A lot of ignorance in this thread. That's a shame. I just finished my 30th season of deer hunting. I've carried all kinds of guns, mostly bolt actions and a bow, but I started carrying this .308 AR about 10 years ago. I'd like to share some of my experience and why I prefer an AR for deer hunting.
Here are some things I like about it:
I like that it has a vertical pistol grip. It's a much more natural wrist angle for me when my elbow is resting on something below my shoulder.
I like that I can sling it across my chest so it doesn't fall off of my shoulder, but I can still raise it to shoot very quickly if I need. Slinging the gun this way makes it easier to walk around with my climbing stand on my back - I was never able to carry my bolt guns on my shoulder without the gun/scope banging around on the stand.
Mine has a folding stock and a removeable suppressor making it more portable from a physical size perspective. This one is a bit on the heavy side, though you can build them down in the 7 lb range.
With its Geissele trigger and Bartlein barrel, it's one of the most accurate rifles I own.
The suppressor has spoiled me - so much so that I haven't deer hunted with a non-suppressed centerfire rifle in probably 7 years.
I'm not afraid to get it wet, muddy, or bloody. I can simply hose it down with brake cleaner and re-lube. I
love nice wood on guns, but I save that for the dove field and clays range.
I spent 3 years of my professional life helping to design it, so I have a lot of pride in carrying it.
The bad:
The aluminum handguard gets cold. Very cold. A couple of years ago I lost a lot of feeling in a few fingertips for months because I had my scope on a buck for about 20 minutes trying to decide if I would shoot him, and my fingerless gloves left my skin exposed to the aluminum. Most years since, I've wrapped the handguard in that self-adhesive camo wrap you can find at Academy, and that's helped a ton. I forgot to reapply it this year.
The B5 Sopmod stock I have on mine pulls out my beard. I should replace that. The stock, not the beard.
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox, but I wanted to add a little context to the thread. I'm not saying that these positive attributes are exclusive to the AR platform. Bolt action rifles have a ton of nice features, and it my 700Ti had a threaded muzzle, I'd be more apt to carry it.
www.wltactical.com
