One more doe...
Dec 11, 2009 9:47:19 GMT -5
Post by Chris Champion on Dec 11, 2009 9:47:19 GMT -5
Last Saturday was the opening day of Indiana's muzzleloading season. Most of the corn is gone now so the deer are coming out of the woods and swamps at night to feed.
I was set up in one of my favorite spots Saturday afternoon. Its a homemade ground blind in a fence row over looking a picked corn field. On the other side of the field across from me is an irrigation ditch with a swamp/thicket on the other side of the ditch. Deer cross the ditch and come into the picked corn to feed. Its a gently rolling field and I can see at least 260 yds in any direction.
Just before dusk a small deer came trotting over the far hill and comes my way. It kept looking back so I waited. This deer got within about 175 yds of me. Three more does came up over the hill and worked their way toward me. Where they crested the first hill about 260 yds away they were inline with a farm house that is about 600 yds away. I picked out the biggest doe and waited until she got down over my side of the hill so I had a backstop. I didn't range her but I knew the top of the hill was about 260 yds so she was between 200 & 250 yds. She was slightly quarting toward me so I held a couple inches above the center of her body just behind her shoulder and let the 195g Barnes fly when she stopped to feed.
Shortly after the report of the rifle I heard the "thwaap" of the impact and both hind legs kicked straight up in the air. She took off running right toward me. She made it about 50 yds nose dived into the corn stubble. The other deer stood around for a couple of minutes but it was getting dark fast and since I am an "under-achiever" ;D I decided to just pack it up and go get the truck.
The next day I found the spot where she was standing and lasered back to my blind and it was 227 yds. The 195g Barnes went in at the center of her body, clipped the back of the shoulder and a rib going in and a rib on the way out. Exit was about 8" behind the off-side shoulder and about 3/4" dia. The rear part of her lungs were mushed and the bullet just clipped her paunch. She was a good sized doe, I'd estimate 130 lbs field dressed.
So far I've shot 3 deer with the 195 Barnes, a 140 yd double high- shoulder/spine bang flop, a 150 yd broadside honey hole / archery type shot, and a 227 yds quartering toward shot and the bullet has performed just as expected...all pass throughs with decent sized exit wounds and enough blood for tracking if needed. Internal damage has not been tremendous but it's what I would expect from a tough all copper bullet that doesn't hit heavy bone.
I was set up in one of my favorite spots Saturday afternoon. Its a homemade ground blind in a fence row over looking a picked corn field. On the other side of the field across from me is an irrigation ditch with a swamp/thicket on the other side of the ditch. Deer cross the ditch and come into the picked corn to feed. Its a gently rolling field and I can see at least 260 yds in any direction.
Just before dusk a small deer came trotting over the far hill and comes my way. It kept looking back so I waited. This deer got within about 175 yds of me. Three more does came up over the hill and worked their way toward me. Where they crested the first hill about 260 yds away they were inline with a farm house that is about 600 yds away. I picked out the biggest doe and waited until she got down over my side of the hill so I had a backstop. I didn't range her but I knew the top of the hill was about 260 yds so she was between 200 & 250 yds. She was slightly quarting toward me so I held a couple inches above the center of her body just behind her shoulder and let the 195g Barnes fly when she stopped to feed.
Shortly after the report of the rifle I heard the "thwaap" of the impact and both hind legs kicked straight up in the air. She took off running right toward me. She made it about 50 yds nose dived into the corn stubble. The other deer stood around for a couple of minutes but it was getting dark fast and since I am an "under-achiever" ;D I decided to just pack it up and go get the truck.
The next day I found the spot where she was standing and lasered back to my blind and it was 227 yds. The 195g Barnes went in at the center of her body, clipped the back of the shoulder and a rib going in and a rib on the way out. Exit was about 8" behind the off-side shoulder and about 3/4" dia. The rear part of her lungs were mushed and the bullet just clipped her paunch. She was a good sized doe, I'd estimate 130 lbs field dressed.
So far I've shot 3 deer with the 195 Barnes, a 140 yd double high- shoulder/spine bang flop, a 150 yd broadside honey hole / archery type shot, and a 227 yds quartering toward shot and the bullet has performed just as expected...all pass throughs with decent sized exit wounds and enough blood for tracking if needed. Internal damage has not been tremendous but it's what I would expect from a tough all copper bullet that doesn't hit heavy bone.