Mike, one of the two best deer hunters I have ever known used a .35 Rem. when I first met him more than 50 years ago.. He was from your part of the country, and had killed 23 bucks in a row with that .35..It was either a 14 or 141.. I am not sure now, I am I not sure I ever knew.. In those days killing a buck every year was quite a feat.. Not many did it.. He also was not just a stand hunter.. In those long ago days, there were NO tree stands, and NO buildings elevated off the ground to hunt deer, and NO food plots... All quite common now.. Dick could still hunt whitetails in heavy cover.. He shot several bucks in their beds..
After our first meeting, I saw him several years later, and he was packing a 721 Rem. in .300 mag.. It was a wildcat made by some gunsmith in Indiana, Pa. Dick was even more deadly with this out fit.. He killed several bucks across old fields that would simply never have been taken with the .35..
In those days, guys who owned and shot magnums were very, very, few.. The were limited to the very best shooters in that area.. Guys who shot all the time, and were able to utilize the added range and power of the bigger rifles.. Often, they filled the tags of .30-30 shooters who could spot deer across a field or on anther mt., but completely out of range for the carbines so popular then.. This was NOT legal, but it was done..
The one thing that I see as a reason for the increase in mag.s in your area, is the current hunting conditions.. I have hunted in Pa. some since I retired in 1999.. Each year there are more posters, more tree houses, more food plots.. One of the guys I know has crippled bucks the last two out of three years.. They got one, but the other escaped.. He shot a .25-06.. But he is not shooter enough to be killing bucks at 400 yards, no matter what he shoots..
But back to the .300's.. In those long ago days, only very experienced shooters bought those calibers along with various 7mm mag. wildcats.. They liked the longer shots, so they went with those calibers.. Often they had several other rifles for woods hunting.. But I feel, guys saw the shots they were able to make, because of their rifles AND because they were skilled shooters, so the once a year hunter runs out and buys a big gun and doesn't shoot it any more that he shot a .30-30... Buying a rifle doesn't make up for practice, but I am sure you know that.
It is interesting to me to look back on more than half a century of hunting and notice the changes that have gone on...
Some good, some not so good..
