First time hunter

[remdogg28]

Hey,
This year is gonna be my first year hunting. I was just wondering what the best rifle would be for wooded areas. my friend told me a 30-30 would work great but i was just looking for more opinions.

[daddus1]

remdogg,
Welcome to the site. If practiced safely your hunting will go at whatever speed you choose. What I mean is if you go out this year and really get "the bug" you will learn a lot faster. Do a lot of reading on your intended quarry and see what is available to you to use from there, find a buddy it may make it much easier. Good luck!
daddus

[Hunting Man]

Welcome to the site. For short range wooded areas the 30-30 would be fine. There are so many fine whitetail cartridges out there that just about anything above the 223 is fine. I know some will argue the 223 is ok but you cannot convince me. You could look at a 243, 32 win, 300 sav, and yes even the old 35 rem would be great for short range wooded areas.

[Noah Racette]

Welcome!!

Hunting is one of the best thing you can get into.
I use the Marlin 30/30 and love it. You can shoot through a bush and hit a deer on the other side.I've heard that .308 and .357 magnum works well. These are all for hunting whitetail deer.

I agree with you HM. I think the .223 does have enough umf for a deer.

Good Luck remdog28 and hope you find the right caliber.

[rdrader2002]

Welcome to DHC!

Rifle for deer? Depends on the distance that you do most of your hunting.

100 - 150 yards and the .30/30 is more than sufficient.
150+ and you'll want a rifle that can get out there for distance.
.270 would be a personal recommendation, but again, that is just a personal recommendation. There are many fine calibers out there from .223 up, but personal opinion again, I'd start at .243 and work up.

Let us know what you finally decide on. It's a personal choice, but one that you'll be happy with I'm sure.

[Karl.Luhr]

You are going to be on a steep learning curve at the start. It is important like the posts above recommended that you start with reading about hunting and shooting. I would bet that you have already got a good start on that. The next step would be to get into a hunter safety class. Some of it will be as boring as watching paint dry, but you might learn something that saves your life or someone elses.

The next thing I would do is talk to your friends about what they use/learned to shoot on. Often times it was a lever action 30-30. Do those kill Deer, probibly more than any other action/caliber combination. Would I recommend one to a new shooter/hunter no. There are action choices that don't have the exposed hammer and a far more comfortable stock design. The whole idea of shooting/hunting is to have fun. You can't ethically hunt until you learn how to safely shoot. You owe it to the animal that you are about to kill, to kill it cleanly without risking hurting someone else in the woods with you.

The bolt action rifle is easier to help a new shooter/hunter master in my opinion. The bolt action has a simple operation, a simple safety, straight line stock design to help with recoil, it usually has a good trigger feel, and last is ideal for mounting a scope.

I have taken alot of new shooters to the range prior to them becoming hunters. They all had a lot of fun. I picked rifles that didn't beat the crap out of them, but were easy to shoot well. The positive feed back from actually hitting what you are shooting at without pain during the process is what you are looking for.

I always feel better when I see a new shooter come to the line at the range with a scoped bolt action rifle in a non magnum caliber. I always think that person is going to have some fun.... And that is what it is all about.

Karl

[remdogg28]

Thanks everyone for the help, I will continue to do the research. And i got a hunters safety course coming up this month. So i am anxious to get out there and start shooting at the range. I cant wait to get out into the maine woods and do some hunting.

I dont own one (which means my suggestion is based on facts) look hard at a 243 win. At 300 yrds it hits with 1225 ft lbs. You want over 1000 ft lbs to get proper expansion of your bullet and shock energy transfered into the deer. Winchester online ballistics calculator is awsome.((( I wouldnt but people kill elk with them every year)))

[michaelbounds5]

i use a 270 savage and droped a 140 inch 9 point at 90 yards

[WisconsinDeer]

For wooded areas a 30-30, 35 Rem, 44 Mag rifle, or anything like that would be fine. If you plan on shooting up to 200 yards or further then I'd look at a 7mm-08, 260 Rem, 308. Those are just a few, use whatever you like.