Explain This Please

[ButterBean]

 

[Hard rock]

View attachment 304599

Some people Just don't get it

 

[ButterBean]

Some people Just don't get it

I agree

 

[Ga6570]

Well, my wife shot an antelope today with that same bullet at 567 yards and it performed like it should.

I shot an Antelope at 617 yards a few years back in McAllister. It ran off with the herd of 150, two days later I found it because of the buzzards. It was 1/2 mile further away 3 canyons over. The bullet had gone through just below the spine straight above the lungs. That was my first experience (and only one so far) with losing an animal. Made me sick. I mistook the blood spray for hitting dirt over its back… Those goats can sure run after being hit! - my other experiences with goats on this same ranch has been died right away with being hit.

 

[257 STW]

Looked high to me as well.

 

[longrangebob]

This is an unfortunate reality - it is part of the reason I shoot twice if at all possible - even when critter drops - I have had it happen twice with a rifle & twice with an Arrow ,,, I was able to track the Moose (bow) and he survived quite nicely, was up and about, a bit stiff, 4 hours later & just fine about a week later …. there is an area above the lungs & beneath the spine where it is possible to miss all bone and significant blood vessels … but for me until I'm sure the critter recovers I'm "sick" … so I will track & persist … (I have a few more stories - all solved but 1) I've Hunted for mo' than 6+ decades and will always remember each …

 

[vancewalker007]

View attachment 304487Here's another example of a no man's land hit....this one with an arrow. This buck showed on my trail cam in Iowa. He had to come a long ways or gotten shot by a poacher.....he's smack dab in the dead center of over 12k acres thats owned and managed by two main landowners, who have over 5k each. My little slice of heaven sits in the middle of it all. They would not have shot this buck and confirmed they didn't.
It had to have happened not long before the pic, as I imagine that arrow would get knocked out pretty easily.

I've seen an Antelope in the same condition. An arrow sticking out of both sides and he was grazing and walking around like nothing was wrong. We lost track of him, we were going to put him out of his misery. I'm sure the coyotes did.

 

[Plinker147]

Agree with the no mans land shot placement, it happens. I also agree that the bullet likely didn't expand. I've seen this happen 3 times on light skinned (coues deer, ibex) small animals with 338 One was 250 AB, another was 250 SMK, and 300 grain Berger VLD. Too big heavy of bullet for light skinny, thin animals and bullet zips through. All three of ours were recovered so we know bullets didn't expand. Bullets didn't fail IMO, just not the right comb for those small deer. Great combo for long range shots just not bullet performance.

Watched a guy shoot an Oryx with a 50 BMGwith 700gr. tipped bullet. We all thought it would turn the oryx inside out. Nope bullet penciled through Oryx ran off for a mile before it could be put down.

Part of reason I sold my 338 RUM( and the insane muzzle blast) My advice if your going to shoot that set up for small deer sized switch to a bullet more likely to expand like LRABs or SST or similar

 

[5.56×250]

Agree with the no mans land shot placement, it happens. I also agree that the bullet likely didn't expand. I've seen this happen 3 times on light skinned (coues deer, ibex) small animals with 338 One was 250 AB, another was 250 SMK, and 300 grain Berger VLD. Too big heavy of bullet for light skinny, thin animals and bullet zips through. All three of ours were recovered so we know bullets didn't expand. Bullets didn't fail IMO, just not the right comb for those small deer. Great combo for long range shots just not bullet performance.

Watched a guy shoot an Oryx with a 50 BMGwith 700hr tipped bullet. We all thought it would turn the oryx inside out. Nope but penciled through Oryx ran off for a mile before it could be put down.

Part of reason I self my 338 RUM( and the insane muzzle blast) My advice if your going to shoot that set up for small deer sized switch to a bullet more likely to expand like LRABs or SST or similar

I had a customer several years ago that shot a mulie fork horn with a 50bmg. His experience was nothing like yours, but very much like you had expected . At 300yds, the deer went 20ft before falling dead. A tree stopped him from going farther . Took the little buck off his feet and wrapped what was left around the tree he was standing 20ft in front of. Not the best meat rig , I'm afraid......but very humaine , lol .

