Thinking of going back to simplicity for hunting...

[BumbleBug]

I'm old guy that loves to deer hunt & I've been lucky enough to do it my whole life. I have many deer rifles & I've tuned them, loaded for them, scoped them, & for the most part they all shoot like lasers. But for some reason I've been mulling over the idea of taking the old Win 94 .30-30 with a peep sight out this season. Is it just me or do other hunters go simple some times?

TIA...

[Wyosmith]

How funny
I was thinking about using my Marlin 336 rifle this year too. It's got a Layman peep and a 24" barrel. Shoots very well with 170 grain Speer bullets and AC2230 powder.
I think it will be fun to kill my deer and antelope with it this coming season.

[shootniron]

I have made that decision, also. Just bought 2 more 94's in the last week and I will be giving them a try, along with the others. I have never had a Trapper, but I got one in this last group and I will probably make it a regular. The places that I hunt are really kind of made to order for these slick little guns.

[johnwilliamson062]

Single shots with peep sights is what I've gone to hunting with.

[Mobuck]

Hey, I have a 94 Trapper (44 mag) that I took hunting once. Fired one shot and filled my doe tag. Cleaned the Trapper and put it away in the case with it's little brother (357 mag Trapper). Maybe I should get them out some day and rip off a few rounds.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

When it gets too easy to take em. Many fellers look else where's for a challenge. Only else where's I know of is the starting point of one's hunting career along with something quite different than your usual rifle.. Open barrel sights or a peep on a lever rifle.. Oh yes!! Which know doubt separates those hunting men from them boys with there cheater glass and slick sliding bolt guns.
I've done similar and regressed further. Traditional Black powder rifles.
Typically my 270 will hammer game to there belly out to 250 without any wondering what-so-ever. These days with traditional black powder weaponry in my hands. My shooting limit is set somewhat near 100 yards distance. If wanting your wing nut cranked. Nothing better does it than watching a nice buck walk across your field of shooting at 150 and you give-it-a-go-free-pass. As its been said: Sometimes you have let one or two go for seed animals.
The trick in being successful with a 30-30. "You have to know your limitations" _ and use those skills you learned years ago when you had color in your head of hair or hair period.

I complement you on your new big game hunting ambition BumbleBug.

[deerslayer303]

Sounds like an awesome Idea Bumblebug. I've been hunting with my Glassed 336 for a long time. I'm thinking of taking the glass off of it and going back to some sort of iron sight or peep. This season the TC Hawken will be with me most of the time with a patched round ball.

[Rembrandt]

After years of hunting with pinpoint precision using rifles, I found it became a bit boring. Switched to handgun and bow hunting for more of a challenge and the variety. Glad I did.

[Gunplummer]

I really don't in my home state (PA) anymore. A few years ago I grabbed the old .303 Savage lever gun and headed out for doe. It was snowing pretty good and I caught a small group of doe up in the grapevines. One was limping pretty bad so I shot that one. It was a nice sized spike, somewhat illegal in Pa. I never saw the horns(About 8"). It had one of it's back legs shot off, so I did not feel too bad about it. I drug it out. I don't know what the laws are in your state, but ours are really not open sight friendly. You have to count points and some have to be a certain length. Something to think about with open sights.

[FrankenMauser]

Though I don't think I should be considered a 'successful' hunter, due to my laziness and track record (40-50% tag fill rate, maybe), I have been edging toward the 'simple' lately.

I recently 'finished' a Marlin 444 build intended primarily for elk. I skipped the scope and went for good iron sights.

Some other upcoming projects, with one exception (another .270), are also all currently slated to be iron-sighted. And most are either "ancient" technology like lever guns, or are actually black powder arms.

There are times, I'm sure, when I'll find myself looking at an elk at 400 yards, wishing I had a scoped 'long range' rifle in my hands, instead of the 444 or a black powder rifle only good for 100 yards. But I've passed on dozens of shots in the past. "Losing" a few more won't be the end of the world.


I've also been veering from mainstream in another way, the last few years: Big, heavy, and slow.
Rather than buying into the continuing magnum craze, or even just keeping up with current developments for 'standard' offerings like .30-06 and .270 Win, most of my attention in the last few years has been put toward big bullets at low velocity. Nearly everything has been .44 caliber, or larger, except for the .35 Whelen - though it's still above the typical threshold for the average shooter. And nearly everything is launching 275-400 gr bullets at velocities of just 1,500-2,300 fps (again, the .35 Whelen is an exception).

