Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting You can't kill a deer around here with THAT!

There are no bullet proof deer. Just deer-proof (horse-pucky) shooters. Deer can be killed with a 22 short, if hit in the right place. I "know a guy" who killed one with a .17 pellet gun pellet, traveling just over 900 fps. A target point at that!

You can include west Texas in this. I was told not to bring my 25-06 back as the land owner suggested they may be able to kill a deer if you are close enough but not as far away as 100 yards. :-)

I didn't want to bring it up, for fear of discouraging a few of our members, but thank you for giving me a chance to clear my consceince. It has become a well know fact that 250 Savage, 300 Savage, and basically any round fired through a Savage Model 99 are incapable of stopping deer. I know you guys have been looking for a way to justify not using these guns, so I suggest you immediately send them all to me for proper disposal. Especially the factory engraved, and other "high end" models. I realize this is a huge sacrifice on my part to take these guns off your hands, but what can I say? I'm just one hell of a humanitarian. It has also come to my attention that any scopes by Zeiss, Schmitt & Bender, and Leuopold share the same affliction. They may be forwarded to me for proper dispersal, er, disposal, I mean. While we're on the topic, it would be a good idea to forward all pre-64 model 70's, regardless of caliber, because they have also been determined to be non-lethal on deer in all states. This is a limited time offer, so be sure to pack them defective shottin' irons up and get them off to me within the next 1 to 2 decades for proper dispersal. (Dadgummit-that was supposed to DISPOSAL.)

Might as well throw SE KY into their somewhere. My Cousin traded in his old Ruger M77 tang in .25-06 for a Walmart special Rem 700 in 7mm Mag. Seems he can't get to the range often enough so he decided to go bigger. Jeeze, if he wasn't family.

Rest of us will continue to make do with our .243, .257 Bob, .270 and 7mm-08's just fine. We'll just have to pick out the smaller deer I guess

Here is the main problem with this database. Many deer sensing danger will use their keen sense of trigonometry and algebra and will compute the exact trajectory of the bullet and then step directly behind that 1/2 inch diameter branch or limb that you did not see in your 6.5 x 20 x 50mm illuminated reticle astronomical quality 2 pound rifle scope set at 20X. Thus we must also correlate lost deer with not only the toughness of their hides but also their mathmatical abilities. Your 12 pound 300 WSM may be just fine and dandy as well as your 22-250 in certain areas regards hide toughness, however the data could be skewed due to our disregard in this database for the deers ability to cipher mathmatics, you know like naught plus naught equals naught and you carry the naught.

You see alot of 7mm Rem Mags here. Especially in Browning BARs. Alot of them talk about taking offhand shots at 300 yards and that they've lost deer that they've "bloodied" and couldn't find. Apparently, their 270 (which probably is the only cartridge more popular here than the 7 mag) couldn't "cut it" that far out on a sub 100lbs whitetail. So, the bigger gun gets bought and since it's a semi-auto, a few rounds can be "thrown at" the deer as dogs push it past a road, right of way, clear cut, etc. These same people tell me that my 243 "should" work if I hit them just right. Who'd a thunk it.

I shot a doe this year with my AR15 .223.One shot to her neck at 10yds did the job like hitting her with a bat!Bullet was a winchester 64gr power point loaded with 2015 powder.

Jeez, Glock, why didn't you just stab her with the bayonnet? Ya gotta quit taking them long shots, man.

Shaman: IME the highest proportion of bullet-proof deer reside in Central Canada. In Alberta, I have had otherwise pretty intelligent guys(mostly state-side hunters) look me straight in the eye,and swear that you were doomed to failure on those ironclad bucks without a 300 RUM, and better still a 338 RUM..... (I did not have the nerve to ask what these guys considered fully adequate elk cartridges)

I have seen both these cartridges in use up there along with one 30-378. 300 Weatherby's are common and the 7 rem mag I carried seemed like chump change in comparison. The times I carried a 270 I was regarded as some kind of dangerous nut, severely handicapped given the "size" of these bucks and those enormormous fields (usually these Alberta bucks are compared to deer from NY or New Jersey,and are "way bigger";hence the need for heavy armament).

