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Forum Index > Rifles general discussion > Lost a deer last weekend, not sure what went wrong

Lost a deer last weekend, not sure what went wrong

13 Nov 2014
@ 08:15 pm (GMT)

john feyereisn

Last weekend my brother shot at a whitetail buck and we could not recover it and I am thinking outloud about what went wrong. He was shooting my hand loads in his 22 inch barrelled 270, 55 grains of imr 4350 with 130 partitions, which should be pretty deadly. the deer was broadside at about 80 yards, and he said it bucked and ran off at the shot. He was sitting on a sturdy swivel chair in a stand with a pretty solid railing, He was pretty confident he made a good hit, and it was a pretty easy shot, I find it hard to beleive he would have made a poor hit but I also have a hard time believing the deer took the bullet throught the vitals and went as far as it did.

We found a steady but not profuse blood trail and followed it for 600 yds untill we lost the trail, he chose to pursue the deer quickly due to the fact that it was snowing very hard and it was covering the blood, in hindsight I would have let the deer sit for a time then followed, but the choice was a rock or a hard place. we did circles with a group the following day starting where we found the last blood but never found anything else.

The way he said it bucked does it sound like maybee he hit it behind the vitals?

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13 Nov 2014
@ 11:04 pm (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: Lost a deer last weekend, not sure what went wrong
maybe went high and found "the void"?????
I find with .270 try to break one or better still both shoulders and to heck with bloodied meat...it still ok to stick in the mince/stew/sausage pile when cutting up carcase.
I know how frustrated you must feel as it plays on my mind for ages if things dont go as planned.
13 Nov 2014
@ 11:57 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: Lost a deer last weekend, not sure what went wrong
A buck is often a heart shot or low brisket. If the deer started off on three legs, it would have been a good indication of a heart shot. A near miss on the liver can sometimes cause the same.

From what you describe, it sounds like a low brisket shot with the heart clipped or missed.

It can be really hard for a bullet to make up for this, especially if it misses ribs. There simply are no vitals down low other than the heart which does not cover a great area.

Yes, shift the point of aim forwards to avoid future problems. This will be more forgiving with elevation errors.
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