Hunting & Fishing First deer w/ a lever gun?

[okiefired]

Friend of mine and I discussing lever guns a while back. I luv 'em, always have. I killed my first buck at 9 w/ an old borrowed (but good) Win 30-30. One shot, 110 paces by my dad, DRT . Next year dad bought me my own brand new Marlin, I thought it was a cannon, still have it at 51 and have taked several deer with it through the years. Everytime I fire it I get a rush of memories. Nice little rifle for the woods of AR. and OK. I was just wondering how many of you killed your first deer with a Win. or Marlin lever action? Lets hear the stories.

okie

 

[McLarenross]

I killed my first with my dads old Model 94 30-30. I think I was 10 or so. I was in the crappiest old metal tripod stand on the edge of a clearing on the back side of our land. The stand was so old and rusted I couldnt turn the seat without it creaking and making such a racket I though Id wake the dead. The sun rose and I watched the woods come alive around me and our heard of cattle move into the clearing from my right side. I was watching one of the cows when she, and the rest of the heard, stopped abruptly and looked across the area to my left. I looked where they were looking and saw a doe jump a fence into the field where I was. As she moved along the fence another deer jumped the fence in the same spot and I could tell this one was a buck by the way he carried himself and was after the doe. I got pretty excited at that point and got my gun up and pointed in their direction. I rolled the hammer back gently and watched the two deer move along the fence at about 80-90 yards from me. The buck stopped to smell the ground and I lined up the old iron sights on his shoulder and touched off the round. He jumped and kicked and ran off in the direction he was headed and disappeared behind some trees. I was so excited I was shaking now, I knew I had hit that buck exactly where I wanted. A while later I saw my dad coming across the field from where he was hunting so I got down from my blind and I showed him where the deer had been when Id fired. Sure enough there was a huge pile of blood in the leaves right where I thought. We followed the blood trail about 50 yards into the brush and there lay biggest, most massive, insanely impressive...... 110lb spike. lol. I didnt care, I was still super excited and proud. Dad was too and we walked back to the truck to go get a tractor and bring the deer back to the house to dress and butcher it. That old 30-30 of my dad's and the H&R breakover 410 that my great-grandad gave me will always be special to me and have a place in my heart.

 

[SavageSlayer]

I killed my first deer with a Marlin Model 336 in 30-30 when I was 13 years old. It was on public land near Qualls, OK. I used to live in Tahlequah, OK in Cherokee County. My dad and I got out there on opening day about an hour before daylight and parked along an old logging road and it was freezing cold that morning. I sprayed some doe estrus scent on the bottom of my boots and we took off into the woods. We walked in about 150 yards and found a couple of trees that looked good to sit against that were about 30 yards apart. We kicked all the leaves out down to the dirt around the trunk (a trick I learned from hunters safety class) so you can move around without making noise. So we sat and sat and waited and waited. I was shivering so badly for the first couple hours. After the sun came out for a while it warmed up into the high 40's or low 50's maybe and I got comfortable. At about 10:30 my dad came over to my tree and sat and were talking for a while.

At about 11:30 (and about the time we were getting ready to pack it in) from my 7 o'clock I hear leaves crunching. I turn my neck to look over my shoulder and I see movement. At first glance it appeared to be another hunter walking through so I turned back around and disregarded it. A few seconds later I turned again and this time I see it was a deer and he sees me, but because I was partially shielded by the tree and he was young, he stopped about 20 yards away and stared with his neck stretched trying to figure out the situation. I whispered to my dad, "Dad, there's a deer." He asked if it had horns and I say, "yeah" and he said "Shoot it." So I slowly move my body around and bring up the Marlin. I aimed dead center of the white patch in his throat and squeezed the trigger and sent a 170 grain Winchester flat point his way.

