you guys must hunt under pristine conditions and nothing like a walking deer in early light ever happened to you, so you can post your "don't shoot trees" comments. Reality sucks outside the campfire and the internet, sh-t does happen and if the deer is walking at the edge of a thicket, sh-t is more likely to happen, or you could just let him walk. I chose to shoot.
Now back to the original question, just for the fun of it, do you think your 75Amax or 77TMK would make it through a 1 inch sapling into a deer neck as well as a 150 grain 308 bullet would?
I hit a finger sized limb betwixt me and a deer with my .243 a few years ago. Killed the deer deader than shyt. Blew the top of it's head right off actually. Only problem is, I was aiming behind it's shoulder. You were lucky just as I was that day. The deer, not so much.
I did that too, on a blesbok in South Africa with a 30-06AI and a "spartan" bullet, which is South Africa's version of a TSX.
Shot was maybe 60-70 yards. Aiming tight behind the shoulder, I hit a branch a few feet in front of him about the size of my thumb...maybe a little smaller than my wrist. Bullet tumbled, smacked the blesbok in the neck and broke it, but he was still breathing. I had to put my PH's 9mm to the back of its head to finish him off.
Anyone want to comment that a 30-06AI (basically a 300 mag of some sort) and a 180 mono isn't adequate for normal sized critters except under perfect conditions?
