My son uses a 308 for whitetail. 90% of the time it is bang flop! But,,, every now and then one decides he ain't going down today without a fight. 168 AMAXs leave big holes. I once watch my son shoot a nice little buck broad side at 140 yards. Deer ran 200 yards and acted like it wasn't even shot (except for the rate of speed with which it left) before it fell over dead in the edge of a creek. When we flipped it over the lungs pour out of the hole. Shot a bruiser the day before at a 110 yards hard quartered bag flop! Watch a buddy shoot a brown broad side in Alaska. Bear made two circles and then ran in a thicket. He shot a second time but could not tell if the second shot connected. Killed the bear with two more to the body when it stood up in the thicket. My point is this. 90% will go down with one well placed shot and not go ten feet. They're not the problem. It's the 10% that don't or that decide to try you or hunt you while you are hunting them.
One of the guides we worked with told a story of a bear that one of his hunters killed. They had been hunting the bear most of the day. When they finally caught up to him he was coming down the trail they had just been down. They shot him the first time at 200 and the last time at 30.
If memory serves me correctly the two largest bears ever recorded by B&C were both killed with 30/06s. My buddy who guides likes the 338 WM and 375 Ruger but says he would rather have a guy show up with a 30/06 he can shoot well than a 416 Remington he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with.
Last story just to make you think. There is a book about hunting browns in Alaska. Can't remember the name or the Author. But I will see if I can find it. It is good thrown room reading material!
Any way there is story in that book about a hunt gone wrong. They were hunting moose when this big boar stood up in a thicket and then charged the guide, shot him three times before he and the guide ended up in the river with the bear dead on top of the guide. Guide survived and lived to tell about it with barely a scratch. He said he didn't know what was holding him down in the water more? The bear on top of him or the pile in his shorts beneath him.
Guide was using a 338!
I don't care who you are that right there is hunting. Guys got steal ones for sure! According to the book he is still guiding. You know your hunting when what your hunting is hunting you. Again it ain't the 99% that get you. It is that 1. You want to be prepared for the one!
My sons and I are preparing for a sheep hunt in Texas but all this talk has got me thinking a bear hunt is in the future. Need to call my buddies in Alaska. I'll be using a 338 WM inside 300 yards or closer for the first shot. Again a Brown ain't no deer!
