I used to be fortunate enough to get invited to hunt a South Texas ranch that was owned by an old Beeville family. One of the owners was a fellow graduate student and we remained friends. Except for my friend, the family was convinced that belted magnums were needed for adequate performance on South Texas deer, preferably Weatherby magnums.
My friend hunted with a classic Mannlicher-Schoenauer in 7x57, and was regarded as being desperately under-armed. They tolerated the .30-06 that I was shooting at the time, but would have been more comfortable if I had brought a belted magnum of some persuasion. During the time that I hunted there, my friend and I never shot a deer more than once nor did we lose any....
