John,

That is a wonderful hunting story and better yet, a father/son hunting story. Even better is that the rifle was a vintage Winchester in 25/35.

When I first started hunting in the early 1960s, I was somewhat ignorant and looked down on 30 WCF, 25/35, etc as old, inadequate cartridges. I heard stories by friends of deer being lost. These were poorly hit but we thought that if hit be a modern, high power cartridge, they would be freezer meat. The thought was that you could hit a deer in the leg with a powerful cartridge and it would drop.

Later, I read that a large number of deer were killed with Winchester 73s and 92s in 44 WCF which is even less powerfun than a 30 WCF.

Later, while in the service, I talked to a friend whose father very successfully hunted larger,northern deer with his 94 Winchester in 25/35. His method of hunting was still hunting in northern Vermont woods. He only had one rifle and knew how to shoot it. His commen was that shot placement was more important than brute force. That comment has been reinforced over the last 50 years/

I now like still hunting with vintage rifles. One rifle is Austrian and is in 6.5x52R (European version of 25/35).