Bullets vs Tracking Game

[john k]

7-08 and 280ai my go to WT guns for 40 plus years. Depends on my mood and my setup.
my unofficial notion is that I do less tracking with 280Ai

X2

 

[rml30378]

I think you need a bigger rifle. That 416 isn't big enough to shoot deer with. i am wonder it you find anything after hitting a deer with that 416? Maybe a 458 or 460.

Haven't had an opportunity to use my 460 yet.
This year I used the Hornady 500gr A-tip on a nice 10 pt. buck. Clean hole in , destroyed the lungs , and larger hole exit. No extensive damage one would think from this cartridge. I normally use 350gr TTSXs.

 

[Slammer14]

Lost 3 bears in a row 7mm 140 tsx with a good hold when i let it go. Same load shot a nice mule deer at 540 yards, shot him twice in the spine. He drug himself downhill 100 yards and I had to shoot him again. Shot alot of deer and some antelope with the same load, most would go 30 to 100 yards. This year I hunted with a 300 rum and berger 210s shot a bear at 40 yards, and a whitetail buck at 470. Both dropped dead in their tracks. I'm working a load for 168 vlds now in the 7mm..

 

[Ndfarmer]

I have had great luck with 300 rum and 200 grain accubonds. Used to use 180 swift scirocco and they always worked good too. Alway shoot behind front shoulder. This year was first year with 7mm Saum and the 175 lrab bedded mule deer 325 yards. heart shot he didn't move, his head layed down and that was it. Not a the biggest rack but awesome hunt.

 

[Greyfox]

I have always been a heart.lung shooter…LOL…Perhaps too much Jack O'Connor when I was a kid. Once I got into LRH I pretty much standardized my shot placement approach to the maximize the chances of a dead animal from 100-1000 yards. I center a 1MOA shot regardless of distance so that the bullet will penetrate the arteries on top of the heart/lung area, typically 1/3-midway on the animal, regardless of angle. I think this approach, particularly at the longer ranges, provide the largest vital zone, reduces the margin of error due to wind, etc., , and has given me the highest percentage of dead/retrieved game. This is also the area where the particular bullets I use provide the greatest chance of optimum terminal performance across a wide range of distance. Some run a ways, most don't. I always "assume" they will run at the shot, and closely observe the reaction. Should a shot be at the extreme of the 1 MOA window, the animal is still vitally hit with a very high likelihood of being retrieved. If I can't feel confident that my shot will be kept in the 1MOA window I will either wait, reposition, or pass on the shot. Just my approach….

 

[morgaj1]

I tracked a buck for my nephew once for an hour.( 7-08) When we opened him up heart and great vessels were jelly. He ran into the thickest impenetrable swamp that he could find . Easily could have lost that deer.
If I could neck shoot everything, I would. Never tracked a deer that was neck shot.
I live where we can shoot a lot of deer and my property owners insist on aggressive doe harvest. This definitely changes things from trophy hunting out west. If it's not DRT it's a chance at a lost deer in a swamp .
Shot 100 plus pigs, they can be amazingly resistant to bullets regardless of shot placement. In my mind a big pig is a better test of bullet, rifle , hunter performance than whitetail deer. Love to hear more from pig hunters.

I've killed countless pigs over the years. I used Sierra Pro Hunters and Speer Hot Cor's for years and found that the big ones (>200 lb) would sometimes soak up the shot with no exit wound and there we would have to track for a ways. On our property, that usually meant tracking in thick briars. I swapped to bonded bullets (Accubonds and Interbonds) and never had to track far again. Always get a pass through with plenty of blood. Pigs are tough, especially the big ones with the thick cartilage sheath.

 

[WildRose]

I think you need a bigger rifle. That 416 isn't big enough to shoot deer with. i am wonder it you find anything after hitting a deer with that 416? Maybe a 458 or 460.

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking my "adopted grandkids/slash nephews" hunting.

The older and I were hunting yesterday morning after a bitterly cold night and they came out to play once the sun came up. The trip was all about putting some meat in the freezer for the family and when the opportunity arose for us to try and take a double on does we did.

The deer shot with the 6.5 Needmore was just as dead as the deer shot with the 300 Rum.

The happiest guy in the county Mari's dad.

Both boys were successful this weekend and so was their dad so the happiest guy in the county was myself.

