Magnumitis and hunters.

[Matt-J2]

Ok, so I guess this is nothing new, but I need a place to vent a wee bit.

In recent months, as I've been pay8ing more attention to local hunters and shooters whilst in stores catering to such, I've noticed more and more signs of Magnumitis. Folks complaining about the cost of sabot shotgun slugs, while explaining to all and sundry that they can't get a shot at less than 100yds. Folks who need those fancy new slugs from Remington for $20-whatever a box, because, you know, you really need that extra range in the woods of WI. Fella checking out rifles, needs a .300wsm for whitetails, as nothing else has enough killing power. Can't buy a .243 for your kids either, they'll just need a larger rifle in a year or so, since .243 can't take down deer reliably.

The last straw was today. Walking to class, couple guys in the hall talking about a bow one of them found. Was only a 27" draw length. OK, that's an issue, fella was clearly in need of a greater draw length. He gets to weight, and set to max, it's only 50#. One of the other guys was incredulous and wondered what you could possibly kill with only a 50# draw. Not even joking, he was dead serious.



I know some of this is hunter skill and all that, but the idea that it takes a massive amount of power for any given game animal seems to be an epidemic. We should call the CDC. Better yet, I want to just poke all these people with a stone tipped spear and remind them that said spears were once used to kill mammoths. Arg.

 

[ArmedBear]

I wouldn't say that spears are the most humane way to kill elephant-size game, but apparently they work.

http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/Week-of-Mon-20031215/013377.html

 

[Shawnee]

Agreed Matt. And what's worse - the dimwits who fall for that stuff infect others with it for decades.
First three deer I took with arrows were with a 43# Bear recurve and none of them made it farther than about 50yds.
Have shot enough deer with the 243 to fill Yankee Stadium.

 

[koja48]

Fell prey to "magnumitis" years ago & successfully dispatched a lot of deer & elk with same . . . the subjects would have been harvested just as successfully with an '06, which I shelved in deference to the belted magnum. I use a .25-06 now with great success, extreme accuracy, and sans retina-detaching recoil. At 60, I prefer calibers that kill cleanly at one end & are reasonably mellow at the other. There is a phase in a man's life when testosterone rules . . . I'm eternally grateful that I've advanced beyond both that and the "thinking-with-the-little-head" era . . . I shoot a custom 60# longbow now (hey, 1 pound for each year on earth . . . what a deal!) when bowhunting . . . light to carry, easy to tune, sweet in the hand, and kills deer & elk dead, dead, dead with a well-placed arrow (which is MUCH easier to "well-place" I might add.).

 

[Art Eatman]

Summer of 1948, at age 14, I returned from Boy Sprout Camp as one each Serious Indian. I made bows and arrows, wore breech cloths, various "Indian" accoutrements and drove my mother stark raving bonkers. "What's that kid gonna haul home next?" (A five-foot rattlesnake skin didn't help matters.)

Insanity is hereditary: You get it from your kids.

My best bow, after numerous learning experiences, was about a 40-pound simple bow. I made arrow heads from barrel hoop, just like Ernest Thompson Seton said to. ("Two Little Savages" and "Yan In The Woods").

But I managed a couple of jackrabbits, the rattlesnake, and a fox which got pinned to a tree when I hit it. The coup de main for the summer was a little spike buck (let us not talk about seasons and licenses) which I shot through the head. Completely through the head. From up in an oak tree near a spring, from maybe 25 or 30 feet.

In later years I found recurves and compounds, but they're nowhere nearly as much fun...

, Art

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yeah, it's funny when people think that "energy" kills. Archery proves that it's 100% wound channel, and 0% "energy" that kills. 70 ft lbs of energy from an arrow through the vitals will kill an animal just as dead as a .399 superdupermagnum with 7,500 ft.-lbs.

 

[koja48]

wore breech cloths . . .

Bet you were a sight to behold, Art. Good thing Playgirl Magazine wasn't around back then (and I thought I looked rather stunning in the same & mocs myself, way back when . . . ).

 

[ArmedBear]

.45-70 will drop some BIG game. Relies on bullet size and weight, not velocity and energy, and works fine.

Someone used to looking at energy numbers would think it isn't good enough for deer at any decent range, but they were once used to drop bison at 400 yards, by market hunters who couldn't afford to waste ammo.

 

[Sunray]

"...Magnumitis..." It's caused by the gun rag writers trying to sell their advertiser's products.
"...only a 27" draw length..." That's enough for me. Wouldn't be for a buddy of mine who needs 32", as I recall. Arms like an orangutan. 45 pounds draw weight is the legal minimum for deer, up here. 55 pounds for moose.

 

[TCB in TN]

Not all men are created equally, recoil bothers some folks, just doesn't both others. I was taught that you should hunt with the largest cal that you can comfortably, and accurately shoot. Now I have backed off of that a little over the years, after a bout with the .300 and .338 (could shoot both accurately off hand, but they were not fun, I didn't dread shooting them, but I didn't enjoy them either), I settled back on the 30-06 class of guns (.270, .308, 30-06). I am not shooting much these days but can still walk out and hit what I aim at pretty consistently (The little red fox eating my chickens this summer, found out that 200 yards was not a safe distance from my .308 BLR).

