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What's your favorite prb caliber for deer?
- Thread starter Skychief
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Hey Spot from South Carolina. What is your load for your .40? I am working with 60 gr of 3f goex with a linen patched .395 ball. I shot it through a 2x4 at 60 yards. Most of my shots are at 50 yds or less so I think if I get a shot at the sweet spot behind the shoulder I will put it on the ground. 25-30 grains snaps squirrel heads off too.
paulvallandigham
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I have shot a .40 caliber with 60 grains of FFFg and it was really screaming going down range. Depending on the gun, the MV is around 1900 fps. I had no problem hitting a target out at 130 yds. using the same POA. As long as you understand that the light weight ball loses a lot of velocity, and doesn't have much weight to help penetrate, the caliber kills well out to 50 yards. Good Hunting.
Hi woods loper,woods loper said:
I also use 60 grains 3f Goex with a .395 ball, but my patch is .015 cotton. I settled on 25 grains for small game, but even that's pretty rough on 'em.
I'm convinced that a well-placed ball from my .40 is gonna be plenty for a whitetail, and I'm really looking forward to ml season.
:hatsoff:
Spot
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Skychief said:
54 gets it done for me.
Do you are spot have any experience shooting deer with a .40 pbr? I really want to use it this year and want to know how the deer will react. I know every deer is different but for the most part the 50 puts them on the ground within 50 yards. Does the .40 drop them? Is there much of a blood trail to follow if not? Being a recurve bow hunter I got pretty good at tracking but want to know what I'm up against. Any help or advise would be appreciated.
paulvallandigham
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I don't own or hunt with a .40 cal. My brother lives in Florida and owns three of them, right now. I believe he is deer hunting in Georgia. The one friend I had who took a deer with his .40 put the deer down very quickly. I don't recall the shot placement, but knowing him, he probably took a neck shot if the deer was inside 50 yds.
Don was an excellent tracker, so it would not have mattered to him the least if the deer ran off 50-100 yds before dropping.
Don once crawled on his hands and knees on a hard packed dirt riverside run, looking for any sign of a deer shot by a man with a bow and arrow. More than 100 yds after the deer entered that trail, he found a pinhead sized drop of blood, that confirmed the deer was on that trail. Don knew the ground and knew the trail led to a shallow river ford- one of two within 1/4 mile, so he got up on his feet, and took the archer with him to the ford/crossing, and there, 20 feet off the ford, was the deer, very dead. The archer claimed that it could not be his deer, because he had come to the ford the evening before after shooting the deer," and didn't see the deer." Don had to show him his tracks from the night before, and how he had looked Right, but Not LEFT, to convince The archer he had NOT looked in the right place. Then he helped the man field dress the deer and drag it out to where he could get to his truck. BTW, Don was looking at the edges of the game trail for track of the deer leaving it, and continuing on down the trail looking for sign when he didn't find any tracks leaving it.
You can learn this fascinating tracking technique by reading the last chapter in Jack Kearney's "Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning How". The Chapter is titled," Following the Non-Visible Trail", and is the best short read on applying Inductive Reasoning I have ever come across. Every tracking student I have had who has read that chapter has turned right around and re-read the entire book, sure that he has missed other "gems" of knowledge! (, Oh, yeah, Me, TOO, but I re-read it three times!) :shocked2: :hmm: :rotf: :hatsoff:
I have no doubt that a .40 caliber RB will kill a deer with proper shot placement inside 50 yards, just as hard as any .45 will. The nice part of using that .40 is that recoil is almost non-existent, making it much easier for nervous hunters to place the ball where it needs to go. Shot placement is the key.
Don was an excellent tracker, so it would not have mattered to him the least if the deer ran off 50-100 yds before dropping.
Don once crawled on his hands and knees on a hard packed dirt riverside run, looking for any sign of a deer shot by a man with a bow and arrow. More than 100 yds after the deer entered that trail, he found a pinhead sized drop of blood, that confirmed the deer was on that trail. Don knew the ground and knew the trail led to a shallow river ford- one of two within 1/4 mile, so he got up on his feet, and took the archer with him to the ford/crossing, and there, 20 feet off the ford, was the deer, very dead. The archer claimed that it could not be his deer, because he had come to the ford the evening before after shooting the deer," and didn't see the deer." Don had to show him his tracks from the night before, and how he had looked Right, but Not LEFT, to convince The archer he had NOT looked in the right place. Then he helped the man field dress the deer and drag it out to where he could get to his truck. BTW, Don was looking at the edges of the game trail for track of the deer leaving it, and continuing on down the trail looking for sign when he didn't find any tracks leaving it.
