Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters In defense of soft hunting bullets

^ BIG +1

Our "cult of weight retention" is crazy IMHO.

I've had nothing but great experiences from cup & core bullets on deer including core Lokts, power points, Interlocks, Hot Cors, solid bases, ballistic tips, and Pro Hunters just to name a few. I favor Interlocks & new Ballistic Tips but not because any others were lacking.

I favor behind the shoulder quartering away shots, and find both meat damage & tracking minimal with these whether using a 6-250, 257 AI, 7x57, or .30-06.

I hear this, but I have yet to experience it. I shoot deer with TSX they hit the ground.
I've actually had more deer run with cup & core bullets.

How many deer have you taken with the TSX?

I don't know about SC WT's, but in Louisiana we have river bottom, hardwood WT's and piney woods WT's. Delta deer are bigger than hill deer. I hunt river bottom deer, bucks generally are 200-225#'s, does around 140-160#'s. It would take a good sized dog...

DF

You putting those deer on a certified scale? Just curious.

Yep, we weighing them.

The only certified scales I have are at my farm and for cattle. Don't have certified at the deer camp, but pretty good std. spring type scales.

DF

Just checking, because those are really big numbers on weight for southern deer.

That said, a quarter-bore would still hammer them. A .257 Roberts might just be about the most perfect deer cartridge ever developed. The 6.5s on the x51, x55, and x57 cases are right there, too.

I hunt two properties along the Red River, 30 miles apart. The downstream area with larger bodied deer was repopulated many years ago, reportedly, with WT's from up North. The rut on the upstream property is 60 days ahead of the downstream rut. Upstream deer aren't quite as heavy and probably represent native WT's. Those does are around 120#'s, the bucks around 180#'s, although there have been a few bucks over 200#'s. The upstream deer are better protected, live longer and develop bigger racks. Culls are shot and young trophies are left to grow. On the downstream property, there is a 150 point limit, so good bucks are shot, lesser ones walk. On that property, we're growing a large population of big eight point and it takes a monster 8 point to score 150.

The numbers quoted represent the average of what we're seeing on the downstream property, every deer killed is weighed and aged, all data is recorded.

DF

That restocking information makes a lot of sense, as does the management.

And, yes, it takes a monster 8 to score 150.

Woody (or anyone) is it true Hornady dropped the SST from production or at least in some calibers? Looking for some 150gr 303s...

I think you're SOL on the SST's.

You'll never ever see me using those explosive bullets again!

DF,

There are some huge whitetails in the Mississippi Delta. Saw several when duck-hunting flooded timber there one year.

As anywhere, the body size of deer depends a lot on feed and age. There are other factors mixed in, such as altitude and latitude, but quality of food and how old they get are the biggies.

IME, it depends on velocity.

No size fits all...

DF

I never shot any in SC. A party of 4 of us never saw anything bigger than button bucks maybe 90-100 pounds. It was very unimpressive for a 5000 acre property.

Those sound about right for the WT on my family's Mississippi property. We manage them in a similar manner to what Dirtfarmer described too, so that helps.

Yep.

And, unfortunately, negative selection by hunting pressure can affect the trophy population as noted earlier. Killing 150+, letting less than 150 walk isn't a positive management plan, but in some situations it's about all you can do.

Killing older deer and letting younger ones walk is hard to do in a club setting where you have a number of shooters with varying degrees of deer judging skill. A few typically get excited and shoot what they see, thus the 150 rule with a fine.

The other property is private, not in a club. It's very secluded and the surrounding land owners got together and hired a retired game warden to patrol, which helps keep unwanted "guests" from interfering with the management protocol.

Native Delta WT's will peak out at around 8-10 yrs. and 190+ class trophies are not that uncommon. They just gotta be allowed to get that old to grow that big a rack. Otherwise, they'd be harvested at 4-5 yrs. while at 150-160 points.

Clover is planted and acorns are plentiful. Other crops like sunflowers are planted for deer and doves. The only deer feeding is on food plots. Delta ground can be that good without additional nutritional augmentation. It's all in the management.

DF

FYI, I asked Hornady about the .338 200 SST and they said it was not redesigned and in fact designed to provide "rapid expansion" and that they work well on "soft tissue." Based on my informal tests, I agree with what those statements.

Between myself and those that I hunt with 30 or more.