Shrike,
No disrespect intended or taken. By the way, from your handle, do you or have you been involved with explosives? A "shrike" was part and parcel of my kit as an Officer in the Royal Engineers. But, I digress...
I, too, have shot extensively in Germany and Poland, but cannot stand the "Hochsitz" methodology - it is so remote from the hunt. I do, however, like the training each hunter must undertake to obtain the "Jagdschein", which invokes a sense of professionalism and pride, I guess. In the UK, we have a similar system in place, managed by a national body and is called the Deer Management Qualification. Typically, we use the glass and stalk method, which akin to your earlier post, requires solid fieldcraft. Get it right and you might well approach a deer to within a few metres. Get it wrong and all you may see is a flash of white erectile hair, as they pronk off into the distance. In this area, we have some fine animals, mainly roe, fallow and sika, with the occasional red thrown in.
Due to the codes of conduct we have to abide by and more recently, an edict from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the preferred target area is the classic high heart / lung area. A larger deer may run off, but will not go very far. However, there are other options, such as high and low neck or a frontal shot into the "stick hole" at the junction between chest and neck. It will floor any beast, but the gralloch is very messy, as it ruptures the diaphragm, rumen and bowels (see FSA above). I would imagine that hot copper up the chuff would have a similar effect. I have tried all of the above over the years, but the classic "broadside" is my preferred entry point, as it offers a clean dispatch and very little spoiling of the carcass - it is known as the "Butcher's shot". Distance wise, we try to get as close as possible, but 50-150 metres tends to be the norm. As we mostly shoot off cross-sticks or from around a tree trunk, that is a fair distance to ensure the required precision.
Calibre tends to be a personal affair, but with the police and government's attitude to firearms ownership, "less is more". However, the 1991 Deer Act states a minimum calibre of .240", i.e. the .243 is king. That said, I have been doing it for a good while and like to be awkward. As I guide occasionally for continental hunters, I shoot a metric (6.5 mm Swedish), which drops deer like Thor's hammer with a homeloaded 160gr Hornady. For the Yanks, I have a .30-06 and a .30-30 underlever, just to make them feel at home. I cherish them all, but have to admit that my hand falls to the 6.5 every time, unless there are pigs in my area, which was the case a few months ago.
As with most things, it's horses for courses. But, most animals are not bullet proof, so I find a little patience and confidence in the rifle wins every time. If an arrow will bleed out a deer, so will a bullet of reasonable calibre and weight, if well placed in the engine room.
Greetings from these shores.
Jacobite
