Thread: Target deer ?

Originally Posted by MCG1

He's been eating free vittles for awhile, eh? My buddy picked up my buck head to boil it yesterday. Hope it turns out as nicely as yours. So, what caliber and type of bullet? I've seen them under the far side hide, but never in the cavity like that!

me either , NEVER seen that before , but to be sure it went thru the big bones on the lower shoulder before it quit and it was amazing to see such a light penetration from a 150 grain 30 06 round at such close range ....around 45 yards away and my rifle is a bolt action too ....
might have went 12 inches into the buck total .....pretty much, not much for sure ....go figure

Originally Posted by "D"

Nice healthy size. Perfect shaped rack. Good shot.

likely 3.5 years old and to be VERY sure after raising deer a few years inside a high fence , I know for sure whatever they are antler wise at 3.5 is what they will almost always be later in life , it will get lots bigger at 4.5 but the configuration will remain the same basically and at 5.5 it will get lot's more mass , but at best that buck would possibly only be an 8 with really weak brow tines if any down the road , might grow a kicker or 2 ....and get pretty wide , but I much prefer a solid 8 or a 10 over what this fella was sporting at 3.5 , we discussed the need many times for one of us to harvest him this year ,,,,,so for sure it met my expectations and no one eats horns anyway ,,,,right ...

Originally Posted by Ketchn

me either , NEVER seen that before , but to be sure it went thru the big bones on the lower shoulder before it quit and it was amazing to see such a light penetration from a 150 grain 30 06 round at such close range ....around 45 yards away and my rifle is a bolt action too ....
might have went 12 inches into the buck total .....pretty much, not much for sure ....go figure

Bullet performance on deer has always fascinated me, and been the subject of much experimentation with my reloads. I was lucky to be in a club for about 8 years when my kids were younger, got to do a lot of post-mortem exams. Ours, and the other 20 or so guys in the club. I’ve put most of em through deer at various angles, from basic soft points up through barnes solid coppers. I’ve noticed close shots where velocity is higher tend to make them open more violently, penetrate less. Add in some bone hit, and there ya go. Everybody has different situations and preferences, but I’ve settled on 150 nosler partitions out of a 300 H&H pushing 3400 fps mv. Effective without being too messy, and got a reserve amount of penetration if needed. Never caught one of those, but have found partitions from a 243 under the hide on the butt of a chest shot deer. My so-called primitive rifle is a 375 H&H slinging 235 Speer hot cores at 3000
I did dig one of those out of a pine tree behind a buck I shot once. I got a little excited and clipped his spine in to. Rifle is an 1885 Winchester, buck came out and sun hit antlers, thought it was a lot bigger. Got a bead and started trying to cock the hammer, it was GONE lol. In my haste I had snagged the lever on my coat and partially opened the action, which drops the hammer down into the well on an 1885. Had to take it off my shoulder and look to see the problem. Since then I grip it with a finger wrapped over the lever


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That's a nice 6 point. Congrats.

Originally Posted by J White

Bullet performance on deer has always fascinated me, and been the subject of much experimentation with my reloads. I was lucky to be in a club for about 8 years when my kids were younger, got to do a lot of post-mortem exams. Ours, and the other 20 or so guys in the club. I’ve put most of em through deer at various angles, from basic soft points up through barnes solid coppers. I’ve noticed close shots where velocity is higher tend to make them open more violently, penetrate less. Add in some bone hit, and there ya go. Everybody has different situations and preferences, but I’ve settled on 150 nosler partitions out of a 300 H&H pushing 3400 fps mv. Effective without being too messy, and got a reserve amount of penetration if needed. Never caught one of those, but have found partitions from a 243 under the hide on the butt of a chest shot deer. My so-called primitive rifle is a 375 H&H slinging 235 Speer hot cores at 3000
I did dig one of those out of a pine tree behind a buck I shot once. I got a little excited and clipped his spine in to. Rifle is an 1885 Winchester, buck came out and sun hit antlers, thought it was a lot bigger. Got a bead and started trying to cock the hammer, it was GONE lol. In my haste I had snagged the lever on my coat and partially opened the action, which drops the hammer down into the well on an 1885. Had to take it off my shoulder and look to see the problem. Since then I grip it with a finger wrapped over the lever


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once shot a button buck facing me head on with a 30 30 marlin and some factory remington ammo right square in his chest at about 50 yards
found the bullet in deep in his ham when I cleaned up that mess ....

In the 1980s I used 165 core lokts in my 30-06 since they shot nicely and were available at most sporting goods stores in Florida and Georgia. Around 1990? I started looking at other newer factory loads.. I remember using Winchester Supreme and Federal Premium ammo 165 and 168 grain bullets, both worked well and grouped nicely in my 1980s Model 700 Remington rifle. In 2007 I got my wife a Model 700 youth rifle in 243, it shot 100 grain Core lokts accurately.. she shot some does and hogs with it and all bullets passed thru.. it looked like a hand grenade went off inside the deers lungs. I was so impressed with her light weight and short rifle I would take it along when I scouted. Killed a couple of hogs with it and ended up buying a Marlin 243 bolt action for myself. Killed at least a dozen hogs with it using 100 grain Core lokts. I see that there are plastic tip core lokts being made now, I have only used the old school pointed soft point versions. I got into the AR style hunting rifles 6 years ago. 450 Bushmaster, 6.5 Grendel and then 350 legend... You got me thinking about my 30-06 700 with this thread..been at least 9 or 10 years since I had it out.. I know I got some ammo for it, I might just dust it off and take it out next trip to the stand..

Used to shoot handloads out of my Remington 700. 165gr boattails. Shot the same load for competition and hunting.. Devastating on deer. Did shoot a .308 Norma Magnum through a 3" poplar and drop the buck on the other side; but 36 footprints of recoil was a bit much. .450 Bushmaster is just as devastating, cheaper ammo, less recoil.

we had a 6mm remington for a while back when , it never stopped on anything it hit , that thing was a zipper for sure .....