Apparently this genetic strain of super-whitetail spills over into Saskatchewan as well, where a lot of 300 mags with 26" barrels find there way into tree stands overlooking bait piles where the average shooting distances are about 75 yards. These rifles are customarily topped off with 4-14x56 variables, to take advantage of that last scintilla of light, even though Saskatchewan ends hunting at sundown, at least the last time I was there.When you suggest that a light 22" barreled 30/06 might be handier,well you can imagine the rest...

With thoughts of Saskatchewan whitetails weighing a whole 350 pounds and guys who feel a 180 gr bullet at 3400 fps is a minimal whitetail load, the whole scene in Saskatchewan took on a carnival-like atmosphere. I have not been back in a decade..............my last Alberta buck was killed with a 270...

Bob,

The first time I hunted deer in Alberta, back in 1993, there were six guys in camp. Three had 7mm Remington Magnums, one had a .300 Wnchester Magnum, and one had a .300 Jarrett. The other (clueless) guy had a .280.

The clueless .280 guy was paired up with a guide who really liked the .25-06 for Alberta deer. He was in his mid-50's and had killed quite a few over the years. He asked the .280 guy, "What did they bring those big rifles for? They ain't huntin' elephants!"

The .280 guy shot a buck that field-dressed 225 pounds at 300 yards. The pitiful little 150-grain Nosler Partition went right through both shoulders. The deer hadn't read any magazine articles, however, and fell right over.

I cant vouch for this from personal experience but the gang down at the local rifle range tell of mule deer in the southern end of the Bighorns that simply cant be killed with bullets moving less than 2900 fps. According to this group of stalwart deer hunters it is just about pointless to use a cartridge with a MV of less than 2900 on muleys out in the sage hills.

I have never encountered any of these rugged deer but Ive heard the talk at the range. Funny how the guys doing the talking usually break out boxes of factory ammo with "Core Lokt" on the box when its time to sight in.

Why the magic number is 2900 I dont know and have no plans to ask. How they know their bullets are going that fast I also have no plans to ask. Its more fun to just listen.

Uh oh, the bullet from my 300 Savage may bounce off of one this weekend. It's only starting out around 2700 feet per second!

Mathman, did you see my earlier post on this topic? Read it quickly, and you'll have a definitive answer to your "Savage" issue. By the way-please include shipping and handling BOTH WAYS just in case I decide I don't need it.

I'm OK, my 300 Savage is a Remington 700.

I know I've posted this before but heck it's a free country (grin). This deer didn't know that 100gr Core-Lokts handloaded into a 243 Win launched at 20ish yards would bounce off. The mail ran slow that day so he never got the memo in time.

JB: See, the guy with the 280 had not been properly indoctrinated.... Poor innocent soul most likely has spent too many years rolling elk in Montana with 270's and 30/06's !!

I had a guy from NY,with a straight face, tell me the 270 was a chump whitetail and mule deer round, maybe OK for small southern deer from the lower 48, but unsuitable for Canada. I REALLY wonder about where this notion comes from?

We really should not be TOO hard on the 7 mag users,though...

Bob...go easy on those 7mm mag users

They would just love me and my 7mm-08s

Oldguns: I'll try..... I always thought we were pretty rational people!!

Shaman,

I just happen to live on the border line of a ballistic differential. Just the other night around the camp fire I discovered from several lease members that on the north side of the fire it required at least a 30 caliber cartridge to harvest the average size whitetail where on the south side of the fire anything over a .270 was an over kill.

I told them that it was just dumb luck that we built our camp fire directly on the border line on that of such a ballistic situation. I also told them I needed to collect some money from each member, so I could have new maps made with caliber requirements posted directly on the map.

I collected 8 dollars before half of them caught on.

Hoot