If I'm not mistaken the DEERFEILD was the second Ruger semi auto .44mag with the gerand type action like theM 1, mini -14 /M14 rifle .The early guns like mine were caller DEERSTALKER ,but Ithaca sued Ruger in the late 60's because Deerstalker sounded like DEERSLAYER the famous Ithaca Model 37 pump shotgun,so after that the gun was just called the .44 Carbine until production ceased in 1986 due to lack of sales and cost of manufacturing .
A few years later Ruger came out with the DEERFEILD series of rifles and that only lasted a few years.They still had the lever gun and the 77/44 and production cost were much lower and again cut the semi auto from the line .I.M.H.O. the Deerfield was never the gun the Deerstalker /carbine was/is quality wise .
I wish Ruger would again pick up production of the Deerstalker ,I know there labor intensive and they would be expensive to build ,but I believe that there are folks that would buy one in a New York minute + it would get the parts flowing again .
I don't shoot mine much just for fear of parts breakage ,Just a few rounds every year to check zero and then only if I get a shot at a deer .
This gun is my favorite deer rifle .My county is shotgun only ,but you can shoot slugs here from the ground .About 5 years ago the board of supervisors had changed it to a rifle county ,but you had to be 10' off the ground to hunt with a rifle ,not so for a black powder or slug gun and both of those are still legal to hunt with from the ground ,now figure that one out for me .It was the lazy arsed truck hunters who didn't want rifles in the county .They drop their dogs and chase the deer around in there trucks ,scared they might have to work a little to kill a deer .So now were back to shot gun only ,slug or buck shot and they line the fire roads 50 -75 yards apart waiting for a deer to jump the road with the dogs on there tail .I guess they think buckshot won't hurt them at that range .That's why I quit hunting with the clubs around here .
If they line a road and the dogs jump up a deer and it isn't going towards the hunt line they make a mad scramble for their trucks and go cut the deer off .The hunt club I used to belong to did this .You went to your stand and then they put out the dogs .If the dogs did a 180 on you ,hard cheese you sat right there on your stand and you waited for 1 1/2 2 hours until the dog driver blew the all clear on the truck horn .That way you didn't have folks wandering around in the woods .Safety was never an issue that way .
The way these 'ol boys here do it is just an accident waiting to happen .So I just hunt a few private spots way up in my climbing stand .At least that way I'm 25' up off the ground so if some knot head shoots down through the bush they'll miss me + I can see them coming long before they see me .Hell I'd rather still hunt anyway and most times I use my side lock black powder anyway .You can hunt with your black powder all through fire arms season .
I do have a scoped in line B.P. and a slug gun ,but unless I'm hunting the edge of a field and have a chance at a shot over 100 yards I just use the side lock .If the dogs are out and running I'll break out my Mossberg ,it's a buckshot sniper rifle anyway .I've made clean one shot kills on deer at 75 yards with it with that buck kicker choke tube in it .Here's a pic of it .
Lou
