Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Do you still consider bullet frontal area?

So DD, what’s the story on the gun barrel? I assume it’s a mini-gun barrel that took a round?

It was a mini that got hit with an AK round. Still in touch with the fella that was my observer that day and he still carries a jacket fragment in the side of his left hand. 3 souvenirs with one shot that day.

Good story and a great souvenir to back it up 😊

I shoot a 6.8 SPC 110 gr Barnes TTSX or Sierra Pro Hunter.

I've been using a CVA single shot chambered in 35 Remington during primitive arms season for awhile and it never fails to satisfy. Hogs and deer hate it.

I've done a lot of range work and culling recently and note that I shoot my supressed 243 much better and that frontal area does not matter much with that level of precision and frequency of opportunity where passing on a shot is just less to carry.

When I travel away to hunt for elusive game in rough terrain with rare and fleeting shot opportunities I use my 7-08. At no point after I've made a shot in low light in the woods do I think to myself "if only I'd used my 243"

Well my 444 marlin's "frontal area" seems to make some difference over my 7x57, with larger entrance and exit holes anyway.

Yes I've had these thoughts, especially when hunting narrow long right of way cuts through thick timber or brush. I think it is just pre hunt anxiety mostly, because when you see an exit wound on a deer, can you tell what caliber it was killed with? I wouldn't want to bet much on getting this right, because I've seen some large exits from a .270 Speer hotcor and some small exits from a 7mm accubond and .300 TSX.

I personally would want to choose a "deer" bullet and try to pay close attention to exact location where critter was at last sighting with any caliber because there may not be any blood on the ground at beginning of death sprint.

Good point on trying to mentally mark the location of the animal before the shot. It's a sensible tactic, when there is time to do so.

I'm having another thought about reasons to not use small calibers in bad weather, or thick and heavy cover.

Imagine you and your buddies are back at camp cooking dinner after a cold misty day. The last man comes in after dark and before you have eaten, and says hey everybody will you help me look for a wounded deer, I seen him buck at the shot but can't find him?
Are your thoughts likely to be more enthusiastic toward spending a couple of hours in wet brush with a flash light if the hunter used a .243 or a .308?

Our Mississippi lease is on paper company land. We have food plots surrounded by thick planted pines and hardwood creek bottoms. Last year I shot two does on consecutive days from the same plot. Both were shot while crossing in the woods behind the food plot at a distance of 130-40 yards.

The first with a 25-06 loaded with Hornady 117gr. BTSP at approx. 3000 fps. The bullet impacted the near shoulder and exited behind the off side shoulder. The second was with a 35 Whelen loaded with Hornady 200gr. SP at approximately 2700 fps. That shot impacted behind the near shoulder and exited the offside shoulder. At the shot both jumped and kicked then took off running before piling up within 50 yards. Both blood trails were easy to follow and you could not have said which bullet produced the better trail. In that instance I saw no advantage to either velocity or bullet frontal area.

That being said I'm a product of a generation that places more trust in a bigger bullet. I will be using a .243 this year and have had success with it before but I will be using it on morning stands where I have daylight to recover the deer or hog.

I found the 375 was particularly emphatic in killin deer.

Mine has always been effective....works on Antelope also! I’ve observed that if you start with a larger diameter bullet, and push it pretty fast.....it gains substantial “frontal area”! memtb

Used to, 358 pills were my benchmark on critters. From 35 rem cast wfngc, to 180-225 CCs at 358 speeds. As the years have gone by, bullets have gotten better and better, and I can see identical results with anything 6mm-30, with the right bullets at the right velocities, as I used to want a 35-something for. Now, I load a 357 max spiffy, with both cast and CC, but I’ve pretty much gotten out of the 35s otherwise. A good 277-30 bullet seems to get to the same place of balanced performance just fine, and the 6-6.5s ain’t far behind. Just anecdotal according to me. LOL

Interesting that you mention the 243 which has been the cartridge that has caused me to do more after dark tracking than all other cartridges combined and I rarely hunt deer with one!

Under old expectations, it mattered more which cartridge. Now, it’d probably be smarter to ask “What bullet?”

I like a bullet to exit. Most times it doesnt matter, but knowing I will get a decent sized exit hole is really important sometimes. Ive used a .243a fair bit and am underwhelmed with it. Much prefer a .308. Like my .350 even better. Shots still have to be in the right place, but the idea that I ll get at minimum a .358 sized exit is reassuring to me.

I've carried a single shot CVA Whelen (loaded down) and a .444 Marlin Handi-rifle on nasty days, even during regular season. Both were reliable when it came to good blood trails.

I was just going to suggest something like that! I grew up with a 30-30 in Se Texas Big Thicket. It worked swell with the 150 corlokts. Later on I used a little Marlin 1894 44 mag and it left big blood trails. Two friends of mine glommed onto the Marlin 444 and 1895 45-70. But, the worst was guys shooting bucks and hogs too far away with 12ga and buckshot. 00 is .30 cal, but those left tiny entrance holes, no blood, well, a few drops. I walked up on many soured, wasted deer and hogs on our lease.