Whitetail Deer with a 36 caliber ball?

[Kurt]

Does anyone regularly hunt whitetails with a 36-caliber rifle? How does it perform on them? Where I am nothing smaller than a 44 caliber may be used so I am just curious. My great-grandfather had two 36s and a shotgun but I don't think there were very many deer around while he was alive. About 9 years after his death PA began stocking deer(1907). Thanks, Kurt

[Bob Roller]

A 36 caliber even if legal is a rat killer.Anyone who "hunts"animals of any kind should have a gun that can is more than adequate.What does a ,36 caliber ball weigh.I think a 44 or 45 weighs about 140 grains.The 58 as I remember weighs under 300 .Maybe a good discussion can get going on this subject.I remember reading about a man who claimed he killed a buffalo with a 36 caliber ball and that is hard to believe..

Bob Roller

[alacran]

I have not personally done it. I have a good friend in Yuma, AZ. who has killed several Coues deer with a .36 using round ball. He said the ranges were under 40 yards since he was sitting a stock tank.
The Scandinavians were known to shoot Moose with .40 cal rifles using round ball.
When you consider how quickly a round ball looses velocity, keeping the shots close is important.
Biggest thing I have killed with a .36 was a javelina the range was about 18 yards. Complete pass through both lungs and heart.

[Daniel Coats]

Deer are killed every year with a stick.

[okawbow]

Didn’t Wild Bill Hickock use a .36 caliber Navy to kill Davis Tutt in their famous gunfight in Kansas City? At a fairly long range for hand guns, also. The .36 roundball will certainly kill if placed in the right spot, just as the largest calibers will only wound if placed in the wrong spot.

.36 is legal here in Tennessee, but I would use a larger caliber unless it was a survival situation.

[Austin]

.36 is fine for deer, bigger than most centerfires used to hunt them with… just sayin

[smylee grouch]

A 36 has probably taken many deer but I personally don't think a 67 grain  round lead ball up to the job for any of the generally heavier northern deer. But shot placement is always the most important factor.

[Daryl]

I'd prefer a much heavier round ball than 65gr.(.350"), just saying.
I firmly believe States with .44cal. minimum balls size, are pointed in the right direction.
Deer can be and are killed by people with .22 RF's too, but that doesn't mean . 22's are good for killing deer.
Possible, yes, morally correct - well, you be the judge.
Much depends on the size of deer you are talking about. Muley or whitetail deer weighing over 200pounds,
or coastal sitka/blacktails dressing out at 40 pounds?

If you were hunting Morsby Island of the Queen Charlotte islands of B.C., now called Haida Gwaii or some such
for those little fellas, a mature 5 point (10Eastern count) can dress out as small as 30 pounds, then I'd say, within
50yards, I suppose a .36 might be a preferred calibre.

[Levy]

For many years the minimum caliber for deer in Florida was .40.  In the last few years, because of the high-powered air rifles, the minimum caliber for both air guns and muzzleloaders are now .30.  I personally don't think it is a good idea, but I have successfully taken both a wild pig and a spike buck at point blank range with a .30.   The group of men that I hunt with have taken several wild pigs and 2 bucks at close range with .32 calibers.  The quality of the shot and short distance had a lot to do with it.  I prefer larger calibers for the larger game.  James Levy

[MuskratMike]

Good luck getting that close to an Eastern Oregon mule deer. However it is all about putting your shot exactly where it needs to go, not just in the area of the vitals or spine. I for one prefer my bigger game to be shot with a .54 caliber, but if shooting at what I call "archery distance" I might consider a 40 or 36 as long as it is a standing still animal and I have a perfect broadside shot. This is just my opinion.

[TDM]

Can you kill a whitetail with a .36? Yes. Should you use a .36 to hunt whitetail? NO. Regardless of what the game laws allow or disallow, I personally don’t think it’s ethical. Lots of better choices.

[Keith Zimmerman]

There was a bear hunter who took his .36 to a gunsmith and told him, "...make this a .38.  I had to shoot the last bear twice."  He was from PA I think.  Cant remember his name.

[Daryl]

Where you hunt, might have a direct bearing on what you pack when hunting big game.
"When you go out to shoot a hare, be prepared to meet a tiger"
"for my spaniels have roused a panther when I expected them to flush a partridge"
"I have found my self face to face with wild elephants when looking for jungle fowl and
I have almost trodden on the tail of a tiger, when stalking a spotted buck".
Now, we only have grizzlies, here, but more now than ever before in history due to the moratorium on shooting them.
To go deer hunting with a .36 would be just about as foolish as a .45 - here.
Buddy of mine was out on a date with his soon to be wife, when they walked right into a grizzle boar on a logging road in the middle of a cut-block.
This was many years ago, and that young lady saw more grizzlies, when out walking with Keith than about anyone else living in this Province.
Keith was armed with a .45 calibre TC, loaded with round ball & 45gr. of powder for bunnies or grouse.
He said "did I EVER feel foolish, standing there with that rifle".
The bear just wandered off the trail and did nothing towards them.
From then on, he until 1986, he packed a .54, then in 86, the .75, a Purdy Styled rifle Taylor built for him after he saw my .69.

