sdeprie said:
Some hunters need a lot more that the 22 centerfires can give, shooting in iffy conditions, longer distances, whatever, and that's fine if they need it. But, it doesn't matter how much power you have in that bullet, it won't do any good if it isn't in the right spot.
i agree with you completely. shot placement is also a big part of it, but thats a big part of it NO MATTER what caliber of rifle you shoot.
i will tell you a little story about my father-in-law i just got wind of today. Californias rifle season for deer runs for about 5-6 weeks or so. he spent all season in the hills camped with a bunch of his friends. he hunted hard, every day. about 2 weeks ago, he got a shot at a nice 3X3. he took the shot, squeezed off a round, and the deer hit the trail running. they examined the scene, and found very little blood. they tried to track the deer, figuring he got a bad shot on it, and they never found it {sic}. this last friday (last weekend of rifle season here) he was driving along doing some afternoon road hunting with a friend, and out of the brush about 40 yards away pops this fork. he walked out and stood right smack in the middle of the road. my father-in-law took careful aim and squeezed off,sending a bullet downrange. the deer stumbled a bit and started to run off. he scoped it again and just as it hit the brush, he squeezed ANOTHER round off. the deer did a 360' flip in mid-air and dropped. they decided to wait a few, just in case it hadnt fully expired. about 10 min. later his buddy looked up where the deer had fell, and there was another deer standing there ( so they thought). they didnt get a chance to get a shot at that one. they decided to go over and look at the fork he had shot, and guess what......THE DEER THAT WAS STANDING THERE WAS THE FORKED HORN...it had gotten up and ran off. they tracked it and lost the blood trail. they looked all of the rest of friday, and ALL of saturday, and never found the deer ( there were 6 of them looking saturday). he got so mad, he didnt even hunt on sunday, the last day of season, but just packed his stuff and came home.
the thing thru this whole complete story i neglected ( intentionally) to mention is that he was shooting a REMINGTON 30-06, one of the hardest kicking dogs on the shelf.
my idea in that is one of just speculation, but im thinking maybe it was one of two things. he had unintentionally inadvertantly knocked his scope off of zero, or the deer were just so damn close the bullets were wizzing right thru the deer before really having a chance to mushroom as they should ( the forkie left rib bones,some hair and a couple of chunks of meat behind...)
i do think that the AVERAGE hunter should match his rifle to his hunting situations. ive hunted in areas that a 500-600 yard shot was the norm on big mulies, and in places that a shot over 100 yards was extremely rare, with the norn never over 60 yards.i know my rifles well enough that i can
make long distance lethal shots with no problems with 22 centerfire rifles. alot of guys DONT. if a person isnt comfortable making long shots with there rifle, they should maybe think about matching the rifle to the area/shots they will be taking.if a person feels more comfortable shooting a larger bore rifle on longer shots, they should do that, but i dont think people should get on the net and tell everyone what a BAD idea shooting 22 centerfire is at deer, because that just isnt so.
its all really a matter of preference i guess. for a person to say " I WOULD NEVER DO THAT PERSONALLY" is alot different than saying "DONT DO THAT AS ITS A BAD IDEA BECAUSE THE SPECIFIC ROUND IS TO SMALL TO HUNT WITH"
i know one old guy who never lost a der in his life, and he always hunted with a 22 hornet, and another who hunted with a .17 remington who also never lost an animal.
( california law allows you to hunt with ANY CENTERFIRE CARTRIGE for deer)