Upon impact the buck reared back on his hind legs and then came down hard with a crashing thud. He twitched a couple times and was dead. The bullet impacted right where I was aiming, careened down the neck, and exited right between the shoulder blades taking out the spine in the process. He was a 6 point buck and weighed 130 lbs. I could not have been happier. I have killed several deer with that 30-30 including a 140 class 8 point back in 2008 in Haskell County. It will be me this weekend as I head up to Zone D7 here in CA.

 

[KHOOKS]

I to with a Marlin 336 in 30-30. About four years ago. A large doe she walked into a small clear cut about 100y out. I pulled the trigger back and she heard the click of the hammer locking back. She was facing he straight on. We were about the same eye level as the stand set was off the small green plot. I can remember when I pulled the gun she was looking right at me. All i could see is the white under the neck. I dropped the cross hairs down just under her chin and pressed it off. I see her go straight up on her hind legs and then crumpled up onto herself. No movement. Got over to her and the round appeared it when in center of neck and broke her spine DRT.

 

[okiefired]

Great stories guys, thanks. Savslayer, I'm 5 mi W of Siloam Springs, about 45 min north of the Quah, go there often. Thats big buck country down there on the river. If I ever win the lotto, I'm gonna own about 1K of that river bottom.

okie

 

[Idaho Savage]

I will be taking my Marlin 30-30 on a few hunts this fall. My hunting partner and I agreed that I'd take any worthy animal under 100 yards, and he'd be responsible for longer shots with his 270. I put a peep sight on it and am dead nuts out to 130. Pretty excited.

 

[bohem]

4 of my first 6 deer came with my Marlin 336W in 30-30, the rifle was the first centerfire that I bought new and my grandfather helped me pay for it as part of my birthday present 10 days before he died suddenly.

I will never give it up willingly, it's not the fastest, flattest, bigboomiest, or whatever-est the current internet rage is for calibers, but every one of those deer died and did so quickly.

 

[RHutch]

Killed my first buck with a borrowed Marlin 336CS with irons back in the '90-'91 season. Basket rack eight I bumped while walking through a fresh clearcut in GA.
Picked a hole in the felled timber in the direction he was running,saw a flash of brown and squeezed the trigger. Thought I had missed although the buck simply vanished.
Found him about 30 yards away in a ditch still very much alive, thrashing about but his rear transmission wasnt working. Two more shots to finish him. One in the ass and then one through the neck. Did I mention he was thrashing about? The ass shot stilled him so I could punch him in the neck.

Thought I had killed a Booner. Was proud of that deer and can remember that hunt as if it were yesterday. Plaqued his horns which hang in my office to this day.
I still dont own a 30/30 and probably never will.

 

[okiefired]

Yeah, certainly nothing special about the 30-30...unless its just its history.... but I doubt any cartrage has killed more whitetail deer in this country with the exception of the 22lr. It gets the job done.

okie

 

[harvthesecond]

My first and second deer were taken with a Win 30-30 borrowed from my father in law.

First one was a nice plump doe. Woke up early and walked from my parents house to my stand before sun up(dad had 50 acres and the best hunting cabin ever=) probably took me a solid 10min from leaving the back door to sitting in my stand with that sweet 30-30 sitting on my lap. Lots of sitting and waiting and all I had to entertain me was the swaying of the tree in the wind and the birds chirping and hopping around. I was almost to the point of bailing as my belly was rumbling and my scooby snacks were gone. Then to my right a couple of does start poking through the woods about 100 yards from me. I let them stroll around and sniff n munch whatever acorns they are finding. They finally come into my shooting lane the bigger doe looks almost straight at me but it was too late. I had the cross on the center of her chest and let that round fly. The round went in almost center tore up the lung and clipped the heart. Both does jumped about 5ft into the air and took of down the hill and out of sight into the wet weather stream. My brother came in about 15min after the shot and we tracked the doe about 50yards thanks to a nice blood trail and found the doe wadded up in the bottom of the stream bed right as it started storming. My brother and I drug her what seemed like 500yards(probably less than 80yards) up hill through the heavy underbrush to the chuck wagon and my father in law showed me how to properly gut and cut a deer.

