Bullets vs Tracking Game

[TXTrained]

I'd like to hear real experiences and statistics on the bullets you use to hunt whitetail, mule deer and elk.And how many times have you actually h ad to track the animal past 40 yards.
People complain/ or endorse a certain bullet.
So in all your hunting trips hiw many have you had to track.
I never had to track any pasture or 40 yards including the one elk I shot and killing deer on our ranch or woods next to.our ranch or on a lease in Brackettville TX for about 50 years until we lost it.

 

[xsn10s]

My 125 lb meat sow. Speer MagTip 180 gr 30-06 handloads about 2750 fps. Hit it 50 yards broadside. It ran at least 200 yards. The bullet mushed the heart and lungs bad, quite a bit was missing. The guide said he saw a huge blood cloud which we confirmed because we had to double back to where it got hit. Wasn't a bullet failure or badly placed shot, more forward would have been better. The sow just didn't want to quit.

 

[KoolBreeze]

I started shoulder shooting whitetails 6 or 8 years back and have not tracked a single one since. Up until this year, all of them were shot with 280 Rem 150gr partitions. I'm not sure how many, as I stopped counting many years ago, but quiet a few. This year I bought a 280 AI and have killed 2 with a 155gr terminal ascent and another with a 160gr accubond. You take their running gear out from under them and they aren't going anywhere, at least that's been my experience. Yes, I loose a little shoulder meat but that's fine as I only use it for hamburger anyway.

 

[Reelamin]

I do not intentionally shoot any animals in the shoulder on purpose if I have another option. I hate the destroyed meat and it is a intentional waste of animal for me. Based on your 40 yard request I have tracked probably 30-40 elk past 40 yards and the longest one was three miles direct line via gps from where it was shot the first time. Deer probably 150-200 and the farthest I tracked and found/killed it maybe a mile. Bullets used.... not every one.... and dang near every one and or type from 224 to .308 caliber.
Edit....I have tracked many that were not recovered both Elk and Deer....even brought out dogs to help try to find them with no luck.

 

[xsn10s]

I used to do shoulder shots. The bucks still ran after I hit them in the shoulder with my 30-06. I retrieved them but am not going to use shoulder shot anymore.

 

[SteelBanger]

This year was my first hunting with firearms, I only got one deer and it was a 350 Legend, shooting a 125gr Hammer at 2550fps. Shot was very slight quartering towards me, at about 50y. Hit both lungs and caught some liver, he ran about 20y before he realized he was dead. Excellent bullet performance and clean pass through with a chunk of liver hanging out of him as he ran off.

 

[WildRose]

I'd like to hear real experiences and statistics on the bullets you use to hunt whitetail, mule deer and elk.And how many times have you actually h ad to track the animal past 40 yards.
People complain/ or endorse a certain bullet.
So in all your hunting trips hiw many have you had to track.
I never had to track any pasture or 40 yards including the one elk I shot and killing deer on our ranch or woods next to.our ranch or on a lease in Brackettville TX for about 50 years until we lost it.

Very few of my own fortunately, some hogs up to a half mile, one deer hit with a TSX through the lungs went over a mile.

I had to track more than a hundred animals though when guiding for others and for my neighbors, a good many of which were similar lung shots with the TSX.

After the few bad experiences I had of my own I started punching the shoulders and spine at their juncture. I had one shot on a buck at about 600yds that went just an inch low cutting the power so to speak but leaving him mobile on the back end that got into the CRP and scooted 120 yards or so.

Proper placement and understanding what your bullet is designed for will eliminate most tracking jobs on all but the very hardiest and hardest to kill game.

I've been fortunate learning good tracking skills as a kid and having had lots of opportunities. On the few occasions I lost a tract my German Shorthairs could always pick it back up and never lost an animal even if we didn't get called in for a track for 1-3 days after the shot.

 

[WildRose]

My 125 lb meat sow. Speer MagTip 180 gr 30-06 handloads about 2750 fps. Hit it 50 yards broadside. It ran at least 200 yards. The bullet mushed the heart and lungs bad, quite a bit was missing. The guide said he saw a huge blood cloud which we confirmed because we had to double back to where it got hit. Wasn't a bullet failure or badly placed shot, more forward would have been better. The sow just didn't want to quit.

Hogs are like that. I kiled a very large boar that ran more than a quarter mile down through one creek, another hundred yards later died in the bottom of a second creek.

When we opened him up I'd hit him just beind the shoulder through both lungs and everything in his chest had turned to lumpy jello.

He was dead the moment the bullet impacted but refused to lay down.

 

[BillLarson]

Tracking distance is determined by shot placement....

 

[WildRose]

I used to do shoulder shots. The bucks still ran after I hit them in the shoulder with my 30-06. I retrieved them but am not going to use shoulder shot anymore.

Somehow you managed then to miss the humerus on each side and the spine.

If all you hit are the shoulder blades they will most certainly run at least some distance until their lungs fill with blood.

 

[hicountry1]

I like blood trails Stevie Wonder can follow.

Usually don't last long....

 

[xsn10s]

Somehow you managed then to miss the humerus on each side and the spine.

If all you hit are the shoulder blades they will most certainly run at least some distance until their lungs fill with blood.

They ran on three legs. I wasn't displeased with the action. I'm just going to get in the habit of crease shots. Save some more meat and decrease the chance of deflection.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Most impressive I experienced was with Nosler Partition 7mm 175 grainer. It was fired from a 7-.300 Wea @3,150 feet per second. Mule Deer was about 110 yards away. The bullet hit center of chest making an entrance wound about 3" diameter.

The big buck took off like nothing happened. Fortunately I was in the sage and able to watch it running away. It easily covered 300 yards before piling up.

It was the second largest body deer I shot.

 

[Tiny Tim]

I've tracked plenty over 50 yards, longest being about a half mile. While it's TRUE that if you take out both shoulders they wont go far, it's not always bad shot placement. I've shot running deer at close range and taken out both lungs. But if they're on the move and full of adrenaline, they can easily cover a couple hundred yards leaving a trail Stevie Wonder could follow. Just saying there are multiple factors involved in how far an animal can travel after a well places shot with a bullet that does its job perfectly.