Non-recovered Elk - my fault or bullet failure or both?

[wvbearhunter]

Losing an animal is enough to make ya wanna quit. My 6 year old daughter double lunged this little 4pt. Perfect shot at 12 yards with her little 35# bow. She got a complete pass through and the deer went 6ft and fell in the **** river. The water was rapid due to some heavy rain. We chased it for half a mile trying to get where we could grab it. No luck. She cried for a week over it and refused to go back out.

 

[jrham55]

30 caliber, my choice. 300 win mag or Weatherby 300 mag. Sierra bullets.

Don't disagree a bit. Like the old saying. "There's no replacement for displacement." Bigger bore = more forgiving

 

[pawater]

I just had a friend on this forum shoot like 15 animals in Africa with the 175s at various distances from a 7 mag. All one shot kills.

 

[jrham55]

I got my eyes opened last year..... I historically killed all of my elk with 230 berger Hybrid targets in the 2950-3120 range with the 3120 being on a big bull at 820 yards. Last year I shot a big cow elk at about 80- 100 yds with a berger 215 at 2990. The cow was on the move and I aimed slightly forward to compensate. I hit her square in the shoulder. She spun and ran like she wasn't hit. There was no sign of a hit except for a little hair. We were in sage brush and I lost sight of her immediately. I found her about 100 yds away. She had layed down like she bedded. I hit her square in the shoulder and barely made it to the near side lung.
I typically aim for tight in the crease and have had very good luck.
I do check all of my tips on my hunting rounds. I still believe the 215s work great. I will just avoid heavy mass hits at shirt range. It hard to have both when you want reliable expansion at distance.
That being said.....maybe a penetration issue.

Penetration issue is the most logical imo as well. The bullet simply never made it past the front side shoulder. This really opened my eyes too.
Given my shoots will be within 600 yards, I'll be changing to a bullet like partition or Barnes in the future. Something that can handle heavy bones in short range situations.

 

[jrham55]

Losing an animal is enough to make ya wanna quit. My 6 year old daughter double lunged this little 4pt. Perfect shot at 12 yards with her little 35# bow. She got a complete pass through and the deer went 6ft and fell in the **** river. The water was rapid due to some heavy rain. We chased it for half a mile trying to get where we could grab it. No luck. She cried for a week over it and refused to go back out.
View attachment 512094

Dang! That's a bummer

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I do wish nosler made a regular accubond in 175-180gr weight.

 

[Chadp82]

This sucks. If you hunt sometimes it happens. Feeling bad means you care and are a hunter.

I hit a deer maybe 15 years ago saw it drop. Watched as it stood up, couldn't get a follow up shot, and it walked into a thick/nasty section of timber. I heard it coughing and expire within 15 minutes of the shot. This one bugged me a lot. We combed this trees area for 4-5 hours and never found it. It was an area where you couldn't see more than 15 feet and literally crawled, climbed, and what we it took to grid the area. This timber patch was maybe 200 yds x 100yds. Pretty clear on all sides. We had no blood past where it bedded and stood up.

It's tough but happens. It could have been the shot, the placement, or the animals will to live.

I have shot a deer that once we field dressed it shouldn't have been standing. Two shots, lungs were hamburger and 3rd was a head shot that finished it. When we opened it up, the lungs were literally shredded by the first two, and it still stood and I make the final head shot.

Sometimes these critters just do unexpected things. For what it's worth, don't beat yourself up, but I know it sucks.

 

[243winxb]

200 yard zero, bullet still low at 375 yards.

 

[jrham55]

200 yard zero, bullet still low at 375 yards.View attachment 512103

I dialed the scope for the exact distance and inclination (and temp/density altitude/humidity).

 

[std7mag]

Bummer you didn't find you quarry!

Please be aware, people.
Unless it's military, or some "anti terrorist" round, bullets don't EXPLODE or Blow up!

Place to put a Berger is BEHIND the front leg.

It's butt will come up & touch it's nose, then take off like a bat outta Canoe Creek (central PA reference) for 20-50 yards.

Have heard more than one person gripe about Berger bullet failure when putting it in major bone.

Put behind the front leg, does massive internal damage!
I have yet to have a pass through with a VLD.

 

[darreljwick]

Thats a hell of a long shot on an animal. .....case in point. Darrel Wick

 

[Brad Quarnberg]

I feel for you: it certainly is not fun losing an animal.
As mentioned already, it's hard to say without having witnessed the shot placement and seeing the blood/blood trail.
Early in my hunting career I made a good hit on a deer and couldn't find it. It was in the bottoms near a river and at the shot the whole bottom exploded with deer that had been bedded in tall sage brush. I found a tremendous amount of blood but lost the trail after about 15 yards and it got dark soon after I lost the blood trail. I went home and told my dad about the shot and after answering all of his questions, he told me to go to bed and we'd find it in the morning. After a sleepless night, we headed to the last spot of blood (I'd marked with a piece of surveyor tape). Because of the number of deer that'd been in the bottom, their tracks made it impossible to decern which belonged to the deer I shot. We started a circular search from the last spot I'd seen the deer (the deer herd had run in all kinds of direction, even almost running over me in their haste to exit the hanger zone) and where the blood ended. That deer was only about 40 yards from where I'd shot him. It appeared he was at full speed when his legs gave out and slid into a patch of tall sage that literally covered his body. My dad found him because he got on his hands and knees and found tiny specks of blood and the disturbed ground where he slid into the brush. I'd hit him just behind the shoulder and the exit was just between the neck and the inside of the off shoulder nicking the carotid.
Your hit could have missed vitals completely, and with her mixing in with the herd it could have wiped out blood sign and made tracking a much harder proposition. If you traveled a mile looking and couldn't find her, she might not have been fatally hit, or she piled up like my deer in a place that made it difficult to find.
I wish we could use dogs here like we did in Germany. Losing a game animal once shot was extremely rare. I watched a dog team track a Red Stag for over 4 miles before the hunter got a second killing shot after the dog found it bedded.

 

[jrham55]

Thats a hell of a long shot on an animal. .....case in point. Darrel Wick

I guess "long" is all relative. I shoot long range rifle competitions every weekend, so 375 yards feels close to me, but fully understand that others may consider that to be a long shot. Hitting where I was aiming was not an issue.

 

[jrham55]

Bummer you didn't find you quarry!

Please be aware, people.
Unless it's military, or some "anti terrorist" round, bullets don't EXPLODE or Blow up!

Place to put a Berger is BEHIND the front leg.

It's butt will come up & touch it's nose, then take off like a bat outta Canoe Creek (central PA reference) for 20-50 yards.

Have heard more than one person gripe about Berger bullet failure when putting it in major bone.

Put behind the front leg, does massive internal damage!
I have yet to have a pass through with a VLD.

Yep - to do over again, I would have held further back and lower. Would have missed all, or some, of the heavy bone structure.