bugs11

The bullet is .452 semi jacketed hollow point that is no longer manufactured by Hornady. A buddy got a few boxes of these bullets at an auction. Target was a big doe at 50-55 yards in timber. Shot was a little hurried, as the deer was moving through the timber behind me. I was set up on the edge of picked cornfield waiting for the deer to come out at dusk, when I happened to look behind me and I spied a doe walking through the timber. A quick size up of the situation revealed a single shoot-able opening. The doe paused for maybe 10 seconds, just long enough for me to get turned around and quickly dial the scope down to 2x. As she walked into the opening I touched off the shot, aiming center chest. After a quick re-load, and as it was 10 minutes to dusk with no snow on the ground, I decided to start tracking immediately. No blood sign in the impact zone, no blood sign on the deer trail, but I found her tracks in the soft dirt of the forest floor. Looking ahead I saw her piled up, distance from impact to recovery 30-40 yards. The bullet entered low center chest, as far as I can tell just above/into the sternum. Externally there was little apparent trauma; it took me a minute to find the entry wound. Internally severe fragmentation of bullet and bone caused massive damage to the lungs; the bottom of heart had 3-4 little slices indicating some fragments had entered the heart. I found 4 small lead fragments in the wound area, no slug though. The entry and exit wounds were not large and there was little damaged meat. Going in the bullet missed the left front leg, exiting the bullet punched though the meat of the right leg. I don’t know how fast the bullet was going when it hit the deer, but I’m guessing it was moving more than fast enough.