How many of you hunt with budget rifles?
- Thread starter Matt K
- Start date
biggen0_8
New member
[/quote]
I'd just like to know where you can kill 14 deer in one season??? [/quote]
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
I'd just like to know where you can kill 14 deer in one season??? [/quote]
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
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SlickerThanSnot
New member
what price range does budget start? is tikka considered budget?
Cranesville Hunter
New member
I agree with you do not have to spend big bucks to own a good shooter and I can also say from experience, an expensive rifle doesn't mean it's going to out shoot a cheaper rifle.
I have always been very anal about caring for my guns and never abuse them. I have synthetic guns I use on bad weather days. I have a good many brownings and use other 'cheaper' guns over the years to hunt with not to ruin my pretty brownings. In the words of my 14 year old son "Dad, what good is a gun if you don't use it?". Words of wisdom. I now use my guns for everything, even my 'good' guns. Still take good care of them. I contemplated buying a Ruger American as a cheaper alternative and have read a lot of great reviews about them.
Varminterror
New member
We all hunt with "budget" rifles, but the "budget" might be different from one guy to the next. It's all relative, among Safari Hunters, a $1,000 CZ or Ruger are "low budget rifles," but among whitetail deer hunters, that price point is "elite budget."
I've come to appreciate quality. Lots of guys - as we're seeing in this thread - hunt with something low budget because they don't want to beat up something higher budget. That has never made sense to me - the rifle with which you hunt is the one you carry and use the most, and rely upon the most, so why spend the least on it?
I put a lot of intrinsic value on the experiences I put onto my firearms. Whether a rifle is $300 or $3000, I don't ever "beat them up." But I don't fret over a few dings or scratches on a fancy stock - I bought or built the rifle to get used, so it's going to show use. I do use stainless more often than not to help with resistance and finish durability, but I'm really ok with my stocks showing the use they've earned, even on the few stocks I've dumped over $1500 into.
I've come to appreciate quality. Lots of guys - as we're seeing in this thread - hunt with something low budget because they don't want to beat up something higher budget. That has never made sense to me - the rifle with which you hunt is the one you carry and use the most, and rely upon the most, so why spend the least on it?
I put a lot of intrinsic value on the experiences I put onto my firearms. Whether a rifle is $300 or $3000, I don't ever "beat them up." But I don't fret over a few dings or scratches on a fancy stock - I bought or built the rifle to get used, so it's going to show use. I do use stainless more often than not to help with resistance and finish durability, but I'm really ok with my stocks showing the use they've earned, even on the few stocks I've dumped over $1500 into.
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NdIndy
New member
Ya. I looked down on savage forever until I accidentally bought one on gunbroker. Now half my guns are savage
Savage long gun in .270 to 30-06
glock semi in 9mm to .45
ruger wheelgun 357 to 44m
remy 870 12ga
You can do everything with 4 guns, relatively inexpensively. Throw a 10/22 on there if you want a rimfire
Swap the glock for a sigma, ruger for a taurus and the price drops further. But I'm a fan of those 2 and it's my list so they stay on
That's not to say you should ONLY own 4 guns but I think that will take care of almost every NEED.
Everyone is different, place value where they see fit. For me:
Return On Investment (ROI) for me is always a consideration. Same reason I've owned some really nice, used, cars. I've been making retarded amounts of money the last few years, and I still save where I can. If I'm ever just rich, I'll buy my first new car.
Comping 300-3000 since some jerk came up with those numbers... If I spend 300 on a rifle that works all the time, puts all the bullets where I want all the time leaves me 2700 to buy a truck to go hunting in. And the store, lumber yard etc etc etc. That $2700 is much better used anywhere but on a rifle.
Since the rifle is going to spend a majority of it's time not being used the cost per use of the $300 rifle is quite high. The cost per use of the 3000 rifle is astronomical in comparison. So the ROI on the cheap gun is much better. If the cheap gun just doesn't do the job, it's a total loss. But as long as it does the same as the expensive gun it's a net gain.
That being said, I really want to spend a couple grand on a mateba that I'll probably only shoot once or twice. I think they're neat!
Savage long gun in .270 to 30-06
glock semi in 9mm to .45
ruger wheelgun 357 to 44m
remy 870 12ga
You can do everything with 4 guns, relatively inexpensively. Throw a 10/22 on there if you want a rimfire
That's not to say you should ONLY own 4 guns but I think that will take care of almost every NEED.
Everyone is different, place value where they see fit. For me:
Return On Investment (ROI) for me is always a consideration. Same reason I've owned some really nice, used, cars. I've been making retarded amounts of money the last few years, and I still save where I can. If I'm ever just rich, I'll buy my first new car.
Comping 300-3000 since some jerk came up with those numbers... If I spend 300 on a rifle that works all the time, puts all the bullets where I want all the time leaves me 2700 to buy a truck to go hunting in. And the store, lumber yard etc etc etc. That $2700 is much better used anywhere but on a rifle.
