How much ammo when hunting?

Just curious, how much ammo do you guys take along on a hunting trip? I usually fully load my Winchester 94 with seven rounds and another seven or so in my pockets. I like to keep them in the little plastic things they come in so they don't rattle.
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Well Op asked about ammo on a trip and I take along an ammo box full of whatever I am going to use plus a cleaning kit and a tool box. But then he described a walk in the woods load so that's how I based my answer. A walk in the woods means for me I can be home or at the camp in an hour or less to get something to eat, a cup of coffee and more ammo. I haven't ever had to get more ammo yet.

With the single shot the least ammo I have come back with is 2 rounds. What's all this talk about misses? :D
 
I carry one of those bullet wallets that hold ten rounds of my reloads. I hunt close to home most of the time.
 
I hunt close to home / place to buy more ammo. We hunt shotgun only areas of PA 4+1. I always load up the gun and have 5 more in my pocket.

Anyone else looking through a scope at a running deer (even 30 yards out) and just as you pull the trigger have a tree jump right out in front of your gun? I have.

Just so there isn't anyone saying I am not being safe. I know what is behind my target (deer) just happen to be focused through the scope getting ready to shoot at a running deer and the tree was between us.
 
The last time I went deer hunting with a rifle, I loaded the rifle and then had 10-20 rounds in the bag. I want to say it was almost a full box of ammo, but I can not remember what gun I was using the last time I went. It might have been the SKS or AK. If it was, then the ammo would have been on strippers or just an extra mag.

2 rounds shot from the AK or SKS and 1 deer.

When I was using the M1A, I put a full 20 rounds in the first mag and carried another mag. 1 shot 1 deer that day.

When I carried the 45-70, I want to think I had a total of 20 rounds. 1 shot 1 deer. A really little deer, probably not worth the tag. :mad:

For blackpowder, 5 weighed charges in film canisters with me and usually the ability to weigh out more in the vehicle.

I have used up all my ammo twice. Once when I broke a scope and couldn't figure out why it could not group. Once when I broke the scope mount and couldn't figure out what was wrong.

I have been told I carry too much stuff, but then if I get lucky early I have been know to take some time and just shoot at a target.
 
Oh, I just remember my last hunt wasn't with a rifle, it was with a shotgun. I had a total of 5 rounds on me and more in the truck. It was a small place, I could have sit/stood on top of the truck and hunted the entire property from there.
 
See? That's why I hate you people. I can only dream of having so many willing targets.
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Next summer take a vacation, up valentine way (cousins farm) we can shoot dogs all week long, longer if you have enough ammo.

I went deer hunting last winter (first week of dec) had 5 in the shotgun, shot twice had 2 deer on the ground. When I was young I took shots I wont take now, I wait till it is perfect or I just dont shoot. Hate to track more than 30 or 50 yards. :)
 
Seriously though, our ranch is about an hour from the house. Most of my guns have the sleeves on the stock to hold extra bullets. If I'm just going for the day, I usually just grab my gun with whatever is on the gun. Overnight, I usually grab a box of 20.
 
Rifle=1 round

Shotgun=6 or 8 rounds

When deer hunting I like to 'listen' to the hunters that are done for the season, esp on Sat and Sun night , after Thanksgiving. That is the last weekend of the season, Most hunters here are from 'down below'-the big cities of S MI. Usually about 45 min till dark (the best time to be hunting), you will heard, bam, bam, bam and bam. 4 or 5 rounds being popped off as fast as possible. I figure the guy is back at the truck and just shoots the ammo out of the gun. He will get a fresh box next season. Then a vehicle comes down the two track headed in. I always wonder whyt they quit so early?? My wife says Im wrong but--who knows.
 
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My ammo can usually has 300-400 rounds in it, but that covers every firearm I brought. (For Deer, Elk, and Antelope, I always have a long range primary, short range primary, long range backup, and short range backup; often with some kind of "if the mood hits me" rifle in reserve - plus a side arm, if legal.)

Any given rifle will usually have 60-80 rounds of ammunition available (various loads, so I can use a load tailored to the type of hunting).

At any given time, during a hike... You'll find a full magazine, round in the chamber, and my right front pants pocket with about 1 reload worth of ammo. Sometimes, I won't even have anything in my pocket; I have what's in the rifle, and that's it.