[Boogershooter]

Boy didnt yall miss the boat? Hunting isn't about the things we did as kids anymore. It's about having the latest and greatest of everything. Got to have the newest camouflage, cover scent, ozone killing apparatus, most accurate gun and ammo, best scope money can buy, lightest most engineered deer stand, best range finder, best looking 4x4 truck to get you there, and of course you've got to pay more for your land than the neighbors did. I thought the never ending pursuit to have the best most expensive gear was the challenge of hunting? Lol I'm just picking please calm down. There's nothing like killing a desired game animal of any kind up close and personal. I hunt with many different guns every year but the best ones are always the closest and most primitive. It's not nearly as popular on the internet to shoot a deer at 30 yards with a open sighted 94 or 336 as it is killing one at 250 with anything else. Especially if your wearing a cheap red and black plaid shirt and not $500 worth of camouflage.

[HiBC]

There are things I can't do so well anymore.Like elk hunt.
If I do go,its less about the "getting" and more about the "getting out"

But yeah,I scrounged up a cut down Krag fake carbine.Fitted a period bent metal bolt sleeve peep that attached to the extractor rivet.Its got a little windage and elevation.

And,somebody gave me a beat up Rem 81 that I have rubbed a little love on.300 Savage.
If I want to get deadly,the 1903A4 clone I built has already brought home meat.

Then there are some Rolling Block projects to finish...

Still have the .Hawken I built.Yeah,retro!.What rifle would be more fun to have in the pic?What makes a better tale?

[FrankenMauser]

Still have the .Hawken I built.Yeah,retro!.What rifle would be more fun to have in the pic?What makes a better tale?

I just got mine back from my father in a 'bundle' deal, a few weeks ago.
I'm hoping I don't have a chance to use it this year, since that would mean not filling my tag(s) with the newly-'finished' .444 Marlin. But if I end up trudging through the snow with the Hawken (.54 cal) during the late season, I won't feel "under-gunned".

[mete]

I learned with single shot rifles with iron sights .An excellent concept ,trains you to be able to get - one shot, one deer !

[Rembrandt]

I did go back in time when as a youngster hunting squirrels with a .22....it seemed more appropriate to try it with an open sighted bolt action.

[Hawg]

I used my Hawken a lot during regular gun season, not that MS has a primitive weapons season anymore. My unscoped 30-30 gets a lot of use or did before I had to quit hunting. I think I have taken a scoped bolt action hunting twice in the last 10 years or so.

[Hunter Customs]

I know where you are coming from BumbleBug, I've killed a lot of Deer, started getting bored with it decided I needed more of a challenge.
So I switch over to using a handgun with iron sights, no more longer range shots they now have to be 50 yards or less for me.
If I get a Deer fine if not that's fine too, I just enjoy being in the woods.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

[kraigwy]

I'm trying to decide between my 1869 Springfield Trapdoor 50-70 or my '73 Springfield Trapdoor 45-70 for antelope next fall. Maybe one for antelope and the other for deer.

[buck460XVR]

Originally posted by Hunter Customs:

I know where you are coming from BumbleBug, I've killed a lot of Deer, started getting bored with it decided I needed more of a challenge.
So I switch over to using a handgun with iron sights, no more longer range shots they now have to be 50 yards or less for me.
If I get a Deer fine if not that's fine too, I just enjoy being in the woods.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

Kinda the point where I'm at. Went to huntin' with handgun exclusively for deer about a dozen year ago. If I do use a long-gun, it's a handgun caliber carbine in either .357 or .44. Went back to my recurve bow for deer also. Took the crossbow for turkey for the first time this year and still came home with a Tom. I think I've gotten stuck between stage 4 and stage 5. Probably where I'll stay.

[shortround60]

Bumble, that is a great idea. Growing up and hunting mostly in my home state of SC; I always felt that using glass, unless you're in one of the wide open states was kind of "overkill". I've hunted with glass using my old 30-06 (Savage 110) and a couple of 22's on squirrels, but my most fun times were with an old M1 Garand and my M1 Carbine. I guess it is kind of weird like that because of the known challenge. I am thinking of taking a buddy of mine's offer to join him in the lower half of the state on a hunt or two this year. I may have to go to my house in SC and retrieve the Savage.

[FrankenMauser]

Growing up and hunting mostly in my home state of SC; I always felt that using glass, unless you're in one of the wide open states was kind of "overkill". (...)

(Quoting this as a reference to what stirred my thoughts, more than as a direct reply, FYI.)

Even out here where I hunt in some of the "wide open states" ... Most honest, realistic, ethical hunters will tell you that the average shot is under 200 yards for nearly any big game animal.
Even most antelope, in truly wide open prairies, are taken at 150 yards or less. It seems counter-intuitive, but it's almost easier to get close in the wide open flats, than it is in the rolling hills.

With a little practice, pretty much anything where I hunt (Wyoming, Idaho, Utah - from mountain to desert) can be taken with iron sights. Of course, there are certain areas and the occasional bad year where/when you just can't get close, or the only legal animal you see is at 400+ yards. But, overall, you can fill almost any big game tag inside of 200 yards. And, for me, that's iron sight range, as long as the cartridge is suitable and the shooter is adequately-practiced (as they should be no matter the situation).

