Should you use a shotgun or rifle to hunt deer in pennsylvania?

Question

i cant make up my mind, i want a gun that will kill turkey and deerif anyone has a sugestion please let me know.....

Answer 1

You need a shotgun for turkey and I would recommend a rifle for deer a 30.06 is the most common but there is other calibers you can buy. I f you don't have much too spend look at the Savage you can get them in 30.06 caliber with scope mounted on it for about $400. Also check on the county you are going to be hunting in to see if you are allowed to use a rifle, there is a couple places in PA where you are not allowed to.

Answer 2

Shotgun.

Answer 3

First I would check with the county that you live in to see which one you can use. If you have already done this or you already know. I would suggest

Rifle, preferably 30/30 or a 30/06 these work good with Whitetail plus you don't need to be as close and can keep the element of surprise by not leaving your blind to go into the shooting lane to get one. I would especially use a 30/30 on turkey, don't want to damage the meat, just put the animal down. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

If you really wanted to, you could get both a Mossberg 500 12ga and a Mossberg 100atr bolt action rifle for around $450 - $500 new.

The 500 normally goes for $200 give or take and the 100atr I have seen for under $300 with a scope. Or you could look at some used shotguns/rifles and might get a better deal than that. Mossberg is a good brand tho.

Answer 5

If you want to hunt turkey and deer with the same firearm, a 12-gauge is the way to go.  You can buy a Mossberg for a reasonable price, and get a rifled barrel for deer hunting.  It is still a compromise, but you can achieve good accuracy with a rifled barrel and sabot slugs.

Answer 6

If you can use a rifle for deer, I recommend that over a shotgun. You can reach out allot farther allot easier with the rifle. You have to use a 12 gauge for turkey for the best results.

Answer 7

depends on where you are hunting, Like an open corn field or a heavy dense bush. If you are hunting in a open corn field the get the rifle, if you are hunting in a dense bush the get a shotgun or a 30-30 marlin rifle

Answer 8

a 300 win mag is your best bet you can drop a big buck from 500 yards or if u can find a 280 i have killed many deer with mine.

Answer 9

Most deer are killed around 50 yards. And if you hunt in the woods, the distance is going to be just that. I do think a shotgun with a rifled barrel would be the way to go because you're saving a lot money as opposed to buying a new rifle.

Now if you're shooting over fields over 100 yards, I think a rifle would be better just because because of trajectory aspect of it. The savage/stevens, howa, mossberg, the new bolt action marlin, etc would be an excellent bargain priced rifle.

Also depends on whether or not you shoot at the range. Shotgun slugs are very expensive and are meant to be shot only a few times a year to make sure it's zeroed.

Certain rifle calibers are cheap enough where you can shoot them a little more during the year.

Answer 10

You can use either one.* Shotgun or Rifle.* You decide.*

Answer 11

Okay I know I'm gonna get a lot of guff for this but rifles for deer/turkey??!! Are you serious?! Man and I thought the Patriots were cheaters HAHA. Okay seriously though if you want to hunt just for a brief pass time of an hour or two in the field and never really have to delve into being serious, a rifle is the perfect choice. Reason being is a rifle makes up for a lot of mistakes. If your noisy and deer/turkey won't move in on ya they still are in the kill zone for 100-200-300 yards. If you refuse to wash yourself/clothes/equipment in scent free stuff well once again you'll still be able to shoot deer/turkey which smell ya.

However if you want to actually feel what it is like to watch a deer or turkey work it's way in towards ya from upwind...heart seriously pounding so hard your toes are hurting! Go with the shotgun! Yeah a ton of practice/rifled barrel can make a hundred yard shot with a shotgun possible but come on atleast your not shooting something that even if they looked at ya wouldn't even see ya. Also you gotta think about where your gonna be hunting? If Pennsylvania is like what I think you guys aren't some prairie filled or huge rocky areas. You have woods, which unless you hunt along a clearing your never going to have to shoot over 50-80 yards. I've been hunting solid since I was 13 now and haven't shot a deer over 33 yards away. Now I mainly bow hunt but also use shotgun and muzzleloader. And believe or not I've shot 6 deer under or at 10 yards away! Adrenaline BABY!!!

So think about where ya gonna be hunting and how serious of a thrill you wanna have! As long as your eating what your killing and out in the field I'd call it a winning situation!

*getting bow would be best : )*

Answer 12

No way man, you gotta bring in the heavys, use a bazooka!!!