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Al Brown | Tracking the Seasons
Ready ... Set ... Fire
Is your deer gun a nail driver or is hitting somewhere on a paper plate at 100 yards still "good enough"?
It's not a trick question. But it's surprising how many hunters are reluctant to offer up a knowing answer. Possibly because the answer is not with the gun, but rather themselves.
Now that center-fire rifles, .22 caliber and larger, are legal for hunting deer in most of Wisconsin (see Page 18 of the 2009 deer hunting regulations), just hitting a paper plate at a hundred yards should not be acceptable.
In fact, for deer hunting with a rifle, a hunter should be expected to at least keep his shots printing somewhere within a 6-inch circle at 100 yards.
Truth be known, most of today's hunters using a smooth-bore shotgun fitted with a reasonably good scope can keep their shots within a 6-inch circle at 100 yards.
Using the same scope over a rifled shotgun barrel and shooting sabot rather than Foster-style slugs should tighten your shot group to about 3 inches at 100 yards.
In years past I used the same reliable smooth-bore 12 gauge for hunting everything from rabbits and geese to turkeys and deer.
All I ever did was change the screw-in chokes to match my needs. An improved cylinder for rabbits, modified for geese, extra full for turkeys and a rifled choke for Foster-style deer slugs.
Whenever I hunted deer with that gun, I always used a scope. The problem was it always took 10 to 15 rounds to resight it after remounting the scope and switching back to the rifled screw-in choke tube.
The results were deadly and far less costly than buying a rifled slug barrel.
To keep the costs of ammo down and at the same time saving my aging legs for the actual hunting, I do my sighting-in at 25 yards rather than the traditional 100 yards.
If you have one shotgun you keep set up just for deer hunting, chances are you'll "check the sights" using no more than three or four shots ... unless you just like to shoot.
Now that we can use a rifle to hunt deer in most of the state, including nearly all of Southern Wisconsin, keeping one gun just for deer hunting is much easier.
In my case both my Remington model 1100 shotgun and my model 742 deer rifle are semiautomatics. It's a case where familiarity builds confidence.
Chambered for the 30-06 Springfield cartridge, the 150-grain bullet is more than adequate for stopping Wisconsin's whitetail deer.
When zeroed in at 25 yards, the trajectory (bullet path above and below the line of sight) is estimated to be +1 (plus one) inch high at 50 yards, +2 1/4" at 100 and 150 yards, +1 1/4" at 200 yards, -1 1/2" (below the line of sight) at 250 yards and 6" low at 300 yards.
Subject to the gun's barrel length and bullet weight, these trajectory numbers will be pretty close for most deer rifles out to 200 yards. After that gravity plays a more significant role, subject to bullet weight.
Unless you are using a tripod, that's more accuracy than any of us really need here in Southern Wisconsin's farm country.
Also, different bullet brands produce different results, so do your zeroing with the exact same ammunition you intend to hunt with.
The regular gun deer hunt opens in three weeks, Saturday, Nov. 21, so plan to be at the range before the crowds. That way if you should find a problem with your favorite "shoot'n arn," you have time to get it corrected before the starter's gun goes off.
- A taste of hunting
- Observing the characteristics of a snowless winter
- Absent snowfall meant thin harvest in 2011
- Wolves getting expanded role in wildlife picture
- New rules allow opportunity to appreciate wild game
- How new concealed carry law affects hunters
- Now's the time to hone weapon of choice
- Overlapping seasons create color conundrum
- Hunting calendar is upon us
- Weary anglers getting their chance
- Passing down knowledge of the hunt
- Appreciating the gifts of Mother Nature
- Ticks replace mosquitoes as concern
- Tag, you're it: hunting seasons approaching
- Fundraiser gives bird hunters a taste of what's ahead
- Rock River's banks a hotbed for local fishermen
- Fishing a great Father's Day opportunity
- With the stroke of a pen
- Grape jelly fills the belly
- Getting out on the water pays off
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- Relay For Life of Lake Country Kickoff-Monday, February 13th
- Oconomowoc Newcomers & Neighbors Monthly Mingle Tues Feb. 14
- UW-Waukesha Continuing Education Classes Offered the week of February 12-18, 2012
- The Rock River Patriots Welcome G. Edward Griffin To Wisconsin
- Master Composter Training Workshop Offiered
- Sussex-Menomonee Falls-Pewaukee Relay For Life Kickoff Event Sunday, February 19th 3:00 PM
- Open House at St. John's Lutheran Mukwonago
- Anti-Bullying assembly
- Summerstage "Break-A-Leg Gala"
- Pancakes at the House
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