Me in orange, my father in law(the scruffy guy) and my brother
http://harv.f0e.net/hunt/DCP_2260.JPG

Here we are getting the deer ready to cut up next to my brothers spike deer
http://harv.f0e.net/hunt/DCP_2264.JPG


Second one was a buck that snuck up on me. I was sitting in my stand about an hour after sun up Monday morning and was starting to get annoyed by a red squirrel hopping about causing a ruckus. I was seriously considering putting a round into the furry bastage when I heard a twig snap almost behind me. I slowly looked around and saw this 10pt buck had ninja snuck up on me and was standing about 20-30ft away from my tree. I tried putting the scope on his shoulder, but all I could see in the glass was brown. So I looked around and found his head and put one right through his eye. Sucker didn't even twitch, just dropped like a sack of taters. No exit wound on this one and after letting the bugs eat the flesh of the head for a year I still couldn't find any sign that the bullet ever exited the head. This was my first time gutting and cutting a deer myself and lemme say what an experience. I can rest assured that I could provide for my family if that was the only way I could put meat on the table.

Freshly dead
http://harv.f0e.net/deer2010/IMG_0350.jpg

Whats hanging in the garage
http://harv.f0e.net/deer2010/IMG_0823.JPG

 

[Idaho Savage]

Yeah, certainly nothing special about the 30-30...unless its just its history.... but I doubt any cartrage has killed more whitetail deer in this country with the exception of the 22lr. It gets the job done.

okie

Do folks hunt whitetail with 22's?

 

[bohem]

Do folks hunt whitetail with 22's?

Not legally, but an awful lot are not taken legally, especially near where my parents live... it's a regular occurance for them to hear guys out spotlighting.

 

[okiefired]

Not legally, but an awful lot are not taken legally, especially near where my parents live... it's a regular occurance for them to hear guys out spotlighting.

Yep. POS poachers still prefer them because they're quiet. Also, regulations are still a relitevely modern thing. The 22lr's been around for a while. It was developed in 1887 by Stevens Arms Co. Its always been cheap, accurate and deadly on game, way back before anyone gave a shit what, where or when you shot it or what you shot it with.

okie

 

[Badger300wm]

first deer age 12 was with a savage 99 300 savage 75 yards, first elk age 14 was with a winchester 1895 270win under 100 yards. Both rifles were my grandfathers, then my dads, now mine and eventually my daughters

 

[Jim the Plumber]

My first deer , I shot with a borrowed 30-30 model 94 Winchester and if memory serves, I was using my hand loads.
I went out to an alfalfa field I worked on and had seen this deer around for the last month.
Drove my 1945 Willies jeep to the south end of the field. Waited on daylight and spotted him at about 50 yards.
Buck fever hit me and I missed the first shot off hand.
Settled down and sent the second round into his neck at about30 yards as he had closed some distance from the first shot.
This was about 30 years ago, but I still like a short barreled lever rifle.
In fact I just picked up a Marlin 336 in 30-30 with a straight grip and 18.5" barrel.



That was ~34 years ago

 

[KTDLS7]

It was my first deer hunt, Friday, Nov 16, 1962, opening day in San Saba County, Texas. I was 10, and my dad took me out of school, which to me was very cool to miss school to go deer hunting! "Opening Day" was always very important to dad. The rifle was a Win 94 30-30 he bought new in 1958, and I took a typical "central Texas 6 pt" at ~ 75yds. I was lucky to see and hit the deer - found out I needed glasses the following spring. Man, was I blind BTW, I still have the rifle.

 

[dk17hmr]

Wasn't the first deer but one we wont forget.

