Judson

It is not to say that if the tool is too small that you can not do the job. It is to say that the odds are in the favor of the one with the propper size tool. I do not remember where I heard this , I think it is an old Chinese saying dealing with small bores

Duffy

Suppose a 125 lb. white-tail is standing broadside 25 yards from your tree stand. What could you use to make a killing shot? A long bow and a cedar shaft with a home made flint arrow head? A 45 cal flint lock and a patched round ball? A .243 with a 100 grain Nosler? A .22/250 with a 60 grain bullet loaded to 3500 ft/sec. ? A .300 Win. Mag. with a 150 grain bullet ? I think they would all probably do the job if the shooter did his part.

If the deer was a 300 lb. Alberta Monster buck and he was standing accross a hay field about 325 yards away I sure hope I would have the .300 win. mag. in my mits, as I would not shoot if I was hunting with any of the others above.

My point is, what you are hunting with is often determines if you will take a shot or not.
If I hunted deer with a .22 C.F. I would not be able to take shots at a lot of deer that I see. I mostly hunt with a .264 Win. Mag.(140 grain pills) and there aren' t too many deer that I see that I could not nail if I wanted too. I' ve probably shot more at under 100 yards than over. But I have shot a couple that were way out yonder.

Robin

JagMagMan

Duffy you hit on one of the problems!!!!!
Yes at 25 yards you can take a deer with just about anything! One of the problems is that " Good Ole Joe." always sees deer at 25 yards, so he' s hunting with his trusty .22 CF, see' s a good deer at 2, 300 yards, so he flings a ' Hail Mary!" (#1 No discipline!) Deer trots off unscathed, Joe shrugs it off " I musta missed" , and goes home. Buck runs a mile, suffers a week, and dies, trophy ruined!!!! (Not to mention the reputation of Sportsmen everywhere ruined)!!!!!!!!
Just one of the possibilities! Still looking for ONE GOOD reason to use a .22!!!!!!

woodseye

I agree Jag,its not the picture perfect shots that worry me when taken by experienced shooters that know their guns and pass all questionable shots.Its the excited hunters that don' t quite have that level of self discipline and shooting ability that get offered a shot of less than perfect position and distance,that gives me cause to question using a 22CF with soo many good alternatives out there with very little added recoil to deal with.

woods

bigcountry

Good reasons

Confidence with your rifle. Some people have alot with thiers especially with neck or head shots.

Availability. Some people like uncles of mine really don' t have the money to buy alot of guns. And want a gun that does all. These guys are drug around by thier wifes. These guys make 8 dollars an hour in a lumber mill. And have 4 kids. Buying another gun is out of the question. And some people don' t like guns as much as us. A guys sold me a used medallion that was in ment shape and shot subMOA groups. I asked him why did he sell this? He said I only need on rifle and didn' t see the purpose of two. I don' t know about you guys but when I get a shooter, I keep it for life. Hey different strokes.

I would say a huge part of it for some of these guys is bragging right. Alot of my kin are very competitive. They like to boast alot. They call me constantly during turkey season telling me every bird they bag and tell me you don' t need 3" shells to do it. Makes them fell better about thierselfs, knowing they bag more than thier bigshot cousin or nephew with 30 guns.

woodseye

For some one that could only afford one rifle a dual purpose that could take big game as well as varmints would make more sense.Bragging rights is probably the single biggest motivator and a hunter that needs to use a 22CF to shoot their deer so others take notice have missed the point on ethical hunting altogether.I guess these same guys would want to shoot their elk and moose with a 243 also.

woods

neweboarhunter

I have been kicking around the .22cf for big game hunting lately. But lets not forget that braggin rights about bore size works both ways.

Judson

Woodseye hit the nail on the head!!!! If a guy wants to hunt deer with an Elephant gun and brag about it that is fine if he can shoot the gun. He is not risking crippled game to inflate his ego. He may brag about his ability to shoot the big camons, carry heavy rifles all day and more but he is not trying to show off his dead eye ability at the expence of a living creature. Way back I said if you can not handle the tool necessary to do the job right then do not do it. Well the guys with the big guns go to the extreem but they get the job done, and fast! You might be suprised, but the guy with the .375 H&H will do less meat damage to his deer then the guy with a .300 Win Mag. No point in arguing here I have hunted deer with both, well it was a .308 Norma, alittle hotter then the .300 Win but not much, and my .366 which has 5775 foot pounds of energy with a light load. As the old Chinese saying goes. " It is not to say that one can not get the job done with a small tool, It is to say that the chance of satisfaction is greater with the larger tool."

MBuckH72

The way I was told (not to say that this is 100% true, but sounds right) is that the smaller the bullet, the more damage it does, causeing the animal to die quicker. It explodes inside the animal causeing internal bleeding. (now a 17 caliber would probably explode before it entered the animal, so I would most definetly never use a .17 Rim or centerfire at large game.) It could go both ways though, if the bullet causes internal bleeding, how could you follow a blood trail to the animal if its bleeding internally? ( this is if you shoot behind the shoulder). I know an experienced hunter that uses nothing but a 17 centerfire. He knows where to hit that deer to put it down in its tracks. He hits it in the neck or through the ear. I never known him to lose a deer . I would never use that small of a bullet to hunt deer. I disagree with him totally but he always tells me " this is to prove that I am a good shot, and experienced hunter" , he may be right, but what if he hits it and never finds it? In MD, the smallest caliber that is legal is a .223. I hear that virginia allows .22 hornets , but not exactly sure.