However, if it's a long hike, I'll take more (planning on being away from camp for 8+ hours, or a long distance from camp). Then, I'll have a backpack with general gear, and at least 20 rounds. I have never fired more than 13 shots on a big game hunt (and I'm ashamed of that one), and don't plan on ever doing so. But... I like to be prepared.

I'm a firm believer in "one shot, one kill", and I'm not a "bang away, while they're running" kind of guy. If I shoot, didn't hear a definitive hit, and the herd spooks... I don't start slinging lead like my father tried teaching me to. I let the herd go, hoping they'll calm down a little quicker.

One of these days, it'll probably come back to haunt me. But I've been on quite a few hunts where an animal is hit, but not dead, and isn't going to run unless something spooks it (but they're also now in a spot where a kill shot is difficult, or unlikely). That's where my personal approach came from. I've seen members of my hunting parties start slinging lead at otherwise stationary (or unreachable) animals, and get them spooked into running. I generally fire one shot. If something obviously needs a follow-up, I'll send it. If not, I try to close the gap, or just let them go. (I'm sure some of you remember my advocacy of head shots from other threads. The way I set my shots up; if it's not a good hit, it's a clean miss - and safe to just watch them move out.)


So... I usually take 300-400 rounds on a trip.
I usually have about 9-10 rounds on my person (exactly 21, on the rare occasion that I'm using my SKS).
And I fire an average of 6 rounds during a hunt for multiple animals, and 3 rounds during a hunt for a single animal (including a shot fired in each rifle to verify the scope has not shifted during the 3-5 hour drive to the hunting area).
 
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Shooting prairie dogs, I used to take 150-200 loaded cartidges, a pound+ of IMR 4064, two boxes of .277 bullets, 200 primers, and my Lee Hand Press kit.... a couple of bricks of .22lr .......

See? That's why I hate you people. I can only dream of having so many willing targets.

200 rounds would last me 5 years of woodchuck hunting. If I had 5 good years.
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Evidently, I did not kill enough: The landowner decided there were too many, was tired of the fedgov making noises about protecting them and poisoned them all.
 
I leave 20 cartridges for each rifle I hunt with in the jeep during hunting season. (Learned that one the hard way...:o)

I don't hunt far from my vehicle, so 3 rounds in the rifle and, if I feel like it, sometimes two in the pocket.

On all but the shortest hunts, I'll have a backpack with, among other things, three rounds for each rifle I might use hunting.

My usual hunting partner will take a 50 round MTM box full of rifle cartridges, plus a .40 Glock with two full mags. He thinks I'm nuts, I tell him we aren't going to get pinned down by a squad of deer with heavy machine gun support...
 
markj said:
Next summer take a vacation, up valentine way (cousins farm) we can shoot dogs all week long, longer if you have enough ammo.
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Man, that would be fun! I'm not so sure that I could get a free week for something like that, though. :(
 
I don't usually go on overnight hunts, so I generally take about twice as many as the gun will hold when deer hunting. I don't know why I do that, I've never needed more than one shot except on a couple of rare occasions. Guess I want to be prepared for something else coming along that I might need to shoot.
 
Usually just a 20 round box.5 or 10 in the rifle depending on which rifle Im using and the rest on stripper clips in my coat pocket.
 
For grouse hunting in N Wisconsin I was always used to carrying about 10 rds on my vest plus three in the 12ga. I never ran out for any walk that lasted most of a full day.

When I started chukar hunting in SE Oregon in 2005, I found out hard that 13 rds would last me a couple of hours when we were thick into birds. (I missed a lot.) I started carrying about 30-40 rds with me for a good days hike. (The guy I was bird hunting with for a few years tended to miss a lot too and wasn't the best planner...I had to bum him a few shells on a lot of afternoons...haha.)
 
Buzzcook said:
iirc 20 total is the legal max here.
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Can you point out what page in the hunting regs this is listed or where it is listed if not in the hunting booklet?
I can only find about being limited to 3 rounds in a shotgun for migratory birds.


I usually hunt close to home so only take a box of 20 for the rifle I am using, another 25 or so for the 44 mag revolver and a box of 100 22 RF for the 22 rifle and pistol. Also will take a box or 2 of 12 Ga if I take the shotgun.

If going to be gone from home for several days I will take a 50 round MTM box for the main hunting rifle, a back up rifle with a 50 round MTM box of ammo, include 1 maybe 2 50 round MTM boxs of ammo for the 44 mag and 300 to 500 22 RF. I will add another box or 2 for the 12 Ga.

Michael Grace
 
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