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Bullet choices for deer.


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.300 Weatherby Magnums using 180 grain Barnes TSX they are beautiful! And honestly I'd rather find obliteration inside the chest cavity and full bullet energy expelled inside the target and find the slug as I'm skinning the animal just inside the the off side under the skin. Either that or small hole in, massive trauma inside then a small hole out. Which is exactly what the Barnes TSX was designed for. Utilizing all it's energy inside the target

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I've tried a lot of the "premium" ammo over the years, but I've come full circle and now in the last 10 seasons or so have gone back to the cheap $17.99 per box Federal Power-Shok for my favorite deer rifle.  The accuracy I get with them is NO worse than what I can detect with the "premium" stuff and the deer are just as dead when I whiz a bullet thru them.   Maybe if I was going on a once in a lifetime hunt somewhere I'd shoot the more expensive stuff, but for hunting NYS woods I don't see any difference in lethality.

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16 hours ago, TreeGuy said:

I will gladly "waste" a 1lb or 2 of meat and immobilize a deer with a shoulder shot. All day. Everyday.

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26 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

i cut up my own deer and under no circumstances do i ever put it square on the shoulder. i did it as a kid when i first started hunting because i thought it was cool to have it drop and take the legs right out from under it. the results are tragic though. same as any shot aft of the diaphragm.

you really think it's just a lb or two? seems like more when i've done it. seems like even with rinsing off all the hemorrhaging and clotted blood to save a lot, you're still cutting out a lot. bone fragments and the mess is probably more of a pain than losing the meat. nothing to the shoulder blade but down toward the base of it is some stout bone. i'm not saying anything is wrong. if it was a really big buck i'd even intentionally aim for the shoulders. still i really try to avoid it. most deer i shoot are doe though for meat and often at least half are prior to gun season so i suppose i'm holding out a bit on shot placement.

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I've lost all or most of the front shoulders when I've put rifle bullets through them. I too process my own deer and it sucks picking through bone and hair. Very few deer I've killed with a rifle have gone more than 40yds with lung shots. I'm really not seeing all of the gain by dropping them instantly other than instant satisfaction?

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37 minutes ago, The Jerkman said:

.300 Weatherby Magnums using 180 grain Barnes TSX they are beautiful! And honestly I'd rather find obliteration inside the chest cavity and full bullet energy expelled inside the target and find the slug as I'm skinning the animal just inside the the off side under the skin. Either that or small hole in, massive trauma inside then a small hole out. Which is exactly what the Barnes TSX was designed for. Utilizing all it's energy inside the target

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with the weight retention of copper i'd think with that combo you'd never find the bullet?? i don't have experience with either but with lead with a lot less ass and speed behind it. always had pass throughs. must be a tough critter you're shooting.

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with the weight retention of copper i'd think with that combo you'd never find the bullet?? i don't have experience with either but with lead with a lot less ass and speed behind it. always had pass throughs. must be a tough critter you're shooting.
It was a mule deer at 324 yards. The antelope at 505 yards was small in explosive damage internally (organs) then another small hole out. That's the recovered bullet from my mulie. Wound up dropping on the floor when we were skinning him. Full weight retention. Love Barnes TSX!693122828d913d05b707ce0253f45379.jpg

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2 minutes ago, The Jerkman said:

It was a mule deer at 324 yards. The antelope at 505 yards was small in explosive damage internally (organs) then another small hole out. That's the recovered bullet from my mulie. Wound up dropping on the floor when we were skinning him. Full weight retention. Love Barnes TSX!693122828d913d05b707ce0253f45379.jpg

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Cool all out  of likes 

 

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My favorite handgun bullet the old discontinued Speer 44  cal 225 gr HP, recovered this one from a Boar I killed under the hide on the off side, the only one I ever recovered, they go through the Deer I have killed.
Al
P1010046.thumb.JPG.205c851fed7e3edd9b23c7ff3425bc21.JPG
That's a nice looking shroom!

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19 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Yowza that's some fine shooting........

Not really, The range was only 50 yards, I had a very good rest, a 3-9x scope (on 3), the buck was perfectly still, and my Ruger m77 30/06 has always held a 3/4" or less group at 100 yards using the Federal Classic 150 grain factory-cartridge that I used.   The buck's alignment was fortunate.   Even the tenderloins were not bruised, there was no entry hole, and the guts came out as clean as a whistle.  I was surprised that the butt-out II worked out perfectly on this one, also serving as a "bore gauge" to verify the centered placement of the shot  on the intended "point of aim".    

1126161541.jpg.5ea1e5bbbcf4c9aa62c239dc288dbeee.jpg

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In the ass and out the neck, with no damage to the guts. Now THAT is amazing.

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Maybe it rode through high? My xbow buck this year I shot through the chest frontal and came out back hip. Stomach/Guts were fully In tact


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2 hours ago, TreeGuy said:

In the ass and out the neck, with no damage to the guts. Now THAT is amazing.

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Where did the bullet go after it literally entered the colon/ large intestines on its way out the neck?   Not a doctor but this is very confusing based on my knowledge of anatomy.  

Edited by moog5050
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46 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Where did the bullet go after it literally entered the colon/ large intestines on its way out the neck?   Not a doctor but this is very confusing based on my knowledge of anatomy.  

The secret was to get the pointed bullet inside the deer, without having to penetrate the hide.  That would have caused some "mushroom" type expansion.  A pointed bullet makes a pin-hole thru soft tissue.   The first hard material the bullet struck, was the spine in the middle of the neck.  That is why there was no noticeable tissue damage, until it reached that point.   The exit hole thru the hide, in the front of the neck, was about 3/4" diameter.

I will admit that I was expecting a messy gutting job.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was one of the cleanest ones that I ever did.  The meat loss, due to wound damage, was also close to the least that I have seen on a deer killed with a gun.  

I would like to find that bullet.  It probably would not be too difficult with a metal detector.   I will never forget the location of the best shot that I ever made.   Others have taken the Texas heart shot, but none that I know of has pulled it off as successfully.           

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13 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

The secret was to get the pointed bullet inside the deer, without having to penetrate the hide.  That would have caused some "mushroom" type expansion.  A pointed bullet makes a pin-hole thru soft tissue.   The first hard material the bullet struck, was the spine in the middle of the neck.  That is why there was no noticeable tissue damage, until it reached that point.   The exit hole thru the hide, in the front of the neck, was about 3/4" diameter.

I will admit that I was expecting a messy gutting job.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was one of the cleanest ones that I ever did.  The meat loss, due to wound damage, was also close to the least that I have seen on a deer killed with a gun.  

I would like to find that bullet.  It probably would not be too difficult with a metal detector.   I will never forget the location of the best shot that I ever made.   Others have taken the Texas heart shot, but none that I know of has pulled it off as successfully.           

Almost a Christmas Miracle......

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