 

[WildRose]

I have always been a heart.lung shooter…LOL…Perhaps too much Jack O'Connor when I was a kid. Once I got into LRH I pretty much standardized my shot placement approach to the maximize the chances of a dead animal from 100-1000 yards. I center a 1MOA shot regardless of distance so that the bullet will penetrate the arteries on top of the heart/lung area, typically 1/3-midway on the animal, regardless of angle. I think this approach, particularly at the longer ranges, provide the largest vital zone, reduces the margin of error due to wind, etc., , and has given me the highest percentage of dead/retrieved game. This is also the area where the particular bullets I use provide the greatest chance of optimum terminal performance across a wide range of distance. Some run a ways, most don't. I always "assume" they will run at the shot, and closely observe the reaction. Should a shot be at the extreme of the 1 MOA window, the animal is still vitally hit with a very high likelihood of being retrieved. If I can't feel confident that my shot will be kept in the 1MOA window I will either wait, reposition, or pass on the shot. Just my approach….

Draw a line between the elbow and point of the shoulder and aim for the middle is how I was taught and it's just as valid today. They may run a bit but nothing but a hog is going to run far enough to be lost if you take out the heart, aorta, lungs or some combination of all 3.

Definitely a whole lot of room for error if that's the shot you take.

 

[James Legg]

Why waste 20lbs of meat shoulder shooting small does the one in the picture. I shoot for a high neck or head shot. I use a 308/model 700 adl that been bedded.

 

[WYOHTF]

I take the high shoulder exclusively unless I'm bowhunting. I use flat, hard, cast bullets in all my rifles now for this reason. Nothing to fail, no soft cores or worries about mushrooming or not. No huge holes blown in the animal. It's been years since I tracked anything I've shot with a gun. We have 3 dogs who love cleaning Bones and wife makes treats from all the yucky bits and the bit of bloodshot meat so nothing is wasted.
Doe shot yesterday with 530gr cast bullet patched in the flintlock. 60 yards. Poleaxed. Didnt even flip her tailView attachment 330293

I don't know to much about muzzleloaders what is long range for a traditional? 150-200?

 

[bassassassin104]

We, my kids and I, try to shoot just behind the shoulder and track most deer 50-75 yards. We have shot them with Barnes, Berger, Hornady, Nosler, Sierra, etc. Numerous calibers from .223, .260 rem, 6.5 CM, .308 win, 280AI, and 30-06 and 300 win mag. It is no problem in our terrain to track a deer a little ways, and good practice for the kids. It also saves several pounds of meat. I have a close friend in Louisiana who always shoots shoulders out. In their area, If a deer runs much, you may never find the thing. Lots of water and very thick. They use dogs to track a lot.

 

[WildRose]

Why waste 20lbs of meat shoulder shooting small does the one in the picture. I shoot for a high neck or head shot. I use a 308/model 700 adl that been bedded.

Using the right bullet you don't. Maybe a pound or two depending on impact velocity.

You're not going to be very successful shooting head and neck shots at long range, just too many variables. The line from the withers to the elbow gives us the most room for error.

 

[WildRose]

I don't know to much about muzzleloaders what is long range for a traditional? 150-200?

200 yds is a pretty good poke with a black powder rifle. I've shot mine out considerably father but I'm reproducing a load for the 45-110 which is really stout in a sportier weight riffle.

Most folks would not want to spend a day at the range putting even 20 of those down range. It's a pretty fair thump even at my weight.

 

[WildRose]

We, my kids and I, try to shoot just behind the shoulder and track most deer 50-75 yards. We have shot them with Barnes, Berger, Hornady, Nosler, Sierra, etc. Numerous calibers from .223, .260 rem, 6.5 CM, .308 win, 280AI, and 30-06 and 300 win mag. It is no problem in our terrain to track a deer a little ways, and good practice for the kids. It also saves several pounds of meat. I have a close friend in Louisiana who always shoots shoulders out. In their area, If a deer runs much, you may never find the thing. Lots of water and very thick. They use dogs to track a lot.

They can just disappear into tall CRP like both big and little blue stem too if you don't drop them right where they stand.

We had a deer this weekend hit perfectly with two good shots and the only evidence we found was one burst of blood and a little tissue right where it was tanding.

She only went about 40 yards but left no trail at all as she ran that we could see on very dry, very had ground with little grass/foliage on it.

We didn't realize it at the time but we'd driven within 10 yards and didn't see her on the way in, only found her when I saw her white belly as I started walking along the path we were sure we'd seen her take.

In tall grass without dogs, that one might have gone to waste.

Kind of neat though, we have her on camera taking that "What was that leap" on the game camera.