Bullet Placement is everything....Isn't it?

[Dibbs]

Hey, Poper, I don't have the Tikka, but I have close to the same combination, same scope, caliber, etc, and it's a great setup. Sometimes you set things up right, and do everything "to the nines" and it just comes out wrong, in the end. I'd chalk it up to bad luck. WTH, a bad day hunting still beats a good day working.

 

[Captcurt]

I really don't like that phrase..., well to be clear, I don't like that phrase when I've heard it from persons other than Captcurt....because the others don't seem to mean quite the same thing that he does......

Alas, my friend, your definition of the "oops" is the unplanned event, which had it not happened, the deer would've been down, no worries. However, where I am there seem to be waaaay too many hunters that practice this idea, when they actually should practice their shooting, and also practice their tracking.

I have often heard men preparing to go to their annual deer camp, exclaim that at least a .30-06 is needed, but they use a .300 WinMag or .338 WinMag to be certain of killing the deer. Any large magnum rifle would be ideal, really, for the whitetail are so big that "anything smaller simply won't put the deer down." And always their shots are under 300 yards, and more often than not, at around 100 yards.

Too many guys these days seem to rely on massive cartridges at relatively close range hoping these will make up for craptastic marksmanship, often combined with poor tracking skills. To them the .35 Remington or the .30-30 Winchester out to 200 yards "won't kill a deer". Some will say the .25-06 or the .270 won't do well either, and the .243 is nothing but a "little kid's cartridge for killing small doe".

When I worked part-time at the LGS, I sold a fellow a Remington 770 (plain-Jane model 700) in .270 Winchester, a good 4x scope, and a 30 round "hunter's special" box of Federal brand ammo. We mounted and bore sighted the scope, and the customer finished sighting in the rifle the following day. He then drove up to the "deer camp", a cabin in PA, and was promptly told I had taken advantage of him, since I didn't sell him a "magnum". Opening day was the following morning after my customer arrived at the cabin. He was a good shot and took a nice 5-point buck on day one, much to the amazement of his cohorts. ( He stopped by when he got back with photos and to thank us for our recommendations).

I have only two types of shots in my "bag o' tricks". Either the broadside lung shot, or the quartering-toward-me shoulder shot. I'm a bit different though, as I'm using a comparatively heavy, all lead projectile, at a pretty slow speed, and shooting 100 yards or less. I only added the shoulder shot last January, as I have always done well with the broadside lung shot, and if I couldn't get it, I'd pass on shooting. A neck or head shot was out of the question for me...they still are. However an online fellow BP hunter wrote how he had spent two years using only shoulder shots, or he'd pass, and had harvested around a half dozen deer. The shoulder shots had, so far, all be highly successful. So I tried my first one, and indeed, the deer dropped as if poll-axed.

So agreed, weird stuff happens from time to time. It's good to have a "forgiving" load, and I'm using a .54 instead of a .45 for just that reason. Just so long (imho) as the hunter doesn't always count on "forgiveness", it's a good idea..............

LD

Agreed. I have a 243 that is one of my most accurate rifles and I have taken over a dozen deer with it, but it is for special purpose. Every deer except one has fallen to it except one and it was a complete miss. I hit a limb about 3 feet in front of the muzzle and nobody knows where that bullet went. It certainly wasn't in the deer. I use it in open country and don't tickle the trigger until everything is perfect. Other times the Creedmoor or the 300 WSM come out of the safe. The CM is for the open creek bottom where I can see 1/2 mile and the WSM is for when I am in the timber. It is an old Savage that wears a 2x9 Leupold. All work very well for their purpose.