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BobinNH Offline OP
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I know most deer don't run this big,but still they exist over a pretty wide range of whitetail and mule deer country. What's curious is that these are the one's that seem to cause so much concern for some folks when it comes to rifles and cartridges...judging from some posts here,and from many conversations with other hunters,they seem to be concerned that these animals are really "tough".....

I get in these conversations with some traveling hunters headed "out West",and especially Central Canada who think things like 300 RUM's etc are absolutely essential for deer in this weight class.Up there,I've had guys armed with 338 RUM's look at me seriously and tell me that using anything smaller than a 180 gr bullet at 3100 on these 300 pound deer,and you might as well be using a fly-swatter.

Can anyone explain this? Even a 300 pound deer is not a particularly large animal.....is this the threshhold in weight for moving to a big belted 30 for some guys?





The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Does it take more killing power to put down a 300 lb deer than a 800 pound elk? 300 lb is not that big as big game standards go; maybe it is just a reason (and who really needs one!) to justify purchasing a new rig in a higher power cartridge than the hunter already owns? For 300 lb deer I would probably choose a .270 WIN, but that is because it is already my favorite. On the other hand I know my .338 WIN MAG would be "enough gun" to get the job done as well. Maybe hunting loonies are a lot like rifle loonies and just like tinkering with different stuff.


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Deer, like many other animals, have become armor plated, haven't you realized that yet? But seriously, I think a lot can be attributed to some writers (are you listening Lee Hoots?). I've read articles that lead you to believe that if you hunt deer with less then a 300 magnum of some sort, you're undergunned. There's other reasons no doubt, but more and more I see articles implying you need something that large with a premium bullet. I've always been of the stance that when using good cartridges, a C & C is tough to beat. I've been using them as long as I've been hunting. It's all I've ever needed and never had a deer I've hit where I've wanted run more than a few steps and I've shot some pretty big deer.

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Bob - I don't expect to ever shoot a 300 lb. deer, but just in case, I always hunt deer with my elk rifle, a .270 winchester.

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Have an acquaintance that goes to Saskatchewan/Alberta for whitetails. After the first trip he came back and ordered a .300 Jarrett. When asked why, he said many in his camp thought a .300WM is minimum for the big deer you may come across up that way. No way you could convince him of anything other. I think it becomes a going with the herd mentality.

That rifle with a muzzle brake is the most obnoxious rifle I have ever been around.


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There is rampant obesity in america's deer herd. Just as with children they spend too much time on the XBox and eating junk food. laugh

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I don't know about other folks, but I would take the possibility of a 300 pound deer seriously. I'd go so far as considering 165 grain bullets instead of the usual 150 for my 300 Savage. grin

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BobinNH Offline OP
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battue: Glad I'm not the only one that runs into that "mind set"; ......I wonder sometimes where this mentality came from?




The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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The first time I hunted deer in Canada was in Alberta. Of the six hunters in camp I brought the smallest rifle, a .280 Remington and handloads with 150-grain Nosler Partitions. The other guys all had various 7mm and .300 magnums, including one who brought a wildcat .300 that just about duplicated the .300 Weatherby.

I killed my buck (a 300-pound mule deer) with one shot at 300 yards. The guy who brought the .300 wildcat didn't get a deer, because he couldn't shoot straight. (His guide, by the way, used a .25-06 on those 300-pound deer and wonder why the guy had brought a .300 magnum. "Are we hunting elephants?" he asked me.)

The odd thing is that today 1/2" accuracy is also required to kill those 300-pound deer. Somehow as they get bigger they get harder to hit!


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Seen it lots myself..It always tends to be the more expensive the hunt, the bigger the gun is.

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I'm not sure if it's the published word or hunting shows on TV, but it appears as if many people are moving away from "potentially" having to blood trail a shot deer and subscribing more to the infamous "bang flop" theory. I've seen this before in camps where a guy shows up each year with a bigger cartridge and the funny thing is he had not shot anything with the one he had last year. Inexperience has a lot to do with it I think. Unless you shoot Texas whitetail.....then you NEED a bigger gun. <grin>

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My brother took one down with archery equipment this last year.......oops!


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BobinNH Offline OP
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Tom: How can you kill a big deer with a stick and string?It shouldn't have happened! smile

The big deer/big rifle mind set seems more obvious the further north you go.....

Been to Saskatchewan a few times, where many hunts are conducted from tree stand sor ground blinds and shooting distances are at under 150 yards.The number of 26" barreled 300 Whatevers is enough to give you pause....













The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Course I didnt' NEED to use my 50 bmg on deer either, but its been fun....


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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The biggest deer I have seen taken at long range (423 yards lasered after the shot) was a western Nebraska mule deer that probably did weigh in excess of 300 lbs. alive. My younger daughter shot this animal with about a half-hour of daylight remaining on the last day of a hard Sandhills hunt. She used a 7mm-08 with a 120 grain Nosler Solid Base bullet. The deer was hit a bit farther back than we would have liked, but the bullet still got both lungs and exited. The buck walked about 10-15 yards and collapsed before she could get off another shot.

Another big-bodied Wyoming mule deer taken with one shot by one of my hunting companions back in the 1960s was killed at over 400 yards with a .243 with a 100 grain Nosler Partition.

Conversely, I have helped trail many, many wounded deer (both whitetails and mulies) shot with various high powered magnums from the 7mm Rem Mag up. More than I would have liked could not be recovered...

Last edited by mudhen; 05/13/09.

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Originally Posted by BobinNH
Tom: How can you kill a big deer with a stick and string?It shouldn't have happened! smile
I dont know, maybe luck?! cool
Originally Posted by BobinNH
The number of 26" barreled 300 Whatevers is enough to give you pause....
I can only imagine...I guess I would be undergunned with my little .308 frown











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The guys that I've met that thought the .300 magnums where necessary all seem to have a hunting "method" called getting the buck up at whatever yardage, dumping a box of cartriages in your hat and then shooting at him until you ran out of cartriages or you got him.
Yeah, I can see where that might be needed.... E

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Quote
I get in these conversations with some traveling hunters headed "out West",and especially Central Canada who think things like 300 RUM's etc are absolutely essential for deer in this weight class.Up there,I've had guys armed with 338 RUM's look at me seriously and tell me that using anything smaller than a 180 gr bullet at 3100 on these 300 pound deer,and you might as well be using a fly-swatter.


Once they get their retinas re-attached they will probably use something more mundane the top end being a 7 Rem mag and the bottom a 243. If you watch some of these TV hunting shows they are only using what most of the "pushers" on these shows suggest.

I guess no Canadian whitetail prior to 1998 was ever recovered after being shot in a vital zone.

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BobinNH Offline OP
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The guys that seem to do well with the bigger guns are the one's that use them for everything,and shoot a lot.Most of these guys seem to be experienced and know they aren't necessary. But they tend to be one-rifle hunters who know their rifles well.

It's the inexperienced one's that think they need a big rifle for a big deer that seem to have a lot of problems.Like the guy JB ran into in Alberta.




The 280 Remington is overbore.

The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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zackly!!

I've got big guns & little guns, sometimes i carry a big gun for fun when i know very well it's "overkill"


my biggest problem is with finding a 300# deer!! WTF?? grin

I aint shot one i can honestly say dressed at 200 yet!! frown

have I shot 180 lb deer with a 300 wby? yep, but mostly with a .243, .308, 30-06 etc.


Something clever here.

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