Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What Is It About 300 Pound Deer?

I think the formula is to take the dressed weight and multiply it times 1.25 to get live weight.

Skane, I know that feeling all to well showing up to a gunfight (Sask. hunting camp) armed with an Ingram. I took this buck with a 280 Ackley and it was deemed by many to have been sheer luck. I had the smallist gun in camp.

Those are some nice bucks.

However, I think the bigger question might be "what would Lee J. Hoots use?"

Roy-
I LOVVVVVVEEEEEEEE to people watch. Going north of the border each year, I have nearly almost as much anticipation on the gents I'll be sharing the camp with as I do about the hunt. It doesn't take long to sort them out either.

There's the quiet guy that goes about his business and you can tell by his gear, and, the way it's worn that the guy is all business when it comes to hunting. That guy's choice in caliber runs the gamut from the smallish right on through the big boomers. I already know when he pulls the trigger on whatever steps out is in SERIOUS trouble. Even if he's got a 340 Wby, he knows how to use it. He's not going to give anyone crap because he knows his quarry and he knows the small ones knock them down just like the big ones.

Then there's the guy that talks the most, and wants to tell you about how many hunts he's been on, and, what he's killed, why he paid 2k for his scope and why he shoots what he shoots is the first to look down his nose at the smaller, efficient and quite effective deer rifles - and likely to make a verbal stink about it. I generally quietly wager with myself that he'll be the guy that will most likely be the guy that everyone hates, and, he will inevitably ALWAYS be shooting a BOOMER of some sort.
I've begun taking smaller and smaller calibers in recent years to to give "that guy" fodder to look like an idiot.

I would love to shoot a 300 lb deer.....I'll be quite honest and dont know if I have even broke the 200 lb range.
I know I have come close several times but this is for me pre-scale days.....so I'd be guessing.

look it' this hawg...

Interesting topic alright, especially the people watching aspect of it.

I suspect that a lot of thinking we need a big boomer for big deer it is due to relatively narrow hunting experience. If a hunter hasn't hunted much besides small whitetails he will naturally have an exaggerated perception of larger deer in unfamiliar territory. Or it may be someone whose hunting has been limited to closely guided hunts even if they are in widely different places. I know such a hunter who has some fine trophies, and an astounding ignorance of game and ballistics.

In the first scenario, limited experience with small deer, unfamiliarity magnifies unknown problems. The default solution to hunting unknowns is bigger bore and more powder.

I've been fortunate to kill several monster bodied mule deer in Central BC and see some others killed by friends. Ironically I killed my largest one with a 6mm Rem. shooting 95 grain Nosler Partitions, still hunting in forest at 40 feet. My first shot went through his lungs a bit far back, shooting through a vertical slot in cover, and he ran about 60-70 yards. He paused on the way and I put a second shot into him, unnecessary but I didn't know that for sure.

I'd have preferred to have my 06 and 165's but due to gun work and trading rifles, the 6mm was the only rifle available that day. Pre-digital, no pics. That buck looked long as a stretch limo, deep body, neck an untapered extension of his body for its first half, so bulged out so that he couldn't put his ears all the way back and his huge head looked ridiculously tiny.

I hunt with a friend who shoots nearly everything with his 300 Win mag. and shoots it more accurately than most people can shoot a .22 rimfire. When he got a 22-250 for coyotes, (he'd been shooting them with his .300) he couldn't resist killing some deer and black bears with that, though he is back to the 300 for his all around now.

Interesting topic. I do own a couple pretty nifty big rifles, but I'll probably chase Inyo mule deer with a .308 this year. A .270 WSM might be fun someday, just for the improved trajectory.

Those of you that hunt over a set stand, with potential for multiple animals, may want to think about caliber in more than a couple ways. In Texas, hunting over my stand, I noticed that when a I shot a doe with a .300 Savage (Model 99, 24" barrel, Rem factory ammo). She not only died right there, with a 3" hole in the off shoulder, but a good buck showed up the next morning in the same spot & also was harvested.

The next year in the same spot I shoot a spike with a .270 - 22" barrel, with max loads of R22, and don't see another deer for 4 days in the same spot. Muzzle blast clear them out? Maybe. If I hunt that area again I may have to buy back that .300 Savage from the friend I sold it to...

I am not in the same league as most of you when it comes to shooting big deer. I went thru the big magnum thing in my 30's and have since moved on. The only magnums I have are a 257 Roy and a 325 WSM. I bought the 325 WSM mostly for the rifle itself and the 257 Roy......well.....what can I say, I readabout it hereand had to have one. For me I like the bigger bores and lever guns!!!

I agree with OK. Most of the people who head for some happy hunting ground to shoot a really big deer really don't know what to expect or what they are like.
Make no mistake, they are quite different than the 1-2 yr. olds the vast majority shoot. As John Wooters once put it, "they are so different than the younger, smaller bucks, that they might as well be considered a separate species. "
How do they differ ? They have alot of experience staying alive under hunting pressure. They are far more wary than the younger bucks. They move much differently than the younger, smaller bucks.
The big trick, I'm convinced is to be able to shoot well under the conditions that shots at them are presented.
Since I've never killed a 4 yr. old from a stand, I'll pass on that. If that's the way you hunt, ask somebody like Ruraldoc for advice. I've never had the oportunity to hunt big private ranches where the bucks don't have much experience with hunters either.
What I've noticed is that when hunting them any other way, still hunting, tracking or glassing and stalking, they almost always give you very little time to shoot and often are busy moving through cover. They give you very little to shoot at and very little time to do that. They don't, in my expereince, stand around at 300-500 yds. plus and give you time to get into your shooting position, deploy the bipod and range them. They would never get that big if they did.
What all of that means is, particularly with today's premium bullets, that almost anything will work in the way of a cartriage and load. The big trick is to be able to shoot quickly and hit him well moving.
Anybody read any of the Benoit books ? One of the things that really impressed me was how much they practice. Nothing fancy in guns or loads. But they shoot alot. Even during their off days during the hunting season.
Makes alot of sense to me. E

A guy I once hunted with on a South Texas lease had a .300 Weatherby that he's had for over 30 years and swore it was the hammer of Thor. After he missed a small 8 pointer, he admitted he hadn't checked the zero for "eight or ten years". After the miss, he had HIS FRIEND shoot it and found out it was off by a foot at 100 yards. I'm convinced he was afraid of that gun and that's why he never shot it.

