Bluegunner

Soilarch, I would question that your deer was lung shot, I don't claim to be an authority but have shot more deer than the average Joe in my 56 years of hunting and I have yet to see a lung shot deer go 50 yards, most of the time a lung shot deer is lucky to make it 50 feet. Also lung shot deer spray blood usually in both direction (note I said usuallly). I hate to say it but I think you missed, that's not meant as an insult but sometimes it happens, no matter who we are. I agree the 53gr. TripleShock is a bullet to get excited about (take a look in the hog & exotics thread - "If you were setting up a ...... etc." and you'll see the results of the 53 gr Barnes bullet on four Texas hogs).

Soilarch

I'll grant that it does seem the most likely thing. I'm no expert either but it's hard to see me being "off" much at all sitting cross-legged and having a bipod. It was a doe as well...and I was about as relaxed as could be. I'm not a sniper or 1k shooter but at 100 yards I could likely take 50 pennies and 60 shells and run out of both at the same time. (This is would be in the cross-legged bipod setup I was in when hunting)

The big catch is that I found ZERO blood. I'm not the world best tracker but we often get a group of guy together if they're not a "red carpet" to the animal. I can hold my own. I nailed two this year in my homestate with a 44 revolver and redot. Both were about one inch higher than I would've liked One was shot completely freehand at about 30 yards the other I rested the frame on an old burn-barrel and was likely a 60 yard shot as well.

I actually hope I do did miss, but likelihood of me completely missing is hard to swallow...and I would think that even a non-lethal hit at those velocities (22-250 within 100 yards) would create some sort of splash...or SOMETHING!!!! Oh well, it'll be a lot of shooting and thinking before I'm comfortable with trying it again.

jeepkid

I shot a deer this year that left NO blood, and then a few days later I found it dead and eaten by a bear.[:@] A buddy of mine shot another that left a lot of blood, and after tracking it for about a mile, there was no more blood trail. I was using a 7mm Rem Mag, he was using a .308 Win.

Bluegunner

Soilarch,
My suggestion of a miss is primary prompted by experience. Experience with the 22-250, experience with the 53 gr Barnes TripleShock, experience with taking many deer, and experience with missing a few. I can almost guarantee that if you got a hit with your 22-250 that you would have found blood, even a deer with a non-lethal flesh wound will leave drops of blood close to the hit area (I would believe that most experienced hunter would agree). Even with the Hogs that I took with the 22-250 there was always blood and hogs will close off a wound faster than any animal that I know! The 53gr Barnes that was used to shot the four hogs turned their insides to mush and not one went more than 20 feet. There is a possibility that you bullet hit a small twig on it way to the target and at the speed your pushing the 53gr Barnes, it doesn't take much to change it's flight path. A miss may have had nothing to do with you aim!!!!

Soilarch

Awe...I feel like an idiot now, for all the time I've spent "replaying" the shot in my mind and all the grief I took in while trying to find it I never thought of that.


Like I said waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back at the start of the thread, I've read a lot of the pro-.22 stuff on the web. For some guys it plain works, and they love it. Other's (mostly those who refuse to try it) swear it's no good. We all know that confidence and trust in our equipment is nearly as important as how it actually performs...It'll take some time, and a ton of shooting/testing before I get the nerve up to us my 22-250 again.

Thanks bluegunner.

Bluegunner

Soilarch,

Have faith in your 22-250, it's a great gun using the right bullet. For deer and hog, I use Barnes 53gr TripleShock pushed along by 35gr of Hodgens Varget (one great load).
Just a quick story for you!
Three springs ago, I was hunting Turkeys in Northern Nebraska. It was a windy day and I was walking along a river bottom out of the wind. I would walk a hundred yards, call, listen and walk some more. I had moved about half a mile using this routine when both a hen and Tom answered my call. I immediately got seated in a patch of small trees, trusting in my camo to due the rest. It wasn't a full minute and the hen walked by me looking to kick some butt and the Tom wasn't far behind. He was huge (biggest Merriam I've ever seen) and would be walking about 12 feet in front of me. I was ready and concentrating and as he passed in front I dropped the hammer. The gun fired and he was still standing there, I was so shocked that I didn't think to pump in a second round and try again. Of course, before I got my mind functioning again he ran away. I couldn't believe it, how could I have missed?
After calming down, I discovered that as I moved my gun right to left following the bird, a small tree moved itself about an inch in front of my barrel and took the full load of bb's from my gun. Not one bb got past the tree! I was concentrating so hard on the bird that I didn't register the tree. Didn't feel to smart that day!!!!