What would you do?

simon, I have shot plenty of deer with a 30-06. Down south, where I grew up, a 200-300 yd. shot was not that unusual for deer or hogs. The 30-40 or '06 w/180's or 220's was the way to go. The deer where I now hunt tend to be down in the 100-150# range and the distance is very short.

BTW, a 30-06 frontal shot on a hog can liquidate the contents. This makes the rest of the process very odiferious.
 
For that situation as far as range and animal size it seems a .30/30 would be a great choice. They've been killing deer for almost a century with much less energy than an '06.
 
I would definately say .30-.30 160gr. Lever revolution by hornady. I have had the best accuracy and it will do more than what you would need.
 
30-30 is a great suggestion. I tend to hunt larger animals than the little deer you're asking about, but the 30-30 would work well in that application. It's lower velocity will cause less damage but is plenty lethal. More often, though, I use my 30.06 for game as small as Pronghorn (antelope) up to elk and bear. With a 150 grain, the Pronghorn sustained minimal meat loss, and for my last elk, the 180 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw dropped him in his tracks at 65 yards. Two broken ribs, both lungs perforated. I guess the loss of a half pound of rib meat won't bother me much, on either the small antelope or a big ol' elk!
 
of those listed so far, I'd probably choose the 30-30...

as the "newbie" at deer camp ( back when I 1st met & married my wife... going hunting with her dad & old family friends ), I was bestowed the honor of field dressing most of the deer ( I think they wanted to make sure I knew how to do it )... guns used were one 243, several 30-06's, one 300 Win Mag, & one 45-70...

one might think the 243 provided the least amount of damage to the meat... but that wasn't true... "bloodshot" the bruising around the wound seemed to be as much related to the velocity of the bullet, as it's weight or diameter... the 45-70 with factory loads consistantly damaged less meat than the other rifles shot for shot... the owner of the land is the one who used the 300 Win Mag, & I always wondered why he hadto use that cannon on deer, because we often had to trim out 6-8" out around the bullet hole because of bloodshot, the 30-06 with 180 grain bullets bruised less meat than the lighter weight hollow points...

personally now, I'm a handgun hunter... I'd be using my 45 Colt Contender... but a 357 Mag sounds like the ticket for smaller deer at close ranges ????
 
that wasn't true... "bloodshot" the bruising around the wound seemed to be as much related to the velocity of the bullet, as it's weight or diameter...

You're right. A good portion of the "bloodshot" meat comes from the effects of hydrostatic shock more than exactly bullet energy or size/weight. Speed produces hydrostatic shock completely independently of energy or size of the bullet. Energy and size/weight(momentum) will effect the penetration distance and may produce longer channels of lost meat but the diameter of the damage is highly dependent on high speeds causing hydrostatic shock.

On the 357mag.... I'd say you'd be fine for virtually ANY deer at distances out to 100 yards more, depending on the exact load. Contrary to popular internet lore, deer are not hard to kill. Pretty much any handgun with roughly 450ft/lbs or so of energy and just about any rifle bigger than 17 caliber is sufficient, given the proper bullet, placement and distances.
 
In my area and preference to be away from the slob hunters, I tend to need a DRT kill to avoid swimming the gator swamps chasing a runner.

On the flip side, I have a friend in a wheelchair so he absolutely can't track into thick stuff. He pokes the front shoulder with his .308... He says the loss of one front shoulder is the price he has to pay be both ethical getting his kill retrieved and to gather the meat he is after.
Brent
 
As stated above, shot placement is critical with the 30 and above. How ever, Several Bullet manufacturers make low recoil rounds. Also if you know someone that is a (competent reloader). They could download your Ammo. for you.
 