On the other hand, after witnessing a mature, rutted-up midwestern buck run 100 yards after being shot through both shoulders with a 165 grainer out of a .30-06 (and having his lungs turned to absolute mush) I will never laugh off a hunter for using a .300 mag IF he knows how to use it. That, of course, is the key.

I am a Lifetime Member in this club. I have taken several near 300 lb Axis with a .280 and never thought I needed anything more.

yardage involved may have some impact on why some of these guys love big mags...guides may be telling clients that shots may be as long as you want to shoot....ever heard this before????

I hunt with a 25/06, 270, 7 mag, and 7 STW on the long stuff. Brother, Brother in law, and I have never had a deer take a step with the 7 STW with our loads with longest shot 460 yards on a 300+ lb Kansas deer.

It has always amazed me at how few hunters know their ability to hit anything...most of us are living way too fast.

I like the big boomers because their fun. Just because you can kill a deer with a .223 doesn't mean you can't kill it just as dead with a .416. Being as you'll never convince any two guys at the same time which caliber is the best,not to mention which scope,and who really cares anyway. I say shoot the big ones & small ones and all the ones in between. Just as long as you can reasonably hit your target, and are enjoying the shooting. You might be surprised at how much fun it is hunting elk in dark timber with a .450/400 3" with express sights.

Okanagan:Those Canadian (BC,Alberta)mule deer can be huge;my biggest (body weight)came from Alberta,and I freely admit to gawking at him for a few minutes before I shot him.I was not concerned with having enough rifle,as I had a 7 mag,which to me is a part of the 270,30/06,7 mag family) so no big deal.

He was also the largest buck I've killed that stood around while I studied him,as most of my deer have been taken while I was walking, on the ground, etc, so agree with E's comments about sped and accuracy and will only add that a long,heavy rifle chambered for a heavy-recoiling rifle is somewhat of a handicap in a lot of the country I hunt.

A guy should use what he likes but my half-assed observations are that most guys are over-scoped and over-gunned.But I have also noticed that some of these folks are not particularly good with anything;knowledge of trajectory to them is sort of a vague notion;they are equipped for long-range but don't know how to handle it,shoot indifferent groups during sighting-in sessions at camp("good enough" they say),can't shoot at all off-hand or from improvised rests.

I was in the company of one of these guys(otherwise a VERY good guy),when we chanced on two(!)B&C class whitetails at first light in the field I was to be posted on(hey, it happens).The largest,an aboslute once-in-a-lifetime monster in rack and body size,stood calmly about 250 yards away watching the smaller buck (he later grossed 174)chasing a doe.This fellow had the opportunity to shoot this buck,but declined,saying he could not hit him from that distance.This was true because I had tracked a buck he shot the day before (at about 100 yards)the full length of a 1/2 mile field.He never touched him despite running the rifle dry.

When asked by the guide why I thought he had missedI commented that the fellow would be better served with a 7/08 and a 3X scope that he could hit with, than the 7 mag and 6.5-20(!)Leupold he was using.

You will be soooorrrrrryyyy.

Bob, Skane, OK, you all make very valid points, and I've seen every one of them, dozens of times.
Skane was right about the quiet guys familiar with their gear ( whatever it is...) Went on a Canadian hunt one time and after a few hours in camp with guide and outfitter I asked " should we check our zeroes, and you guys can see if we can shoot or not...?" The outfitter simply said, " oh, you can shoot...you haven't mentioned a thing about what kind of rifles and bullets and scope you brought since you got here, no problem...you can shoot..."
My experience in and out of the field is precisely that...the more you hear about the gear, the less experience it's owner has, and the more reliant he is on technology instead of experience.
I have had bunches of younger guys with say an'06 ask what I thought about stepping up to the latest magnum craze, wanting an honest answer. Told them all, take the Thousand dollars you'd spend on a new rifle and buy ammo or components for your '06 and start shooting it... Haven't had one follow the advice yet...
Also have had numerous inquiries on how to make their new magnums shoot better,with the trailer " I don't understand it,my .243 shoots little tiny groups..."
And on and on...
Thanks to you guys with experience that have seen and duly noted these same things.....
Ingwe

Ingwe:Hanging around gun stores is an education......at my local emporium a guy wanted a 300RUM for his first elk/deer hunt out west(Montana).It was to "replace" his 30/06,and he said he "needed"the RUM for "long shots",ie 400-600 yards......

Turns out he had never seen an elk, or mule deer in the wild before.

I asked whether he got to shoot those distances back here to become familiar with the new rifle,and he said "no", the nw rifle and scope would take care of those things.......I told him that was not so,and he should stick with the 30/06.....he bought the RUM anyway.I learned to save my breath,and now just say,"Buy what you want!"

Call me a puzzy but I want no part of a 300 RUM....(grin)

Not to mention the powder that thing would use up if you shot it much.

I had one....for 48 hours and one box of ammo....IIRC