Opening day of our rifle season I had a great buck in my scope at 50y. He was walking thru the timber but I got him stopped in my shooting lane. Feel really confident about my point of aim. Pull the trigger, he flinches and I watch him trot off for 100y before he disappears.
Shooting the NOE 180g w a cup point out of my 35w. With 40g of Varget and cast w 50/50 WD, it was averaging upper 1800fps.
There was a light snow on the ground, so blood would have shown up well. And since I saw where he went I was able to follow his tracks for over 150y. No blood. Looked around but never found anything. Chalked it up as a miss.
But I do feel really good about the sight picture. And I remembered my first cast bullet deer barely reacted and trotted off. Never found any blood then either but he was just 30y into the woods and easy to see.
Wondering if the no blood trail can happen w cast? It’s happened to some degree w a high shot from my bow. But never w a jacketed bullet. To me anyway.
A few years ago our opening day was super cold like this year and my first shot was a miss. The same deer gave me another opportunity a few minutes later and the second shot found its mark. I saw someone else from my state posted then about a miss due to the cold temps and his lube. I switched to a softer lube ever since. But still that could have been a factor. Coulda hit a branch. Who knows I guess.