rimfire whitetails

[thomis]

A few years ago NCWRC made the decision to make it legal to hunt deer with rimfire. So I posted a thread to see your thoughts. Here is my post.

Here is a video of a deer I took late in the 2013 season. The clock/time in the video is off by an hour. The shot was taken with just about 5 minutes of legal shooting time left. This is the 11th deer I have taken out back behind the house with a .22 rifle. It is an efficient killer if done carefully. I was using CCI Subsonic ammo.

 

[MCgunner]

I know it's the poacher's friend and has taken many head of deer, usually at night from the road, but I have deer rifles, no need to use my squirrel rifle. Rimfires are illegal in Texas, anyway.

 

[Patocazador]

My BIL shot over 100 deer at night with a .22 LR while farming in the 60s. They were eating his plants as soon as they popped up.
The judge let him off.

 

[vincyr]

.22 LR, the deer-jacker's second best friend. First being the .22 WMR.

 

[Art Eatman]

It's like a lot of what we do as hunters: Circumstance, judgement, skill. Can work out okay, but no guarantees.

 

[Zeke/PA]

Once upon a time on a Winter trapline, I shot a very nice target of opportunity, whitetail doe with a K-22 at a distance of 10 yards. I would have passed up the shot but I desperately needed the meat.

 

[d2wing]

And people look at me sideways when I use my .223. I can't recommend it but the deer are pretty big up here.

 

[Dr. Sandman]

Do you have to shoot the head to kill a deer with a .22? How far will they run with a .22 to the chest?

 

[toiville2feathers]

No matter what gun you use, its all about 3 things, 1. shot placement 2. maximum terminal damage possibilities 3. fastest possible kill factor
The eskimos gun of choice was a Savage model 340 in a .222 rem, nothing fancy.
The gun was economical and reliable and didn't spoil much meat. Ammunition was economical and extra ammo was easy, and not bulky to carry. They shot Caribou and polar bears in the lungs and would track them till they dropped. Beluga whales and seals were also shot with the .222.
If you get a chance to read the book called "NUNAGA" read it. The author was an agent for the Hudson Bay Co. He tells some good stories about their way of life.

 

[thomis]

Mr. Sandman,
A brain shot is the only way to go with rimfire. I would never take a chest shot or any other shot on a whitetail other than a brain shot with rimfire.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I saw a spike deer shot between the eyes with a .22lr and run off! The shot was with a single shot Crickett at 10yds or so. It was tracked for the better part of a mile untill no blood was found. The deer was recovered later that week by a different hunter with 30-30. The lead bullet hit the deer's forehead, siknned the hide back, and ramped right off.

I also witnessed and incident where a 5pt was shot broadside. 2 shots via Marlin .22auto also around 10yds. The buck left no blood trail. Several hundred yards of tracking and the deer was laying in a stream dead. The shooter said "If I'd only shot him one time he would have piled' up right here". The second shot scared the deer and he ran straight down hill. It took 2 strong men 3hrs to get it out of the woods.

I will never shoot a deer with a 22lr if I don't have to! I'm not going to tell you if I ever have or haven't but it is illegal here and times havent allways been easy.

 

[Zeke/PA]

In my situation the deer had it's head down and I was, by resting on a sapling,able to hit the animal behind the ear with a .22 hollow point. One shot, very dead deer. Had I not needed the meat, the shot would not have even been considered. I was by the way about 35 snow covered miles from the nearest super market.

 

[buck460XVR]

Growing up on the farm, we regularly put down steers weighing ten times as much as that doe with a .22LR. They dropped just as fast as she did when hit correctly. Even if it was legal for me, I doubt very much if there would be many scenarios where I would use it for deer, altho off the back porch, under the feeder @ 20 yards might be one of them. I've come across too many deer with parts of their faces missing or holes thru their ears from calibers much bigger than .22 to think that under most situations, at least for me, a head shot is the best. I generally reserve that for a coup de gras. That said, You seem perfectly capable of makin' the shot and under the circumstances, I see nuttin' wrong.

 

[AABEN]

I am glad that is the law. That will make it easy to tell if it was shot with a legal gun.

 

[jmorris]

When I was a kid there was a little grocery store in Emory TX, called B&B. Two guys out behind the building were the "locker plant" that stocked the store. All they used was a single shot from and old (yes even back then) Winchester .22 short, to drop the 1000lb + bovine they processed.

 

[wild willy]

I have shot hundreds of butcher hogs and steers with a .22.The range is in inches even then sometimes thing don't go as planned and you have to shoot more than one time.I would not shoot a deer with one.The one thing a lot of people that do it don't tell you is how many deer run off that they think they missed.Did they?

 

[MCgunner]

I have shot hundreds of butcher hogs and steers with a .22.The range is in inches even then sometimes thing don't go as planned and you have to shoot more than one time.I would not shoot a deer with one.The one thing a lot of people that do it don't tell you is how many deer run off that they think they missed.Did they?

Same here, but with a .22 NAA mini on trapped hogs, a few finishers on downed deer. It works if you have a shot perpendicular to the cranium. However, .38s work better, less room for error, less thrashing around before the animal expires. I don't want to be real cruel to the animal, prefer it to die quickly. I've never had to use a second shot, but one can be REAL careful at point blank range and the little mini revolver is plenty accurate for that in MY hands. It's the one gun I always have in a pocket, the reason it has been used for this.

Now days, I have my hog trap out back of my house. If I don't have an appropriate gun on me, I can just walk back to the house. Got to anyway to get my dirt bike to drag 'em out of the woods.

 

[paintballdude902]

i grew up in NC and started hunting in 2006, AFAIK its been legal for a while and isnt new news.

i knew a few guys that would keep an old bolt action .22 in the barn and take an easy shot at a deer from time to time. but most guys that i knew that killed deer with a .22lr were doing it between 9 and 4 AM with a spot light.

knew a few guys that used a .22 mag for kids deer rifle at 6-7 years old

 

[stressed]

If using a .22, really the braincase is the only option. You get around 5" penetration from a .22 into a deer. But then again you get 4-5" penetration from birdshot, and can fire at the head at 10 yards into the braincase and drop it dead. Won't miss it either.

If you are using such calibers, it's all about how close you are and shot placement.