I shot this buck last Friday on the Illinois gun opener. The bullet went in the top of his left shoulder and came out low on the off side. 250gr SST in front of 90gr BH209 out of my Optima Elite. (and gotta give Ron Laughlin props for the BP! Thanks again!) Once again, the SST did its job, but didn't give me much blood to follow. I shot him right before dark so I went to look for blood shortly after the shot. I found some hair, but no blood. He left on the same trail that he came in on, so I knew right where to look for sign. I sneaked down the trail looking for blood so we had a place to start with the flashlights. I went almost 50 yards before I found any, and it was just a small drop. I marked the spot and backed out to give him plenty of time. We went back to the truck and loaded all of our stuff up, and got the lights. Luckily he stayed on the straight path and we were able to see his hoof prints. The drops were about 15-20 feet apart and only small specks. After about 50y of this, we were pretty sure that I'd shot low and just grazed his brisket. We were talking about giving up for the night and coming back the next morning. Fast-forward through several minutes of frustration, and he started pumping pretty good and it was a no problem following the flood at a quick pace. He didn't go far after he started bleeding out his mouth. When I butchered him, there was a hole in both sides of his rib cage that my 6yr old son could have stuck his fist through. His lungs were turned to jello.

The SST's are tack drivers out of my Optima Elite. But this is usually the story with all the deer I've shot with them. Some have taken only a few steps before dropping, but others have run 150y or so. I find them, but some have left me guessing for a while. I shot a doe last winter in the snow (put it right behind the shoulder) and had trouble finding blood, even in the fresh snow. This time turned out great, but what if it would have been in tall grass? Or what if he would have left the trail and I wasn't able to follow his prints? I guess what I'm getting at is if you use these, don't think you missed just because you don't find blood right away. Keep looking.

I am ready to try something different again, but just don't have the $ to sink into toying with different bullets/sabots. I tried XTP's last season with poor results. I shot them with 90, 100, and 110gr BH. I was putting up 3 and 4" groups at 50y. I'm going to try them again with 80gr this weekend to see how they do.

If all else fails, I will stick with the SST's. They put up 1 1/2" groups for me at 100, so I know if I do my part they will go where they need to. It just may take a little extra work to find my deer after the shot.

rw