The .300 Savage kills again!

[Joe Demko]

Yesterday was opening day of regular firearms deer season here in PA. I went out with my dad and brother. It was pouring down rain but not particularly cold.
At a little before 8AM, I saw an antlerless deer moving along the treeline on the other side of a backfilled stripjob. It was moving at a brisk trot. I led it slightly and dropped it with a single round through the heart and lungs. The distance measured off to 125 paces. I was using a 150 grain factory load in a Savage Model 99 that's a good bit older than I am. When I went to field dress the critter, I found it had a scrotum. No antlers, not even buttons, but definitely a male of average body size.
Meanwhile, dad killed 2 more with a Savage 99 in .308 that he recently acquired. When we went to get the truck to pick up our kills, I shot another doe.
By 8:30 we had filled all our tags. The weather wasn't very pleasant but the hunting was good for us. PA Game Commission had predicted a lower than usual deer harvest.

 

[coolcloo1019]

Congrats! But I always wondered why some people fill their tags the first day. Now you have nothing to do for the rest of the season.

 

[Joe Demko]

In my case, I fill my tags on opening day because that is pretty much the only day I get to hunt. This year I managed to sneak in a day during the early muzzleloader season and bag a snacksize doe, but that was out of the ordinary for me.

 

[Ed4032]

Last year I killed my deer with a 300 Savage 99. They are great hunting guns. I had a matching 308, but I let a friend talk me out of it. It works great for him too.

 

[chemist308]

Those 300 Savages are nice rifles. I just think it's too funny that Marlin had to go and invent a cartridge that basically already existed...

How are they with brush?

 

[Joe Demko]

In practice, the .300 Savage will handle pretty much anything you might tackle with a .308. Factory loads aren't nearly as diverse, however. There may be others available, but the only ones I've seen on shelves lately are a 150 grain soft point of the spitzer design and a 180 grain round nose soft point. I took this years deer with the former.