Newtosavage
Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2015
- Messages
- 2,918
I know this is a controversial opinion, but I don't care.
I've long thought the .223 is far too underpowered for ethical deer hunting. Yesterday afternoon, against my better judgement, that opinion was reinforced as a friend of mine attempted to take two deer with his bolt-action .223. I really didn't want him using that rifle but I also didn't want to offend him by saying he didn't have enough gun.
So, he shot the first doe at about 100 yards and she dropped, then got up and ran, then dropped, then took some time to expire. Not exactly a clean, ethical kill but she died.
On to the next doe. Shot her at 120 yards and she ran. He, myself and a friend of mine looked for blood for over an hour. We scoured that entire area and found NOTHING. All three of us are experienced bowhunters and know how to find blood. She did not leave a drop, and we never found that deer.
Back to the 1st deer - the bullet (A Remington 55 gr. soft point core-lokt) never exited, and he recovered it in the deer. It made a nice mushroom, but the fact that it had only a single .22 caliber entrance hole and no exit hole certainly explains why the 2nd deer left ZERO blood on the ground.
My buddy is a good shot. These deer were both inside 125 yards. The .223 is simply not enough gun, and he admitted that after losing that doe. He's getting a bigger deer rifle.
I know lots and lots of folks love their AR's these days, and good for them. I'm not a fan of either the AR platform or the .223 round, especially for deer hunting. Why states allow the .223 for hunting whitetails is beyond me. For God's sake, if you're going to hunt deer with a .223, please shoot them in the head only.
Rant off.
I've long thought the .223 is far too underpowered for ethical deer hunting. Yesterday afternoon, against my better judgement, that opinion was reinforced as a friend of mine attempted to take two deer with his bolt-action .223. I really didn't want him using that rifle but I also didn't want to offend him by saying he didn't have enough gun.
So, he shot the first doe at about 100 yards and she dropped, then got up and ran, then dropped, then took some time to expire. Not exactly a clean, ethical kill but she died.
On to the next doe. Shot her at 120 yards and she ran. He, myself and a friend of mine looked for blood for over an hour. We scoured that entire area and found NOTHING. All three of us are experienced bowhunters and know how to find blood. She did not leave a drop, and we never found that deer.
Back to the 1st deer - the bullet (A Remington 55 gr. soft point core-lokt) never exited, and he recovered it in the deer. It made a nice mushroom, but the fact that it had only a single .22 caliber entrance hole and no exit hole certainly explains why the 2nd deer left ZERO blood on the ground.
My buddy is a good shot. These deer were both inside 125 yards. The .223 is simply not enough gun, and he admitted that after losing that doe. He's getting a bigger deer rifle.
I know lots and lots of folks love their AR's these days, and good for them. I'm not a fan of either the AR platform or the .223 round, especially for deer hunting. Why states allow the .223 for hunting whitetails is beyond me. For God's sake, if you're going to hunt deer with a .223, please shoot them in the head only.
Rant off.