Originally Posted by
sabotloader
Breechplug
Not true! I expect it everytime I pull the trigger and i am terribly disappointed if a deer makes it more that 30 yards from the point that I shot it... I should say if I have done my part and made the shot I needed. I do believe the bullet you are using makes all the difference in the world.
I have always said if you can create enough trama to the animal with the hit you make on it - to over-ride the flight response of the animal it will drop very quickly. I choose to shoot bullets that do exactly that. Nosler partitions have done it for years and I now believe the Lehigh will and even the Gold Dot will do the same thing.
I have shot Noslers into the chest cavity for years - they will most often completely destroy every organ in the cavity - turn them to dark red jello and I guarantee you that the bullet did not hit all of the organs. The Lehigh did the same thing last week. I do not know how many deer I have shot with a Nosler but I can count on my hand how many made it more that 30 yards and most often it was my fault not the bullet. I have shot only two deer with the Lehigh and the two deer made a total of less than 15 yards. I have only shot one deer with a 250 gold dot from my Omega and it went less than 20 ft.
In Doug's case - I disagree
from the hit he describes - the deer should have never made it that far unless the bullet came apart -which I believe it did. There is no reason that you should have to make that kind of tracking job on a good hit. In a lot of places in our country if the animal gets that far you might as well take a knife and fork to the animal and eat there, because it could be straight up and down.
I thought Doug siad the shot was 120 yards if so this line is also completely wrong BP... - if that XTP did not expand @ 120 yards - it was never going to expand - by that time it had already slowed down considerably... Maybe @ 10-20 yard that theory might work, but a light weight bullet like a 240 @ 120 yards not expanding then you really have a problem.
I am going to hate myself for saying this - but is the norm for you - you need to find a better bullet!!! because you are not doing the animal a favor at all. Sounds like an archery hunt to me...
Your description of what you should expect from a shot animal and it moving that far is just what the non-hunting people need to hear - they are always comparing the amount of suffering caused to animal by us hunters. We do not need tracking jobs. Do it right and you will not have to.
I appologize to anyone that I offended but it most often is not right that an animal moves that far after being shot with a rifle. I understand it in an archery shot but not necessary with a rifle if you do your job.
Sabotloader, some good points. But I dont see how you would consider it not good to have a Deer run 30yds and expire after the shot? Most all of the one's I shot with the XTP's have gone from 0-40yds and in a few rare cases further. But I found each and every one of them with no problems.
If you have a better Bullet in mind for me to try that will give me the same or better groups out of My MLer's, weigh around 250gr's or less and do a better job than the XTP's let me know and I'll give em a try.
I can Honestly and Truely say that for me the XTP's have never let me down a single time. If I properly placed the bullet in the right place and knew it for sure and lost a Deer than I would have changed Bullet's as I consider 1 Deer lost, 1 too many.
Sure and again it would be great to have every Deer Drop in it's Tracks after the shot. But out of 30+ Years of Hunting and between my own and other's that I have witnessed I could mabey count on both hands the number of Deer that dropped in there Tracks after the shot with a Shotgun or Muzzleloader, unless they were Head or Spine Shot. Now a Rifle is a different thing. And I know a MLer is considered a Rifle, and if you can show me a Bullet that does the same shot from a 30-06 for my Mler than I'll use it.
I watched a Hunting Show the other day on the Hunting Channel and they used Mler's for the Hunt and took some Great Buck's, none Dropped on the Spot, they all ran off and out of sight from the camera and had to be found, was that a Bad thing?
Im flexible and always willing to make a change as long as it's for the good and to help me better Harvest a Animal. But again I dont consider My 100% Success rate with the XTP's that bad.
If there was a Bullet that Dropped each and every Deer Shot with it in it's Tracks everytime, than why is'nt each and every one on here using that exact Bullet.
(BP)