arcticap

I emailed my friend and heresponded that the bullet was a Hornady. I can only imagine that it was an XTP.
I believe that the actual shooter was a novice muzzle loading hunter or why else would he have been borrowing the Omega in the 1st place? He probably didn't realize the raw pass through powerbehind that bullet.
It was on private land and 2 deer tags arewhat is standard issue.
Really, how many hunters would expect that a single bullet would fully travel through more than 2 deer?
Maybe most experienced muzzle loadinghunters wouldn't have taken the riskfor a triple pass through shot to occur.
But I think that it's understandable that it could happen to a novice, even ifby complete accident, throughignorance or both.
Maybe that's the good purpose of this thread, to know the power behind these bullets, rifles and powder charges.
Some folks shoot with telescopic sights at close range, and don't have a wide enoughfield of view in the scope lens to see what's behind the deer fur that'sin their crosshairs. Who really knows enoughaboutthecircumstances or cause for this to happen towant to apply ahasty judgementin this case?
But to expect to triple shoot thesedeeris well,let me just say a much rarer expectation than a triple play inbaseball.
A mistake is a mistake, and an accident is an accident. Maybe this is an example ofboth. But was it an unreasonable mistake to make?
To take a shot is ajudgement that each hunter makes to the best of their ability, and in thisgeneral type of scenario, many would alsohave made the same mistake, atleast in my humble opinion.
To report and understandwiththe limitedfacts availableis what isimportant, and to form a personalopinion from there is strictly personal, justas any juror would and does. There's the law and then there isreasonable expectation. Considering it was a younger adultnovice hunter, I think that it's probablymorally excusable. Even though it may nothave been strictly legal,I don'tthink that he should be prosecuted for it, especially if itwasn't intentional.
Bullets can travel through more things than we can reasonably expect sometimes, maybe that's the lesson here. If it was a bullet that bounced off or ricocheted, than that's just another example of an unexpected occurrence.
In hunting as in life, stuff happens, the expected and theunexpected.
Let'sall learn from it and from there we can all attempt tojustify our own conclusionsfor what everopinion weform in the end.

wabi

As I said in my post, it's fortunate all 3 deer died quickly. It's a mistake I've never made (yet) but I have come close. Almost shot one once when I realized it had way too any legs. [&:]Luckily they were far enough away I could see the extra legs in the scope!
I've passed quite a few shots with the crossbow in similar circumstances, too. Although it's hard to see more than brown hair in the scope at crossbow ranges I've learned that if more than one deer are close together - be extra careful! Not worried about my shot placement on the front deer, but the odds of a poor hit on #2 are just too high to chance it.
But to make a good hit on 3 at once is nothing short of miraculous!

cherokee75

I could see a 300 grain bonded T/C Shockwave doing that.

rafsob

Should be no reason, novice or not, for anyhunter to do this. I think we all have been through some formof hunter safety andhave gone over the idea of knowing and identifying your target!!!

'Nough said.

Rebel Hog

NuffSaid!!!

RugerMike

No very called for!!! POOR sportsmanship is shooting at an animal and not knowing what is on the otherside of this animal? Perhaps it might have been a person or a house with people in it oron the other side? Or perhaps they were just shooting at movement and it was a person not a deer after all? You should really think before pulling the trigger on a gun, not take glory for KILLING 3 deer with 1 shot! Plain disregard for safety and yes they are stupid in my book regardless of others opinions. Whoopee he killed 3 deers with one shot and didn't kill any inicent bistanders in the act? What a lucky fellow, HUH?

farm hunter

I'm sure it was not on purpose - but I agree with some of the others - Its the shooters reponsibilty to be sure of what lies beyond his shot. Maybe he was caught up in the moment, but with other deer downrange of the shot and in close proximity to each other - he should not have shot - or should have waited until he was sure the targeted deer was in the clear.

Its hard to pass judgement on someone you don't know, especially from an internet story like this - but it doesn't sound like he was to upset, personally, I'd be sick if I killed two other deer I didn't even know were there. Obviously he couldn't seepastis shot. He needs to really think about it, Really - what else would be "ok" to shoot behind the deer you were aiming at?

FH

bjhuntnut

The relativereported that there were 5 deer passing through, all does, so he decided to shoot the largest at fairly close range. The240 grain saboted bullet passed through not just one deer, but through 2 deer to kill the third. (from articap)

Hey Jaybe,

It appears that the hunter knew that there were 5 does. I would say that the guy was stupid because he knew what he was doing, maybe not the results but, there were 5 Deer and "he decided to shoot the largest"

Tahquamenon

In this case, the shooter must be more aware of their intended target and as aware as possible of un-intended targets. In this case, he knew there were multiple deer grouped. Thus should not have fired until his target was asfree and clear as could be reasonbly be determined. I hope that he as learned a very valuable lesson about the responsiblity of a leathal weapon.

A friend of mine's son last yearunintentionallykilled two bucks with one 12ga slug on his first day everhunting deer. The boy did not see the other buck standing directly behind hisprimary target. A complete pass-through did the rest.However, theboy did have two buck tags in his pocket. But felt terrible over the unintended kill. We all did.

First I've ever heard three deerwith one shot of any weapon.

As for the 240gr XTP. Most remarkable. I would have never imagined. Still one of my favorite projectiles and always a dream to load.

Tahquamenon

rdpettit

+1