question of the day

[Tony Logan]

How far did he run, shot with 58 roundball at 50 yds, 85 FFF? Was there a blood trail?

I have taken at least 100 wt deer with modern equipment including arrows, this is only the 14th I have shot with a roundball. I see all the answers on this forum about shot placement with 40 calibers, small powder loads and so on, I also read that many have never had a deer run out of their sight before piling up. Must be nice,I have tracked a lot of deer day and night.
Anyway the answer to the first question is 150 yds. The answer to the second question is no blood with the exception of a smear of dark blood on a leaf about 20 feet from where it was shot, there was cut hair and the balls impact in the ground behind where the deer was standing. I shot this deer on Sunday morning. I had a good rest and was certain it did not go far. I tried the high shoulder shot i have read about on here. I missed. The first photo is entry the next is exit. I really based that assumption on the answers i read on here. Well I was wrong I took the time to walk about 50 yards past my search area yesterday. I found it 2 days to late. I was sick, thats buzzard puke on it. I cant believe I doubted my shot, I assumed it was a graze maybe lower chest. The blood did not resemble red lung blood. I wont give up so soon next time, lesson learned. Every shot and animal is different. I will be going for lungs or heart next time.Kinda sick to my stomach, at least it didn't suffer, it was dead in minutes or less. I just hope someone reads this and doesnt give up on finding their deer if it runs out of sight hit with a patched round ball.

 

[Roguedog]

T.O.,
I hate when things like this happen. I'm with you, I would assume a good shot with a .58 would equate to a large blood trail. Without finding blood, I would doubt my shot. One thing I've learned is that things don't always go according to plan, at least with me they don't. Deer are amazing creatures and can travel incredible distances with major wounds.

Were you able to determine if the ball hit any of the vitals? The shot looks a little forward but dang, it would seem to me like that shot should have put the deer down quicker.

Anyway, sorry you couldn't find it sooner. Things like that bother me as well. I shot a deer last year and felt like I made a good shot but she still ran out of sight. It was near dark and as I started following her, I was finding bits of stomach matter mixed with dark red blood. My initial assessment was stomach hit and maybe part of the liver. My dilemma was whether to keep following her and risk pushing her further and losing the blood trail or let her sit down and die and get her the next morning. Long story short, I found her the next morning. She was lying just out of sight at the top of the ridge but the coyotes had done got to her and I couldn't use any of the meat. I second guessed my decision to continue following her. I guess as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I look forward to hearing comments from others.

Jeff

 

[Roguedog]

One more thing, I shot a small doe two years ago with my .58 cal. I hit her in the shoulder, took out part of the heart, got the lungs and broke the off shoulder. She still made it over 100 yards and while cleaning her and assessing the damage, I would not have believed she could have made it 10 yards, much less a hundred. The good thing was that I had a major blood trail to follow. Just backs up the theory that deer can be amazingly tough creatures.

Jeff

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That's good advice. How long did you wait before starting your track?

I've only had three that scampered off...none were shoulder shot....all were bucks. Out of those, only one didn't leave any blood trail, and actually left nothing to show he was hit. I found out later, he was hit in both lungs, but he was moving away from an area where folks were fox hunting, so may have been excited, and had some adrenalin and a lungful of air when I hit him in both lungs. He paused, looked back over his shoulder, and I shot...he went 100 yards and lay down in a grass field with the grass only as tall as the top of my hi-low boots... took me two hours, but I found that even a large buck can lay down behind a clump of grass and be very hard to see. Plus, I made some assumptions when starting to "track" him...after I dropped my assumptions I found him pretty quick.

LD

 

[Patocazador]

I'm quite surprised that he ran off but not surprised that there was no blood trail.
A high hit not in the lungs usually doesn't produce much blood.
The position of the entrance/exit would make me assume he would have been knocked down .. at least initially. A low speed roundball doesn't provide much shock effect but it does provide some.

Even with modern hi-velocity bullets, lung shot deer go about 80 yards in my experience. I would expect that shot to knock the deer down and if he got up, for him to go 60-120 yards before expiring.

 

[longcruise]

Yeah, the shot is too high and too far forward. Had it been just a bit higher it would have created enough disturbance to the central nervous system to put it down fairly quickly. There is a small area below the spine and above the lungs that a projectile (arrow or ball) can pass through and do very little damage.

 

[Joshsimonswvu]

I posted a reply of a similar situation on the fellows post about a 4x4 buck. Anyways, I found the doe. Same deal no blood, hit good but ran further than expected. My dad gave me a comment to ease my conscience before finding her. He said, " they get run over on the road everyday and wasted at least you looked for her." Helped a little. Dads killed many many deer, and as such has shared this experience. Doesn't make it better but all those who hunt have experienced it. Stay the course buddy.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Stuff like that happens. Unfortunate. You did your best and have no reason to feel guilty. To me, it looks like a solid killer shot. Not the placement I would choose but hard to believe she ran off hit like that. Was your lead soft?

 

[Tony Logan]

I waited an hour to an hour at least maybe longer. It was so still, I was confused when I didnt hear it fall or kick in the leaves. The lead was kinda hard I have been using lately, Its hard to start in my barrel for sure. The exit hole looks a lot like the entry. I will be more careful next time on shot placement and tracking.

