Alsatian

I shot a doe at about 30 yards with a 180 grain .30-06 this year. There was a half-dollar size hole on BOTH sides of the rib cage, looking into the body cavity when I field dressed this deer. When I picked the deer caracass up to shift it to a more favorable position for field dressing, there was a loud audible bellows sound from the side of the doe. Also, blood poured out of one of the holes in the deer like from a spigot. That was one dead deer. Nevertheless, this deer was able to run about 20 yards. How did this happen given this formidable damage? One of the front shoulders was also broken.

Don't count on any round planting a deer on the spot. Any hit with any reasonable cartridge may still result in the deer running 50 yards.

jhoffman

I shot allot of deer since I started hunting and only had a couple drop in thier tracks. I grew up having to use a slug gun where I lived though - I used a 12 Gauge with 3" Magnum Federal Slugs - Thats about 1 once of lead smacking a deer at the average of 25 to 30 yrds - I just started being able to use a rifle where I hunt do to reg changes and I did drop a doe in her tracks with my .243 at about 75 yrds but I also hit her right dead center in the back of the head. Other than that I normally get a nice vital shot and have never had to track a deer more that about 50 yrds.

I had an uncle in ID drop an antelope at just under 700 yrds but that was a fluke - We went out hunting after his brothers funeral and found a nice antelope out near a watering hole that we just could not get any closer to and he got down in the prone position and let one rip - and we both just kind of looked at each other in amazement when it just fell over - couldn't belive he dropped it let alone hit it at that range but that is not something I would make a habit of doing - I try to keep it in the 200 yrd range.

Duckbutter48

Bigiron I dont see how not wanting an exit would is ignorant. Would you call hunting with a match bullet or FMJ ignorant. I would because all the do is put a hole through the deer which does leave a blood trail which some think is so important but most would agree not to use those bullets for hunting because they do not expand enough\at all.
Many hunters use Balistic tips which were designed to blow up in a deer not go completely through the animal. Do you think everyone who uses them is ignorant, since they get bullets that come apart and prob wont leave a blood trail. You dont buy BT's for the exitwound, not saying theydont go through sometimes but mostend up in with a nice entry whole and turn the engine room into soup. That shock drop deer pretty quickly sotheres no need for a blood trail totrack them.

bigcountry

Well, with the statement about the BT's and how they were designed, I think you showed everybody what you know.

3Ddepression

Ive recently found a cool home page and have been waiting for a chanceto post it here. Maybe you all have seen it already, but if it is dropping power you want, here it is. Not for long range perhaps but then again as Rebelhog put it.Long rangewould be shooting and not hunting .

http://gunshop.com/videoclips/4bore_ouch_240x180x12fps.mov

Rebel Hog

Solitary Man

Interesting to hear the personal preferences of different hunters. As for me, well, I like an exit wound and if a bullet fails to give me one on a classic double lung shot just one time, then I quit using it.

I've been hunting close to 35 years,and have killed quite a few deer. I've only had two deer in all that time fall where they stood. One was shot with a Nosler Partition and the other with a Barnes Triple shock. I once shot a whitetail right in the boiler room with a 180 gr. Swift Scirocco out of my .300 Weatherby at a distance of no more than 15 yards. That bullet did not exit, so all that energy, some 3600 ftlbs or so, must have been expended inside the animal. You would think the deer would have turned 4 flips after absorbing all that energy, but if you've hunted a while like I have you know it doesn't work like that. He ran about 60 yards before falling over deadand that's farther than any deer has managed to run in all my hunting days except for one that made it about 150 yards after being shot in the gut.

So again, give me an exit wound and a blood trail and I'm happy.

gopher slayer

534 yards , haha he's lying. Ive played with my rangefinder and a deer makes a really small target at 500 yards plus teh bullet drop and wind defelction, i highly doubt that he even hit a deer at that range.

James B

I wonder though how many people sight their rifle in 3.9 inches high at 100 yards? That said, the 270-280, 308-30-06 will certainly do the job IF YOU CAN HIT THE RIGHT at that range. They may run a bit though.

Paul L Mohr

My slug gun throws a 600grn .72 cal lead slug at 3,000 ft/lbs of energy and a butt load of momentum. I shot a deer this year at 20 yards put a hole the size of a quarter all the way thru it taking out the lungs and the heart. It still ran 100 yards.

Here is link to a study done by the SC DNR

South Carolina DNR Game Study

I personally wouldn't pick a ballistic tip bullet, but they seemed to have good results with the softer type bullets.

Paul