Guns of opportunity

[northmn]

Today when we go hunting we generally hunt one thing at a time.  We go squirrel hunting, grouse hunting or duck hunting and arm ourselves accordingly.  To some extent game laws have limited what we can utilize for different critters, as they frown on shooting geese with a rifle.  Opportunity another as deer seasons are limited.  When we had permits to shoot antlerless deer I went out with a 40 squirrel hunting during deer season and felt that it would work on a smaller permit deer if opportunity and circumstance permitted.  Good theory, no opportunity for either that day.  When I put up wood in the fall I have a mount on the tractor or 4 wheeler to carry a firearm in case a tasty grouse sits long enough to get pot shot.  Sometimes I also wander around a bit at my cutting destination to see if anything is around, squirrel or grouse. I would not be adverse to popping a coyote if one is seen. They used to ahve "trapper rifles" or rifles in smaller calibers like 32-20 or 25-20 for this purpose.  They were rifles that at first glance were too small for deer and to big for rabbits, but used to be popular as they did work.  They could take whatever opportunity presented.  (some claimed to have even head shot moose with them )  While the use may be limited today I still think the 40 would have done nicely for that, a 36 where legal for deer and in some areas where deer are smaller maybe a 32.  Fowlers work pretty good for me as a "tractor gun".

DP 

[camerl2009]

.32 for small game(wolf/coyote too) 20ga fowler for small birds pheasant,grouse,dove,
any rifle .45 and over for deer,black bear,moose

now these are my choice for muzzleloading we have no law(ontario) on size for big and small game as long as you dont use a shotgun in rifle season that go's the same center fire too but for small game nothing with a bullet
bigger then .275" my first deer was with a .22 hornet i was 13 and shot that H&R all year getting ready for huting
1 hart shot and that deer droped there on the spot. sorry i ramble alot 

[fix]

I also think about this when hunting. Mostly as I'm holding on to my .50 cal and watching squirrels run past me during deer season.
In Illinois the laws do limit the firearms we are allowed to carry. .45 is the smallest caliber legal for deer. As a law abiding hunter I do only carry the legal weapons, but there have been lots of times, legality aside, that I would rather have more choice in the matter.
I consider the same thing when squirrel hunting, as I often see deer walk within in range. however .22 is not legal for deer.

I sort of wish they would modify the law a bit, so that some medium caliber gun would work for both. Something in .32 or .36 caliber would work pretty handily for squirrels, and still make a possible shot on deer.

Of course in Illinois you can't hunt both at the same time anyway, so in the end it's all just thoughts I have while sitting in the woods in the wrong season and with wrong gun.

[bob in the woods]

Best gun of opportunity is a pistol. Never leave home without one.
Having said that, I usually carry a .40 flintlock rifle , or in winter, a fowler; when doing chores etc on our property.

[BrownBear]

We actually have quite a bit of opportunity for that up here.  Deer/ptarmigan/snowshoe hare on the same hunt, and in the interior I have done combo moose/ptarmigan/ruffed grouse hunts.

In cartridge-land I've shot deer with 25-20 while rabbit hunting, and I've taken ptarmigan with reduced velocity CF loads on deer hunts.  I kept seeing lots of ruffed grouse while carrying a 375 H&H on one memorable moose hunt.  Moose were scarce, and after a couple of days of that I began to carry a 20 gauge with a handgun in case of moose.  I limited on ruffies several days in a row, and on the way out with a limit on our last day I dropped a bull with the handgun.

I'm "updating" myself these days.  I don't hesitate to take head shots on snowshoe hare and ptarmigan with any ML rifle, but I prefer smoothbore and shot for them.  A recent meeting with a brown bear while carrying a 62 smoothie and #6 shot for hares caused further thought processes. 

I now pack three RBs in a loading block with intentions simply to stuff one down on top of the shot load in extremes.  Not long ago I read an account of a member here pulling the overshot card and dumping the shot in order to load a round ball in his smoothie for a deer he encountered.  Works for me.  On future ptarmigan hunts I'm likely to do the same when deer appear.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I was hunting this fall in an area where I was liable to see mule and whitetail deer, moose, black bear, and grouse.  So I loaded my 15 gauge Manton percussion shotgun with ball in the left barrel, and shot in the right.  I knew I was limited to about 50 yards for the big critters, but I was ready for the grouse that fly up suddenly from the bush in front of me.  I did not feel undergunned.

