bigbulls

Of course you have to have energy in order of effectively kill something. You also have to have a bulletthat perfeorms in such a manner as to transfer this energy to the animal properly and cause enough damage to the surrounding tissue when it impacts the animal.

A deer isn't all that tough an animal to kill. But how far a 44 mag is good for depends on the load you are using, whether it is being fired out of a hand gun or rifle and how good the shooter is.

I will assume it is fired out of a rifle. For most deer, even big deer,500 - 600 foot pounds of energy is plenty enough to effectively kill deer provided the right bullet is being used. Most of your better 44 mag hunting loads will have at least 500 foot pounds of KE at 300 yards and will be loaded withheavier bulletsthat penetrate deep, break bones easily, do not fragmant, and transfer their energy to the animal very well.

Whether or not you should be shooting at deer that far with a 44 mag is something different entirely. Only you can answer that question but with the right loads the 44 mag can handle a 300 yard deer.

And before someone comes on here talking about 500 pounds of KE isn't good and ethical and that I should never recomend suchand that if we use those numbers we could all be out there making 300 yard shots with 204 Rugers..... bla bla bla.Don't read that much into it. A 44 caliber, 300 grain, WFNGC, hard cast bullet (or other similar bullet)is an entirely different beast than a 30 gran high velocity varmint bullet. Even with only 500 pounds of KE you would likely get a through and through would in a deer even breaking the shoulder.