I don't own a magnum rifle, but certainly don't hold it against someone for hunting with one, as long asthey are proficient with it. My beef is with the sports writers of magazines, tv showsetc...(not all of them)that are pounding it into "new" hunters heads that bigger is better. A lot of new hunters areeasilyswayedand believe this crap. They get the mentality that they NEED a magnum rifle to kill a deer, so they go out and buy the lastest big boomer. And, for the most of them, onevery short session at the range and they develop a flinchresulting in pooraccuracy and, if their ego is too big to downsize, can result inwounded and lost game. For the record,I live in ky and hunt whitetails with a .308.