I had a weird thing happen last week. I got a phone call from my farm manager. He told me that when my hired man was out riding around on the tractor (spreading the supplemental feed that we put out weekly for quail) that he came upon a buck that seemed very peculiar. He said that as he was riding past, the buck just stood there within 15 feet of the tractor, even allowing the seed to be thrown on him by the spreader as it went past. My manager later went over to this spot and saw the buck standing in one of my clover patches. It would not run away as it was neared. Clearly, something was wrong with it.
That afternoon I went to my farm to see what was going on. They told me where I would likely find it. Sure enough, just as they said, there was the buck in the clover patch. It stood up as I approached but did not walk or run away. I could then tell that its front right shoulder was hurt, but knowing that a deer can easily run away with one hurt leg, I knew that something else was wrong. I also knew that this deer would soon be easy prey for area coyotes. I shot the deer in the neck and it died instantly. After checking the deer closely, I then saw what the real problem was. The deer had been shot by someone shooting straight down on it. The bullet's entrance hole was just off of the spine. The exit point was just off of the deer's sternum. But what caught my attention was the fact that even with the bullet going straight through the deer's chest cavity, the exit wound was no bigger than the entrance. The bullet had not mushroomed at all, had apparently not hit anything vital, and the deer had been alive in that condition for quite a while (the wounds did not appear to have happened in recent days).
I took the deer to the processor and it was skinned. We then saw that the deer was very weak and sick. Muscle mass had been lost and other deteriorating conditions were visible once you looked for them. We decided the deer was not fit for consumption.
I don't know who shot the deer and or on whose property. I just think it wandered on to mine sometime later. But what was apparent to me was that whoever shot it hit it very well--just with a bullet that was not designed for a whitetail. The deer was "pierced" by the bullet without doing the tissue damage a quality bullet should do. Anyway, for the sake of a clean kill, we should make sure that the bullets we choose are right for the game we pursue.

I've seen Barnes bullets act that way. Entrance hole same as the exit. In my opinion that solid constuction doesn't expand as well as a lead filled bullet. It may have been shot with a match king also, I have heard they are unpredictable and sometimes expand, sometimes don't. I've never shot anything with one though. That's odd that it didn't even attempt to run even if severly weakened. It obviously had the strength to stand, so that makes it even more peculiar.

Sounds more like an arrow wound than that of a bullet. Straight down would mean pretty close range for a gun and a pretty severe wound from speed alone. Could have been mechanicals or a case where the broadhead fell off the arrow (came unscrewed). I had a small buck pass me once while squirrel hunting, he was traveling pretty slow stopping often to lick a small wound on his chest. Later that same day at the parking spot I overhead some archery folks talking about their buddy and the strange case where he shot and lost the broadhead but still hit the deer with the arrow.

As badly as I hate to admit it, that happened to me once. I shot a buck with a muzzleloader between the shoulder blades. The buck went down immediately and could not move his back legs. I waited several minutes, got out of the stand (35 feet high) and walked over to the buck. I kicked him in the rump. He could move his head but that is all he moved. The entry hole was squarely between the shoulder blades. I know...I should have shot him again, but I could not bring myself to shoot this beautiful buck at point blank range with a .50 cal muzzleloader. I went to get my truck because I had a Ruger single six .22 in the tool box. I keep it there because I work on the farm and have the occasional need for one.

Anyway, I got my dad and we drove the truck to the spot where the buck was! I thought that he surely couldn't go far and that he must be dragging himself by the front legs so the trail would be easy to follow. Not so. I could find no trail. I knew that there was no exit wound and the entry was directly atop of the buck'x back so blood was slow to get to the ground. My dad, who had left his rifle in the truck, jumped the buck about fifteen minutes after we started looking for him. He was less than 100 yards from the spot where he'd originally went down. The buck jumped up when dad hollered for me and we never saw him or a sign of him again. The buck was moving pretty good when I last saw him.

There are several lessons to learn from my mistake. Otherwise, the humiliation would not allow me to publically post it. However, I hope that someone learns to NEVER assume that an animal is down until your gun barrel touches the eye and it does not blink. NEVER leave a downed animal before making sure that it is dead. NEVER shoot straight down trying to hit the spine. NEVER yell when you find a wounded animal...he'll likely spook. I'm sure that someone could add more. I'm sure that someone will attempt to make me look like an idiot. You can't hurt me any more than I hurt myself. I was miserable for weeks. I enlisted the help of everyone I know in looking for that buck. We never found a trace. I can only hope that someone saw him as the original poster and shot my buck to put him out of his misery.

I had what I thought was peculiar bullet performace on two deer this year. I was shooting federals factory loads: 300 wsm 165 grain partitions.

Like I said I killed two witht that load. The first was a perfect 150 yd broadside shot on a doe. I ten ringed her. Bullet entered and exited right behind the shoulders. She dropped dead in her tracks. There was a tiny little entrance wound (to be expected) and an almost identical exit wound. Before I got her dressed out I thought the bullet didn't expand at all but once I opened her up I found her vitals reduced to a chuncky red soup. Completely detroyed. I thought this was odd that her inards looked like the bullet rapidly expanded and the exit would looked like it was made by an ice pick. Hardly a bit of the meat was blood shot.

I had similar results on a small button head I mistook for another doe. I jumped him up at about seventy yards. He was facing straight away from me heading up hill. He stopped long enough for me to kneel and take a good rest so I squeezed off a shot (one i now regret taking) aiming for the back of the neck. I shot a little low and left and the bullet entered mid back, parralled the spined and exited out the chest between the front legs. He ran ten yards and dropped dead. Ended up wrecking a lot of good meat. Anyway again in this case the exit wound was as big as my pinkie finger. And again the vital organs were completely soup.

