I have noticed the 7 Rem Mag is really popular with southern whitetail hunters. Much more so than it was in PA.
In most of those cases I have seen, its guys that have gut/liver shot a deer or three with a smaller cartridge and lost it, or occasionally a guy who just had some plain bad luck. They figure they can make up for poor placement with more displacement or imagine that it buys them "insurance". The usual progression goes from either 30-30 or .243 to .270/30-06 to magnum. Once they get themselves a 7mm or 300 magnum, at least they quit blaming the gun for their poor results which is a step in the right direction. Then they start being more conservative with their shooting, perhaps practice a little, start placing shots forward of the guts and begin having success....which they attribute to their magnum rifle's superior "knockdown power". Then the next guy comes along and loses a poorly hit deer with a standard caliber. Our hero tells him he used to lose deer all the time until he got his big rifle......and the cycle repeats, and the magnums are really popular with southern deer hunters.
