Kind of disgusted with my shooting.Or why I wanted to quit deer hunting.

[Harter66]

I know I can cut and paste etc but the whole hunt diary is here ,
http://gunslingersgulch.com/index.php?topic=7759.0

I don't know what went wrong over all but I take full responsibility. I over shot most of the targets,except for those that I under shot.
Tools used
Savage 110s 3006 and 308
TC Hawken
RBH 45 Colts

Loads
50.3 IMR 4350 in LC 43 with a now discontinued Hornady 150 spbt 2690-2710fps same everything I've shot for 15yr.

45.0 as above except in Win 308. 2790-2810 fps same holds and groups as the 06' so I have stayed with it.

130 gr measured of ownself screened powder w/a Lee 490RB and ticking patch.
I decided that I wanted to have a BP deer from scratch all me. This powder was made with grape wood charcoal made by me. It clocks the 185gr ball out at about 2200 fps.

9.0 gr of 1968 lotted Unique 452-252 SWC @ 454-262 w/.122 wad card. This 1 is running 1050 fps in my 7.5 inch and shoots all 6 into 5-6inches at 50 yd every day with them centered 4 inches above my hold.

I lost the 1st deer I've ever lost in 36 yr,oddly enough it wasn't to the pistol (I found her alive and well) nor to the ML . Buck fever is the only excuse I have and it's pretty poor as an excuse.

High points , my Miss had a shot and .....well she missed ,but the grin and the scope cut were priceless. We've only been an item for about 3 yr and she didn't shoot at all before that.
I was able to sneak to 80yd for a shot (which I screwed up ) in an area of 4" scrub and little else. Then threw an up wind cut to get a 40 yd pistol shot. ......that went low ,exaggerated by the deer jumping the shot in that all vital .03 seconds . (In other words I blew it ) . It was a great trip other than the lost deer which I expect will nag at me ever time I set my sights.

If you're going to whine at me about doe tags,ethos,or blowing myself up don't waste the read in the link or your pixels.

[roverboy]

Don't beat yourself up to bad. I've blew a shot or two myself.

[Digital Dan]

Many years ago I sat in a ladder stand and drew a bead on a doe that was nosing out onto a trail about 20 yards distant. I decided to plink her in the noodle and avoid the task of trailing. It went something like this: Aim-squeeze-duck-boom. I shot her thru both ears, about halfway between the skull and ear tips.

My gawd, is scared her witless. Eyes rolled around, she almost dropped to her belly, then jumped up, looked both ways on the trail and ran away. My second mistake was telling my camp buddies what had happened. I got ribbed about the "whistling deer" for years afterwards. One of the other guys actually saw her a couple years later. He told me that she walked up to his stand and whispered, "Where's Dan?"

[pworley1]

Some days you learn more than you do on other days.

[Yodogsandman]

Missed shots at deer is why I started reloading and ultimately casting my own.

[DougGuy]

I had a 12ga slug hit a twig and gut shoot a small doe, she ran by and I could see part of her hanging out of the wound, that bothered me a bit but otoh, I was in the dismal swamp which has the highest number of breeding pairs of black bears in the US so I know she didn't go to waste. That same year a hunter took two does and had them out on the road gutting them and a bear came thrashing it's way across the ditch, grabbed a gutpile and kept on getting up into the woods on the other side of the road leaving the hunter searching diligently in his truck for that spare pair of drawers....

[Thumbcocker]

When I first hunted with a bow I went 5 years without getting a deer. Makes you appreciate when it all comes together.

[fatnhappy]

You should hunt alone. In my experience, to really muff a shot requires witnesses.

[Harter66]

I have actually done a tremendous amount of shooting with the 06', including knowing when the groups blow out with several bullets . It also has some cool quirks like in 50 feet per second it goes from 1 inch to 4. A grain of case weight will move groups 11 in and it won't shoot Remington brass at all .

[triggerhappy243]

130 gr. black powder? typo? for a round ball?

[Idaho Mule]

As said earlier, don't beat yourself up too bad. Stuff happens. Having met you personally a couple of times I know you are a very responsible hunter, I also know that you know what you're doing behind a rifle. The lost deer will feed lots of scavengers, and the missed shots, well, they are just missed shots. You will get over it and move on I am sure. JW

[Harter66]

130 gr. black powder? typo? for a round ball?

It's screened powder , the TC Hawken is rated for 120 gr of 2f w/a PRB I have shot this 1 w/80 gr of 3f and a PRB but had hammer lift w/2nd shot. It takes about 25% more to break even.

[triggerhappy243]

what do you mean by hammer lift? I keep my round ball loads between 70 and 80 and it shoots good for me. always feared going over 120... course now I start a brush fire when I shoot that hot of a load.

[Harter66]

As said earlier, don't beat yourself up too bad. Stuff happens. Having met you personally a couple of times I know you are a very responsible hunter, I also know that you know what you're doing behind a rifle. The lost deer will feed lots of scavengers, and the missed shots, well, they are just missed shots. You will get over it and move on I am sure. JW

Thanks . It just washed me out I guess . But being able to get it out has helped . By tax day I'll be chomping at the bit to draw for THE tag.

[triggerhappy243]

whenever I have a bad day out in the field, I always get up... regroup and start over. I like the therapy.

[Harter66]

It's screened powder , the TC Hawken is rated for 120 gr of 2f w/a PRB I have shot this 1 w/80 gr of 3f and a PRB but had hammer lift w/2nd shot. It takes about 25% more to break even.

When the pressures reach a point the nipple gas escape will lift the hammer to half cock. It's like primer flattening but at 17-19kpsi depending on your set up. It is a normal safety action . I should be more clear that it only happens with traditional styled MLs, an in line would be most likely way over loaded . It is just a tool in the traditional bag o tricks. The link in the OP is on a site of very skilled knowledgeable folks ,it is also very relaxed. Check it out.

[waksupi]

If a hammer is going back to half or full cock, your nipple is either worn, or you are shooting too hot of a load in the rifle.

[MT Gianni]

I feel your pain and still can't believe Hornaday dropped that great 150 gr interlock. That killed a lot of game for me over the years.

[runfiverun]

please don't tell me they dropped the plain base too.
I have always shot the 150 interlock in my 308's over 42 grs of imr-4895.
it's the only load I know for that caliber with jacketed bullets.

you ain't the only one that's whiffed a shot on a deer.
I seen a nice 3x4 across a beaver "pond" on the other side of a small canyon few years back, and either me or my rifle mis-judged the distance by about OOOhhh about 400 yds or so.
he dropped at the shot and rolled down the slope to the waters edge.
I started around the "pond" and left the wife there to direct me to where he was, when she started hollering he was running back up the hill.
nothing I could do from where I was but continue on around the swamp to get to where he was [or had been] and start tracking.
all I found was some tracks which I followed for about 1/2 mile without ever seeing any blood.
I finally gave up and back tracked back down to the swamps edge where I found a chunk of antler back in some brush about 20 yds from where he was when I shot at his neck shoulder junction.

[quilbilly]

Losing a deer breaks your heart but in this case, I would bet that from the amount of tracking you did, the wound may not have been that serious. There is a good chance he is still out there healing up. Just put in for next year when the time comes next spring because there will be good deer survival next winter given how good the condition of the winter range is all over eastern Nevada. I can't help but be curious which mountain range you were hunting. For the record, in 50 years I have lost three deer, two of them due to hurricane winds and monsoon rains of the Washington coast making it too dangerous in the woods to track (even elk hide from those conditions out in the open). It happens so just put it past you.