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Doe down with bullet report

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Doe down with bullet report

Old 12-29-2014, 05:42 AM
  #1  
Fork Horn
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Default Doe down with bullet report

Gun: TC Triumph
Powder: 100 grains BH 209 with Federal 209a primers.
Sabot: 250 grain TC Shockwave non-bonded yellow tip with the factory supplied black sabot
Whitetail doe, 135lbs dressed.

Southern Michigan’s late antlerless season is underway and it is now time to fill the freezer. Deer came into the area with about 15 minutes of shooting light left. The younger ones were in the lead and must have caught movement from my Ameristep blind. Tails up and all took off back into the woods. I actually thought the hunt was over. I looked down the shooting lane to see a fawn standing about 40 yards away. Just then a large doe I had not seen reared up and hoof smacked the fawn on the head. She was quartering away and I settled the crosshairs behind her shoulder. BOOM! Tails! Smoke! The shot did not knock her down, nor did I hear the comforting crash or thud when a deer falls. Confident in my shot I left the blind and walked over to the point of impact. Nothing. I searched for 5 minutes until I finally found some hair. I did not find any blood on the ground. I checked all three main trails leading from the clearing where I had seen tails after the shot. I found an eraser sized drop of blood 12 yards from the point of impact. I ended up following these eraser size spots about every 2 feet for around 50-60 yards to this deer.

The deer did show and exit wound, but real lack of blood trail. I even started to question myself at one point. Cleaning the deer out the damage was immense. Golf ball plus sized hole through both lungs. Large hole on the entrance and exit of the ribs, but small holes through the hide. After removing the Hide, I found the copper jacket of the bullet under the hide on the exit side. It appears the bullet mushroomed with the angle of the shot, penetrated in a straight line through the vitals and then separated from the lead core. I assume only the lead core exited the animal.
I apologize for the low quality pictures, but all I had was my cell phone and it is getting older. Thoughts on bullet performance?
Attached Thumbnails Doe down with bullet report-hide-exit.jpg   Doe down with bullet report-hide-entrance.jpg   Doe down with bullet report-hide-off-exit.jpg   Doe down with bullet report-bullet-1.jpg   Doe down with bullet report-bullet-2.jpg  

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Old 12-29-2014, 06:38 AM
  #2  
Nontypical Buck
 
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Interesting. Thanks for the report. I've seen mature does act this way with their young before. I had one blow so hard that she was whistling every time she would blow. A lot of times the young don't understand the danger! Don't think I've seen this kind of damage to a shockwave bullet before. I've have never recovered a bullet so I can't tell from experience. But from other reports this has happened before. I'm sure the lead core exited the deer leaving the jacket behind.

Nice size doe. We don't get many does that size here in Virginia!!!
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Old 12-29-2014, 06:45 AM
  #3  
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real nice doe. I am surprised she went that far with that massive wound channel. It looks like you placed that bullet about perfect.
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Old 12-29-2014, 07:19 AM
  #4  
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Congrats on your doe! That is a big one compared to our deer.

Thinking back over the years, I've had plenty of kills that had slow to start, or even somewhat slim bloodtrails with a ML - using a variety of different bullets. Even the doe I shot this year with a bigger chunk of lead out of my .54 took about 20-25yds to really start bleeding, but then it was real good for the remaining 30 or so.

I think its just sometimes a factor of shot location on the animal, combined with the deers reaction after the shot. In my experience, higher hits through the lungs tend to take longer to pump the blood out. Seems to fill up inside.
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Old 12-29-2014, 08:06 AM
  #5  
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Nice report! That will be a nice eating deer.

That performance looks fairly average for Shockwaves in my experience, although I've never recovered the bullet jacket inside the deer. I have seen evidence of some fragmentation though. Normally I get a pass-thru with lots of damage and some fragmentation on close shots but the majority of the bullet exits the deer. Many times higher lung shots don't bleed very much initially, regardless of what bullet you are using. Congrats!
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Old 12-29-2014, 08:31 AM
  #6  
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Textbook shot!

So the core/jacket separated; is that common?
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Old 12-29-2014, 08:46 AM
  #7  
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I am glad you made a good shot and recovered the deer.
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Old 12-29-2014, 08:52 AM
  #8  
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Originally Posted by cayugad
real nice doe. I am surprised she went that far with that massive wound channel. It looks like you placed that bullet about perfect.
I agree. But boy I am really surprised with the lack of a heavy blood trail with the location of that shot. Was there much fat on the deer to plug up the entrance and exit holes?
Congrats on a nice deer and an excellent shot.
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Old 12-29-2014, 09:25 AM
  #9  
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I'd say the bullet did its job quite well, and you did your job with the tracking job.

In my experience, a 60 yard run with a mid-chest hit like that is more likely than not. Remember, a deer needs to live only five seconds after the shot to cover 60 yards at a flat out run.

And a meager blood trail isn't unusual if the hit is at or above the center line of the chest. The blood pools inside the body. A lower hit lets more blood out.

That's a great doe Kathwacckkk. Her 135 lbs. dressed weight is heavier than the live weight of our biggest piney woods does. Congratulations.

Last edited by Semisane; 12-29-2014 at 09:30 AM.
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Old 12-29-2014, 12:31 PM
  #10  
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Congratulations on the hunt.

I''m not sure what to think of the bullet. The result is a dead deer but it would be nice to have them hold together.
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