You can learn this fascinating tracking technique by reading the last chapter in Jack Kearney's "Tracking: A Blueprint For Learning How". The Chapter is titled," Following the Non-Visible Trail", and is the best short read on applying Inductive Reasoning I have ever come across. Every tracking student I have had who has read that chapter has turned right around and re-read the entire book, sure that he has missed other "gems" of knowledge! (, Oh, yeah, Me, TOO, but I re-read it three times!) :shocked2: :hmm: :rotf: :hatsoff:
I have no doubt that a .40 caliber RB will kill a deer with proper shot placement inside 50 yards, just as hard as any .45 will. The nice part of using that .40 is that recoil is almost non-existent, making it much easier for nervous hunters to place the ball where it needs to go. Shot placement is the key.
Spot I settled on 30 gr of 3f for small game and targets. It makes one ragged hole in a target at 25 yds over a rest. I carved the powder measure out of a deer antler from last year. I just double charge with the measure to get a 60gr load. Looking forward to deer season.
I prefer my .50 for whitetail deer.
Paul;
I think tracking is fun.
At one time I earned my living as a man-tracker in the Border Patrol. I trailed men for miles across the Yuma and Mojave Deserts. But, the best tracker I ever saw was a Texas cowboy turned Border Patrolman, named Dugan. He was phenomenal! I think that man could track a ghost over the malapai.
In Wyoming, I once trailed a gut-shot pronghorn for nearly a mile over low hills and down into a big coulee before I finally got it.
However, in Kentucky, I trailed a wounded deer over two ridges before I lost the track in a thicket. I went back on two consecutive days, but I never found that buck. It was at least a 10 point! You can't win 'em all.
:surrender:
Paul;
I think tracking is fun.
At one time I earned my living as a man-tracker in the Border Patrol. I trailed men for miles across the Yuma and Mojave Deserts. But, the best tracker I ever saw was a Texas cowboy turned Border Patrolman, named Dugan. He was phenomenal! I think that man could track a ghost over the malapai.
In Wyoming, I once trailed a gut-shot pronghorn for nearly a mile over low hills and down into a big coulee before I finally got it.
However, in Kentucky, I trailed a wounded deer over two ridges before I lost the track in a thicket. I went back on two consecutive days, but I never found that buck. It was at least a 10 point! You can't win 'em all.
:surrender:
Yup, we used to track groups for days across the desert before we'd catch them. I used to to track people through town. With all the new technology I think cutting sign is destined to become a lost art. Too bad it sure made you feel good to catch a drug load after they slipped past all our other "defenses", something to be said about doing things the old fashion way. I have to say tracking game can be a bit more daunting if there is not a good blood trail, animals are sneakier and leave less sign.That's another reason I use a .58 now.
I'm pretty excited about deer season too, mostly because of the .40. I've never taken a deer with a .40, so can't say how the deer will react. I'll be very careful about shot placement, however.woods loper said:
I've taken more whitetails with a .54 than any other caliber, mostly because an old favorite rifle is .54. But I've also taken them with .50 and a .62 smoothbore.
paulvallandigham
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I was trailing a mortally wounded deer in the Shawnee National Forest one Fall when a huge, violent windstorm blew through, and Blew all the leaf cover on the ground a couple of ravines NORTH, destroying some of my deer's tracks, and covering others with lots of new leaf debris. My friend, Don, and I did Arcs, on the side of the ravine, and then circles as we widened the search outward. We returned to camp to get lanterns and flashlights to use when the light was failing and it began to rain. We both were out at daylight the next morning. Don Found ONE small drop of blood on a leaf on the fire lane we used to get to our campsite, but no tracks, and no other sign. The leaf may have been blown there by the storm.
We lost the trail.
The man who shot the deer was simply amazed that we both tracked the deer so far, before the storm blew in, and then how much an effort we continued to make to find the tracks again after the winds died down.
Illinois has a split Firearms season, and I was back a month later in December. I searched again for the deer, and found him in the bottom of the ravine North of the one where we last had his tracks. His jaw had been broken by the Brown Bess RB. Coyotes had been feeding on the carcass, and all that was left was the skull and rack. I recognized the rack because the deer had come by me at about 4 yards, giving me a very good look at him, just before Charley shot him. I used my Tomahawk to cut the rack off the skull, and took it back home. It has provided handles for a couple of patch knives, and some buttons for clothing so far.
