Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Is a 30-06 too much gun for deer?

My dad always said it was too much. I think he meant it was more than you need.
Our local bucks run bigger than what you're talking about, but my idea of the perfect deer combo for this area is my BAR in 30-06 with 180 gr flat base, pointed soft point Hornady interlocks at 2700 fps.

A 30-06 would be perfect for these deer.

Brad: It will be very nice;glad you found a stainless M70,and the whole thing sounds just right weight-wise.Do you have the stock yet,or is that a work-in-progress?

30/06 is to much IMO. The 270 and 25/06 is the ultimate deer rifle!

For deer hunting,even the 270win isn't necessary.

Guess I've always thought one of the beauties of the .30-06 was its versatility. I've developed my own preferences and prejudices in projectiles (based on my rather narrow "woods hunting" needs). Someone hunting in more open country would have different preferences. Point is, the .30-06 (like any number of other cartridges for that matter) can be tailored to one's preferences/needs.

Case in point: I no longer use the Nosler 150 gr. Partition for my deer hunting. I've come to view it as excessively destructive when used inside of 50 yards...and that's darned close to an "average" shot around these parts. Of course my personal prejudice doesn't make that particular bullet any less appropriate to taking deer. It's just my preference. Point is, there are LOTS of choices available. Sweet, huh!

So I'll go way out on a limb (insert copious sarcasm here) to vote with those who say the .30-06 isn't too much gun for deer hunting.
PC

Hmm,it's kinda funny this question i've seen younger men in their 20's sell a perfectly good .270 or '06 for a MAGNUM(!) of some sort.....then after marriage,kids and growing up they buy the .30/06 or .270 back.Is it too much on our Doe? sure but why not use that extra thump if you need too? I once hunted in what's now a rather exclusive subdivision,but back then we couldn't cross a property line even to retrive deer the old dudes with them aught sixes only needed help dragging.

I still generally shoot at least one deer a year with my first custom rifle which is a 30-06 on a Springfield action. Last year I used the 165 grain Sierra BTHP which I directed thru the bucks chest at an angle which destroyed very little meat. The year before last I sent a 180 grain Speer Mag Tip thru a bucks neck just in front of it's shoulder, once again no real meat loss. Both deer were shot at under 100 yards and both dropped on the spot. To say the 30-06 is perfect for deer hunting would make it unreasonable to own ten or more deer rifles so it's not perfect!

I would like to add that my deer experience is solely on our little blacktails. They tend to be close, and they are usually not very big. Factoring both those things in, is what led me to feel that the 30-06 was a whole lotta Rosie... more than I wanted/needed.

That said, for mule deer, running 165's, my 30-06 is about model perfect.

7mm-08 is a great match for deer around here. It's "plenty" without feeling like too much gun. Neck it up to .358, and then you've REALLY got something! <g>

A mature Alberta/Saskatchewan buck will average 250lbs to 300lbs with 350lb bucks not at all uncommon.The 25-06 does a great job out to 500 yards.

About Pacific northwest Blacktails, these are the best tasting deer America has to offer. At least the ones from around Onalaska and Centralia Washington. I feel it is a crime to waste ANY more than the least amount of their tasty flesh necessary. It also seemed to me they were easier to put down than equal size Whitetails.

rickt300, they are indeed delicious. I am thinking it's the wide variety of tender browse they have access to... not living off sage or whatever. Plus all the water they need; they are not stewing in their own juices like a desert deer might.

The little guy I whacked last year was young, bedded down when I shot him, and had been feeding heavily on acorns. MAN that deer was good!!

Best eating deer I've had are from Alberta...I take it all home;got some downstairs..

And they are so big, you can use a 30/06 and there's plenty left over!

I would indeed use a 30-06 for those deer! I've seen pictures. They look as big as a spike elk fer crying out loud.

To my mind, the 30-06 class of cartridge is about ideal for 250-450 lb critters... big deer, caribou, black bear. It will handle bigger, it will certainly kill smaller, but if you were forced to sort of "slot" it, that's the slot I'd put it in.

This thread has me kind of fired up to un-retire my 30-06. It's been on R & R for the last year while I've been pounding on the .338 and the Kimber. It would be fun to use it for the mule deer part of my Colorado hunt, but reality being what it is and all (hard as a frikkin' ROCK!), it probably makes sense to just leave it at home and use my elk rifle on the poor lil' mule deer. I don't really have a way to safely store long guns in camp or in my truck, so even bringing one spare rifle is a bit... worrisome, much less TWO spare rifles.

But I'm thinking that '06 is going to get used a bunch in the coming years as I branch out into some other states. It's just too good a caliber to not use it.

I don't mean to give the impression that I don't care for the '06, I know that it's as deadly as arsenic, but it seems to me that shooting 135 pound whitetails with a .30-06 is akin to shooting elk with the 375 H&H. Yes, it works fine, and there is never anything wrong with leaving a margin for error, but I think that there is quite a bit of margin there to work with.

Will the deer end up too dead? I shot a little button buck with my elk rifle once. He was way under 200 lb. and my elk rifle is a wildcat 300 mag. Shoots a 180 Nosler partition at 3200 FPS. Hit the deer from 70 yards and completely knocked it off of it's feet, like it rotated in the air. He was just as dead as if he'd been shot with a 30-30. Since I hit him in the lungs there wasn't any wasted meat.

So no, the 30-06 isn't too much gun. Then again if I had a smaller rifle to use I would. That day my wife had my 30-06 and the daughter was shooting the .308

Dad shoots the 06 but it seems to leave a hell of a mess. I like the 243, less mess, lighter, and you dont have to be scared of the damn thing takin your shoulder off. Its all up to what you want though. Anything over a 50 cal might be overkill.

Bullet selection and shot placement have a direct impact on meat damage. Soft nosed bullets aren't needed for deer out of a 30-06. As to kicking....well, my 130 lb. wife shoots my Sako Finbar 30-06 Ackley with 200 grain Noslers just fine...no crying or anything.

what kind of bullets do you shoot out of a 30-06 if you don't use soft nosed bullets?

Nosler partitions. They're a controlled expansion type of deal. Some people shoot those round nosed things with lots of exposed lead and they make a mess of things because they expand too fast. They're great in lower power/slower chamberings but in the .270, 30-06, and 7 mm mag. they go off like a bomb and ruin lots of meat.