Glasses on backwards, maybe???

No, they are on correctly....My new ones will be in later this week so we'll see if anything changes?

Bushmaster wrote:

Because it isn't 2 inches long 10ring...

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!

I mised it too! I knew something was up!

Hey Bushmaster,
I have not hunted with a handgun for many years, but have recently purchased a .17 Tracker for small game, and a .357 mag 6" Tracker for spot and stalk/still deer hunting in the Ohio woods. Spend alot of time in a tree stand during bow season, and like to move around a little with a gun and binoculars during the gun season.
I took a couple of average sized mulies in Colorado back a few years both with the factory 158 grain hollow points. Both deer were standing broadside shots at under 50 yards, and neither animals went more than a few yards before piling up.
Before reading your post I had settled on some 180 grain hardcast wide meplt Double Tap ammo as my deer ammo.
You think I would do better with the 140 grain XTPs?
I hunt with a couple of firefighters who both use 180 grain hollow points, but haven't gotten very good penetration, and sometimes almost no blood trail. Both have lost solidly hit deer in the past.
Thanks,
Rotorhead.

If your 158 grainers are working for you...Why change? The deer that I've taken with the 140 grain XTPs were the smaller Blacktails in the Cascades of the Northwest...

By The Way. Welcome to this fine site...

Welcome to the HuntingNut rotorhead. I agree with Bushmaster "if it aint broke" Your keeping your shots at a reasonable distance and you have had good results I'd keep using the 158 grainers.
Joe

Thanks for the advice Guys,
I had been reading a lot of opinion re: .357 for deer, and the consensus seemed to be 180 grain hardcast for penetration. Most posters were recommending shooting into the shoulder, or a quartering shot for a little more thump.
I have done well over the years with bow and 12 gauge slugs, so I was a little concerned about the lower energy level of the .357... I'm a bit long in the tooth to track/drag one up and down these steep hills if I don't have to.
For a couple of years I had a job flying a helicopter inspecting powerlines, which put me right down on the deck in some great deer country. All the comotion of a helicopter makes it a natural flushing machine, and I was awed by some of the bucks I that bolted out of the thick stuff along the right of ways... Boys, there are still some huge deer in the midwest, but , my guess is I was pushing out bucks that most folks wouldn't get to see because of my job. Thses guys were probably nocturnal, or kept to deep cover when most guys were afoot in the woods.
Like to put one in my freezer.
Best,
Rotorhead.

Rotorhead,

Yes, the Midwest does still have some big bucks...but you are also right that they know how to hide.

Several years ago I spent two seasons knowing that a giant buck lived in my hunting area but could never locate him. Finally, by accident, I discovered that at the first hint of daylight he was traveling to a little (probably 1/2 acre) brushy spot with a lone oak tree on a rise in the middle of a field where he had probably 400 yards view in any direction. Since Illinois only allowed shotgun slugs or muzzle loaders for bucks then, I got smart, slipped out early and up that oak at 3:00 am. As soon as legal hours arrived, I shot him in his bed. It was my best buck at 14 non-typical points and the fact that I had to really work to get him!

SSL,
That's real deer hunting, discovering a worthy animal, and working out a strategy to take that specific buck is true fair chase trophy.
The biggest buck I ever saw was in a similar hidy-hole. He had isolated himself in a 1/2 acre over-grown farm lot surrounded by 400 acres of bean fields. He could see 1/2 mile in every direction, and sneak out the oposite side if approached. I doubt if anyone knew he was there, as he only had to wait until dark and sneak out into the field to feed.
I accidently drove him out with the helicopter, and got a real thrill watching him gallop away across that bean field. I would field guess him at well over 220 inches typical...he probably died of old age in that tangle.
Rotorhead

I have a story for you......But its not me that did the shooting. It was my Mother.
She did use my reloads though. It was a 158 gr Hornady XTP with 15.0gr H110(cant remember, dont have log book in fronty of me). The white tail was getting in her garden all the time, We were not sure what it was, buck or doe, as no one seen it, Just its handy work in her garden. Along with its tracks. One Morning while we were all still sleeping she had to go to the bathroom and looked out the bathroom window and seen the doe in the garden, she opened the window and got her Ruger GP141 and put the little doe out of her missery and her garden. I had to use my tag for her doe, but that was ok.