Deer Damage Control with 6.5 Creedmoor

You know I’m the .30-06 guy…so why am I hunting with a 6.5 Creedmoor out of season?

It was late February, and my old friend contacted me with an offer I couldn’t refuse — a winter deer hunt! He had access to “damage control” mule deer tags for an area here in Chelan County, Washington. Significant numbers of mule deer were browsing on tree limbs, heavily damaging a fruit orchard. In an effort to help the orchardist reduce the damage, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued several damage control tags for that specific area.

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About the Bergara Ridge Carbon Wilderness

I was eager to put some fresh venison in the freezer and to hunt with what has become a favorite rifle, the Bergara Ridge Carbon Wilderness.

The rifle comes well-built by Bergara with an excellent two-pound trigger and an accurate barrel. We’d tailored it to my personal preferences with the addition of a very comfortable and handsome Boyd’s Heritage stock, Leupold VX 5HD 3-15×44 scope, and Montana sling.

The stock was also pillar-bedded and free-floated Boyd’s Heritage laminate stock. I removed the muzzle brake and replaced it with the provided thread protector since the 6.5 Creedmoor produces such mild recoil. The rifle handles very well and is comfortable to carry.

I decided to hunt without a bipod on it because I dislike the forward weight and bulk of a bipod on a general-purpose hunting rifle. Instead, I took a set of lightweight shooting sticks to steady the rifle on the hunt. The rapidly-adjustable Montana sling is great for carrying the rifle and for use as a shooting aid.

Assembling the Load

Our components were high quality, suitable for crafting match or hunting ammunition.

For ammunition, I turned to top-quality components with cartridge cases and powder from Finland! Vihtavuori N555 powder is an excellent choice for the 6.5 Creedmoor and Federal 210 large rifle match primers are very consistent.

Berger bullets are American-made and held to extremely tight specifications and shoot well.

Berger’s 140 grain Elite Hunter has a very high G1 BC of .606 and the G7 figure is .31 which is quite high. I’ve seldom used such a high BC bullet for hunting!

From Berger:

Berger Elite Hunter Rifle Bullets utilize their industry-leading hybrid ogive, which blends tangent and secant designs to optimize efficiency, reduce wind-drift, and minimize sensitivity to seating depth. Elite Hunter Rifle Bullets are identical in construction, shape and performance to the Berger Hybrid Target series, except they utilize a thinner J4 Precision Jacket for rapid expansion on game animals. Elite Hunters are designed to penetrate 2-3″ into the vitals and then begin to expand and create a massive wound cavity up to 15″. This delivers maximum organ/tissue damage and extreme hydrostatic shock aiding in an ethical kill.

This is far from the first time I’d selected Berger bullets for my hunting. I’ve used the 115 grain Berger VLD’s to take three mule deer with my .25-06 Remington, and in 2021 I used Berger’s 180 grain Elite Hunter in my .30-06 to take a nice-sized mule deer buck. They’ve always been accurate and effective. Vihtavuori N555 impressed us here at Ultimate Reloader as soon as we tried some, and we’ve used it several times with great satisfaction. It produces excellent accuracy and velocity from the 6.5 Creedmoor and other rifle cartridges. The powder is clean-burning, temperature-stable and contains a de-coppering agent to reduce barrel fouling.

This time the Lapua cases came from once-fired Berger ammunition. It’s always a pleasure to use high-quality components such as these. Lapua makes 6.5 Creedmoor brass with both large and small rifle primer pockets. I chose the large primer pocket version as I sometimes hunt in very cold weather and large rifle primers provide more “spark” to consistently ignite powder in low temperatures.

I assembled all of the ammunition on the RCBS Summit press using RCBS Supreme dies.

All the loading tools used in this project were from RCBS including the Uniflow III mechanical powder measure, the M500 beam scale, and the universal hand priming tool.

All worked very well and it was a pleasure to have them on my loading bench at home.

An Inline Fabrication Ultramount made it very easy for me to swap from one press to another, something I do often for my articles at Ultimate Reloader.

A chamber case gauge and a #3 shell holder were included with the RCBS Supreme die set.

