[aroostookbasser]

How many deer are killed vs wounded and lost using the 22 magnum? Should the minimum caliber be based on actual ballistics and humane killing, or old school don't fix it if it appears not to be broke.

What would be the realistic lower limit for deer?
Rifle...Handgun .....and shotgun?

 

[Cap'n Jack Duggins]

I have actually killed a small doe with a .22 Mag quite effectivly! One shot through the eye and she dropped like a sack of bricks.
It's not a 100 yard gun but there is nothing wrong with it if used correctly. I wouldn't go out expecting to kill a 300lb monster with a lung shot.

The state says .25 auto is OK for black bear but I. not sure I'd try it! I think the "law" is trying to allow for common sense.

I believe the accepted force for a clean kill on deer is right at 900 ft/lbs.

 

[aroostookbasser]

I raised the question only because I know of several incidents where hunters were ridiculed for hunting with a .223 in the popular press.

When the law states they can hunt with squirrel ammo!! But most hunters will not risk it and shoot bigger rounds.

 

[kenton6]

When the law was enacted in Maine many many moons ago, I think it was a necessary thing because money was more of an object than it is today and family members were headed into the woods with anything that would shoot.

I know this for fact because with my Dad and four of us boys living in a two room shack, guns were hard to come by. We had a .30-.30 Winchester my Dad bought for $7.00 and a haircut (he moomlighted as a barber for a while), an ancient 12 gauge single shot, a .22 single shot, and when I became old enough to hunt alone, between my Dad and me we bought an old British .303 for $15.00 (By the way, I still have every one of them too).

So we carried what we had and hoped for the best. I shot several times at deer with the .22. I never killed one but I slowed him down so my Dad could finish him with the old saddle rifle.

 

[Cap'n Jack Duggins]

My Dad bought one of the .303's through Montgomery Ward and the mailman delivered it! Man, have times changed.
I know what you mean though Tom, my Dad supported five of us and Mom on a Petty Officers wage and we ate a lot of 'bean soup'. Deer season was SHOPPING TIME!!!

 

[aroostookbasser]

See I knew I could get some stories out of you guys...just had to go about it in a round about way.

 

[kenton6]

You devil you! (I don't mean that literally)

 

[aroostookbasser]

That was just a little too "cute"...........dude :boink:
:crazy:

 

[hammerless99]

I have a 22 mag.that I love to shoot! But I don't consider it a gun that can consistently put deer down. I bought it for an economical preditor gun and I consider it to be marginal for 'yote killing. I really wish that the law required a .24 CF for deer hunting.

 

[Cap'n Jack Duggins]

If you know the skull structure of deer, and the deer is looking right at you, a shot to the eyeball will nearly always drop any deer in its track.
Just like they said on CSI a couple nights ago, the ultimate weapon for mobsters is the .22 LR because the low-power projectile scambles everything in the skull. Quick & quiet!

 

[Ithaca37]

I see no reason to change the law. like you said, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.