[camerl2009]

I'm "updating" myself these days.  I don't hesitate to take head shots on snowshoe hare and ptarmigan with any ML rifle, but I prefer smoothbore and shot for them.  A recent meeting with a brown bear while carrying a 62 smoothie and #6 shot for hares caused further thought processes.

thats why i dont use a .22lr for wolf/coyote any more dont ask but lets say it was not fun or pretty  

[northmn]

I was hunting this fall in an area where I was liable to see mule and whitetail deer, moose, black bear, and grouse.  So I loaded my 15 gauge Manton percussion shotgun with ball in the left barrel, and shot in the right.  I knew I was limited to about 50 yards for the big critters, but I was ready for the grouse that fly up suddenly from the bush in front of me.  I did not feel undergunned.

Hansen claimed the double shotgun replaced the Northwest gun in the mid 1800's.  Bet a lot of them were carried that way.  Knew a gunsmith that made some $$$ installing a 50-58 rifled barrel in one side of Navy Arms shotguns. 
I shot a lot of small game with a 45, but with reduced loads.  However a 45 up close with a lighter load would also do in a deer.  Large or small bore pistol as a carry along   Interesting thought.


DP

[BrownBear]

...a 45 up close with a lighter load would also do in a deer.

I have no doubt.  I can't tell you how many deer I've killed with 44 Special and 45 Colt handguns launching 250 grain bullets at around 750 fps.  All inside 50 yards, but all one-shot kills too.  A .440 RB at 1200 fps or so, though lighter, should be a stone killer.  If it's in their lungs, they're dead.

[northmn]

Funny thing about handguns, some talk about the whompin stompin power of some handgun caliber that is not all that powerful compared to a rifle.  The handguns do the job at their modest power levels.  Loaded down large bores might be the ticket.  A 50 with 50 grains of 3f is pretty large for small stuff but might work better than a heavy loaded 40 or 36 which would still be a nasty propostition on small game.  In Minnesota I could hunt with a 40 for both squirrels and deer.  I did get a forkhorn buck one time up very close with a heavy loaded 36 revolver.  Velocity could not have been over 1000 fps and likely less.  80 grain RB.  Still think a 40 loaded to about 1400 fps up close would be similar to something like a 32-20 center fire.  Shot placement would have to be precise, but up close that may not be a problem.  More an issue of animal position than anything.  The permit deer were not large deer. 

DP

[awol]

A combination gun or rifle would be handy.  Say, a .50 & .32, or a rifle over shotgun.  Some over/under caplock firearms were made in that style here in NY before the Civil War.  It might possibly be legal here in the regular gun season where deer hunting is open to the use of CF rifles,  but it would not be in a special ML only season.

[BrownBear]

Still think a 40 loaded to about 1400 fps up close would be similar to something like a 32-20 center fire.  Shot placement would have to be precise, but up close that may not be a problem.  More an issue of animal position than anything.  The permit deer were not large deer. 

I'm right with you.  I've whacked two with 25-20 (86 grains @ 1700 fps) and several more with 32-20.  All dead with single shots, and quickly.  All the deer were small, in the 110-150 pound range.  Comparable ballistics in a muzzleloader will perform just as well if the shooter meets the criteria.  It's all about placement and the self-restraint to take only good shots.  Airborne lead is airborne lead, regardless of how it was launched.

[rich pierce]

I was hunting this fall in an area where I was liable to see mule and whitetail deer, moose, black bear, and grouse.  So I loaded my 15 gauge Manton percussion shotgun with ball in the left barrel, and shot in the right.  I knew I was limited to about 50 yards for the big critters, but I was ready for the grouse that fly up suddenly from the bush in front of me.  I did not feel undergunned.

I want to go hunting with Taylor!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Rich, I'd be delighted to have you join me.

[northmn]

It would be nice to go hunting where there is more game.  Also more understanding DNR's.  I do not think I have seen a snowshoe rabbit track on my place in 3 or 4 years.  Lots of coyote tracks though.  Grouse are about like they used to be as I plant clover and other food plots, but on public land are very wild and more scarce.  Squirrels have looked more promising as a game animal.  Deer fluctuate with the winters.  It si about -10 out now which can be hard on them.  I finally found that turnips make an excellent late season forage for them when the clovers shrivel up.  Were I to go out now I would carry either a squirrel rifle or my fowler as grouse and squirrels are all thats left. 

DP

[frogwalking]

I was driving north on the Blue Ridge Parkway just north of Roanoke two weeks ago and saw an enormous hare sitting in a cut over hay field about 30 yards from the road.  That is the first one of those I have seen in years.  My brother in law killed one from our canoe in Georgia 30 years ago with a .410 percussion shotgun.  I  thought it would be tough, but it was good eating.