As expected, the results were very good. I was pleased to see an average of 2721 fps and an SD of 9 fps with the 140 grain bullet from the 22” Bergara barrel. This rifle consistently produces 0.5” – 0.75” three shot groups at 100 yards with hunting ammunition.

3 Shot Group from the Bergara Ridge Carbon Wilderness

The point of impact never shifts. That’s all I ask from a general-purpose hunting rifle.

Berger’s Online Ballistics Calculator clearly showed the benefit of using their high BC hunting bullets if shots at 400 yards and beyond are options. I plugged in a 30 degree temperature, a 1200’ elevation, and a 90 degree 10 mph wind. These were the anticipated conditions for this late winter hunt. The calculator predicted an impact speed of over 2,000 fps all the way out at 500 yards with 1900+ fps remaining at 600 yards!

That’s impressive from a muzzle velocity of 2725 fps and is due to the high BC of the 140 grain Elite Hunter bullet. I like an impact velocity of 2000 fps with most jacketed, lead-core hunting bullets as it’s enough to assure dependable bullet performance on game. The message is simple—if longer range shots are anticipated, use a bullet intended for long-range shooting.

When hunting open country where longer shots are the norm, I typically zero my rifles at 200 yards. This works out well for shots to 300+ yards. Even 400 yards is no big problem, though I’d rather dial in some elevation much beyond 300 yards.

The Hunt

*This is NOT the actual hunt area, just a typical orchard in the general area with the Cascade foothills rising up just beyond.

I’ve been hunting in central Washington for 30 years now and am familiar with the terrain as well as with the habits of our native mule deer. There are many orchards and other farm crops in the river valleys. The deer tend to live in the steep foothills and ravines above, then come down to feed at night. That behavior is predictable. Late afternoon and early morning hunts are often productive.

One of the pleasures of hunting in this area is the variety of wildlife. It’s not unusual to find elk or bighorn sheep any time of the year, particularly in the winter. I took all of these photos in the same general area where I’d be hunting the mule deer. The bull elk tend to herd up together away from the youngsters and the cow elk. Bighorn rams hang out with the ewes and the young ones for a few months every fall, then tend to hang out in small groups themselves. It’s great to observe and photograph these big game animals even if drawing a tag to hunt them is difficult.

Bull elk photographed in Chelan County, Washington.

Young bighorn ram photographed in Chelan County, Washington.

On this damage control hunt, I was allowed to take a single deer with no antlers. Does were abundant! Female mule deer can be large; some big, old does are as large as many bucks. Mule deer have keen senses and can detect threats at long distance. They can also cover ground very rapidly including extremely steep, tough terrain.

However, one often fatal mistake they commonly make is stopping, turning broadside, and looking back, probably to see if the threat they detected is following. They often don’t seem to understand that rifles are dangerous even when hundreds of yards away. I’ve shot a number of mule deer, bucks and does, that stopped to look back at me. When encountered at close range they tend to bolt and quickly leave the area. The big, old bucks often just keep running until they’re safe in some ravine, concealed in trees or brush or far out of range. Other mule deer often give the rifle hunter a chance by pausing and looking back.

A young mule deer staring at me as I hiked past on a winter day. Chelan County, Washington

An old friend and I scouted the area one afternoon, then hunted the next morning. As usual, the orchard was in the lower, flatter area and the deer were up on the slopes far above. This promised to be a physically easier hunt, which in my late 60’s I appreciate more than I have in the past.

We were back in the area about 0600 the next morning as it was getting light enough to see well. Deer were on the slopes above the orchards, moving towards their bed-down sites. We waited quietly near a large tree which concealed us fairly well. I was hoping for a good shot opportunity of no more than a couple of hundred yards with a great backstop for safety. I also wanted a deer to be in a place where I could easily hike to it after the shot.

In due time, an opportunity presented itself. Several does emerged from concealment about 150 yards away, moving across and up the snowy ridge. I watched them carefully with the rifle on my lightweight shooting sticks, hoping for the lead doe to pause. She did so and stood broadside at about 200 yards, which is the distance at which I’d zeroed the rifle.

