hunting damage to animals

[MCgunner]

I shoot for the shoulder, but then, I don't use toys I got out of a Cracker Jack box. I won't go with anything less than .243 Winchester. My .257 Roberts has plenty for shoulder shots and any meat damage is minimal and just chili meat/sausage meat/jerky meat anyway, not the good stuff. I don't find that my .308 does much meat damage, either, totally acceptable. The 7mm Rem Mag, well, I don't use it much, pretty nasty.

Lately, I've gone to using a CVA Wolf in 50 caliber and stuff it with a 385 grain Hornady Great Plains Minie ball. You can eat right up to the hole. It doesn't kill by shock so much as it takes out large chunks of blood laden tissue and breaks bones on the way. A deer can't go far with his shoulders taken out. They're not bipedal.

 

[Bezoar]

im not fond of shooting the shoulders.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I'm not fond of tracking deer.
So I shoot the shoulders.

No wrong answer though. To some it's worth sacrificing a little meat to have it drop right there. To others it isn't.

Where I hunt, 50 yds from my stand there's a 50 ft extremely steep hill that goes down to the river. I don't want one running down there. I'd have to drag it across the river (it's small, probably 40 ft across and shallow enough to cross if necessary), another quarter mile to the road then backtrack and drive around to get it. It would majorly suck.

 

[Savage99]

The forums are polluted with the .22" and small bullets topic on big game.

Don't use a 223 on deer. It's not even legal in most places.

Real men use enough gun.

 

[trigga]

Real men use enough gun.

here we go again. i grew up using a 30-06 for deer, even with that and a good shot to the vitals, i had deer run. at most 25 yards. there is no magic bullet out there but i would have to agree that a bigger (more powerful) bullet has a higher percentage of a cleaner kill. not always true. there is a video on youtube with two guy using a 50 cal (50 bmg?) on a deer. look how at how far the deer ran and compare it to the wound. i can almost see the macho guys jaw drop and the look on their faces like what?

 

[trigga]

if you are legal to hunt with 223 and you are comfortable with it, knowing it's advantages and limitation, like any caliber, do your part and practice. shot placement and bullet design is key. not trying to promote this but shoot the biggest caliber that you are most accurate with or am comfortable with.

 

[Art Eatman]

Seems to me that if Bambi drops right there, doesn't go anywhere and dies, that's as real-man as a fella needs to be. From what I've seen, a real man isn't defined by the size of his weapon.

 

[Savage99]

The perverse obsession of using tiny bullets on big game is still not dead. Some may impress the unknowing that they have shot some game animal with a tiny bullet.

They don't know or care that the animal suffers more than necessary.

 

[Art Eatman]

As long as folks get bang-flops on Bambi, does it matter how big and powerful was the cartridge?

The bulletmakers' R&D, these recent twenty or so years, has changed the equation for utility. There are now well-designed bullets in .223 which make the .22 centerfires into far more suitable weapons than merely for coyotes and smaller game.

 

[heeler]

I don't like head or neck shots but if I shoot at the end of shooting light particularly when using a small caliber like my .243 that does not always insure a good blood trail I generally aim where the base of the neck meets the body and this is also where the spine makes it's bend and I have anchored several late evening bucks that way.

 

[scottbird]

it is legal here in pa to use any center fire weapon. I have seen many deer taken with a .223 and most never went more that 20yds. it is all bullet selection and placement. I can't tell you when I was younger and needed the meat, how many deer I killed with a 22lr. do not let people think you need to take a tank in the woods with you. let them shoot and track their deer with weapons big enough for an elephant, you use the .223 and get a good shot and it falls. just because the caliber is bigger does not mean it will kill it any deader.

 

[jerkface11]

The perverse obsession of using tiny bullets on big game is still not dead. Some may impress the unknowing that they have shot some game animal with a tiny bullet.

.223 will drop a deer dead in it's tracks and you can wound one with a .458 winmag. If you can't make the shot you can't make the shot doesn't matter what you use.

 

[jrdolall]

I have a couple of .223s. I have them sighted in at 100 yards and bought the ammo to shoot deer. One day I may try it as I have a friend that routinely hunts with his AR and is very successful.
I always come back to the question and ask myself "Why?". I have killed umpteen deer with 30-06, 243, 30-30, 6.5x55 and others so why do I want to shoot one with a .223?
If it's the only CF rifle you have then by all means use it. I can't convince myself to use it just to say I killed a deer with a .223 but I don't fault anyone that does it.

 

[MCgunner]

Personally, I always told folks that were starting their kids on .22-250s that if the kid can't handle the massive, shoulder dislocating recoil of a .243......then the kid ain't ready for deer hunting. But, JMHO. Texas deer are smaller than up north and .22-250 has a following down here. They can be quite accurate, but would I buy a .22-250 specifically for deer hunting? I mean, why? Ain't any cheaper than an adequate caliber gun, right?

 

[jerkface11]

It is an adequate caliber gun.

 

[Savage99]

The .224" is a small bullet made for small game.

The .224" bullets are not legal for deer size game in many places because the small bullet is not big enough to always be humane on that game.

When we aim at the quarry we wobble around sometimes.

Other times the game moves just enough as the shot is fired and the bullet does not hit at it's best if it's small.

If the bullet is big and makes a big deep wound it's far more likely to work well more often.

Of course there are take backs on even that and some small or weak folks can't shoot powerful guns that well.

They should stick to smaller game.

That goes for me too as I get older.

 

[jmorris]

The .223 would work fine like this for more than one.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=DkEU3qlhoDMeMZ4rxm6jLA&bvm=bv.77648437,d.eXY

Maybe not for the PETA types but if they are more of a nuisance than rats to you, you might entertain the idea.

 

[T.R.]

My daughter took down her first 3 mulies with a .223 Savage 112V rifle. She hunted with Winchester 64 grain soft tip ammo and had no problems at all. With broadside shots, the bullet(s) broke ribs and punched all the way through and out the other side. Fine lethal performance.

TR

 

[No4Mk1*]

Ok I won't use a 223 on deer. But I will try the 5.56mm soon. (Introducing kids to hunting / shooting) - AR length of pull adjustment is very valuable for short arms.

 

[jerkface11]

Yeah 5.56 is totally different from .223.

 

[jrdolall]

As I mentioned earlier, I have a good friend that hunts with an AR and kills as many deer every year as he wants. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with using a .223 with quality ammunition for deer hunting...if that's what you have available. My issue is that I have not yet convinced myself to use the caliber "just to see if it will work". I know it will work. My bolt 223 is a tack driver at 100 yards and I have no doubt that a well placed shot will drop a deer as well as any other round I use.
It's a mindset. I had no problem using the Swede after I got it. No problem with the 35
Rem. Maybe this year I will take the .223.

 

[MCgunner]

Yeah 5.56 is totally different from .223.

How so? Same round, different name. 5.56 is the tacticool/military designation like 7.62x51 is for .308. Fortunately, they didn't do metric back when the caliber .30, model of 1906 came out.

 

[Art Eatman]

It wuz snark, MCg.

 

[jerkface11]

I don't think anyone even makes 5.56 marked hunting ammo.

 

[No4Mk1*]

"I don't think anyone even makes 5.56 marked hunting ammo." --I do in my basement...

I was partially joking about the 5.56 vs 223, but my hunting load is the Hornady 70gr GMX loaded to the max 5.56 pressure per Hornady's manual. Different data permit a little more velocity from 5.56 than 223 but that will be offset by a shorter barrel (AR), so for practical purposes my load is probably matched or exceeded by your 223 with a 22-24" barrel. I do recommend your 62gr TSX load for wt retention.