I have been reading this post now on and off for the last few days and I must say there are a lot of good posts backed up by some very nice theories and experiences which leads me to add my 2 cents. I have hunted and taken deer and have seen deer taken by my hunting pals and moose too. I have hunted the most part with a 270 130gr for deer and 150gr for moose with plain janes, YES the sectional density is important for which type of game you are hunting until the arrive of premium bullets in my opinion you could though all that bullet sectional density out the window because it no longer holds true. I still prefer the cheap stuff but that is another topic. I also bow hunt and have taken deer with my bow, with a bow shot placement is very important, there is no racking shots, but odd things do happen for time to time. This year I took a large doe 150lb she was quartering towards me when I released my arrow, she saw the arrow coming and turned 180 degrees I guess to try to dodge it, yeap I got her in the bun hole, gave her about ½ hour went looking for her took me 5 minutes there was a blood trail straight to her of about 75 yards like as if she was bleeding from a lung shot.
Have seen my friend take a moose of over 1000lb with a bow in the lungs and seen another moose hit in the guts by another friend, waited an hour and went looking the moose got up and ran before we could get close enough, searched until 10pm that night and the next day until 11am when I found him about 1 km from where he was shot, not dead yet shot him again and again at 15 feet and he was still able to get up on his feet one last time before he expired. Now my friend who shot this moose in the guts, was 150% positive that he had gotten the arrow in the lungs for sure, for sure for sure over & over again as he went over his story, goes to show you all is not as it appears.
My point is if a bow shooting a arrow at no more than 300 fps can kill a 1000lb moose why cant a 243 with a bullet travailing 2900fps using a premium bullet that will keep 70% weight retention or better, you do the math, it says it can.
Hunters are quick to blame the caliber or the bullet for there shot communing, I cannot under stand stories of lung shot deer leaving no blood trail and blaming the bullet. In my experience gut shot animals leave no blood trail lung shot always leave blood forcefully as the animal breaths in and out blood is forced out either as drops or as a mist at times.
Yes I have a 243 have taken deer with it (power points) and I say it is enough for deer and larger too if you choose too with the right bullet selection as with any other caliber. Hunting is up to the hunter to choose where he places him or her self and also choose when is the optimal moment to take the shot or not to take the shot. Shooting an animal and not beening able to recover the animal is NO better than choosing not to take a poorly placed shot, this is what this post is really about, it is not about if the 243 is enough it is more about shot placement, whether you use a bow or 243, 270, 338, 7mm, 300, you have to put it at the right place as mentioned by many other people on this post.
