I've killed three deer since Nov. 13 with three different rifles and calibers.
The latest was Monday, a doe at about 125 yards. The rifle I used was a Savage Model 10 Predator Hunter in .22-250 Remington.
The load was my own, a 60-grain Nosler Partition powered by 37 grains of Hodgdon 380 ignited by a Remington Magnum Large Rifle primer. The Nosler Reloading Guide Fifth Edition lists the muzzle velocity of that load as about 3,500 feet per second.
That's very fast. The deer was the biggest and heaviest I've killed this year, and it died instantly.
This, along with the collective experiences of many of the young folks whose photos appear in this section, has prompted me to reevaluate my personal book on deer rifles.
Tim Griffis, a good friend, occasional fishing partner and longtime proprietor of the Peckerwood Lodge in Tichnor, supplied the lead question in a text message Monday.
"Why the coyote gun?"
Every year, we run scores of photos showing young hunters posing with deer they have killed. The overwhelming majority used rifles chambered in 223 Rem. Many of the deer they killed were large, big-bodied bucks, including the 200-plus pound buck that Gunnar Smith of Mabelvale killed with a single-shot Rossi in .223 in 2012.
A 250-pound deer in Arkansas is a giant, but still petite compared to an elk or moose, with thin skin and light bones.
This assemblage of anecdotal evidence led me to wonder how much firepower you really need to kill deer in Arkansas.
As a voracious consumer of firearms magazines and online gun forums, I know that a considerable amount of firearms mythology is repeated so often by so many that it is accepted as gospel.
Ballistic data matter in context, but condensed, the purpose of a bullet is to disrupt a deer's ability to remain upright. It's as simple as that. That can happen several ways, from neurological disability (spine or head shot) to blood flow disruption (heart shot) or air supply disruption (lung shot).
A well-constructed bullet of proper weight that strikes its target at sufficient speed will accomplish any of those objectives. The Nosler Partition is a big-game bullet, and even the .224-cal., 60-gr. version meets those criteria, as do a universe of larger bullets ascending the diameter chain.
For example, a friend in southeast Arkansas hunts with a .270 Weatherby Magnum, the most powerful of the .277-cal. cartridges. One shot from that rifle disemboweled a doe earlier this season.
I saw the same thing happen a few years ago when a partner in Missouri shot a doe with a .300 Weatherby Magnum across a cut cornfield. That deer ran a considerable distance in that condition. That shot was certainly more destructive than my .22-250, but it did kill as humanely as my .22-250, and thus not as ethically.
I shot my other two deer this season with a 140-gr., .264 cal. (6.5x55 Swedish) Sierra GameKing powered by 44.5 grains of IMR-4831. The published muzzle velocity of that load is around 2,700 fps.
The deer was about 30-35 yards away, so the bullet had a full head of steam at impact. That was a neck shot that angled down into the lungs, so it accomplished neurological disruption and air supply interruption, plus severe shock. It made a heck of a mess.
As did the bullet that killed the second deer. That was a 117-gr., 25-cal. Hornady Boattail Soft Point powered by 54.1 grains of Reloader 22 fired from a Browning A-Bolt II Medallion. The published muzzle velocity of that load was about 3,100 fps.
That deer was about 100 yards away. That also was a neck shot that angled into the lungs.
Both of those deer fell in their tracks as well, and with considerable tissue damage. The .22-250 round, in comparison, pulverized only the frontal portions of the lungs and left a surprisingly large exit wound.
The rifle's recoil was so mild that I followed through without the scope ever leaving the target, and the bullet hit the aim point precisely. Good marksmanship is the most important criterion for cleanly taking game.
I enjoy rifles too much to limit myself to just one, and I have invested too much time, money and energy developing loads for other larger cartridges.
The .22-250 will never be my preferred deer cartridge, but it is sufficient, and I will use it again.
Sports on 11/27/2014