Nature Boy
Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
- Messages
- 8,281
With a few threads running on bullet lethality I figured I’d add my thoughts to this thread.
My experience with Whitetails has been: They are tough. “Bang Flop” is rare. They generally run. How far they run is a combination of how tough the deer is and how leathal the shot placement and bullet selected is.
I’ve always been a fan of the double-lung shot. The deer usually won’t be “DRT” but they rarely go more than 50-70 yards, generally leave a good blood trail and it damages very little meat.
Last year I changed my shot placement strategy and decided to take the more classic “boiler room” approach. Last season I hit my quarry right behind the front leg at ~100 yards with a .35 caliber 180g Barnes TTSX at 2,300fps. The shot broke the shoulder and passed through. The deer managed to run 40 yards on 3 legs before falling over.
This year I used 2 different rifles on 2 separate deer with new loads.
My .30-06 load was a 180g sierra prohunter with 60g of RL22 traveling at 2,730fps. I shot a buck at 140 yards through both shoulders. He ran on his hind legs plowing the wheat field for a good 50 yards (as you can see from the mud on his chest) before falling over and expiring.
Bullet fragments took out most of the off side shoulder and I lost a good bit of meat
The second deer I took this year was with my .358 win using 48g of VV N140 pushing a 225g Sierra Gameking at 2,400fps. The shot entered right behind the front and fragments took out the off side shoulder. He also ran 40 yards before going down. Left very little in the way of a blood trail.
Here’s the entry-exit on him
Hard to believe that deer whacked like this go anywhere but straight to the ground but this is my experience. Whether double-lunged or in the boiler room, they generally run a ways before expiring
My experience with Whitetails has been: They are tough. “Bang Flop” is rare. They generally run. How far they run is a combination of how tough the deer is and how leathal the shot placement and bullet selected is.
I’ve always been a fan of the double-lung shot. The deer usually won’t be “DRT” but they rarely go more than 50-70 yards, generally leave a good blood trail and it damages very little meat.
Last year I changed my shot placement strategy and decided to take the more classic “boiler room” approach. Last season I hit my quarry right behind the front leg at ~100 yards with a .35 caliber 180g Barnes TTSX at 2,300fps. The shot broke the shoulder and passed through. The deer managed to run 40 yards on 3 legs before falling over.
This year I used 2 different rifles on 2 separate deer with new loads.
My .30-06 load was a 180g sierra prohunter with 60g of RL22 traveling at 2,730fps. I shot a buck at 140 yards through both shoulders. He ran on his hind legs plowing the wheat field for a good 50 yards (as you can see from the mud on his chest) before falling over and expiring.
Bullet fragments took out most of the off side shoulder and I lost a good bit of meat
The second deer I took this year was with my .358 win using 48g of VV N140 pushing a 225g Sierra Gameking at 2,400fps. The shot entered right behind the front and fragments took out the off side shoulder. He also ran 40 yards before going down. Left very little in the way of a blood trail.
Here’s the entry-exit on him
Hard to believe that deer whacked like this go anywhere but straight to the ground but this is my experience. Whether double-lunged or in the boiler room, they generally run a ways before expiring