It's where you hit em...

[Ole Man Dan]

I have never had the right answer to what's the best pistol, best load, or Cast VS Jacketed.  Most everything I've tried has worked, if I did my part...  Alabama Whitetails keep lineing up to provide examples.  (Good & Bad) 
My deer this year have been at 65 yds with a .45 Blackhawk using a Hornady 250XTP.
(It made it 15 yards, and had a blood trail a blind man could have followed)  I shot him just behind the shoulder.  Let's hear it for JHP...  This week I shot a deer at 35 yards with a 265 Cast Performance WFNGC.  He was shot thru the shoulder and fell on the spot.
Now let's hear it for the WFN...
Could it be that Whitetails are not that hard to kill, as long as we do our part and put the right thing in the right place.
(JHP in the ribcage, and a WFN in the shoulder)  The Cast Performance 265s were loaded for hogs.  I wanted a load with more penetration in case I have to shoot thru the gristle plate.  ( I  want 2 holes when I can et em...).

[Mikey]

"It's where you hit em".  How so true.  Words to hunt by.  Thanks Dan.  Mikey.

[COR]

SHHH.....Someone might let the deer know that a .44 Keith @ 900fps isn't enough gun...thank God the word hasn't made it to the Pa. whitetails yet. You are so right about accuracy.  In this day and age everyone wants velocity, big bullets, or some combination of the two. 

[GRIMJIM]

SHHH.....Someone might let the deer know that a .44 Keith @ 900fps isn't enough gun...thank God the word hasn't made it to the Pa. whitetails yet. You are so right about accuracy.  In this day and age everyone wants velocity, big bullets, or some combination of the two. 

That's funny, next you'll try to tell me you can kill a deer with a 270.

[rockbilly]

I have killed a dozen deer with a .22 short (yes, a short). 

Back in the 40s we went through some hard times, it was not uncommon to headlight game to provide meat for the family, several deer were taken, at night, with a headlight and a single shot .22 rifle.  The deer were head shot, and usually fell on the spot.

Of course for a body shot you want something a little stouter, but regardless of what you shoot accuracy is the most important factor in dispatching game.

[Jerry Lester]

Watch out now! Here you go trying to rile up the "Super Duper Magnum" boys that hang out on here with your first post!

 

I've been preaching the notion that bullet placement means more than raw power/mass for years, but sadly, it just doesn't penetrate a lot of peoples hard heads. To me, it's common sense that if a bullet of any caliber/weight/construction can consistently penetrate the vitals, and do enough damage to them, then it's going to result in a very dead animal. If that same combo can also exit the off side, as you obviously know, it'll also result in an quicker/easier recovery. This is absolute fact no matter what the caliber used is.

Like you, my goal is to knock a good sized hole in the vitals, and have an exit to boot. It's this criteria that I judge every big game load by. If it doesn't measure up to this simple standard, I continue experimenting till I find a combo that performs the way I want it to. A very good example is with 22 caliber deer loads. It's fairly complicated to find a happy medium with a 223, 22-250, etc. for deer. You end up with a load that blows up inside(no exit), or drills a very small wound through the vitals, and exits. For this application in the 223 I use Sierra 63g SMP's, or Winchester 64g PP's at around 2800 fps. With these loads you end up with a combo that'll bust through a facing shoulder, put a decent sized hole through the vitals, and you'll get an exit around 80% of the time on normal sized whitetails.

Just like you, I'm a firm believer in "it's all in where you hit'em"...

[GRIMJIM]

It is against my nature to instigate anything.

Seriously though, it is for certain placement is key, regardless of the firearm used.

[Sverre A.]

".22 Short. The deer were head shot"

Also with a hammer - you can kill a deer - if you are close enough.
But when we are talking about hunting - we don`t shoot headshots.
Or do we?

I`m sure that some of you have shot more deer-sized animals than me - but for my own, I have done my thoughts:

Deer-size up to 60 yds. = .357
Everything beyond 60 yds. - .44 >

Cape Buffalo at least a .45 with 380 gr. bullet/1250 fps.

I have had wrong before - so "slaught" if you mean that you have another experience.

[Ken ONeill]

[quote author=Ole Man Dan
Could it be that Whitetails are not that hard to kill, as long as we do our part and put the right thing in the right place.
(JHP in the ribcage, and a WFN in the shoulder)


Books could be written on the topic, but those ten words or abbreviations say all that needs to be said, and not just about deer.

[tonyinky]

Amen brother!

[.357 shooter]

I totally agree with Ole Man Dan and Jerry on this. But would like to add I like to put a bullet combination of a strong soft point with a little exspansion through the animal for 2 holes. Now for my extra 2 cents. I like to put that bullet in the bottom 1/3 of that animal. If the bullets are lower in the chest = more blood on the ground and less in the chest cavity. If the bullet is high chest has to fill up to the holes before leaking. So for me if i only get one hole for some reason I still get enough blood on the ground for follow up if the bullet is in the bottom 1/3. So shot placement is key...

[Tom W.]

Are you trying to tell us that with the drought, global warming, the ozone layer being depleted, space aliens, Al Gore, ( oh, I've repeated myself !)  and swamp gas that our Alabama deer aren't bullet proof?

[Van/TX]

Best answers I've ever heard ...Van

[kennisondan]

How true.... 
power is important, but placement is the only GUARANTEE...  I have never seen one get away that actually had a perfect shot .. never trailed one with a perfect shot and recovered it after a reall long tracking job..only short tracking with a good hit...
I like the gurantee of good placement.. works for me with any caliber and any type of suitable weapon....
I would not want to rely on extra power and have less chance of accurate placement due to the recoil etc. ...
power is not a substitute for placement..
ever.
dk
 

[.357 shooter]

Well said, dk.

[Texgun]

 Where do you hit em? just any where in the eye...............