Which factory 30-06 load for whitetail hunting

Thank you all for your input!
This holds much information for me and will definately help to get me started
Thanks again
Doug:D
 
I shoot 180gr Core Lokts out of my '06 because that's what my rifle likes. Never shot a deer with one, but I've never had a hog move farther than it took for them to lose momentum.
 
damage

Shoot deer size critters with an '06 calss cartridge, and result is blood shot and pulped tissue. I've killed more deer with a bow than a rifle. And when I find the destruction a .30 SP leaves, I am always astounded. From my experience, I think I see a bit more of this with lighter, faster bullets than heavier, slower ones, caliber not withstanding.

Theoretically anyhow, a 180 slug, , or even a 200-200, intended for larger game, so jacket may be tougher/thicker, and moving slower, MAY destroy less tissue on a deer size animal. Hit the shoulder or upper leg bone though and there is terrific damage no matter what you shoot'em with. There's trade offs though.

A 180+ "06 slug starts to get in the recoil range that bothers some folks. And a slug that does not expand a great deal, MAY allow your deer to run a bit more before it drops.

Finally, though I hear about "eating up to the bullet hole", (Elmer KEITH put that in print) I don't see it happening much, and who wants to eat lead fragments? Best bet for meat deer is to hunt in locations and circumstances that allow one to pick and choose shots, and put the bullet tight through the ribs, like a bow shot, and avoid the shoulder altogether.

With that said,, we will now no doubt hear from folks who head shoot their deer........a practice I cannot support.
 
Before I started hunting my dad killed a dump truck load of deer with a BSA Monarch in 30'06 and 125grn Federal Cartridges. When I "borrowed" the BSA I killed another dump truck load of deer with the same thing. Never lost one or had one take more than a few steps. I started shooting 150's and 165 grns in other rifles and had similar results. However, the only deer I have ever lost was shot with a 30'06 and a 165grn Ballistic Tip, bullet never expanded and passed between two ribs, lungs and out between two ribs. We did recover it in a swamp but it was a few days after being shot, at 90+ degrees I consider it lost.

If you can kill a deer with a 80-90grn bullet from a .243, about anything from a 30'06 is adequate. It all boils down to you putting it in the right place.
 
The 150gr Core-Loks have always done to job with my father's old 30-06. As long as you place it in the heart/lung area(which as a bow hunter, shouldn't be too difficult for you), they will drop pretty quick.

Any 30-06 will cause a good bit of damage if you miss high and take out the shoulders. There is no two ways around that. Just make sure to practice to make sure that doesn't happen.
 
IMO the answer to the OP's question depends on the range he is shooting. Any bullet 150 grain and up will work very well at killing the deer, but if he is more likely to have a shot under 100 yards (which is the range the majority of real-world hunting shots are taken), a 150 gr bullet will make an unnecessary mess of the surrounding meat.

If this is not a big deal to the OP, then don't worry about it. If it is, either use a bonded bullet (Nosler Accubond is a good one) or move up in bullet weight to a 168 or 180 gr, or you could also back off the powder charge a little and use the 150 gr bullet.

If you have a greater probability of a longer range shot where you hunt, this is all irrelevant. In that case use the most accurate bullet in your rifle, preferably a boat-tail design to buck the wind better at 300+ yards. It should also be a design that will expand at lower velocity, such as a Nosler Ballistic tip, Hornady SST, or similar.

In all honesty, when you're talking about a .30 caliber bullet at .30-06 velocity, it's harder to find a bullet that WONT work well on deer
 
My observations have been that, on average, a lighter, faster bullet tends to do more meat damage than a slower, heavier one. This is due to the greater hydro-static shock produced by the faster bullet. As far as penetration is concerned, that is more dependent on the bullet's construction than it's weight.
As an example, I once shot a deer at close range with a 165 Serria and it did not exit. I also shot a moose with a 168 gr. Barns. The bullet entered just behind the shoulder and stopped on the far side just under the skin. No way the Serria would have penetrated that far, the real difference being bullet construction.

In the case mentioned, I wouldn't sweat the difference between a 150 and a 165, though I like a 165 gr. Serria boattail for deer as it shoots flatter for long range and still does the job up close.
 
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Over the years I have tried a bunch for 30-06 on our small Southern White Tail I use 180g Core Lokt - don't really need 180 but it does go through the deer and kills them dead without massive meat damage. I use the same round for large wild hog - it is relatively inexpensive and easy to find wherever you hunt.

I have had 150g Win PowerPoint fail to exit - found a nicely expanded slug on the far hide - not a bad performance but there would have been no blood trail if the it had not been a clean kill.
 
I used to go with the idea of wanting the bullet to stay within the animal, but after gaining experience, I now like them to exit the far side. This provides a much better blood trail. The surest way to wast a lot of meat is to not recover the kill.
 
I don't care of I get in to a deer's shoulder or not. What little meat there is there is tough and full of sinew. And, anything you shoot through it including an arrow will ruin it. Stay away from the loins and hams.
 
Unless the animal is standing pretty much broadside to the shooter, there is going to be some shoulder damage from a properly placed shot thru the boiler room. Quartering towards the shooter, the near shoulder gets hit. Quartering away the far shoulder. This is getting over thought IMO. The amount of meat in the ribs and shoulders is pretty minimal (like Zerojunk said.)

Ballistic Tips are excellent as are Core lokt IMO. Open up at all reasonable velocities and the energy is expended in the animal. 150 gr would work great. There are stories about all bullets that have failed to open up or exploded on impact or whatever. I have learned to ignore those---most of the time. :)
 
I don't care of I get in to a deer's shoulder or not. What little meat there is there is tough and full of sinew. And, anything you shoot through it including an arrow will ruin it. Stay away from the loins and hams.
Click to expand...
this may be different here because our deer are slightly above average size but I rarely hit a front quarter and think "it's ok, it's just sinew and gristle anyway". heck, I've shot some very young deer and losing any meat on them is more irritating than the bigger ones because I still only get one deer a year unless I draw an extra doe tag.
the fronts make excellent hamburger, sausage, and jerky,
rears, roasts, jerky, bite sized, stew meat and round steaks, with whatever can't be used for something else going into hamburger
backstraps and tender loins go into steak.

everything else becomes a weeks supply of "organic" dog food and when they are done it's placed on a brush pile and burned to keep scavengers and other dogs away. the only time I've thrown a whole quarter away was with my first deer which weighed about 50 pounds and both fronts were hit with a very fast moving 100gr bullet from a 243. there was no meat salvaging on those. and I felt really bad.
 
Yeah, like a lot of things it depends on where you are at. There is no limit on how many doe you can kill here as long as you keep buying the tags. Most anybody who wants some deer can let a few hunters know and if they don't watch they will have a stack at their back door.
 
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