Do what??? Recoil pads are there for a reason not for looks. I guess too many rely on muzzle brakes also ( which i will not have on any of my rifles) Yes it matters how you hold a rifle but recoil is recoil.

proper holding can reduce "felt" recoil......

Ballistic Gel. One of these is not like the others.
257 Weatherby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg6kcw6o9kk
270 Winn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goYr5WB98P0
308 Rem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znrBbdxngIk

Stock design and fit has something to do with felt recoil too. Why put a muzzle brake on one to soften recoil, doesn't that reduce the velocity enough that you lose the benefits of a magnum caliber. I've seen around 200 fps loss and that is significant from what I've read.

Percussion from a muzzle brake is something not to fun either.

no one is doubting that. But so can muzzle brakes, recoil pads, and Caliner.

I hate muzzle brakes, and refuse to shoot a rifle with one or be near anyone else shooting one.

I thank I'm gonna get me a .950 JDJ to hunt deer with.

No recoil pads or brakes allowed

Magnum condoms & rifle here

If you want a big magnum and shoot it well then no harm, no foul. But here are just a few random observations from my experiences with some people I've known who use them. Your mileage may vary.

1. I have never understood the line of thinking that goes, "well I got a 300 ultra mag because one day I might go on an elk hunt and I can use it for that too". Me, I pick a caliber for what I'm going to do with it all the time not what I might do with it once 15 years from now. I also find it hard to believe that there are very many people in Alabama that can afford to go out west on a elk hunt yet can't afford at least two rifles, one for deer and one for elk. That's a pretty narrow financial category right there.

2. I have listened to many friends, family and acquaintances talk to me about how little the bullet from their new uber mag drops at 400 yards and the amount of kinetic energy it still has at 400 yards. And all the while I'm listening to them talk I'm thinking (because I know first hand) you have never even taken a single practice shot at 400 yards in your life. So what good is all that stuff going to do you?

3. I have seen people have bullet performance issues on our small southern deer from one end of the spectrum to the other with big stomper magnums. Many of the premium bullets designed tougher for magnum velocities and big game like elk or moose just strip through the rib cages of 150 pound whitetails without much expansion. On the other hand at close range were the velocity of these magnum bullets is still very high a standard cup and core lead bullet can over expand and fragment terribly. I've seen deer shot broadside behind the shoulder at 70 yards have fragments of the bullet perforate the stomach and bowels. Also seen standard soft lead bullets or ballistic tips out of these magnums destroy half the edible meat on an angled shot as well.

4. There was a time when there were not many bullet options out there. If you wanted to do more harm or get deeper penetration all you could do was use a bigger bullet; push it faster; or both. But with the wide variety of bullet options available out there today I can take a 7mm-08, 270, 308 or 30-06 and make any kind of wound channel through a deer that you desire.

5. I have gone to the family gravel pit to shoot with people who had such a wicked recoil induced flinch it was comical. Seen some that were jerking their whole head out from behind the scope for fear of getting eye gouged. They would have been so much better off with a milder recoiling rifle. But noooo, a 7mm-08 is a woman's rifle. They wanted a manly gun. They did a lot of manly missing and gut shooting too.

6. To me big magnums are good for one thing. To hurl really heavy big bullets faster than standard calibers can in order to kill really big animals or shoot things at extreme ranges. For deer, out to 300 yards, I just don't see the need.

What the heck is overkill?

Is that like more deader?

A magnum caliber in the Alabama woods is like a TV on your wedding night. NOT NEEDED!!
Its all in shot placement.

Where is a magnum caliber needed then?

I didn't need a tv on my wedding night, but i had one in the room i stayed in, and was there if i wanted to watch it.

horsechitt!

In the Alabama woods when ya hit'em in the right place with anything from a .223 and up and they are DEAD! If I'm wrong then prove it but you know I'm not. Deer are thin skinned, light boned game animals not 'dangerous' game with heavy muscle and heavy bones like a mature bull elk or the big bears.
But, if shooting a BIG magnum caliber makes you feel more macho then by all means load that heavy, hard kicking, muzzle blasting mother up and fire away!! That way you can tell your buddies you shoot a "fill in the blank" magnum when you deer hunt.
Dead is dead when ya hit'em in the right place, no horsechitt!!

I watched Bama get beat by Hawaii on my wedding night.

My 270WSM reaches across clearcuts. And I like that.

yeah but i don't have wait on the RIGHT shot . i can burn him from any angle , try it with a 233 or a 243 , ect . see where you get . lol

Fixed it for you.

What about GA or MS woods? Can I shoot one in MT? and since you are the expert, just how far am i shooting in these here AL woods? What kind of cover am I hunting in? What kind of exit wound am I getting with my .223 when I shoot one in the boiler room at 400 yards, and he runs 75 yards into a head high clear cut and dies? And why wouldn't I want to shoot a rifle that pushes the exact same bullet as a non-magnum, faster, flatter, with more energy, and lest wind drift?

If you hit any animal in the right place, and from a close enough distance, with anything from a .223 and up you will kill it. Elk and big bears even. No horeschit!!!

I shoot a magnum, and will continue to do so, but I have to admit that I am pretty macho, and make a distinct metal clinking sound as I walk.

how you get it will be marginal ? i allow that ever body has common sense . the right spot he was taking about with a 223 is not the same spot with a 7mag