Originally Posted by
contender1
"Deer have been killed with a .22. I have a friend who killed one with a .380. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should."
Quoted for importance.
I'm a Hunter Safety Instructor. As part of my classes,, I teach Ethics. To be an ethical hunter,, one should strive for a clean, quick kill. I shoot a .40 cal in a revolver in competition. I also own a few 10mm guns,, all in revolvers. I also have a semi-auto in .40 cal. I also handgun hunt almost exclusively. As such,, I match the caliber, gun, AND ammo to the animal I'm planning on hunting. Animals can present difficult shots, and they can be harder to kill.
So,, I ask people in my classes,,, if you are hunting,,, say whitetail deer,,, and you are not SURE you have the best gun, caliber & ammo to do a clean, quick kill,,, what will you do if a monster, record book buck walks out on you? ESPECIALLY if the angle, distance or whatever is marginal,,, will you be able to NOT shoot because of the limitations you may have?
I follow that with a simple comment. Make sure you have enough gun to allow for human mistakes.
Yes,, deer, bear & all kinds of critters have been killed with guns or calibers not NORMALLY used. There was a case of a well known outdoorsman who was guiding some folks fishing in Ak. that had to kill a grizzly with his 9mm handgun. Even he said it was a poor decision to be carrying that gun & caliber that time. He had become complacent towards bear encounters. He was also an experienced shooter. But even he said it wouldn't happen again,, that he'd always carry a better choice after that one very close encounter that COULD have been very bad.