Buying a gun to hunt.

My hunting experience began when I was 12, with a BB-gun and then moved to a borrowed .22 caliber rifle, then a 4-10 shotgun in high school.  The game I have hunted until now includes rabbit, squirrel, pheasant and quail.  Should I be nervous about shooting bigger game?  I think that it will be different but I don't think deer and elk are more difficult than other animals, other than shooting longer distances I should be OK! 

After some research and advice from many different sources I decided to go with a 30-06 rifle.  The reason was cost of gun, ammo and versatility of game I can shoot with it.  I looked online (Gunbroker.com) and at stores like Bass Pro and Cabelas but ended up buying it at our local Tanner Gun show.  I decided on a Mossberg 30-06 with a scope for around $500 and added a bi-pod, sling and cleaning kit from Amazon.  At the gun show I had to pay for a background check ($10) that took only 20 minutes, and which I think is very important!

The next step was to “sight-in” the scope by shooting the gun.  I did this at my friend’s house (Terry) on several acres near Fort Collins.  Terry has a shooting area set up behind his house that is 100 yards.  We stapled six targets; three on top and three on bottom.  We also marked any bullet holes with a marker so even if I didn't hit any targets we would be able to see it on the boards.  It took 11 shots with adjustments to the scope in between shots to “sight it” in.  I am going to try and shoot it one more time before I hunt. Both of my tags are for November.