When my brother and I still lived at home, we might have been in college still, we got into camp a couple days before my dad. The night we got in we had a massive storm and everyone was pulling their stands because of the snow. We talked to some of the guys at camp and they said we will need at least one saw and out snow shoes to get even close to where we normally hunted, which was about 3 miles further back in than everyone else. The next morning my brother and I geared up and headed out to break trail, we only took one rifle since we were going to be running the chainsaw and 4 wheelers all day....and all day it was we got back to camp well after dark and we hadn't made it all the way back to my brothers stand which was the furthest in.

On the way out the next day we had both our rifles and had given up on the furthest stands and picked a couple of the closer ones until our dad got into camp. On the way out we were seeing a lot deer tracks in our 4 wheeler tracks. We got closer to my stand and killed the wheelers we had some stuff to pack in but with all the tracks we stopped to look to see if there was anything around. Sure enough there was a small 8 point facing us about 75 yards out in the timber on a mock scrap I made the day before. My brother was hunting with our great-grandfathers Marlin 336 in 30-30, with 170gr handloads I had shooting great, I had our grandpas Winchester 88 284 Winchester with 139gr handloads. We were both on this little bucks chest but I had already killed a nice buck with my bow earlier in the season so told my brother to take him if he wanted to....just as I said that the old 30-30 echoed through the timber. The buck just stood there, "I think you missed", my brother ran the lever and fired again, this time the buck dropped his head, turned and ran into the timber. We went to check things out knowing the buck was hit, we could not find anything, no blood, no hair, nothing. We spent half an hour doing circles looking for anything giving us an idea where the buck went. I told my brother to head out and I would look again later in the day.

So my brother heads out for one of the stands further back. I got settled in and after about an hour I went to go look again. Sure enough I found the buck, folded up, hammer dead, not 100 yards from where he had been hit. I didn't want to gut him and since it was cold enough I set off to get my brother. Needless to say my brother was pretty happy and more than willing to go gut his deer.....the thing about my brother is he has a weak stomach. He stuck the knife in and the hot air that seems to come out went right into his nose and he threw up...everywhere....I ended up gutting the deer anyways.

We got the buck loaded up on the 4 wheeler and headed back to camp, on the way in we ran into our dad who had just gotten in and was walking out to catch up with us for the evening hunt. I recall my dad saying that was one of the best things he has ever seen while hunting, his boys with a deer and rifles used by his dad and grandpa all on the 4wheeler heading for the buck pole at camp.


Pic
https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/190474_504564332521_3032_n.jpg

 

[carp]

Funny, I have a new found interest in the levergun and picked up a Marlin 336 for this deer season. After a few decades of hunting, it wont be my first deer, but my first with the old 30-30. I hunt teeny little Virginia deer in thick eastern woods so ranges will be short. The new Leverevolution 165 grain FST round has respectable specs for the venerable old cartridge. I shall post my results.

 

[GSluzenski]

First deer age 15 also with a Savage 99 300 Savage. Approximately 5 yard shot in Penn Forest Game Lands outside Kresgeville, PA in 1967. Was running toward me, let it come and shot when broadside.

 

[wvlapua]

Win model 94 30-30 borrowed from my dad harvested my first deer and a lot more after that. It had/has a 3-9 tasco mounted on an offset mount. Always shot rem core-lokt ammo with great results. Thinking back really makes me want to take it out this year. I can even remember how light weight to carry around it was. My have my hunting rigs changed.

 

[Scotchbeard]

I took my first deer with a savage 99 in 308. Fun rifle and great memories with my Dad.

 

[Infinity]

...not my first but most of the deer I've shot with a rifle have been with my stainless Marlin 1895 Big Loop. Something special about lever guns, especially when you take the effort to tune 'em and really get 'em shooting.

 

[carp]

Update:
My season is in jeopardy and my first 30-30 whitetail looks unlikely. That is of course because of the three to four week turn around time for Marlin to repair my unfired 336. The pre tapped holes in the receiver for base mounting are not exactly in line with the barrel. Off by several degrees. I even felt that I looked it over quite well when I purchased it due to all of the reported "remlin" issues. Oh well....