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

laughin'....

Will do Tom...
Ingwe

Ingwe, you're the man! Nice bucks.

Yeah but they STILL don't look like the one in your avatar!
Here is about my best- few years ago, and we figured him to weigh about 255 on the hoof..

Ingwe

That is a nice mulie Ingwe!

Yeah, that one was awhile ago, and I had alot of time to hunt, passed up a LOT of good bucks that year, but the instant I saw him, I had to slip him a 7x57 sleeping pill....
Thanx Sam..
Ingwe

Well the biggest white tail I ever shot off my CT wood lot when about 200 lbs field dressed, and he was a worn out buck, little fat, shot him in Mid Dec. As for the rifle I was a Sako in 6.5 x 55 and a 160gr Hornaday RN going about 2400 fps. I know about the speed because that is what the Chrono said. It was late in the day, there was a warm south wind that day, my aunt who was living with me at the time, needed to go to the Doctor, her hobby, by the time we got home it was all most four and she tried to talk me out of going to my land, too late you see. I when anyway and got on my spot around 4pm, that deer came walking in from the east along the trail by a and I shot him, it was 4:15. I go home, my aunt in a snarkey voice you get anything, I put the liver in the sink. A friend help me drag it out, that was the hard part, hung in it the garage, and for the rest of the day and night my aunt bitched about it hanging in the garage. It was my house, and she was free loading off of me and it still was not enough. Great deer never the less, they aged him at a least 12years old, a very beat up old buck. 'Would have never seen him if I just didn't go. Better yet I got rid of the Aunt a little while after, it just cost me the house.

I live and hunt in Saskatchewan, have not weighed many deer, but did kill a couple that were pretty good size, one was 265 field dressed, the other was a fair bit bigger. Have shot several that were certainly over 300 lbs. on the hoof. In our group of hunting buddies nobody shoots a "magnum" of any sort, and the only reason anything bigger than a .243 or 25-06 is used is because most of us use our elk and moose rifles for deer too. A couple of years ago we decided to hunt for mature bucks instead of better tasting does and yearlings. A picture is below, sadly none of those deer were weighed but a couple were pretty heavy. They were shot with .250 Savage, 7mm08, .308, 30-06, and 8mm Mauser if I remember correctly. A couple other chamberings that we use are the .270 and 6.5x55.
I find it really quite funny when I meet a visiting American in the bush and he shows me his .300 Weatherby that he's going to slay a HUGE Saskatchewan whitetail with. I think such chamberings are harder for most hunters to shoot well, and our deer aren't wearing body armour.

Ingwe: Yup.Big body; he looks LONG!

Castnblast: Some real nice whitetails there!IME there are two categories of big bucks in Canada,from New Brunswick clear to Alberta(never hunted BC).

There is your average "big";and then there is REALLY BIG!In many trips there I have killed the biggest-bodied mule deer of life there;a real genuine giant.The two biggest whitetails I have seen there were true monsters,in body and rack.One was killed by a companion,and this buck dwarfed a 145-class 10 point that would easily have dressed over 200 pounds.The larger buck looked like another species.....he was killed at about 175 yards with a 270.

The other was a true giant alive in a field in Alberta; only the reluctance of a companion to shoot at 250 yards saved him that day.He was fodder for the cover of BIG BUCK Magazine,in rack and body...

The 300 Weatherby is a fine cartridge...no doubt.But watching a lot of guys sight in on these Canadian hunts leads me to the same conclusions.They almost always seem to be pretty "innocent" guys,not very astute when it comes to rifles...they will tell you they need the 300 mag for a "long shot";but I've taken them out to 400 yards(even 300)at the range;they are completely clueless,have never in their lives fired a round at either distance,and the groups are "minute-of-mini-bus";no deer is in any danger around these guys beyond 100-200 yards.I'm being generous.....

It is hard to convince them they are outclassed by any smaller cartridge,and some cling tenaciously to the big 30's.

IME there are two kinds of 300 magnum shooters....those who don't have a clue,...and those who know EXACTLY what they are doing.It ain't hard to tell the difference.

Shhhhhhhhaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggggg.
Awwwwhhhhhhhh, the heavy/dark-antlered whitetails of Saskatchewan - nirvana. I need a cold shower.

Truer words were never spoken.
Only exception for me to that was last year - I did note a gent from Georgia in the Manitoba outfit I was hunting that was toting a 300 Ultra - I was CERTAIN he was one of the guys you meet on every hunt with a cannon and little sense. The first night he passed on a shot in ridiculously high wind at 350 - I gave him a high five and began to think I was sadly mistaken. The next night, when the weather calmed, he bang/flopped a nice buck at 505 yards, confirming I was VERY sadly mistaken. (which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone here)

Me too...I might have soiled myself!...
Ingwe

castnblast might have to be put on "ignore" if he keeps up with that stuff.

Skane: You gotta watch the southern boys...they shoot those beanfields and many know what they're doing at distance

He had plenty of glass but no turrets or dots - the next thing someone is going to tell me is that deer can be shot at 400 yards with a 4x scope...

Castnblast, that's a great pic, and pretty good testimony that you Canucks can kill the biggest bodied deer on the planet with "regular" old calibers.

Well.....of course we both know they can't

I think I pee my pants a little bit.

Good lawd that is a lot of horn.

That's an astute comment followed by an all star quote! BobinNH, you're on a roll.

I'm more familiar with mule deer in BC. Several of my friends who have killed truly huge bucks have all commented that the big ones are like a different species. A hunter from Ft. St. John used to post here had scale weights on mature mule deer bucks that would blow your mind. I've personally seen two on a scale that field dressed over 300 lbs. and boned out a few others as big or bigger.

Huge does not mean greatly more difficult to kill however, just big.