I have shot and hunted with the .243 and have NO problem with myself or anyone else using it to hunt deer with. It is undoubtedly "enough" gun to drop bambi effectively. I firmly believe that if people spent more money on practice ammo, and less on buyin the next whiz bang thing that fewer people would feel the need for huntin artilary.

 

[DRYHUMOR]

The largest caliber I've got is 7mm mag, I haven't shot it in years.

Mostly it's .308 or .257

 

[ojibweindian]

When I got my 7mag, I was looking for a 30-06. The place I bought it had no 30-06 in the Vanguard line, so...

Anyways, since I handload, I developed a load with 280 power levels. Easy on my shoulder, easy on the barrel, and smacks down a deer with no problems.

My other game-getter is a 30-30, and my next rifle is either going to be a .243 or 7mm-08. That'll depend on what I run across first when the money's in the pocket.

 

[qajaq59]

I don't know if magnumitis is all bad?

I kind of enjoy watching people try to zero in magnums at the range. Some of those flinches are really impressive to see.

 

[John Peddie]

Savage .250-3000

That's what I've used for the last 3 deer-out of an iron sighted Savage 99 (1920's vintage). All were one shot kills, and none moved more than 50 feet from the point of impact.

It's no brush cutter, but where you have 50-75 yds. of sightline, it works just fine. If you don't have a clear sightline, best not to shoot.

 

[janobles14]

yes but what about the annual T-Rex hunts? i have NEVER seen a dinosaur killed with a "standard" caliber! sure they work for everything up do elephants but NOT on thunder lizards.

 

[waffentomas]

It took me a few MONTHS to find an affordable .308 in my area for elk hunting. Plenty of big boomers there for the taking. I never could understand why it was so hard to find one. All the gun store owners said the same thing..."everybody wants a magnum now'a days."

I bet I practice a lot more, too.

Tom

 

[oregonhunter]

Because whitetail hunters are used to heated hunting lodges, blinds with heat, and 3 restaurant style meals a day during the hunt.

 

[freakshow10mm]

I hear ya Matt. I see it here in the UP too. Lots of 30-30s around though.

Hey, I was born and raised in Oshkosh. Small world.

 

[alsaqr]

It has become very popular to shoot at deer at ranges of 200 yards or more with muzzleloaders and shotguns. Every year i find dead and/or wounded
deer that "hunters" did not follow up on.

Sometimes i go to WV to deer hunt. Like to take my deer to the butcher in Elkins and look at the dozens of deer waiting outside to be processed. It is amazing what folks do to deer. It is quite normal to see a deer that has been shot through both hams and both shoulders, usually by an out of state hunter. Some of those deer look like they have been shot by 75mm pack howitzers.

One butcher in this area of OK will not take a deer that has been badly shot up.

 

[qajaq59]

I can't even imagine taking a shot at a deer 200 yards away with a shotgun.

 

[moooose102]

well, draw length is just a matter of the particular persons size. has nothing to do with power or killing ability. if a 6'5 guy tries to shoot a 26" draw length, well, he is just going to be miserable, and not able to shoot well. on the other side, if a 5'2 guy tries to shoot a 32" draw length bow, he wont be able to get to the let off on the cams. i am absoloutly no bow and arrow expert, but i do know that much.

as for poundage, that is a different storry. that directly relates to speed, just like the magnum rifles. while high power is not a necessity for killing game, you do have to have a certain amount. when you go overboard, you do increase the killing power, but it certainly is not expotential.

i use a 300 win mag, or a 45/70 for deer. but there is a reason for it. i am disabled. i need to drop the deer where i shoot it. if i have to chase it a half of a mile, while i can do that (it will take a while), there is no way i could ever drag it back to the truck.

i limit my shots to where i can get to it with the truck, and sincerely hope for the best. last year was the first year that i hunted since my injury / surgery (which was not sucsessful). that is when i learned that i needed to stay close to the truck, and drop it where i can drive to it.

severly limits my chances, and i did not shoot a deer last year. i would rather it go free that shoot it for the buzzards!

 

[unreal45]

Actually a longer draw length will provide higher arrow speed than a shorter draw length at the same respective poundage.

 

[timothy75]

I see nothing wrong with magnumitus. If it brings people joy to master a powerfull firearm and further our sport so be it. Often times the most powerfull guns are the ones that peek outsiders intrest in our sport to begin with.

 

[Matt-J2]

For me, the joy of shooting big magnums isn't magnumitis. I would define Magnumitis(as if it were a real term) as the attitude and genuine belief that one needs such a powerful cartridge to hunt normal game.

If you want to go and shoot whitetails with a .300wsm(f.ex.), then by all means go and do so.
Just don't try and claim that the job can't be done with anything less.

 

[freakshow10mm]

If it brings people joy to master a powerfull firearm

I've never seen anyone truly master a large bore or magnum rifle. I've seen many pound away at a target at a known distance and talk miles of crap about themselves and their skills. Then they miss a deer at 71y broadside and blame something else, even though they flinched like a pansy on the shot.