I have not been a hunter. However, I do understand the necessity of hunting to keep animal populations under control do that they don't overrun their food supply.
I have several friends in New Mexico who do hunt deer, elk and other game. Hunting season in New Mexico for deer, for example, is generally from late October through early November.
In my area, we do have deer and elk populations. Several does got into my inner yard last year. They
tend to go after an apple tree that's in front of my garage.
I don't know what rifles and calibers are used in New Mexico deer hunting. But, apparently, the .30-30 Winchester in Winchester 94 lever-action rifles are still popular over the years. A 2022 article from Outdoor Life is currently making the rounds online.
It starts off with:
Over its more than 125-year lifetime, the lever-action .30-30 rifle has arguably killed more whitetail deer than any other single cartridge. And with the cartridge’s popularity still quite high, it’s doubtful it will be unseated in that category any time soon.
Released in 1895, just a year after the popular Model 1894 Winchester lever gun was introduced, the .30-30 Winchester was the first sporting cartridge loaded exclusively with smokeless powder. The original .30-30 Winchester load had a 160-grain round-nosed bullet leaving the muzzle at 1,970 feet per second, a substantial step up from other popular cartridges of the time like the .32-40 Win. (165-grain bullet at 1,450 fps) and .38-55 Win. (255-grain bullet at 1,320 fps).
The cartridge’s speed and power, combined with the lever-action’s capacity and quickness, made it an instant hit as a deer cartridge. Before long, it became a go-to choice for deer hunters.
As major ammunition companies caught on to the .30-30’s popularity, they began manufacturing loads specifically for lever guns—the two most popular were topped with 150-grain and 170-grain round-nosed slugs. The reason for the round nose was obvious—since the gun’s tube magazine held ammunition stacked tip-to-primer, a pointed-nosed bullet denting a primer could lead to an accidental discharge in the magazine. Ironically, that round-tipped ammo led to the cartridge’s fall from grace when longer-range cartridges with pointed tips and superior ballistics hit the market years later.
Yet despite competition from the .308, .30-06, and .270—all fine deer cartridges in their own right—the .30-30 has continued to be popular with many hunters over several generations.
To read more, go here.
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