 

[cabelasken]

I shot an Antelope at 617 yards a few years back in McAllister. It ran off with the herd of 150, two days later I found it because of the buzzards. It was 1/2 mile further away 3 canyons over. The bullet had gone through just below the spine straight above the lungs. That was my first experience (and only one so far) with losing an animal. Made me sick. I mistook the blood spray for hitting dirt over its back… Those goats can sure run after being hit! - my other experiences with goats on this same ranch has been died right away with being hit.

I have witnessed two animals hit in this same location and both were fortunately recovered. The first was an Axis buck in Hawaii about 25 years ago which required a second shot after I caught up to the buck about 1/4 mile down the ravine. The second was a bull elk that was struck with a 338 Lapua fired by one of my hunting partners. After a 3/4 mile chase, another bullet put the bull down for good. In either case, shot location an inch or two up or down would have anchored both animals. Both animals showed signs of being struck by a bullet, but both had the ability to jog when pushed by he herd.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

Forgive me one and all because I have told this story before. . I will make it brief. 1980, First ever combo Mule Deer Antelope hunt in Wyoming. The new 270 Weatherby Mag was Loaded for mule deer with the old Speer 150 Grn. Grand Slam Bullet. We came across this goat , the guide said to shoot it so, I did . I hit it 4 TIMES at a range of about 210 /220 yards as it still kept running to the right. So I chambered another round and fired in front of it, to kick up dirt and stop the animal. The goat turned and began to run back in the other direction, and when he did so, I could see all the blood trails running down on the other side . There were 4 exit holes and the chest aera and slightly back. This was terrible and I have remembered it all these years. My very sad lesson is that heavy , tough , bone smashing bullets , are not well suited for small animals like antelope and whitetails. Just drilling holes in the animal , with little ,to no, expansion . Should have dumped the 150 GS bullets and put in the 130 GKs I had. Ignorance on my part, never again. Thats why I only use 130 Grn. Ballistic tips in my .270 Win on White tail. Super explosive , almost never need a second shot, never an exit hole. No Tracking. IMHO

 

[cabelasken]

Forgive me one and all because I have told this story before. . I will make it brief. 1980, First ever combo Mule Deer Antelope hunt in Wyoming. The new 270 Weatherby Mag was Loaded for mule deer with the old Speer 150 Grn. Grand Slam Bullet. We came across this goat , the guide said to shoot it so, I did . I hit it 4 TIMES at a range of about 210 /220 yards as it still kept running to the right. So I chambered another round and fired in front of it, to kick up dirt and stop the animal. The goat turned and began to run back in the other direction, and when he did so, I could see all the blood trails running down on the other side . There were 4 exit holes and the chest aera and slightly back. This was terrible and I have remembered it all these years. My very sad lesson is that heavy , tough , bone smashing bullets , are not well suited for small animals like antelope and whitetails. Just drilling holes in the animal , with little ,to no, expansion . Should have dumped the 150 GS bullets and put in the 130 GKs I had. Ignorance on my part, never again. Thats why I only use 130 Grn. Ballistic tips in my .270 Win on White tail. Super explosive , almost never need a second shot, never an exit hole. No Tracking. IMHO

But I've seen the opposite occur too. My friend in Hawaii was shooting a 300 mag of some sort with 130 gr projectiles at well over 3500 FPS. We came upon a Mouflon Ran which is only slightly over 100 lbs and at about 100 yds drilled it in the front shoulder. The bullet literally exploded on the shoulder and the ram ran off with the herd never to be seen again. The bullet literally flipped the ram over and it got up with a blood stained shoulder and never stopped running (on three legs).. I didn't find out which brand of bullets he was using, but from that time foreward, I started using bonded and/or premium bullets.

 

[bozoben]

I will say this was the first animal out of many that this rifle and bullet combo was used on this year. Overall I am very pleased with the performance of the rifle, and the projectile when used appropriately. It's a tac driver. I learned alot about ballistics, terminal performance, using the right projectile for the right species and different points of aim to make a bullet perform as expected.

This was obviously not the ideal outcome, but nonetheless It was an event that pushed me to do alot of studying on the topic.

Between me and some family and friends, this rifle took 10 animals averaging 625 yards.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

Your point is well taken. Cabelaskin! Great point about keeping a bullet like that off the shoulder. I make a point of never shooting at the shoulder. So far I have been lucky