Thread: 223 on deer

Originally Posted by Hunter_Nick

And this is where we need to be acutely aware of our biases (either way). Classic scenario plays out like this:

Hunter shoots a stag with a ‘marginal cartridge’ and it requires a tracking job and a bit of faffing around to retrieve. Hunters mate says- ‘See, I told you (insert name of cartridge) wasn’t powerful enough for deer.

Hunters mate sometime after shoots a deer with his loundenboomer cannon and also requires a tracking job and faffing about to retrieve. Hunters mate says - ‘Man I told you these deer were armour plated!’

Humans are extraordinarily susceptible to confirmation bias. The best way to defeat this is by studying the facts, from breaking the shot through to completion of an autopsy on the animal. As @Tahr shows in many of his posts, if the right .223 bullet gets put in the right place, the job is done.

Two deer over the weekend.
#1 a solid Fallow spiker at 260 yds . Hit low in the chest a bit far forward with .257R and 100 grn Barnes. Dog flushed it and it ran down hill 50 yards and she bailed it. Lots of life left inspite of a big hole, and I had to shoot it again. Thank you Bella.

#2 a smaller Fallow at 219 yds with the 77TMK. High shoulder shot. Bang flop.

It's about where you hit 'em.