'Tis the stuff many a magazine article was made of back in the 60's and 70's. There are a lot of hunters out there with mis-guided beliefs fueled by old wive's tales, rumor, and innuendo. See the deer, shoot the deer- it ain't rocket science. Sometimes I think we mind-f*ck this whole business of shooting deer. I'm as guilty as the next guy for having fretted over the ideal deer hunting rig, but the simple truth is put any old bullet of any old caliber into the right spot and the deed is done. Truth be told, I've killed as many if not more deer in my life with .45 and .50 caliber round balls at 16-1700fps as with all the centerfire rifles at my disposal. I prefer to save my fretting for stuff that really matters- which beer to drink on Friday night and which color underwear to put on in the morning!
I mostly agree, there was a thread.. whats the ideal deer rifle? Whatever the heck I have in my hand. I've said it before and will say it again, I"d have no qualms with a 22LR if it was legal.
I will say some deer just don't die, I've seen a couple of examples of double lungs that survived. But those are REALLY RARE.
There are always going to be some circumstances that dictate either having the right gun or shot choice, or passing the shot, but thats the case regardless generally speaking.
Brush bucking, well I was taught to miss anything between myself and the animal was the only sure way. If I just had to... I'd actually probably prefer #4 buck and close enough.. or #1, lots more "chances"
And I've been deflected twice. Once a lost deer, that lived IMHO, broke his leg low after hitting a vine I never saw. And once a missed deer, and I looked and looked for that deer, then went and shot the gun and it hit a dime size marker at that distance so even though I never found the twig, I dang sure never found the deer or buzzards either.