^^^^

Hogdogs....
That's Interesting, I have only hit a deer in the front shoulder once. It was from ridiculously close range with a 180gr psp federal from my 30.06. Of all the animals I've killed, it is the one that ran the farthest. It seemed to be thrown around 180 degress by the impact, (I say seemed because I'm not sure if a ballistic impact has enough energy to actually do that, the deer might have jumped around so quick it only looked like the bullet threw it around) But regardless, it landed on its feet and took off running (on 3 legs), it went all the way across the clearing 50-70 yards and ran head long into the first tree on the other side of the clearing then fell motionless and 100% dead.
To this day I refer to it as "dead deer running" as it seemed to have no idea what it was doing, it just went straight into that tree and I'm convinced it was dead before it ran into it. As for the running on 3 legs part, the impact of the bullet caused the bullet to turn to fine powder and the shoulder blade was half turned to powder as well and the other half was in about 10 distinguishable chunks. The bullet did not penetrate the shoulder but the impact liquified everything behind the shoulder to the point that all I did was open the deer up, pull out the pounch and everything else, which usually requires cutting and pulling, just ran out onto the ground...Nasty damage. Most meat, save for that shoulder and a few ribs was salvageable though.

I just thought I would mention that, as it is my one story about a shoulder shot and I wouldn't have thought about shooting a deer there if I wanted a DRT impact.
Any idea what kind of bullet your friend uses...probably something that holds together better?
 
300, Brian shot one each day both nice bucks on a limited mobility hunt I went with him on... He blew up a shoulder on each and both ran about a 75 foot "U-turn" as they fell over. After the first, as we talked of meat loss he told me he aims for "that spot" and sure-nuff he repeated it the next day.

As for the .30-30, out to 150 yards it kills as dead as any .30 bore rifle.
Brent
 
You're "privileged to hunt a section of a well managed private ranch", and you don't want to hunt it now since they require .243 or larger??? :confused:

I've shot tons of deer with my .270 and didn't detonate and ruin them, many within 50 yds. Same with the 7mm-08 and 30-30.
 
100 pounds and up to about 140 is the average size for the blacktail most folks see. They do get bigger but you have to be pretty darn lucky to get a shot at them.
I took almost all of mine with a .30-06. Not a lot of meat damage, at least no more than the .30-30 I started with.
 
Lonestar .45: You're "privileged to hunt a section of a well managed private ranch", and you don't want to hunt it now since they require .243 or larger???

I was as confused as you at first there, but then I realized the real issue wasn't hunting with a larger caliber it was being told that he had to. I think the OP has his favorite rifle in a smaller caliber and is just ticked that he can't use it.

BTW, a 30-06 frontal shot on a hog can liquidate the contents. This makes the rest of the process very odiferious.

This will happen with any shot of this type regardless of caliber.
 
G'day. Some parts of the opening statement got me thinking.

I am privileged to hunt on a section of a well managed private ranch. Some moron (not on our section) decided to hunt with a .22 Hornet. Management found the dead deer

If it is well managed then they knew (and therefore approved) a .22 hornet was being used to hunt Deer. If they did not know a .22 hornet was going to be used or they didn't know the hunter was going to be there, then the ranch is not well managed. (I think it's called a catch 22):rolleyes:

How did the ranch management know a .22 hornet was used?

Swampghost. I'm not trying to flame you, just found the choice of words interesting.

What caliber did you use on that ranch?
Apart from Deer, what else is there to shoot at on that ranch?
How many people hunt there?
 
It's funny to see others perspectives,, and the rules of some places really can be questioned..

I have a small herd of Montana Whitetails that insist on eating my hay for my barn...because of all the livestock and a few houses around I ONLY allow hunting them with MY 22Hornet

Guys who want meat doe's, they come to my house, fire a few shots on tagets to get comfortable with the hornet capabilities ...(this shooting doesn't even scare the doe's from the hey yard less than 100yrds away.

All shots are 60yrds or less. I instruct all shooters to only shoot broadside and aim for the ear canal... I use a 35gr. V-max at 2980fps... and I have Never seen a single deer take a step after the shot... This is like the HAMMER of THOR A big cloud of hair usually drifts lightly in the wind after the shot.

Never seen a exit wound other than a few fragments, so the neighbors and my animals are all kept safe.
 
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