My only explanation was that the front portion of the bullet completely ruptered and came apart before exiting on the far side leaving nothing but the 30 caliber shank of the bullet to make an exit wound.There were no reamains of the bullet in the deer to be found though. Either that or the bullet did all that damage to the inards without expanding.

The whole thing has me wondering if the partition is way to tough a bullet for whitetail. I always thought partitions were pretty soft up front and expanded easily while relying on the rear "partition" to ensure full penetration. Any thoughts.

Adrock1

Yout got it right when you said "...the front portion of the bullet completely ruptered and came apart before exiting on the far side leaving nothing but the 30 caliber shank of the bullet to make an exit wound".
Front part opens quickly to cause maximum trauma, while the rear portion carries on for maximum penatration.

Adam,
I have been of the opinion for about the last 10 years that Nosler Partitions are indeed too tough for whitetails. I came to this conclusion after using Noslers on a week long elk hunt in Colorado in late September. I came back to Georgia and used the same load for that fall's gun season since my gun was sighted in for the elk hunt bullets. Anyway, during that deer season twice I had a very difficult time finding deer that I had shot with another deer leaving a blood trail that eventually ran out leaving the buck unfound. My conclusions were that the Noslers would not mushroom quickly enough on whitetails and that basically the deer were getting pierced, similar to the buck that I initially mentioned in this thread. I subsequently switched to softer bullets and have not lost a deer that I have shot since--and I usually shoot 5-8 each year.

Spring,

What bullets do you find suitable for deer? Calibers?

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Originally posted by Adam Koller:
I was shooting federals factory loads: 300 wsm 165 grain partitions.

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I saw that on a cow elk hit with .270 150 grain Nosler Partitions. I found the shank all by its lonesome up against the far rib cage wall.

quote:

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Adam,
I have been of the opinion for about the last 10 years that Nosler Partitions are indeed too tough for whitetails. I came to this conclusion after using Noslers on a week long elk hunt in Colorado in late September. I came back to Georgia and used the same load for that fall's gun season since my gun was sighted in for the elk hunt bullets. Anyway, during that deer season twice I had a very difficult time finding deer that I had shot with another deer leaving a blood trail that eventually ran out leaving the buck unfound. My conclusions were that the Noslers would not mushroom quickly enough on whitetails and that basically the deer were getting pierced, similar to the buck that I initially mentioned in this thread. I subsequently switched to softer bullets and have not lost a deer that I have shot since--and I usually shoot 5-8 each year.

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I have to disagree with noslers beign to tough for whitetails or for any deer for that matter I have a close family friends who has used the .308 165 partition spitzer in a .308 Win carbine for several years and he has had good bullet performance at over 400 yards (on blacktails which run 125-200 dressed so not even huge deer) and complete penetration still on elk at closer ranges. One rifle, one load and he puts meat on the table if he wants the animal. By the way he only gets about 2,550 fps at the muzzle, I guess that says somethign about how soft the nose is on a partition when it still expands at 400+ yds.

FOUND A DEER ACTING STRANGE LAST WEEK--On another thread the rut date was stated as being Nov 17th I think it was in that area. How did he know that? I bet you could look on any deer's calendar--buck or doe and that date would have a big X. Now I ask you if "The Day"only came once a year wouldn't you act strange? It's a marvel to me they keep any sanity. If I were a deer,I'd start a protest--go on strike or something.

Hello Carpetman. Good to see you alive & Well. Fellas, It looks to me like this "Strange Acting Buck" could have been shot with some sort of full metal jacket round from a tree stand, Maybe. Godsdog

Old Sierra Spitzer Boattails and old model Hornady Spire Points do anything you need to do to a deer without spending megabucks on Premium bullets!!! SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT!!! Don't shoot a bull in the ass with a BB-gun and expect him to fall on the spot!!! And as far as the Nosler BT's go, with the exception of the 100 grainers in .260 Remington that my daughter hes killed 3 good bucks in 3 years, and has yet to see a deer take a step after the trigger pull, I won't use them!!! I've seen and experienced several "less than desirable" bullet expansion characteristics using them!!! From 6mm diameter to .308 diameter!!! GHD

I guess the bullet wound does explain that poor fellow's behavior. However, if I came across ANY wild animal acting like that, the first thing I'd suspect would be rabies! Occasionally even a deer becomers infected......

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Originally posted by Born to Hunt:
Spring,

What bullets do you find suitable for deer? Calibers?

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Sorry for just getting back with you, but I was truly amazed this year with the performance of my 130 grain Sierra GameKings. Superb accuracy and a bullet that mushroomed perfectly on the 10 deer I shot this season. I did recover one bullet from a 10-pointer that I shot while it was quartering away. Of those 10 deer, the longest that any happened to run after the shot was 50 yards, with several dropping in their tracks. The ones that ran did so with ideal damage from the bullets. I would say that most of the deer had exit wounds that were somewhere near 2".

I may stir a nest here, but I'm finding Sierras to shoot better in dang near everything I've tried them in. I just started loading last July, so I haven't tried everything, but I have tried a lot of Hornady, nosler, and Barnes bullets. The sierras shoot better in three of my rifles than anything else I've tried. The fun of it all however, is to keep experimenting.

Sierra is making a huge impression on this novice loader.