I believe that "long range" cartridges and scopes are, all too often, used as a crutch by modern hunters that just aren't proficient with their tools.
And I will freely admit that I came to that conclusion after quite a bit of contemplation on my own skills, practice sessions, and usage of my hunting rifles; and saw that I had started leaning on the cartridge and scope more as my skill diminished (from lack of practice). I have plenty of "overkill" cartridges and more than my share of scopes mounted to hunting rifles, but won't be getting rid of anything.

Everything has its place.
Though I see my scopes, .30-06s, .270s, and even the .35 Whelen a little differently now than I did a few years ago (let alone other people's "magnums"), I still feel that they're useful and justifiable. I just need to keep my eye on the prize, so to speak, and make sure I keep trying to at least maintain my skill with iron sights and "limited" cartridges like .30-30 and .444 Marlin; handguns; and the black powder belchers. If possible, I hope to get back to the iron sight "crack shot" that everyone said I was as a kid.

[BumbleBug]

Thanks, as it's good to see I'm not the only one!

Something that has stuck in my head was a fella I met a few years back. I went to our club range one afternoon & there was a lone shooter there so it was just the two of us. He was getting ready for deer season & he was shooting a Win 94 .30-30 that he said he tuned up himself. It looked old but it was pristine. It had a ghost ring rear sight. He was shooting it at 100yds & I swear he was mostly getting 2" groups! What was more amazing was his ammo. He was shooting paper patched bullets! He showed me some unseated bullets & they were meticulously wrapped & trimmed. I could tell this guy was a perfectionist. He went on to explain that he cast the bullets out of dead-soft lead & the lubricated linen paper kept them from leading the bore. He said those soft bullets mushroomed like crazy in tissue without coming apart.

I lost track of the guy but its funny how things stick in your head. I was shooting a .22-250 with a 20x scope that day, but I was mostly watching his target!

[Mobuck]

Deer hunting is "grocery shopping" for me. Our immediate family consumes 5-7 deer per year. Now that I'm retired, I do have more time to spend out hunting but the bottom line is--something has got to end up in the freezer. Depending on conditions, I may be able to use a lot of discretion OR may have to take any possible shot.
During those times when I can spend time just piddling around, an open sighted, short range saddle gun is nostalgic and interesting. When time is short and hunting has been difficult(like last year-deer numbers down 25-30%), I pick up the scoped 25/06 and do what needs done.

[stagpanther]

If you're bored with rifles--try bow-hunting. : )

Instinctive, home-made wood bow and arrows, still hunting. Doesn't get much better than that . : )

editor's note: I'm probably the world's worst hunter, but I always have fun out in the woods. ; )

...went out for toms last week (only my second time) with a friend and guide. After setting up carefully decoys and blinds, I started getting eaten alive by swarms of black flies and deer flies. It got so bad that I grabbed my shotgun and bailed out of my blind into the woods, I just had to get out of there. They were better prepared and stayed put, I didn't even have a call. I bushwhacked through the woods and eventually picked up some fresh moose tracks which I followed for a while, spooking a grouse along the way. After an hour or so I came across a skidder logging trail, and at roughly 175 yds a group of 4 or 5 turkeys crossed. I briefly thought about pursuing them into the woods--but figured I had no way to call them so I continued south towards my friends, who in fact had just finished packing up. When I suggested going after them the guide said better to leave them be and hopefully they would roost nearby. I never found out because I had to come back home--empty-handed--but what a great day anyway! : )

[buck460XVR]

I believe that "long range" cartridges and scopes are, all too often, used as a crutch by modern hunters that just aren't proficient with their tools.

I have glass mounted on my 77/44. It is definitely not a long range gun. But at my age, the scope makes me much more accurate than with the irons that came with it and the reticle is easier to see in low light conditions than those same irons. I don't consider that a crutch any more than I consider the irons a crutch over shooting by just sighting down the barrel. Most "long range" cartridges work just as well on deer @ 70 yards as they do @ 400. Has little to do with proficiency, other thn using what you are proficient with. I've seen and trailed just as many deer limping thru the woods after being shot with a 30-30 iron sighted lever as I have from 30-06s wearing glass. The reason many of us go back to the basics, has little to do with the success of the hunt, but the hunt itself. We realize we have compromised ourselves with using weapons that are not the most efficient, but accept those limitations and hunt ethically within them. No different than giving up the heated box stand overlooking the food plot to go back and sneak hunt where they sleep.

Do some hunters use the Big Magnums with a Hubble Telescope mounted on them in a vain attempt to make up for their lack of hunting skills? Sure there are, but no more than those folks who think they have the skills to use basic firearms for fair chase hunting and end up wounding animals most every year. Neither is doing themselves any favors.