property and abide by the
same restrictions I impose on my guests). I again took the .270 this year,
but the deer were less cooperative and I had to do more still hunting
and tracking to find them. By the 3rd day of the season, it finally became
obvious that the thick vegetation in some parts of the forest on my farm
required a shorter, faster handling rifle. I reverted to my 30-06 carbine
and shortly thereafter harvested 2 deer (1 shot each) in the thick
vegetation.
Although either is adequate for most deer hunting the shorter faster 18 1/2
inch barreled carbine is superior to thick woods hunting while the longer
barreled, flatter shooting .270 with the 24 inch barrel is superior for
hunting where longer ranges are the norm, such as in Colorado. Standard
weight 20 to 22 inch barreled, bolt action rifles (as manufactured by the
various companies for many suitable cartridges are of course useable in
most situations, but specialized rifles may add a VERY SLIGHT edge in
some situations. Most of the hunters (I'd guess 85 %), in the area of
Pennsylvania I hunt, use Remington Model 760 or 7600 pumps with the
standard 22 inch barrel lengths (autoloaders not legal for hunting there).
Most are chambered in 30-06 or .270. Either would be an advantage
over a lever action 30-30 for the longer shots and just as fast handling
fo quick shots in thick vegetation.