 

[Homesteader]

Hunting is definitely more art than science. We've all had these experiences. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Grumpa]

I'm with your Dad. We kill more deer on the highways here in PA than most states kill in hunting season. After seeing the first few hundred on the berm, your perspective kind of changes.

Friend of mine lungshot a deer with a .300 Magnum. (Not germane to the Forum...but the effect that follows is germane to the discussion.) When he got to where it had been standing, the leaves all around were painted red.
The bullet had literally sucked the lungs right out of the deer. It still ran 40 yards.

Try to make your shot right, and do the best you can in following up on it. But don't lose much sleep over it; Nature is hard. The ones that get away usually end up feeding other forest critters.
They have to eat, too.

Some deer are hit so bad we think they have to die, But sometimes they don't see things that way.
That's another story, for later.

Grumpa

 

[daniel collums]

this is one of the biggest reason i wanted folks to show damage on the inside of a deers chest cavity so you can see what the prb does. this was a kill shot it just took a minute for the effect of the terminal damage to work and the deer made it that far. if you would have cut this deer open you would have seen that it had major damage just not enough to drop it on sight. this shot is in the area where the wind pipe leads to the lungs and probably damaged it to where the lungs failed. i had to track one in open hardwoods one time, i knew i hit it cause there was enough hair to stuff a pillow but there was no blood that i saw, the only way i could track it was by his tracks, i had seen the direction he went and just kept following, about two ridges over i found a couple specks of blood and it was pink with bubbles, seen where it turned and went up hill in to some scrub brush that i had to crawl through. another 30 yards and all of a sudden there was blood everywhere and there he was. hit him far back in the lungs high, where he was laying it looked like all the blood in him had came out. the whole tracking job went about 800 yards and took about 45 min, had he went right into the scrub only a dog could have found it, i shot it with a .50 cal maxi ball.

 

[sidelock]

I know this is not a BP answer- BUT- many years ago I shot a doe at about 75 yds. with a 30.06 right through the lungs. The blood pool where she stood was massive. BUT she ran off like a streak. I followed the blood trail which was very easy for half a mile and found her upside down with feet in the air very dead. They don't all die in their tracks.

 

[Britsmoothy]

This happens to most of us at some point, it can happen with any type of gun or arrow.
Personly I would not shoot that high intentionally. Poop happens!

B.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

We have a lot of variables, for example, one of the other bucks that I mentioned that scampered off from me was hit at 40 yards with a broadside shot... but the "bang" sounded odd... when I found him the bullet had not exited the far side, but normally that shot and at that range the bullet would have gone right through him...as it has in many deer since, and at longer distances. So... some moisture in the barrel or damp powder when loading.

Get a hand cast ball with a void, and don't catch a problem from visual inspection... you may get enough wobble to throw your shot out of the vital area of the deer.

Then there's also: flinching..., the deer suddenly moves due to some other factor..., a bit of damp in the priming powder gives you slow ignition..., etc etc :idunno:

I just wonder why all three of the deer I had to go looking for were bucks...not does.

:hmm:

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

The exit hole looks a lot like the entry.

That's why I asked about the hardness.
Don't feel guilty over the shot placement. It happens.

 

[Vaino]

I agree that the area you mentioned isn't the best for a quick kill.

Later in the afternoon of the 2nd day, I went to a "spot" that had in the past provided some shooting. Was there perhaps 2 hrs and saw a fork buck running in my direction, so looked ahead and found a pretty open spot and waited. As he neared the opening, I raised the rifle and shot when he came into my view. He ran off and I waited a few minutes and proceeded in the direction he went. After 100 yds or so and much to my surprise, I saw the dead fork. Went over to take a look and a hunter popped up from behind a stump and walked away....either he was sleeping, hard of hearing or the deer didn't make any noise when it went down only a few yards from him.

Anyways, the shot was just as you described and later on when butchering the deer , I thought that it was a poor shot placement...nothing there was vital. Lucky to have gotten the deer.....Fred

 

[jrmflintlock]

I tried the high shoulder shot i have read about on here.

Not sure what you mean? High shoulder is No mans land, that spot between the lungs and the spine, also a high shot has to fill up a lot of cavity with blood before any starts spilling out.

Center mass, behind the shoulder!

Loosing a critter is always a bummer. Better luck next time!

 

[Spikebuck]

Sorry to hear, but glad you posted, with pictures, so we all keep learning.

This is the main reason I aim for center of lungs. I think it provides the most margin for error, generally provides substantial blood trail, most times they go down in sight or not very far away.

If someone can consistently hit that small spot that puts them down right there that's good. But, it's not for me. Besides, I kind of like following a trail for a short while. :v

It's probably the long-time bowhunter in me that makes me a stubborn supporter of just sticking to lung shots, but I figure if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Roguedog]

Mike,
Add me to the center mass of lungs group. This has always been my shot of choice. I also am a long time bowhunter. Take out the lungs and the deer is not going far. As Mike indicated, it also provides a fairly large target area and I have generally enjoyed solid blood trails, assuming I needed to even trail one.

Jeff