[Pukka Bundook]

Sort of, "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it" Daryl!

[Scota4570]

Is a 38 special with a round ball load a good deer cartridge?  No, of course not.  That is similar to the 36 round ball ML as far as external ballistic performance.  How about a single OOO buckshot from a shotshell? 

As far as extra velocity in a 36 long rifle, it slows very quickly.   

We have an ethical responsibility to make a clean kill.  Get a bigger gun. 

[alacran]

Become a better hunter and get close. 

[rich pierce]

We all “need” lots of guns! Probably a .36, a .40, a .45, a .50, a .54, and a .62 rifle. 

[Elnathan]

Where you hunt, might have a direct bearing on what you pack when hunting big game.
"When you go out to shoot a hare, be prepared to meet a tiger"
"for my spaniels have roused a panther when I expected them to flush a partridge"
"I have found my self face to face with wild elephants when looking for jungle fowl and
I have almost trodden on the tail of a tiger, when stalking a spotted buck".
Now, we only have grizzlies, here, but more now than ever before in history due to the moratorium on shooting them.
To go deer hunting with a .36 would be just about as foolish as a .45 - here.
Buddy of mine was out on a date with his soon to be wife, when they walked right into a grizzle boar on a logging road in the middle of a cut-block.
This was many years ago, and that young lady saw more grizzlies, when out walking with Keith than about anyone else living in this Province.
Keith was armed with a .45 calibre TC, loaded with round ball & 45gr. of powder for bunnies or grouse.
He said "did I EVER feel foolish, standing there with that rifle".
The bear just wandered off the trail and did nothing towards them.
From then on, he until 1986, he packed a .54, then in 86, the .75, a Purdy Styled rifle Taylor built for him after he saw my .69.

Here is a period Scandinavian solution to the bear problem, circa 1868 IRCC:


Lord Grizzly is sub-species of the Eurasian Brown bear, for what it is worth.

[Bill in Md]

Close to 30 years ago I was at an indoor archery shoot with one of my self backed osage bows, when some compound wielding, large corn fed ole boy in bib overalls asked me """they let you hunt with that skinny stick"""....I politely suggested that he looked like he would dress out at about 280# , that his chest was bigger than most large bucks I had taken , and if he were willing to get on his knees down range at about 15 yards I could easily send one of my 600 grain, 2 blade cedar arrows right through his chest, carhartts and all and put an end to his query.

To those who doubt what a well placed .350 ball will do out of a well tuned rifle I suggest the same thing. When you learn to hunt deer without the aid of range finders and tree stands you will be amazed at what little firepower is needed to bring down big game.

[Daryl]

We all “need” lots of guns! Probably a .36, a .40, a .45, a .50, a .54, and a .62 rifle. 

According to Lt. James F., rifles yadda, yadda yadda, start at 16 bore. I concur.
I replaced "for dangerous game", with yadda, etc.

[smylee grouch]

There are a lot of happy hunters that think what ever small can do, big can do better. 

[Daniel Coats]

So who if any can answer the question?

Does anyone regularly hunt whitetails with a 36-caliber rifle?

[Daryl]

I do but they aren't muzzleloaders.

[Mike Brooks]

So who if any can answer the question?

Does anyone regularly hunt whitetails with a 36-caliber rifle?

I'd say the no one regularly hunts deer with a .36. I knew a poacher that used a .22 mag quite successfully.

[Kurt]

Thanks for all the informative replies. For many years I wondered why my great-grandfather had two 36-caliber rifles. When I learned, in my teens, that deer in PA were even more scarce back then, than in the 50s and early 60s around my home in Southwestern PA I guessed he used them for small game or to dispatch livestock. He butched for people and cattle were more wild. One of his rifles had target sights so targets were probably a pastime. He lived until 1897 but never owned a cartridge gun.

I know some states have little to no regulations on the type of guns that can be used for hunting. I believe West Virginia is that way. Some people learn from early on to use what they have and their hunting style reflects the rifle they have. One of the replies mentions getting close to deer. As in archery hunting, I estimate.

I have 50 and 54-caliber flintlock long rifles, and a couple of 50-caliber Hawken-type rifles too. The Hawken guns became famous as Western rifles, referencing "Oregon Muledeer" and that got me thinking why a 54 caliber long rifle would fall to a Hawken rifle and length immediately comes to mind(riding horse), but also heavier powder charges to push balls faster, for use on elk and big bears. You all know this stuff.

I pretty much eliminated the idea that GGP used his rifles for deer, but just as many of us choose to hunt with flintlocks or other even more limiting implements, I thought maybe there was someone who preferred the challenge of getting close with a 36-caliber rifle and making a precise shot? Maybe they better not say.