Well, this guy will be foreveer on my mind. Got in my blind about 6:00 this morning. It os overlooking an overgrown gravel pit. I have a trail cam on the trail behind my blind. If you look at the pic above, my blind is just inside that tree line on the other side of this buck. I heard a buck grunting around 6:30, just to the right of me. Then I heard him grunting behind me just as the trailcam took this pic. Just before 7:00, I saw a buck come back into the pit on my left. I am sure it was the same buck. He started to go away from me, so I turned my can call over twice, and did 2 small grunts, and he turned and came right to me. I had him at probably 50 yards broadside with nothing in between us. He was walking, so I stopped him with a mouth grunt. He stopped and looked right at me! I put the crosshairs right behind the shoulder, and pulled the trigger. He turned to start running, and ran right into a bunch of small trees and fell down. Got right back up and took off. He stopped after running about 50 yards, and dissapeered heading out of the pit. Gave him 45 minutes, and then found blood where he stopped at 50 yards. After that it was just drops every 50 yards. After looking for more blood for a half hour, I decided to go check the river. (the river is only about 25 yards on the other side of the camera. I am standing about 5 yards off the bank, and I look to my right, and there he is standing there looking at me at about 15 yards! He was just standing there looking like he was in a world of hurt. He gave me time to take the sling off my shoulder, and get ready for another shot. I either had a wide open gut shot, or a small opening where I could see his neck, so I took the neck. Have no idea if I hit him or not. He took off running along the river, and out of sight. I sat down on a log to get my bearings straight, and give him some time. I had been sitting there about 5 minutes, when I heard 1 shot across the river where he was heading. I decided to back out, and drive around, to the other side, and see if some one shot a buck with at least 1 hole in it. I wasnt going to demand thte deer, I just wanted to know if I should look more for him, or if I was wasting my time. The guy who owns the land sais no one was hunting over there this morning. Well, someone had to be over there hunting over thtere, I heard the shot. Anyways, I went back and looked some more. Never found another drop of blood....... So, we just searched for him, but never found him. So, drops of blood when he was moving, and 2 beds with a good amount of blood in them. Blood was bright red. No gut matter.Went at least 200 yards. Gun was a CVA Accurra V2. Load was 245 grain PB Hollow Point, 80 grains of loose 777
__________________ Captain of Team 13, Natural Bone Killers
When I started reading this thread and I knew long before I got to the end you were shooting a Powerbelt.
A buddy hunting in the field next to me shot a nice 7 pointer deer with a 245 grain Powerbelt yesterday. He also hates the Powerbelts, but used a gun his father in law gave him that was sighted in for them and he didn't have time to sight it in for something else so he shot them. The first time he shot it, the deer took off un hit, it then stopped looking around and once he'd gotten reloaded he shot it again, and the deer took off again. Neither bullet passed through, and there was absolutely no blood from where he first shot it to the where he shot it the second time. The second place he shot it, there was a couple of drops a blood, and he did find the deer, but no thanks to the blood trail. The first shot was as perfect shot just behind the shoulder, and the second shot was a little far back, but still a good shot. Every single person, myself included, that I know that's tried PB's has had this exact same experience.
Why anyone would ever use this sorry excuse for a bullet is beyond me.
Sorry to hear you lost the deer. That really is too bad. That deer should have went down and stayed down if hit good.
I was all set to prove that a 295 grain powerbelt and 80 grains of 2f would take a deer easy.. now you have me questioning my selection. The rifle also shoots a 300 grain XTP with 90 grains, so I know that might be the ticket.
It is a shame you could not find that deer and examine the wounds.
__________________
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
When i started reading the thread i also knew it was a PB that the deer had been hit with.the bullets are simply high priced junk and not worth using under any circumstances.the new PB Aerolites are no better and should be avoided as well.there are a lot of better bullet choices on the market and most of them are less expensive and give far better terminal performance..
I was all set to prove that a 295 grain powerbelt and 80 grains of 2f would take a deer easy.. now you have me questioning my selection. The rifle also shoots a 300 grain XTP with 90 grains, so I know that might be the ticket.
Having used this bullet for a couple of years, I think you can definitely bring a deer down, I just would expect for him to run off without leaving a blood trail. I also wouldn't expect a pass through unless it's a very small deer.
I just don't get why anyone would want to use these things when they are a lot more expensive and perform a lot worse than many other bullets on the market. This is just opinion anyway.
I thought they sucked when using them, but after switching to the 300 Grain Deep Curls, I realized, just how much the Powerbelts sucked. I will never go back. The accuracy was the only good thing about them, and I got just as good of accuracy with the Deep Curls once I found the sabot it liked.
Out of the group of guys I hunt with, most of us have used the PB's and all of us except two have switched to something else, and won't go back. The two guys that still shoot them, one is an older guy and when he bought his Optima, the gunshop told him that it was made to shoot Powerbelts and wouldn't shoot anything else accurately. Even though we told him they were full of it, he refuses to try anything else, and says that's all they can shoot.
The other guy hasn't used Powerbelts in the past, and doesn't really like them, but got a Wolf, and was having issues shooting the Shockwaves he wants to. He says they were tumbling no matter what he tried. The Powerbelts were the only bullets he could get locally right before the season started that would shoot decently, so he is using them.
Just too much negative info on them out there for me to even ever try them. I will stick with my Barnes. Really sorry that you didn't find him. We all have lost deer and it sucks.
I am just sick
He was just standing there looking like he was in a world of hurt. He gave me time to take the sling off my shoulder, and get ready for another shot. I either had a wide open gut shot, or a small opening where I could see his neck, so I took the neck. Have no idea if I hit him or not. He took off running along the river, and out of sight. I sat down on a log to get my bearings straight, and give him some time. I had been sitting there about 5 minutes, when I heard 1 shot across the river where he was heading. I decided to back out, and drive around, to the other side, and see if some one shot a buck with at least 1 hole in it. I wasnt going to demand thte deer, I just wanted to know if I should look more for him, or if I was wasting my time. The guy who owns the land sais no one was hunting over there this morning. Well, someone had to be over there hunting over thtere, I heard the shot. Anyways, I went back and looked some more. Never found another drop of blood....... So, we just searched for him, but never found him. So, drops of blood when he was moving, and 2 beds with a good amount of blood in them. Blood was bright red. No gut matter.Went at least 200 yards. Gun was a CVA Accurra V2. Load was 245 grain PB Hollow Point, 80 grains of loose 777
