Deer Rifles -- What Really Goes On

Most anything will kill a deer. They are not that hard to kill. There are a few issues at work here. Most of them are stuff that gun writers cannot deal with. They exist in the realm of the shaman. I will therefore don my headdress, grab my turtle rattle and attempt an explanation:

Deer hunters have a lot of their self-definition wrapped up in their choice of firearms. It goes a long way to saying who they are. It's like "are you a Chevy or Ford kind of guy?" but it goes much deeper. Part of that definition is in being the same as the group we identify with. Part of it is trying to differentiate ourselves from that group and the rest of the world.

I freely admit that I was initiated into a 30-06 cult when I got started. For the bulk of the first 20 years as a deer hunter I stayed a 30-06 cultist and never thought twice about my decision. By the time I got onto AllOutdoors.com and Shooters.com around 2000, I had my head filled with all sorts of pro-'06 stuff and anti-270 and anti-308Win stuff. Even my varmint rifle was 30-06. Though almost all my '06 buddies were dead, it was a huge step for me to venture out of the 30-06 ghetto and strike out on my own.

I now own a 35 Whelen Rem 7600-- my first non-308 caliber deer rifle. However, if you dig back down in my psyche, you will find that it is the one cartridge my now-dead buddy and I were going to buy together for going to hunt the "big-stuff." Jerry died in 1992. There I am getting my first Whelenizer in 2005. At least I've switched to .223 Rem for my varminting. On the other hand, look at what I've picked up in the past 8 years, and you'll see that just about everything I've chosen is some variation of 30-06. I've got an imprint of the '06 case in my head that I can't fully shake.

Of course, I'm a shaman, so it's a bit easier for me to get in touch with this stuff. That does not mean I'm not ruled by it. 270 Winchester still honks me off, just looking at it. I can't really say why. It just does.

I tried one odd one back in 2002. I bought a Marlin in 30-30. However, after my first year with it, I haven't taken it hunting again. I had a bad experience with it-- killed a deer with it all right-- just didn't like the way I killed it. The next year, I went looking for something else and got a Savage 99. Did I got with a classic 300 Savage? No, I went with 308 Win. Why? If you had asked me back then, it was because I was worried I might not always find 300 Savage brass. In retrospect, it's probably because the 308 Win is a truncated version of (you guessed it) the 30-06. Meanwhile, the 30-30 was relegated to the duty of family yute rifle. My old hunting buddies must be still standing behind me, whispering, because #2 son went to an M1 Garand as soon as it could fit him.

Sometimes the individual is driven to differentiate himself. I remember how one guy on here reported that everyone at camp liked shooting 44 Magnum rifles. One day, someone showed up with a 444 Marlin, and everyone grunted and sniffed the new rifle and declared it the New Magic Stick. You have to be careful with this: if the magic stick does not work, both you and the stick now have a taint on it. I've heard plenty of those stories too. In those cases, the hunter must somehow redeem himself. Simply being successful next year won't cut it. He gets caught up in some magic quest until both he and his peer group decide that he has rid himself of the taint of the bad rifle or cartridge.

Sometimes all it takes is selling the "bad" rifle. On the other hand, if the taint is bad enough, the hunter may decide that he has to not only get a new rifle, but also blow money on "That Big Trip Out West" or some other Promethean or Odysseun quest. Thousands of dollars and years later, the group finally decides that Nimrod has redeemed himself and pronounces him the new Great Hunter. Or not. Either way, he's blown big bucks trying to blow away a big buck that probably could have been killed with well-aimed 22 Short. Did I really say that? Yeah, but I'm the guy with the 30-06 fetish. Don't mind me.

Another process I see at work works off the same tradition vs. innovation theme, but also brings into play the boy-to-man scenario. When does the boy become a man? When does he put down the yute rifle and picks up the he-man gun? When does he show up at camp with the break-out caliber and says: "I am the future!" Does the torch get passed, or does the old guard shun him?

The list goes on and on. Of course, most of this never happens in a deer camp. It all happens in isolation and inside our heads with imagined peers dredged from our Super-Egos. It used to happen in the barber shop, reading the magazines, waiting for our turn. Nowadays it happens watching the Outdoor Channel. One day we wake up with a TC Encore in our hands and wonder "WTF???" Instead of real friends and family a lot of it happens in isolation with outdoor writers acting as the surrogate uncles and cousins. Most recently it happens with the extended family we have on online forums.

I am sure all of you have your reasons for the cartridges you pick. They are sound reasons. I am sure you have done your homework and can tell me why you picked them. My only point in all of this was to pull back that very thin veneer and give you a small peek of the ocean of non-reality and magic that actually goes on. Gunwriters can only go so far. To get to the real heart of the matter, you need a shaman.

Excuse me. I've got a load of brass coming out of the cleaner and I need to shake my rattle over them, lest I get neck splits.
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