JJ,
Your theory only has a couple of holes in it. You suggest that all hunters should be armed with 30 cal or larger rifles to hunt the big game of N Am. You seem to dismiss the 243 or 257 Roberts or 25-06 as inadequate on deer. But your suggestion allows millions to hunt with their beloved 30-30's, or 44 mags, or 444's, or 38-55's etc, etc.
Not only do the common high velocity cartridges in 24 to 28 caliber do more extensive damage to the vitals of targeted game than the 30-30. They greatly increase the chance of proper bullet placement.
The reduced recoil of these cartridges, when compared to high velocity thirties or larger, is a boon to practice and marksmanship. And the flatter trajectory of fast subcaliber cartridges makes for more accurate bullet placement than does the low velocity 30 cal or larger cartridges.
Big Stick makes some very valid points concerning bullet placement. Perhaps, if one wants to prevent the loss of marginally wounded game, we should adopt the licensing practices of some European nations. We would be far better off to insist that the hunter be capable of making an accurate shot with whatever weapon he is carrying than to insist he carry a weapon which punishes him (or her) to the point of causing inaccuracy.
I have heard many times of the moving moose target employed as a test in some countries for marksmanship testing. I would cheerfully recognize that as a prerequisite for a game license.
And as for the idiots that decided to outlaw large 22 cal centerfires for deer hunting, but to allow the use of the thirty carbine, ............well.....nuff said.
