The best caliber for thicket hunting

C

Cwalk

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I hunt in a very wooded area where a 50 yard shot would be not likely. I shot a deer last year( my first deer) with a .308 at about 15 yards, blew the deers chest out. I used 150gr winchester soft point. I have a shotgun that i could shoot slugs out of but would have to buy a rifled barrel for extened range. What would be the best thicket gun for hunting whitetail


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"shoot and shoot more often"
 
Call me crazy but IMHO the old .30-30 is an excellent brush gun. Treebranch-crushing slow, Heavy bullets with out excessive meat destroying velocity.
 
I like the .35 Whelen or .350 Rem Mag in a fast handling gun like a 7600 pump (the Whelen) or Model 7 (.350).

Both handle fast and powerful enough to give me a margin for error.
 
well personally id go with a lever to begin with which takes you down to a very limited assortment of calibers

.45-70 would be a little big gut itll buck the brush and you wont have much tracking to do
.30-30 old and slow but you wont see this caliber disappear EVER in a million years and theres a very good reason for that
handgun calibers under 50 yards they should be great for deer hunting if loaded with proper bullets

i know that there are more calibers out there but any one of these will serve you well and a used .30-30 aint that expensive either
 
The least expensive might be the rifled slug barrel. I have a Remington 870 with a 20 inch rifled slug barrel - great for 100 yards and in.

30/30 is certainly excellent.

A Marlin lever action .357 would also be good.

Thought about muzzleloaders? .50 calibers are very good brush guns if you don't mind having a single shot - lots of fun to shoot too. :)
 
i do have a cva muzzleloader in .45. should that be recommended, i think i just want to by a new gun
 
Well join the club! You don't need an excuse to buy a new gun, just money. What kind of gun do you really want?
 
Ditto the .30-30. +1 :) . Old, thin walled casings, slow, and ballistic-ally lousy (so says Speer's reloading manual, anyhow), but responsible for putting more venison on the table than any other caliber. (They say a bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, either. :rolleyes: )
 
I just purchased a rossi single shot 30-06 atop a simmons 3-9x50. I know that would be to much for less than 50 yards, but im sure it has been done.My hunting buddy who hunts the same area has a 30-06 and last year he tore a deers shoulder off. Another buddy of mine has a 30-30 i could use. I think im just being selfish. My next gun will be a .243
 
I have tried everythimg from 30-30 to 45-70,and the best all around short range gun I have found is my Browning Lever in 358 Win. Perfect for deer and black bear. I put a Bushnell Firefly on it and it is great for pickin the spot on a bear. Only drawback is that factory ammo is tough to find.
 
20 ga for deer: IMO, slugs? You bet! 20 ga buck? No thanks.
"Woods cartridges": So far, no one's mentioned the good old .35 Remington, or the Winchester .32 Special. Lots of old used Marlin 336's & Winchester 94's out there chambered for these.
 
One caliber is no better than any other for "brush busting"; that's an old wives tale. But it's wise to pick a caliber that won't do excessive damage to the target if a short-range opportunity presents itself. And the platform itself is an important consideration. I like my short-barreled Marlin 1894P with red-dot scope in .44 magnum when hunting in thick cover, because it's light and short.
 
Your .308 is just fine for deer. :rolleyes:

It has the extra reach for those rare, but possible, longer shots and it's more accurate to boot. :)

In the thickets, more often than not, you will be shooting through small windows at parts of deer. ;)

Your "chest extraction" shot was probably a bone-splatter and IF you can place your round more carefully, it will be less messy. :barf:

This may sound strange, but try a heavier (180gr.??) one-piece or partition bullet. It will move a "wee tad" slower, and not come apart when it hits bone.
It will also be beneficial when, heaven forbid, it clips a twig along it's flight-path.

But, hey, buy a new gun anyway! :D
 
If you need a reason.

Brush guns abound out there, 30-30, .357 or .44s work great in my area, 50 yards and less are the norm here. Thats why I took up hunting with a handgun, Lot less to carry in and out of the woods. But then again slug guns work great for close range work.
 
The one you already have; brush-bucking bullets is largely myth. Shoot when you have a clear shot at the vital zone. If you can get to within 15 yards of a deer I do not think you will have a problem.
 
Brush gun

Springer 45 and LAK are right. "Brush busters" are Old Wives. Years 'n' years ago the NRA did some testing, shooting everything they could think of through a thicket of 1/4" dowels. Surprise! It was found that the pointier, faster bullets did better than the slow, heavy roundnoses, but ALL bullets deflected to a greater or lesser extent when they hit 1 or more of the dowels. Some will say that dowels aren't brush. They tried to make it as scientific a test as they could. (Can't cite a reference, sorry. The article in question appeared mebbe 45 yrs. ago. Don't have a copy. Check NRA archive if interested.)

Having said that, a short, quick-handling gun is better in heavy brush just because there is less of it to hang up while you're shouldering it, IMHO. And a 'scope is very little use @ close quarters.
 
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