sigfla

I shot a doe this weekend and lost her on the track due to rain and night. The distance was 250 yds with a 30-06 150 grain ballistic tip. At the hit the deer jumped straight up and kicked both her rear legs straight out. I had a good rest and was able to see the reaction thru the scope after the shot so I know I was solid and had a good sight picture at the shot. The deer ran about 250 yds before we lost her trail in the swamp. Blood trail was bright red and had some initial stops and starts but got fairly steady at around the 100 yd mark. Thought maybe the shot was a bit low but her reaction at the hit just makes me feel I hit her better than that. If the blood had been imtermittent the whole way I would have thought the shot was low also but it did start to get steady after some distance. What do you guys think?

RugerM77.270

Everything with that shot sounds good to me I've seen a lot of deer kick like that and die quick & the blood sounds like a high lung shot. It was probably intermediate because the lungs had to fill up with blood. But for her to run 250 yds is a lot. Did you jump her while tracking her? How long did you wait before you went after her? Deer only run 100 or so yards after a shot sometimes but if you jump them they will go a lot farther. Go back to where you lost her and she may be close you just overlooked her in the dark that could be why the trail ended.

nchawkeye

I've never had a lung shot deer go over 125 yards, 95% fell within 75 or so...The leg kick sounds like a heart shot, but she wouldn't go that far...Hard to tell until you lay your hands on her...I've had too many guys tell me they hit them right in the shoulder, only to find they were gut shot.

timbercruiser

I know I'll get a negative response, but I wouldn't rule out the ballistic tip bullets.

sigfla

Yeah we may have jumped her on the track. I had something kick up in the Palmettos along her trail but never saw what it was. Without a visual I couldn't say it was her 100% but it likely was. The blood was coming pretty regular but with night falling and rain coming down along with her walking in the wet swamp tracking was tough. We did go right after her at the hit. We really expected her to be down close b/c of the reaction. When we realized she wasn't and the rain started it was a decision we made to go on while we had blood.

timber: I have never had ballistics fail me. Everything I have hit with my .280 ballistic tipped bullets has been devastated. This was with a .30-06 but I have to think they would do the same job.