The trigger broke cleanly, the 6.5 nudged my shoulder, and the bullet hit low in the chest, taking a large chunk off her heart. The doe dropped instantly, but her head remained up. From experience, I know that sometimes an injured deer or elk will regain their feet and flee. To prevent that, I fired again. I had a smaller target this time as she was laying down in the snow. That second shot was higher in the chest and killed her instantly. I was pleased when she then slid quite a few yards down the snowy slope, reducing how far I’d have to climb to get her.

Reaching the doe after a steep climb that found me using both my hands and feet, I thanked her for providing meat for my family, then set about getting her down to the farm road below. My friend and I field dressed her on the spot. Once again he taught me a few tricks about cleaning and dragging. Dragging a deer carcass on the snow is quite easy, even for older hunters. Not long afterwards we had her on the back of my Jeep and I took her home to skin her and clean her up a bit more before taking her to the butcher for processing.

Never before had I hunted deer so late into the winter. As I skinned the carcass, I noticed that unlike the deer I typically take in October and November, she had very little fat on her body. No wonder the deer were getting into the orchard to feed, they’re hungry!

The True Trophy

A hunt like this yields no antlers to proudly put on the wall for all to admire. There’s no bragging rights about taking a huge buck, but there is wonderful fresh venison! A favorite for me is to slice up the backstrap steak into small ¾” or 1” thick steaks and season them simply with garlic, black pepper, and a dash of salt. Finally, I sear them in a cast iron skillet with melted butter for four minutes or so and serve them medium rare.

The tenderloins are also savored, but usually later. Ground meat, more steaks and roasts fill the freezer. My family and friends all greatly appreciate this lean, healthy meat— the true trophy from a hunt like this.

Conclusion

I was grateful for this easy hunt and the opportunity to take a deer this winter. Fresh venison is always welcome in my home and hunting with a respected old friend and fellow veteran was terrific.

I’ve grown quite fond of the Bergara rifle. It’s similar enough to the Remingtons I’ve been using for 50 years that there are no surprises. I’ve hunted and hiked with the rifle in warm weather and cold, mostly in the rugged foothills of the Cascades. The Boyds stock is a bit larger and heavier than the lightweight synthetic stock it replaced, but it improved the feel of the rifle as it fits me better now.

Leupold’s VX 5HD 3-15×44 is a fine hunting scope! It’s reasonably lightweight with very clear glass that works well even in low light. The windage and elevation adjustments are crisp and reliable. This one has an illuminated red dot in the center of the crosshairs which is helpful in low light situations and can be easily adjusted from dim to very bright depending on conditions. It is the best scope I have on any of my general-purpose hunting rifles.

Of course I remain a strong fan of my .30-06 which has brought me so much game over the years. I’m very confident in the 6.5 Creedmoor as a fine cartridge for deer-sized game. It has “enough” velocity and bullet weight and is a real pleasure to shoot. For those who think that the 6.5 Creedmoor is somehow inadequate for deer, then what are we to think of the many thousands of deer taken with the smaller .243 Winchester and even the .223 Remington? Various 6.5mm rifle cartridges have been reliably taking game for well over 100 years.

This is the fifth mule deer I’ve taken with Berger bullets: three with the VLD and two with the Elite Hunter. I remain impressed with their accuracy and how quickly they drop game. The Elite Hunter seems a bit more forgiving than the VLD when it comes to seating depth. I loaded mine to exactly 2.8” overall length for easy magazine fit and smooth chambering.

The Bergers typically penetrate a few inches with a small entrance wound and expand rapidly in the chest cavity, even fragmenting. I did not recover either bullet and the damage to the heart and lungs was significant. I did lose some rib meat, but nothing else. Typically the Berger hunting bullets do so much damage that game drops in place and expires quickly.

Several powders work very well with the 6.5 Creedmoor, and Vihtavuori N555 should be considered by anyone handloading the cartridge. It meters well from a mechanical powder measure, fills the case nicely, and produces consistent velocity and accuracy.

If you prefer factory ammunition, Berger uses this same bullet in their factory ammunition!

I’d like to extend a special thanks to the Washington Department of Fish and Game, the property owner, and my old friend for making this late winter hunt possible.