Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Guides and Cullers

I guess we could include international hunters in this.
In all the game you have shot or witnessed being shot, have you noticed any increase in incapacitation rate
with different cartridges? Another question is, have you noticed any increase in incapacitation rate with
increased velocity?

I remember reading an article years back, I think it was titled,"Speed Kills" and the author reviewed DRT results on multiple chamberings from a large number of culled deer. He claimed the winner in his 'trials' was the 6mm with IIRC 85 grain bullets at over 3k fps.

I have a 6mm Rem and used the stout 85 hpbt and found it did a good job but I saw little difference between it and some other rounds. My own results have shown nothing in either 6mm Rem or 270 Win dropped game with the unusual consistency of 140 GameKings from my 260Rem at modest speeds. Typical shots were 50 -150 yards. I attributed to fast opening yet full penetrating. I like that it comes without basketball sized exit wounds. I am sure others will have alternate experiences. In my case some different bullets figure into it no doubt.

Whenever this type of discussion commences it seems animal reactions reportedly vary widely person to person.

Too many variables among individual shooter instances - among individual animals - among components - among assessment techniques and concepts about "incapacitation" - - to accurately state an increase/decrease.

Define "incapacitation rate." Is it the percentage of animals incapacitated vs. not incapacitated, the speed with which they're incapacitated, or something else?

Might need to also define incapacitation and how it's measured/determined...

I've found that 3K FPS seems to be the magic number, regardless of bore size. 130 grain Hornady bullets at 3100 FPS from my .30-06 have taken a truckload of deer, most of them bang/flop kills. Ditto for 125 grain Nosler Partitions from my 6.5 X 55 Swede and my 6.5-06, both of them in the 2900-3100 FPS speed range. Range has been from powder burn distance to 300+ yards, with virtually identical results.

I think he means "dead."

incapacitation is very easy to understand. IT means the animal falls down and doesn't get back up.

Kinda like decapitation?

I had a fast twist 7-08 that shot the 175 gr partition really well…. It hit deer and hogs like a bowling ball at about a 100mph…. I’ve shot em with light and fast bullets and that too can be like a lightning strike, but that 175gr partition for some reason gave more of a “hit by a Mack truck” effect.

So a spine shot could meet this definition, even if the animal was not dead, correct?

I have found that 17HMR just destroys ground squirrels at 100!yards or less.

My .300 Win. Mag. and 7mm Rem. Mag. shot deer didn't go down any faster, or even as well as my 7mm-08 deer have. 12 gauge slug, .308 and .30-06 shot deer were pretty much like those magnum shot deer with heart/lung shot animals and most of those ran a bit. If I remember that 400 some deer hunting lodge article where they measured the distance that deer ran after the shot, the .25 caliber bullets dropped deer the fastest. That stands to reason because the ammo companies could tailor those .25's to lots fewer deer specific, softer bullet cartridges .250 Savage, .257 Roberts, .25-06 and .257 Weatherby when that study was done.

You do know that wounded animals will lay down and stay down if you leave them alone, but get up and run off if you press them, right?

30-30, 44 mag, .308, 7mm mag, 30-06, 6.5 Swede, 50 cal ML. All died about the same if hit in the same place.Screw it up and bad things happen. It seems to make a difference also as to what the animal was doing prior to the shot.Casual feeding along, bedded, just ran up the mountain side, spooked by other hunters.

You have it.

It say, "and doesn't get back up."

Yes, I saw that. If you don't press them, they don't get back up, and often die right where they lay.

So shot placement is more important than headstamp???

That's flat out revolutionary thinking!!

I killed several with a .22 LR when I was a kid. They all dropped right where they stood and never got up.