Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Recommended caliber for Saskatchewan deer.

Milo Hansen killed the world record whitetail in Saskatchewan with a lowley .308.......wonder how he pulled that off?

The buck died from laffin too hard when he saw that puny little .308.

He was literally tickled to death.

If somebody can shoot the 300 magnums well, I think they are incredibly effective with their high BC bullets, tremendous killing ability. I don't think there is any question about that.

For me....I would tote my 300win, shooting a 165 Scirocco.

Nothing shrugs that combo off....

Tony

Royce;
I hope this finds you and yours well this first Sunday in December.

At the risk of beginning to both sound like a broken record and beat a dead horse, I'll again offer my example of one mulie buck that broke the rules with a .300 Magnum.

I've been lucky enough to do a fair bit of hunting over the years and for a long stretch much of it was with a .300 Win Mag or .308 Norma which is it's twin. Between family and friends I've been present for somewhere north of 100 whitetail, mulie or blacktail bucks getting hit and we can throw in a bull moose, a few black bears and a California ram in there too if we'd like to.

Based upon that experience I'd agree that the .300 Magnums are no doubt effective cartridges - as you aptly noted "if somebody can shoot them well", but that being said reaction to being hit with them or any other cartridge/bullet combination seems to vary considerably from animal to animal.

I've written about this many times here on the 'Fire, but the longest run from a buck after being hit for me was a first rack mulie that went about 90lb carcass.

I estimated that he made it close to 200yds down the mountain - after being hit with a 165gr BT Hornady Spire out of my saddle gun which was a No. 1 in .300 Win. Mag. The bullet exited on that buck and the lungs were for all intents and purposes damaged beyond use, but so help me he made it that far somehow.

My sole purpose in continuing to post my experience is simply to remind folks that if a buck runs off after you shoot at it with a .300 Magnum or any other "Hammer of Thor" - please go take a look for a hit - because in our experience they do not ALWAYS knock down even "average to small" size bucks.

Here's hoping all our bucks fall straight down for the rest of our hunts Royce and all the best to you and yours in the upcoming week.

Dwayne

in sask most shots for non-resident aliens are 150 yards or less so a magnum is for ego IMO

Anyone convinced they should throw away their 303, or 308, or 30/30, please throw them my way.

Funny, an experienced Canadian hunter(s), use and post their use of .300 mag. rifles on the game where they live and hunt and yet "dudes" who may have been led to a few animals by guides and come from foreign lands tell them/us that their choice is ...ego....

As to Milo Hansen's buck, the FACTS of his kill are rather revealing and they show that he got that deer largely by LUCK and CHANCE. He and quite a number of other locals hunted it for some time, it was present in his region due to changes in the economic/environmental status there and he just happened to be THE guy that got that shot.

The issue of his .308Win., among my personal, all-time favourite cartridges, is also rather interesting, in view of the fact that to DROP and KILL that buck, he had to shoot it THREE times. In the dense brush and heavily-tracked snow at the time he shot it, this COULD have resulted in losing it.

So, enough of this bullsh!t about those who prefer to use, for example, a .300 Bee. for all of their hunting and/or carry a .270Win. or .280Rem. rather than the .243Win. After 50 years in western/northern Canadian hunting next season and considerable experience with a wide variety of rifles, cartridges and bullets in that time, I consider a .300 Mag. to be an excellent all-around choice for hunting here and nobody should feel that it is not due to some carping and kvetching from others.

Simply put, to me, our deer cartridges start with the ,25-06, 6.5x55/.260 Rem., various "sevens" and if YOU like and can shoot a .375H&H, why not, it is YOUR f**king hunt!

Kuteney now you took the words rite out of my mouth. Shoot what ever you can handle and don't worry about the other guys rifle it like dealing with a bunch if kids here. They can never be to dead it's not an ego thing just what your use to my second go to gun is a 375hh 230 tsx flatter shooting then 270 etc. well said can tell you are a true hunter

The venerable old 30-06 is a very versatile round....in reality a magnum isn't really necessary for deer hunting, but if you can only afford one firearm by all means buy what tickles your fancy.

30-06 is a great all around round. I like a caliber that you can hunt everything with this way you are use to the rifle just my opinion

where did milo hit the buck with a 308 the first two shots? What bullet?
I'm betting I could kill that deer with a 130 tipped triple shock, partition, or accubind out of a 308 with one kill. 308's have reliably killed much larger game than his buck with one shot.

In my time guiding other hunters, I've seen more critters run away from .300 Magnums than .243's. Bullet construction and where the bullet lands seems to make a lot more difference than caliber or cartridge...

Exactly. Spent a few years in Sask. (40), killed a few deer, seen a few killed.

I think that the issue with the .300s, has far more to do with the fact that relatively few hunters now are GOOD shots. This, is not so much due, IMHO, to any specific lack of personal qualities on their part, it is far more the result of the huge increase in "urbanization" in contemporary North America, even here in relatively "un-populated" Canada.

