Man bites dog; deer carries rifle

[Fly320s]

Oh, deer.

https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/startled-deer-steals-hunters-rifle-antlers

[charby]

.22 Hornet seems a bit small for deer.

[Fly320s]

.22 Hornet seems a bit small for deer.

European rules?  Small, euro deer?

[charby]

European rules?  Small, euro deer?

Not sure, I've been looking into a Stag hunt in Scotland and they don't use .22 caliber rifles there.

[Hawkmoon]

Poachers have been taking whitetail in North America with .22s for decades.

Conversely, some states think .223/5.56x45 isn't powerful enough for deer -- even though it's a deadly, high-powered rifle if aimed at a human who weighs more than an average whitetail.

[WLJ]

Conversely, some states think .223/5.56x45 isn't powerful enough for deer -- even though it's a deadly, high-powered rifle if aimed at a human who weighs more than an average whitetail.

Blows up arms nicely

[Angel Eyes]

Blows up arms nicely

Also handy for dispatching pedophiles.

[bedlamite]

Also handy for dispatching pedophiles.

Two out of three ain't bad.

[230RN]

Poachers have been taking whitetail in North America with .22s for decades.

Conversely, some states think .223/5.56x45 isn't powerful enough for deer -- even though it's a deadly, high-powered rifle if aimed at a human who weighs more than an average whitetail.

<STANDING OVATION> For both pointing out about the poaching with .22s and the superior effectiveness of the .22 NATO round on creatures weighing more than about 150 lb.

Actually, I wouldn't put much faith in ".22-caliber Hornet rifle " given possible translation problems and the journalistic reputation for accuracy  in general.  On the other hand, I was surprised to discover that the .30 Carbine was legal for deer in some states where the critters grow pretty small.

I've always wondered about the negatively-biased Darwinian effects of antlered creatures, since from what I gather, a lot of them die from entanglement in various things including other antlered animals.  I once heard in Church that "God don't make no mistakes," but it immediatley occurred to me that "Maybe not, but He sure has some very wide manufacturing tolerances."

Terry, 230RN

[MechAg94]

I once read a book by a big game hunter in Zimbabwe some years back.  He said he experimented with 22 Hornet and found it did just fine with good shot placement against everything but the larger animals.  He said he finally gave up using out of concern he wouldn't have great shot placement have a wounded animal getting away. 

Down here, the white tail deer are not that big.  223 works just fine especially if the ranges are not all that far.  I would definitely rather seem someone calmly shoot a 223 rifle rather than flinch shooting the 300WinMag someone told them they needed.  Lots of choices in between. 

[MechAg94]

The gun wasn’t loaded at the time, the hunter told police. Nevertheless, he was forced to declare the weapon missing under the Czech Republic’s Firearms and Ammunition Act. Police noted, however, that this declaration is usually made by hunters who accidentally leave their rifles on the hood of their car when driving home from a hunting trip.

It occurs to me that this is an opportunity to expand our portfolio of reasons we no longer own any evil black rifles.    I don't own a boat anyway.

[230RN]

"...who accidentally leave their rifles on the hood of their car when driving home from a hunting trip."

I used to lose my cane off the roof of my car fairly often, but almost every time, I heard it banging around on the pavement as I drove off.

I finally got a rush of brains to the head and made a rule that nothing ever goes on the roof of the car, ever, nothing, get it?

Having posted that once, a bunch of people chimed in with how they lost things that way including cameras and cell phones, and some other pretty high dollar items.

[WLJ]

It occurs to me that this is an opportunity to expand our portfolio of reasons we no longer own any evil black rifles.    I don't own a boat anyway.

How would you explain what the deer was doing on the boat anyway? The deer was driving the boat, I swear.

[MechAg94]

How would you explain what the deer was doing on the boat anyway? The deer was driving the boat, I swear.

Well, I was drinking and she looked like a deer. 

[charby]

I get the sarcasm, but honestly if high power rifle was legal for deer here, I probably wouldn't use anything smaller than a .243 Win. Actually nothing smaller anywhere, to be honest. I've probably killed somewhere between 40 and 50 whitetail deer, I prefer not to shoot them in the neck or head because the heart/lungs are is a bigger target to hit and most deer don't stand still very long once the gun seasons open up here.

[sumpnz]

In WA the rule is center fire, minimum 0.24” bullet diameter.  For handguns a minimum 4” (factory spec) barrel.  So, a .25ACP is legal for elk or bear (provided the 4”+ barrel requirement is met), but a .22WMR or even .22-250 or .220 Swift is illegal for coastal blacktails.  Never mind the .22mag has significantly more energy than the .25ACP.

I’d rather see a muzzle energy requirement, but that is tough for gamies to enforce without a chronograph, a safe place to test fire a rifle, and a bullet puller and scale.  Much easier to look at the caliber.

[grampster]

I killed my last deer with a Beretta Mod 96 pistol.  I fed it with Federal Hydra Shok 180 grain .40cal S&W.  I was hunting a dense thicket that had a couple of deer trails through it.  A rifle or shotgun would have been cumbersome in there.  I took the deer at about 10 paces in a small open area in the thicket.  It went about 100 yards before lying down and dying.  I was very surprised that the bullet passed completely through the deer.