Been wanting to post this one for a couple of weeks now, ever since I had a nice 12 to 14 point buck (about 110 to 130 lbs.) resurrect and run off on me.
I punched this fella in the shoulder, a good clean shot from a rested firing position 210 yards out (measured with a range finder) hit him with a Hornady A-max 178-grain bullet from a .308 Winchester cartridge. Watched this guy fold in half and saw all four hoofs go up in the air, up side down.
Got down from the stand and loaded into the truck to go pick him up only to find that he'd up and runn'oft.
I was able to follow the blood trail through the wet grass and scrub about 150 yards up to the wood line and then perhaps another 50 yards through the woods until it was too dark to see anything anymore. Went out the next morning and looked for a couple more hours without any luck.
The neighbor has popped 4 this season and had them run more than 150 yards before expiring. He's also lost one. He too is using 178-grain Hornady A-max bullets from his 30-06. The last one he hit was at about 50 to 60 yards out and was purposely placed directly on the shoulder bone. When the animal was recovered, some 200 yards away from the point of impact, there was a clean hart lung shot entry wound and an exit hole you could have placed softball into. Upon dressing out, what was left of the animal, the hart and both lungs had been punched through were totally shredded jelly.
We've chronographed both the .308 and the 30-06 loads and the results are below…
.308 Winchester at 2300 feet per second.
30-06 Springfield at 2800 feet per second.
I did manage a couple of weeks later to get a nice 14 pointer (about 120 lbs.) with a 265 yard shot to the spine directly between the shoulder blades, so the season wasn't a bust for me. The bullet was recovered and the weight was 157 grains, the jacket material had almost totally separated from the core and after I finished washing the bullet the lead fell out of the jacket.
I suppose the question is, what are we doing wrong? I mean, we all hear the stories of those guy's anchoring their deer on the spot, from 90,000 yards with Great Grandpa's issue Eddystone, and mil-surp. ammo, while at a dead run, up hill, in the snow, during a hurricane...
Suggestions?
I punched this fella in the shoulder, a good clean shot from a rested firing position 210 yards out (measured with a range finder) hit him with a Hornady A-max 178-grain bullet from a .308 Winchester cartridge. Watched this guy fold in half and saw all four hoofs go up in the air, up side down.
Got down from the stand and loaded into the truck to go pick him up only to find that he'd up and runn'oft.
I was able to follow the blood trail through the wet grass and scrub about 150 yards up to the wood line and then perhaps another 50 yards through the woods until it was too dark to see anything anymore. Went out the next morning and looked for a couple more hours without any luck.
The neighbor has popped 4 this season and had them run more than 150 yards before expiring. He's also lost one. He too is using 178-grain Hornady A-max bullets from his 30-06. The last one he hit was at about 50 to 60 yards out and was purposely placed directly on the shoulder bone. When the animal was recovered, some 200 yards away from the point of impact, there was a clean hart lung shot entry wound and an exit hole you could have placed softball into. Upon dressing out, what was left of the animal, the hart and both lungs had been punched through were totally shredded jelly.
We've chronographed both the .308 and the 30-06 loads and the results are below…
.308 Winchester at 2300 feet per second.
30-06 Springfield at 2800 feet per second.
I did manage a couple of weeks later to get a nice 14 pointer (about 120 lbs.) with a 265 yard shot to the spine directly between the shoulder blades, so the season wasn't a bust for me. The bullet was recovered and the weight was 157 grains, the jacket material had almost totally separated from the core and after I finished washing the bullet the lead fell out of the jacket.
I suppose the question is, what are we doing wrong? I mean, we all hear the stories of those guy's anchoring their deer on the spot, from 90,000 yards with Great Grandpa's issue Eddystone, and mil-surp. ammo, while at a dead run, up hill, in the snow, during a hurricane...
Suggestions?
