Sep 14, 2019 4 min read

I was thinking about the late November deer season when it occurred to me that I probably will be hunting deer sooner than that.

There is an antlerless season for youth license holders and we who carry a senior license in mid-October. Of course, the hunter in either category must have an antlerless license for the management unit where he or she is hunting.

There are hunts such as an early bear season for muzzle loader hunters and of course the upcoming archery season. When you consider them, they are not really that far away.

Since I consider myself a rifleman, most evenings will find me at the club shooting a big game rifle and trying to develop a reload that puts all 5 bullets in one small hole. That’s my thing and the early season is just one more chance to shoot and assess how various powder bullet combinations perform. As most readers know by now, my favorite cartridge is the .270 Winchester. I have looked at many chambering from the 6mms to the mighty magnums and still come back to the .270 as the round that offers the most without the handicap of a heavy recoil and a sore shoulder. Hunting wild animals is no place to prove ones manhood, though it is a place to prove ones marksmanship.

Sitting at a bench rest at the Dormont Mt. Lebanon Sportsman’s Club, I might be found shooting a .243 or a .264 magnum. The large powder burning magnum will outperform the .270 by a tiny amount but it is many times harder on the barrel of the rifle. As a local old-timer once told me, the magnum is hard on the shoulder, hard on the barrel and hard on everything else. I have finally come to the point where I agree. Long ago and many deer later, I have come to the conclusion that a .243 through the chest will take down a deer much quicker and more humanely than a magnum striking too far back.

To tell the truth, I have seen more one-shot kills done with a .243 than any other round. When I say that, I am only looking at shots I made or when I was standing beside the shooter. I never take into consideration gossip. Too many shots grow from 200 yards to more than 500 yards as time passes. Perhaps this is because the smaller cartridge is easier to shoot accurately and for me shot placement is everything.

There was a time when the 30-30 was the king of the woods but as hunters started to hunt cornfields and soybean plantings, the distance of the shot grew and more rifle was needed. The magnum grew in popularity whether the shooter could shoot the darned thing accurately or not. Over the years of shooting reloads and testing them, I find more shooters that are over-gunned than those that are under-gunned.

When the anatomy of a whitetail deer is looked at carefully, we realize it is not a very large animal and the broadside shot requires little penetration. Much the same could be said about the reloader seeking one-hole groups out of his trusty 30-06 pump. Accuracy doesn’t have to be all that great when shooting at deer within a reasonable distance. It is not a very large animal and the broadside shot requires little penetration. Still we sit at the range shooting a new reload in our pet deer rifle.

Why?

Because the preparation is half the fun and half the frustration.

For the most important quality of any deer rifle lies in the confidence of the shooter squeezing the trigger. If I have confidence in a firearm and load I will shoot it well. That is why when the chips are down, it is do it or shut up time and I have my pet rifle. Most of us own multiple deer rifles but still have that pet rifle somewhere in the house. When push comes to shove, we reach for it when the hunting gets serious.

Everybody knows my pet rifle so no further explaining here. Just keep tucked away somewhere in your mind that it’s not far away, clubs get crowded and weather can get bad. It’s not too early to find the pet rifle and take it for a walk.

George Block writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.