Neck Shot Disappointment

[SPK512]

Well that and about 150 dead deer. Do people elk hunt with 223's asking for a friend.

Thanks for making me laugh!
Happy Thanksgiving folks!

 

[memtb]

Well that and about 150 dead deer. Do people elk hunt with 223's asking for a friend.

Not smart people! Answering for a friend! memtb

 

[Rich Coyle]

cajun,

I killed a couple deer with a .223. Never-the-less I was posting about those who think a .223 matches a .308.

I know one guy who used ignorance and used a .223 on an elk. After several hits the elk left only to be recovered by coyotes and buzzards.

 

[hereinaz]

cajun,

I killed a couple deer with a .223. Never-the-less I was posting about those who think a .223 matches a .308.

I know one guy who used ignorance and used a .223 on an elk. After several hits the elk left only to be recovered by coyotes and buzzards.

I can say the same thing about a guy shooting a 300 RUM that wounded an elk. There are lots of poorly shot animals with all sorts of bullets and calibers.

Tell all the anecdotes you want, anyone who wants to see the evidence, it is out there. I even showed scientific evidence from multiple sources that "temporary cavitation" isn't really a destructive force.

Not every bullet out there is the same. Solids out of a .223 are not going to be a good choice, because they acts very differently. A .223 soft point hunting bullet will act differently too. Neither break apart into pieces to shred tissue quite like a tipped match type bullet. Both are designed to "mushroom" and retain weight. Therefore, they can only destroy limited amount of soft tissue unless they hit a bone and fragments tear tissue.

I have qualified all my posts specifically about one type of bullet at adequate velocity placed through the ribs and lungs.

If you want to shoot Texas heart shots or you believe in "breaking down the shoulders" then use a copper solid or a bullet that has "weight retention and beautiful mushroom".

 

[D2wing]

Had a ruttin buck run all of 200 yd on a through-the-brisket heart shot from a 30/06 years back... Nothin is set in stone with wild critters. Sometimes they rewrite the rules.

I doubt you actually hit the heart. The farthest I have seen them run is about 40 yards. Usually much closer on a brisket shot if you hit the heart. You are right that strange things happen though. My son shot a deer in the brisket with a 7 MM and it ran that far. The bullet went from stem to stern.

 

[Rich Coyle]

I saw a deer with the heart blown clear out the other side by a .308 Norma Magnum. The deer ran at least 300 yards.

 

[QuietTexan]

Yeah, it's funny how you can physically remove meaningful amounts of body mass/entire organs from an animal yet they can still run, and when they run around here somehow always end up wedged into a cactus.

 

[cajun]

Yeah, it's funny how you can physically remove meaningful amounts of body mass/entire organs from an animal yet they can still run, and when they run around here somehow always end up wedged into a cactus.

Or down a 30' ravine lol.

 

[memtb]

Or down a 30' ravine lol.

I'd be ecstatic if a shot/wounded big game animal only went 30' into a ravine. A few hundred feet near vertical down certainly gets my attention! memtb

 

[SPK512]

Yeah, it's funny how you can physically remove meaningful amounts of body mass/entire organs from an animal yet they can still run, and when they run around here somehow always end up wedged into a cactus.

This is called hyper oxygenated blood. Some folks never experience it. When shooting deer at 500 yards plus, you never expect it. Inside of 200 yards, yup, they smell you and anything else that may be dangerous... they start pumping more than they need, just in case.

Anyone that has shot multiple Nilgai(best I have seen) in the heart can tell you that sometimes, not always, but sometimes animals can run a long way without a heart or lungs....

 

[Rich Coyle]

I'd be ecstatic if a shot/wounded big game animal only went 30' into a ravine. A few hundred feet near vertical down certainly gets my attention! memtb

I know that experience. I had one go over a bank and go down about 400'. Took me 4 hours to get that booger out of there. I was 69 years old At that time.

 

[snox801]

This last Monday, I was whitetail hunting in the Central Texas Hill Country, out of a blind of course. About 30 minutes before it got too dark to shoot a huge Axis Buck wanders into the feeder, I ranged him at 125 yards, my 6.5 Grendel shoots a .4 group at that range with the 120 Gr Nosler. I place the crosshairs about an inch behind his skull connection with the spine and squeeze one off, I see the bullet impact, it looked to be a perfect shot hair flew off the other side, he went nose down in the dirt, buckled front legs, bull dozed with his back legs for about 10 yards, he then tumbled into a little ravine out of site. I know he is dead, just out of site, never hear anything like legs kicking or any movement, I wait about 10 minutes and walk to the ravine. To my surprise, there is no Axis in the ravine, as a matter of fact there was not a dead Axis anywhere to be found and not a drop of blood at the impact point or in the ravine. I looked that evening until it was too dark to see, I got friends to go out with me the following morning, we looked for 3 hours and never found a sign of the Axis.
I have shot a bunch of Whitetail deer, hogs, Black Buck and Axis with that little cartridge and not once has anything even taken a step, all DRT. I am just sick that I wounded it and couldn't be found, I am sure that he eventually died. All I can think of that could have happened is the impact was just a little low and impacted meat only. I have chosen that very impact spot many times in the past and it has always resulted in a quick end to everything until this time.
I guess this incident just shows the need to keep shooting as long as they are moving, to say the least, probably the most disappointed I have been in a hunting situation in a very long time.

I had the exact same thing while shooting a large whitetail doe here in mich for culling.
123gr hornady.
Bang flop kicked a few times. Went out to collect it gone. Follow tracks in snow for 3-400 yards no more blood just gone.
I stopped using 120gr class Bullets for that reason. Great bc for paper and steel but I believe they are juts to slow to get a lot of damage.
Never had it happen since going dropping to 100gr

 

[cajun]

I'd be ecstatic if a shot/wounded big game animal only went 30' into a ravine. A few hundred feet near vertical down certainly gets my attention! memtb

Haha for a flatlander thats a lot lol.

 

[memtb]

Haha for a flatlander thats a lot lol.

I was born and raised near where you're living. The Tunica Hills seemed like mountains.…..not so much after mov'n to Wyoming.

My first moose expired on a hill so steep that I had to tie him off as not to go to the bottom. We (friend and I) had to dig out footholds so we could gut and bone out the bull! An experience not soon forgotten!

If you look closely you can see the yellow rope tying him off!

Coincidentally….I'm still remotely on topic. I tried to kill and failed miserably to take this moose with my handgun…..I hit it in the neck! Not even close to where I wanted to place the bullet! memtb