Mrs. Thumbcocker and I were watching one of the few hunting shows we like the other night, The host was hunting Texas white tails and hogs with a .300 win. mag. It looked like the Texas deer, especially the does they were culling, were a bit smaller that Illinois corn crunchers. Anyway the deer that were shot with the .300 tended to run 50 yards or so and then expire.
I have not shot anywhere near the numbers of deer that the host or may of you on this forum have but I have put a fair number in the freezer over the years. I have shot deer with .50 cal muzzle loader with round balls and swaged bullets, Breneke and cast slugs, arrows, and .44 revolvers. The Breneke slugs were the 3" magnum ones that killed on one end and crippled on the other. Using all the various weaponry and projectiles a deer hit correctly would run 20-60 yards and expire, This does not include CNS hits of course but the classic heart lung shot. There have been exceptions but right now my hunting guns are a few .44 magnum revolvers. Deer hit with a boolit usually drop within 40 yards or so.
I am not suggesting that a .44 revolver is equal to a .300 win mag. I just find it interesting that deer hit with projectiles with an extreme variation in power tend to behave in a pretty similar way.
Thoughts or comments?