This discussion of what to use on a �shot of a lifetime� inspired me to make a list of my open-country game of 400 pounds or less that night be considered shots of a lifetime, since they all required years (and often multiple hunts) to acquire. I came up with 10 animals:
Mule deer, Montana, .280 Remington, 160-grain Nosler Partition.
Mule deer, Sonora, .300 Winchester Magnum, 168 Barnes TSX
Caribou, Nunavut Territory, .30-06 w/180-grain Federal Deep-Shok
Caribou, Northwest Territory, .280 Remington,160-grain Nosler Partition
Coues deer, Sonora, 7x57, 139-grain Hornady BTSP Interlock
Pronghorn buck, Wyoming, .257 Weatherby Magnum,100-grain Barnes TSX
Pronghorn buck, Montana, .257 Roberts, 100-grain Nosler Partition
Red stag, New Zealand, .30-06, 185-grain Berger Hunting VLD
Cape kudu, South Africa, .30-06, 180-grain Nosler Partition
The last is my single wild sheep. I�ve never had much desire to take any wild sheep except a Montana bighorn, and in 35+ years of applying have never drawn a ram tag. At this point it looks like it might never happen, but did draw a ewe tag a few years ago, and used a 7x57 with a 160-grain Sierra GameKing.
Half these animals were taken between 360 and 450 yards, and while three received a second shot, all except one were killed with the first shot. Only two involved much of a �wind call,� the Wyoming pronghorn and Nunavut caribou. The pronghorn was hit correctly, but I missed the caribou on the first shot, because the stalk required a long belly-crawl to within 450 yards, and lying down on the tundra didn�t provide sufficient clues about the considerable wind speed. (They don�t call northern Canada the �barren grounds� for nothing.) The first bullet landed just in front of the bull�s chest, by an inch or two, but the second took out the top of the heart.
The only animals where bullet penetration might have been an issue were the Cape kudu and Sonora mule deer. The kudu was taken with a shot of almost 400 yards at an extreme uphill angle, the bullet hitting the shoulder about halfway up, then breaking the bottom of the spine, due to the angle, ending up under the hide on top of the far shoulder. The Sonora mule deer was running almost directly away at about 200 yards, and the bullet struck just in front of the left hip, ending up under the hide in front of the right shoulder.
Obviously I don�t use deep-penetrating bullets for all my hunting, but do tend to err more that way than high-BC when trophy hunting, having found extra penetration to make a difference more often than a little higher BC. But that�s just me.
Dunno what I�ll use if a Montana bighorn tag ever shows up in the mail.
