It's been a good year for deer hunting. I've even been able to christen a new rifle---a slick modern .338 Winchester Magnum in a nice weatherproof package. It has accounted for three deer in two states and the results have been terrific. Each deer was taken with a single 200 gr. Hornady SST bullet and all fell within eyesight immediately.
With the larder full and the bonus antlerless season open I decided to break out the Big Iron for a real challenge. Big Iron AKA the Winchester 1885 in .405 Winchester is a ton of fun to hunt with because of the history, cool-factor, and unique cartridge. The tang sight is plenty accurate at reasonable distances (125 yards in good light for me). I've taken my best buck with it and a few other animals. With the .405 Winchester pushing 300 gr bullets 2200+ FPS it really hammers game. With reloads? Holy cow. Here's an example with my preferred powder from Hodgdon:
Despite the impressive ballistics, I only am really comfortable shooting the iron sights out to about 125 yards in ideal conditions. This became a bit of an issue this evening as I sat in a old straw barn, waiting for a corn-fed doe to meander into the field I was over looking. The first deer I saw emerged from the timber about 15 minutes before last shooting light. The two does surveyed their surroundings, jumped a cattle lane, and entered the field about 300 yards away. They crossed the field at a diagonal to me and never got closer than 157 yards (trust me, I ranged them). I didn't take the shot and had no regrets. Nonetheless, I kept hunting with hopes of seeing more deer. Just a few minutes later, not two but SEVEN more does came out from the exact location and started heading for me. Things were about to get interesting.
Finally, the seven does were 67 yards from me feeding. I had the 1885 propped up on shooting sticks and was desperately trying to make heads or tails of a sight picture. Unfortunately, by now the failing light had betrayed me and the tang sight's aperture wasn't letting enough through for me to see anything other than general shapes. If you've hunted ducks before you know that "flock shooting" is a complete waste of shells and always leads to disappointment. How much more so would this be ineffective (and ethical) while shooting game with a rifle?
In the end, I watched the herd feed, play and do what deer do before silently slipping out of the barn and walking back to the truck. Did I want a deer? Absolutely. Did I think that most any chest hit with the cannon I was packing would dump a deer on the spot? Absolutely. However, you just can't take unethical risks when an animal's suffering hangs in the balance. I'll keep packing Big Iron and the next animal taken with it will not suffer---even if means waiting until next year.