Since the rifle is going to spend a majority of it's time not being used the cost per use of the $300 rifle is quite high. The cost per use of the 3000 rifle is astronomical in comparison. So the ROI on the cheap gun is much better. If the cheap gun just doesn't do the job, it's a total loss. But as long as it does the same as the expensive gun it's a net gain.
That being said, I really want to spend a couple grand on a mateba that I'll probably only shoot once or twice. I think they're neat!
Varminterror
New member
I kinda forgot to mention - I do tend to start out with relatively "mid" budget rifles, then end up sinking a small fortune into them to make them exactly the way I want. My first deer rifle was a $350 used Ruger M77 MkII .30-06 with a Tasco World Class on top, ~20yrs later, it wears a new stock and barrel, each of which cost more than the entire original package, and a Leupold VX-3i which cost almost twice as much alone. My my go-to deer hunting revolver is now a $750 Ruger Redhawk, after $300 in cylinder work, hours of action work (replacing a $500+ farmed out action job), about $100 into stock for custom grips, $600 Leupold scope on top and $100 into the mount and rings, DIY D&T job (replacing $75 by a smith), a few replacement parts, I'm sitting a few thousand into a revolver rig which doesn't really kill deer any differently than the $350 Super Blackhawk and $100 Simmons scope I used for many, many years.
I know some folks consider the cost of rebuilding firearms to be lost funds, but for me, it's entertainment value putting it together and enjoyment value using it forever after.
I know some folks consider the cost of rebuilding firearms to be lost funds, but for me, it's entertainment value putting it together and enjoyment value using it forever after.
Originally Posted By: biggen0_8
I'd just like to know where you can kill 14 deer in one season??? [/quote]
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
Dang......I need to move out of Oklahoma. Five deer limit here unless you get a draw in hunt and a bonus doe around Christmas.
Sorry bout getting off the subject.
I'd just like to know where you can kill 14 deer in one season??? [/quote]
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
Dang......I need to move out of Oklahoma. Five deer limit here unless you get a draw in hunt and a bonus doe around Christmas.
Sorry bout getting off the subject.
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FairChase93
Active member
Originally Posted By: pyscodogOriginally Posted By: biggen0_8
I'd just like to know where you can kill 14 deer in one season???
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
Dang......I need to move out of Oklahoma. Five deer limit here unless you get a draw in hunt and a bonus doe around Christmas.
Sorry bout getting off the subject. [/quote]
In South Dakota you get one deer tag IF your lucky enough to draw in the first place. They say our deer population is low, I say they need to relearn counting and math.
I'd just like to know where you can kill 14 deer in one season???
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
Dang......I need to move out of Oklahoma. Five deer limit here unless you get a draw in hunt and a bonus doe around Christmas.
Sorry bout getting off the subject. [/quote]
In South Dakota you get one deer tag IF your lucky enough to draw in the first place. They say our deer population is low, I say they need to relearn counting and math.
Varminterror
New member
I'd tend to agree, pyscodog, but my wife sure don't think it's funny!
(Although, she does have to admit, all of hers are decked to the nines, and many of them started out a lot higher than "mid"... So she can't say a whole lot...)
(Although, she does have to admit, all of hers are decked to the nines, and many of them started out a lot higher than "mid"... So she can't say a whole lot...)
Originally Posted By: pyscodogIsn't it funny how so many low to mid range budget guns turn into expensive customs??
Yes it sure is! I just took my Savage Axis HB out to test some 40gr NBT's and the more I shoot it, the more I already would like to spend $144 on a Boyd's thumb hole!
Yes it sure is! I just took my Savage Axis HB out to test some 40gr NBT's and the more I shoot it, the more I already would like to spend $144 on a Boyd's thumb hole!
Plant.One
Well-known member
Originally Posted By: pyscodog
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
here in michigan - in areas where the deer herd is strong you're limited to i think its 3 doe tags per day.
[edit] the 2015 limit was 2 tags per hunter per day.
i stumbled across the nugget that 11,000 antlerless tags have been issued to private land for 2016 in the DMU that i hunt in (037). [/edit]
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/antlerless_deer_license_quotas_493177_7.pdf
a couple years ago before the EHD outbreak it was 5 per day on a 15 day firearm season - or a total of 47 possible deer per season ... 45 does and two bucks, one "restricted" with 4 or more points on one side.
and that was only taking into account regular firearm deer.
Not sure if your asking about the legality or the possibility of taking 14 in one season. But in Indiana you can take the bag limit in each county and some counties have as high as 8 deer bag limits. And I think we have 100 counties.
here in michigan - in areas where the deer herd is strong you're limited to i think its 3 doe tags per day.
[edit] the 2015 limit was 2 tags per hunter per day.
i stumbled across the nugget that 11,000 antlerless tags have been issued to private land for 2016 in the DMU that i hunt in (037). [/edit]
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/antlerless_deer_license_quotas_493177_7.pdf
a couple years ago before the EHD outbreak it was 5 per day on a 15 day firearm season - or a total of 47 possible deer per season ... 45 does and two bucks, one "restricted" with 4 or more points on one side.
and that was only taking into account regular firearm deer.
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