.30 carbine for white tail deer... why not?

[Gunplummer]

Now if someone could define "Archery Range" in the ethical sense....

 

[Creek Henry]

30 yards for barebow, 50-60 for a strong recurve

But it strongly depends on the archer. If you practice a great deal and have a great rig, you will know your limits. It is the sub par or not well practiced archer that don't.

For the 30 carbine... Personally I'd limit shots on deer to about 100 yards. I just don't see it as a suitable round at longer ranges. That really wasn't what it was designed for.

 

[Gunplummer]

That is all I ever bowhunted with. Sounds unethical to me. I know for a fact a deer can hear the arrow coming, and most react to it. Feathers are the worst. But hey, do what you want if it works for you. I constantly get flack for shooting a rifle at at moving deer or taking head shots.

 

[Art Eatman]

Purely opinion: I regard cartridges of the power level of the Carbine as marginal. That is, for all that I strive for precision in my shooting of Bambi, that need is more critical in what I regard as a lesser cartridge.

A somewhat bad hit on a deer with my '06 can still either anchor him or put him down for a second shot. (I've had that happen, twice.) With a marginal cartridge, he might move into brush and then run and escape, possibly to die unfound.

Sure, a marginal cartridge will kill Bambi, but it has limitations which I don't want to deal with.

I figure that if deer hunting is a really important deal and all I have is a Carbine? I'll sell that sucker, buy a good-used scoped bolt action and still have enough money left over to buy Ol' Mama a new dress, shoes, and a lobster dinner.

 

[Gunplummer]

Lobster! I have often wondered who the first guy was that looked in the water and said "Hey, I think I'll eat that big bug lookin' thing over there."

 

[Art Eatman]

Lobster? Naw, ya gotta respect the bravery of the first guy to eat a raw oyster.

Can we put all this to bed? The subject will be as the Phoenix, sure to rise again.

 

[TimSr]

Now, I hear people say that the .30-30 is "too weak" to kill a deer humanely.

Really? While it may be helpful in ridiculing those who question the 30 carbine, I do not believe your claim that people who question the 30 carbine are saying this.


For that matter, this whole thread can be summed in the same manner.

Almost nobody would object to anybody hunting with anything, provided they can consistantly make clean kills without routinely sending game off in the thickets to die uncrecovered, and have no doubts there are a few hunters out there who are good enough to do exactly that with about anything.

I simply do not believe the claims of most of the people advocating using low power rounds, that everything they shoot is quickly and humanely killed and gets recovered before running a mile to die and become scavenger food. If somebody is killing 3 or 4 deer in order to recover and take home one, it IS my business and I DO have right to voice my objections. Sorry, but I've seen too many of those guys to believe they are the rare exception. All the theoretical discussions don't change that, and the foolish comparisons to how far a human can run with a bullet through his lungs compared to a human, based on body weight is strictly egghead theory and not reality to anybody.

The simple fact remains. Unless you know exactly how many animals where shot and never recovered, to compare the success stories to, with a given caliber, you are left to your own beliefs which are better based on experience than ballistic theory.

I don't care what anybody hunts with, but if they have one deer tag, and for whatever reason, their hunt results in more than one dead deer to fill that tag, every other hunter has a right to be concerned. It does, and will happen to the best sooner or later, but it should not be routinely built into your expectations just because you want to kill a deer with a XXXX to prove it can be done. If you might have to shoot a few before you recover one, because your skills aren't adequate to compensate for its limitations or your over abundance of arrogance to admit that it has them, or an ignorance of exactly what those limitations are, that caliber is MARGINAL for you.

 

[t4terrific]

Just a personal observation from the deer woods, but I would bet the 30-30 has hit and lost more game than the .30 carbine ever did. Shotguns probably second on the list.

The 30-30 killed more deer last year than the .30 Carbine ever has.

 

[Art Eatman]

Looks like we're pretty much running in circles, now. Not much point to that.