Yes, you don't find them all. I am painfully aware of that very fact. If you like the Border Patrol Tracker in Texas, you will love Jack Kearney's Book. Years ago, when I was naively trying to get Tracking taught to LEOs, I contacted the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center( FLETC) near Glencoe, GA., and talked to the officer in charge of the curriculum and the book store. He did not know about Jack's book, or how to get copies. I gave him the information, and Jack got an order from them. When I called Jack about it, he was most annoyed that the Agency where he worked for more than 20 years as a tracker had stopped carrying his book. He was shocked that the people didn't even know how to contact him, or to find his book.
I have recommended Jack's Book to many experienced trackers, and K-9 officers, specifically for the chapter on following the Non-visible Trail, and all have thanked me for giving me that tip. The officers all want to know how I got into tracking, and how I began teaching it to others. If we actually go out where we can find " easy " tracks to study, they are amazed at how much more I see than they do, even after working at tracking for some time. I try to show them how to recognize correlations between marks on the ground, and body movements. I also teach them aging techniques, as that seems to be the biggest area of interest.
Generally, Students are NOT aware of daily changes in weather conditions, and that is the biggest roadblock to them learning how to age sign and tracks. They have not laid out a set of tracks, then put a chair next to them, and sat there all day and night watching how the track deteriorates as the result of time, and changes in the weather. You can learn how to do that from Tom Brown's Book, and his chapter on " The Wisdom of the Marks".
We lost the trail.
The man who shot the deer was simply amazed that we both tracked the deer so far, before the storm blew in, and then how much an effort we continued to make to find the tracks again after the winds died down.
Illinois has a split Firearms season, and I was back a month later in December. I searched again for the deer, and found him in the bottom of the ravine North of the one where we last had his tracks. His jaw had been broken by the Brown Bess RB. Coyotes had been feeding on the carcass, and all that was left was the skull and rack. I recognized the rack because the deer had come by me at about 4 yards, giving me a very good look at him, just before Charley shot him. I used my Tomahawk to cut the rack off the skull, and took it back home. It has provided handles for a couple of patch knives, and some buttons for clothing so far.
Yes, you don't find them all. I am painfully aware of that very fact. If you like the Border Patrol Tracker in Texas, you will love Jack Kearney's Book. Years ago, when I was naively trying to get Tracking taught to LEOs, I contacted the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center( FLETC) near Glencoe, GA., and talked to the officer in charge of the curriculum and the book store. He did not know about Jack's book, or how to get copies. I gave him the information, and Jack got an order from them. When I called Jack about it, he was most annoyed that the Agency where he worked for more than 20 years as a tracker had stopped carrying his book. He was shocked that the people didn't even know how to contact him, or to find his book.
I have recommended Jack's Book to many experienced trackers, and K-9 officers, specifically for the chapter on following the Non-visible Trail, and all have thanked me for giving me that tip. The officers all want to know how I got into tracking, and how I began teaching it to others. If we actually go out where we can find " easy " tracks to study, they are amazed at how much more I see than they do, even after working at tracking for some time. I try to show them how to recognize correlations between marks on the ground, and body movements. I also teach them aging techniques, as that seems to be the biggest area of interest.
Generally, Students are NOT aware of daily changes in weather conditions, and that is the biggest roadblock to them learning how to age sign and tracks. They have not laid out a set of tracks, then put a chair next to them, and sat there all day and night watching how the track deteriorates as the result of time, and changes in the weather. You can learn how to do that from Tom Brown's Book, and his chapter on " The Wisdom of the Marks".
Paul;
A magazine article of mine called "Scouting and Tracking" was published in the Sept/Oct 2004 issue of "The Backwoodsman" magazine. I tell how we did it in the BP and how someone new to tracking can learn how to "age" tracks using a "sandtrap". I still maintain several "sandtraps" in the woods around my home to help me monitor local deer movements.
The current July/Aug issue of "The Backwoodsman" contains my article called "Conasauga". That's me in my homemade canoe on the front cover of the magazine.
But, we are getting off topic here. I don't want to hijack this thread any more.
A magazine article of mine called "Scouting and Tracking" was published in the Sept/Oct 2004 issue of "The Backwoodsman" magazine. I tell how we did it in the BP and how someone new to tracking can learn how to "age" tracks using a "sandtrap". I still maintain several "sandtraps" in the woods around my home to help me monitor local deer movements.
The current July/Aug issue of "The Backwoodsman" contains my article called "Conasauga". That's me in my homemade canoe on the front cover of the magazine.
But, we are getting off topic here. I don't want to hijack this thread any more.
John Wasmuth
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.45 for whitetail.
.58 for buffalo and elk.
.58 for buffalo and elk.
Little Wattsy
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.54 hands down! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
