Thread: so who has shot a deer with a .308

@ Micky Duck here is a cautionary and timely tale about the 308

When we moved to level 3 and after a long period not hunting due to illness
I took off for a day hunt on private land as L3 allows
For some reason I took my 308 despite now knowing how unsuited to the task this would be
Anyway on my way to a remote likely spot on foot I decided to stop ( for a rest as 3 months since on the hill and L4 muffin top ) and glass a nice little ridge top in the last of the sun
Well only 5 seconds looking and a hind stands up and turns around and lies down again
It's 4pm and I'm nowhere near where I would have expected to see a deer on this property
Problem is she's 420m away and clearly way out of range for a 308
So then it struck me that I had brought a lemon of a rifle for this task
Do I go back to the truck, drive home and get my 300WSM and go back to shoot her ?
Or try stalking closer and stick with the hopelessly unsuitable 308
I chose to stalk closer and got to a spot where I thought I should have been able to see her
A short glassing session and then I realised that she was looking directly at me from behind a bush
I waited for about 20 seconds and she turned her head sideways and gave me a decent shot
Well I thought even a 308 should be able to drop a deer with a head shot
So I took the shot
Quickly reloaded and there was a deer standing right there seemingly unharmed !
So clearly the 308 is not even up to head shooting a hind at 120m
Well I'm not going to make that mistake again and I put the next shot just behind the shoulder because the chances of missing were lower

Short push through the bush and a bit of a scout around and there are two dead deer almost on top of each other
Rookie mistake to shoot the nobby that was sitting down unseen with his mother
Please don't take this as me in any way advocating the use of a 308 for deer shooting