That's what I grew up thinking, but the advent of this "Primitive Weapons" season here in LA has us shooting single shot Whelens, .444s, and .35Rem rifles at several animals each fall and winter. I'm changing that notion to "Tissue Damage Kills".

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This was another animal that fell to a 358win-level handload in my 35 Whelen Apex (225NAB at 2,430fps). It quartered through him and he made it about 5 yards before piling up. Looking at the 20 or so animals we've shot on our place in recent years with that Whelen load or polymer-tipped FTX Hornady loads in 444 or 35Rem, all have been handled just as well as a 7mm RM, .270Win, 30-06, or the like. Granted, we limit shots to 250yds or so with the single shots, but even lung shots result in lots of blood and fairly short death runs. So, in light of what I've seen, my perspective has changed somewhat. There really is more than one way to skin a cat, and 200-265gr at 2,200-2,500 get things done just as well as anything when the distances are not too far and your bullet choice allows for good expansion. Some guys I know who mostly hunt shorter-range spots have taken to hunting their Primitive Weapons rifles all season long.

As an aside, that hog slid out of my truck as I bounced through some pretty good mud holes last night coming out of the woods. After dragging him up a wooden ATV ramp once already, I said screw it and pulled him out with a ratchet strap through the hocks and looped over my trailer ball. Coyotes don't care about a few scuffs and some mud on their supper. grin


Now with even more aplomb