Then, the hunting "industry" is now SO costly, with all the gizmos, camos, gear and HUGE prices for hunting a Moose, not to mention, shudder, SHEEP, that most hunters have to work their bags off to begin to afford a trip every few years. So, very few CAN and DO learn to shoot and practice with ANY of their rifles and are not "used" to the recoil effect on their often elderly bods.

We had a rifle club here at Vancouver, just below Simon Fraser University and in an area where NO other development could exist due to landform-fluvial issues. So, for a VERY low cost, we had a reasonably decent 250 yd. range, covered benches and so on.

My buddies and I would shoot there 1-3 times every week, we were about 21-50 in age and most were/are avid handloaders and extreme rifle nuts. The tendency, given that most were/are VERY active and experienced hunters, Africa, the Territories, all over BC, even one with a "Marco Polo" ram, was to higher end and magnum rifles. Most of us could, on demand, anytime, put a rifle full of .300 Bee, .338WM or .375 H&H bullets, "freehand" into about 3.5" at 100M.....and, one guy, the "Marco" hunter, preferred his .340 Bee, for sheep because, as he told me, it knocks them down so well.

At that time, in my late 30s and 40s, into my early 50s, I worked in the bush, Alberta FS and carried a gun everyday, for months on end. One, gets so familiar with it that hitting becomes much easier than not and the range I shot at just helped that process to happen.

Now, being an old guy, 1.5 hrs. from my club, hate traffic, very ill wife for almost four years, I sometimes STILL can shoot my light, .375H&H CRF carbine into sub-moa and run 20-25 300 gr. loads per session, no problem. But, my field position shooting sucks compared with what I could do and I really suspect that a majority of the hunters who come to SK, MB, AB or BC, from elsewhere, are in much the same situation.

Oddly, the smallest deer I have ever shot was with my most treasured rifle, my first P-64-.338 Alaskan and that 250 NP did LESS meat damage than it's companion P-64 Fwt-.270-150 NP did on the buck I got to finish that trip a cay later.....

So, I don't care for .243s, etc, TSXs into shoulders, simply because I only kill for meat and that is what works for me, each to his own.

This comment intrigues me, I have known a LOT of guides and some "G-Os" here in BC and a couple in AB, over more than 50 years and I have NEVER heard any of them make a commment like this.

I have no idea of your age, actual field guiding experience and am not into trying to harass or in any respect deride you, but, do you mean to tell us that you have seen MORE Moose, Elk and "trophy" bucks ...run away... from hunters shooting .300 Mags. than from those with .243Win. rifles? In short, are you stating that a .300, given equal placement is inferior to a .243?

I must disagree, I see considerably greater effect from a shot with a .300 Mag. or .338WM than from smaller bored rifles, although the bullets DO have considerable effect in any bore size/velocity range.

I have shot good bull Elk, right through the lungs at 200ish yds. and they barely moved for some moments., this with my favoured .338WM-250NP-2800-mv. Are, you going to tell me that the two .243s I used to have before I began to sell my far too numerous guns would have actually knocked them over?

Again, this is NOT to start some crap, it just really interests me to read what others think.

Well.....maybe. But I have killed a couple at 300-350 yards up there. Others at shorter distances.I have used a 300 magnum on them and ego had not a thing to do with it.It just completely overwhelmed them.

Mostly I have used a 270 up there but don't kid myself that it's as potent a cartridge as a 300 magnum. It simply isn't. Neither is a 308.

Yes.



No.

The difference in results that I've witnessed between .243 bullets and those from .300's, was due to the fact that placement wasn't always equal. As you said, very few of today's average riflemen are conditioned enough to shoot .300's well despite the high level of recoil, as where most anybody with some marksmanship skill can shoot the .243 without subconsciously allowing the pending recoil to distract them from proper shooting technique.

More accurate shooting from .243 rifles has accounted for fewer critters running away than less accurate shooting from .300's, in my observation and experience. This goes for all big game animals, whether trophy or not.

A .300 Magnum isn't as potent a cartridge as a 20mm mounted gun, either. But there comes a point when enough gun is enough gun. More gun doesn't necessarily yield "more" results, and I think that's what we're discussing here- how much is "enough".

A more appropriate conversation would be how much bullet is enough. I would have zero hesitation shooting the biggest buck alive from the worst angle with a .243 80gr TTSX, but I wouldn't feel overly confident doing same with a round of 80gr Fed blue box. A 180gr Fed blue box in .300 Mag wouldn't concern me nearly as much, and I think that's where the .300 really starts to show its value on deer over smaller chamberings. The smaller and faster the cartridge, the more I feel that I need a premium bullet to increase my probability of success.

Bob no offense but please tell me what outfitter in Saskatchewan sets up his bait at 300 yards so I can avoid them

Maybe you meant Alberta truck hunting where the typical spray and pray over the hood of the truck takes place or your placed on the gas line with no bait and no time for binoculars. I clearly stated non resident alien in "sask", as you know they cannot hunt farmland. Bait is typically 100-160 yards. If one can't get complete penetration through a deer with a 308 at those ranges then maybe they need something else

My guide and his dad use 243 with 85 tsx. They've killed plenty b&c deer and even elk and moose with the lowly 243 and they are lifelong residents of "sask"