Field Report - 300gr DeepCurl does the job
 

300gr Deepcurl, 110gr BH209, Harvester Short Black Sabot, CCI 209M Primer

I ended up taking a button buck that I thought was a little doeling (and since he was just poking thru, it was technically a spike so I had to use a buck tag). He came from behind and was quartering hard towards me, but at 10-15 yards away I felt I had to take the shot or risk getting winded (I could hear other deer making their way in behind him, with about 20 minutes of shooting light left). I aimed just behind the shoulder and fired, and he bolted out of there like he hadn’t been touched. Since I didn’t hear a crash, I thought I missed.

Long story short, I found him about 80 yards away, and by the big skid mark left, he definitely crashed. Blood trail was good for a full-out sprint, but it wasn’t like a bucket of red paint had been spilt. I think that primarily has to do with the path of the bullet. The bullet entered just behind the shoulder and exited through the abdomen, leaving a hole so large that about half of his intestines were hanging out. Luckily it only hit his heart, liver and stomach and didn’t get the intestines. Not the most fun to dress but it could have been worse. By the way, there was no heart left; it had literally exploded.

It never ceases to amaze me that an animal with such a wound can run just like it hadn’t even been touched. I don’t blame the Deepcurl for not dropping him on the spot. I could have aimed for the shoulder or the chest, but I really like to hit rib cage only whenever possible. It was a tough shot but the bullet went exactly where I put it. Now that this load has passed its first test in the field (in staying true to POA with devastating terminal ballistics), I wouldn’t hesitate to take a throat patch shot in the exact same scenario for an instant drop.

I am very, very pleased with such a massive entrance wound, especially at a range of only 10-15 yards. This load shoots 1 MOA, so, pending some absolute and total failure (which I cannot foresee), I see no reason whatsoever to try to come up with another hunting load.

That is the way to do it! Them 300g Deep Curl do the same for me. What i mean to say is there is usually a two inch hole going into the ribs, and a two inch hole leaving through the ribs.

Congratulations! This past Friday, took a little 6 pt buck with the little brother of the .452/300 grain, the .429/240 grain. First time without a pass through. Hit him high in right shoulder at a pretty steep angle. Also broke his spine, DRT.

Like you, could not even find the heart, just lots of red goo. Such great bullets. :rock:

BTW, Graffs has the DCHP .429/240 gr bullets back in stock, only place I can find them online.

congratulations on the deer. And a good report on the bullet. Thanks.

Congrats. I have been tempted to try the Deep Curl based on results here, but the Hornday SST I used Saturday did an excellent job so I am hard pressed to change. Plus it will put bullets touching out of my gun. Now my wife's Encore doesn't shoot as tight with them so maybe I should try the Deep Curl in it. Hmmmm? ;)

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping to bag a nice buck this season, but this was a good way to knock the skunk off. FWIW, one of his eyes was really, really cloudy. I'm not sure he could see out of it, so he probably wouldn't have made it much longer with gun season coming in on Saturday.

hubby11 - Did you recover the bullet? I'd like to see it!

ADVWannabee - I was going to switch to Deepcurls regardless of accuracy...i.e. I would have accepted up to a 3 MOA group with this bullet. But 1 MOA makes for a more versatile load, so I'm happy they grouped well (anything less than 110gr BH209 opened the group to 3" though).

Nope. Looked a bit for it, figured I likely tossed it with all the red goop I was scooping out. Now I'm thinking that since it did bust a few ribs on the opposite lower side that maybe it was just inside the skin. Bummer.

I did recover a bullet last year that just made it through and landed on the snow at the impact location. See http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...-recovery.html

That's an impressive exit hole-WOW!
Obviously it works, but what do you think of your ASAT camo over all?

Looks like it would be a good elk load.

You don't think it's a bit much for deer?

Nice hunt.

Hubby11 – Cool, thanks for the link. That’s some good stuff right there. I bet that was a cool find. But, you need to change your user name. I feel weird calling you “hubby.” :D

3seasons – That’s actually the entrance hole. Exit was thru the abdomen, which I used to open him up for field dressing. I love the ASAT camo pattern. It is by far my favorite. A lot of the Realtree or Mossy Oak patterns blend together and look pretty solid when you get farther away. You don’t need a camo pattern that looks like leaves and sticks, etc. You just need something that will break up your outline, and that’s exactly what ASAT does. You wouldn’t think so just looking at the pattern, but it causes you to blend in very well.

Last season I was hunting in the mountains and my buddy heard my shot and came looking for me. He eventually saw me but told me how well I blended into the mountain side. Also last season, I was hunting from the ground against a tree and a buck came in only about 10 yards away. He spotted me right away, but I didn’t move. He kept looking over at me but never spooked because he didn’t know what I was and ended up walking right past me. The other day I was still hunting and found a tree I wanted to climb, so I took off my heavier coat and laid it by the tree and went to get my climber. When I came back, it took me awhile to find the tree even though I was looking right in that area and was specifically looking for my ASAT coat. So yeah, I like it.

Muley Hunter – I would have used the 250gr but they didn’t have any in stock locally, so I bought the 300gr. I ended up working an accurate load up with the 300gr, so I didn’t see any reason to switch. It may be “more than enough” for deer, but it’s not like shooting a squirrel with a .308 or something. And hunting in the mountains during rifle season, you never know when a killer buck might appear at 200+ yards, and that extra energy could come in handy. Better to have it and not need it!