Lost deer

[44man]

A little off for the handgun section but my friend shot a doe in the leg yesterday with his Savage 270. Just a little blood, then just a drop and no more. We spent all morning looking---zero blood but he had a piece of leg bone from where he shot her.
I checked the gun over and had him shoot it. He had his shots touching 1/4" right of the bull.
Then I asked the question, was the gun clean? Yes it was! This is the third lost deer with the rifle over the years. Oily bore????
Then the handgun part. I put a pop bottle of water at 100 and blew it like it had a grenade in it with my BFR .500 JRH.
I let my friend and his son shoot it and they both hit their targets. They fell in love with it and I keep asking when they will change over to real hunting. :mrgreen:
Maybe, just maybe, I have a few converts.
Now Don can shoot, I have seen him make unbelievable shots with the muzzle loader. He is cool and has killed a ton of deer. It has only been this rifle, a real tack driver so I hope I convinced him to never hunt with a clean gun again.

[daschnoz]

That clean bore shot will mess you up every time.

What I do :
- Clean rifle
- Shoot some blasting grade ammo to foul the barrel
- Sight in with the ammo I plan to hunt with
- Put the gun in the case "dirty"

If you're sighted in with a dirty bore, you should hunt the same way.

[subsonic]

Some guns shoot real close with a clean cold shot an others walk all over. The important thing is to know how your gun reacts. It's not a difficult test, just take your cleaning kit to the range and test it.

I never leave oil in a bore. I will run an oil (breakfree) coated patch followed by a dry patch at most. On my remington 700 5R a clean cold shot from a bore prepared like that will land at the crosshairs and the next shot will either cut that hole or go through the same hole. This is the only gun I own that will do that.

But the most picky rifle I had still only dropped that first shot about 3" off of the warm dirty zero @ 100yds. I suspect it has more to do with the way the rifle responds when shot from a rest vs being fired from a field position.

[pergoman]

I have seen far too many hunters who make a single box of deer ammo last for years. One shot the week before the season, if they are lucky. Many don't shoot the gun all year and assume it will be dead on since they last shot it several years before. I belong to 2 clubs within 5 miles of home. The closest one is 1/2 mile away and I am there several times each week. I get to see these guys who don't realize how important practice is. They don't want to spend any more money for ammo than they absolutely deem necessary. Of course, they are not reloaders.
The only upside is that they will never wear out a barrel. I actually like it when I wear out a barrel. It means I have been having a lot of fun.

[Bret4207]

A miss with a 500 is a good as a miss with a 270.

[bowfin]

Definitely check out how the rifle shoots with a cold, clean barrel.

Shooting for groups and shooting to draw blood can affect each hunter (and his accuracy) differently. A paper bullseye doesn't put the stress on some that a deer might, and cause them to hurry their shot for fear of not getting one off.

I have a nephew who can hit with a shotgun on the trap range and in the field, making amazing shots...IF he is not shooting in front of strangers. Put him somewhere with a crowd to watch and the panic takes over, and he shoots just to be done.

[white eagle]

to bad he lost the deer

[firefly1957]

Both my 30-06 rifles shoot high from clean bore I fire a couple shots just before season each year now.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

my omega shoots best with a clean cold bore

[high standard 40]

I clean my cast boolit guns with Kroil as a solvent, then dry patch the bore till the patches come out dry. Clean bore shots are on zero for me using this method.

[ole 5 hole group]

I personally know a couple dozen excellent Marksmen who have made shots like that - hard to explain but stuff happens once or twice in a lifetime.

I have an advanced stage of CRS, so I don't remember any such event, even if someone tries to remind me at different times throughout the season. Some days you wouldn't have any luck at all, if you didn't have a little bad luck.

[jh45gun]

Was this deer in the open completely open or was their grass or brush in the way or trees. Just a twig or grass can deflect a bullet enough to make a crippling shot.

[44man]

Was this deer in the open completely open or was their grass or brush in the way or trees. Just a twig or grass can deflect a bullet enough to make a crippling shot.
She was in the open, about 40 yards. I have a hunch he shoots lower for the heart and the gun shoots lower when clean. I need to work with him.
I still remember my IHMSA days when I had to start with a clean gun because of no place to shoot before. XP100, MOA and Wichita would miss the first 50 meter chicken I would shoot a bunch of 39's and would only get a 40 if the gun was dirty.
Even dry wiping did not work and since I had moisture problems in my house, I had to clean. I lived in the city and had to drive 2 hours to shoot so I hoped to have a chance to take at least one shot at the shoots but it hardly happened. I never did learn where the first shot went.
Hunting was different in OHIO and PA, I used only a flint lock, no rifles or handguns allowed back then in Ohio. When I had to use a shotgun I had no problems. Most deer were with archery anyway.
It was tough working on guns because I had to drive so far to shoot them, now I just go in my valley of death! [smilie=l:
My friend now lives far, in a VA city and has no place to shoot either but his son just joined Issac Walton so there should be no excuse.
I understand when a guy can't step outside and shoot a shot. Goes on a stand before it gets light with a clean gun.
You are only lucky when a rifle shoots close when clean, some do, some will really throw a shot.
Anyway, knowing how Don shoots, never seen him flinch even with my .500, I don't know what else it can be.
Now another friend can NOT hit a deer even though he is a great shot, buck fever so bad I expect him to fall down when he shoots. I don't worry about him wounding a deer because he misses so far, 10 feet at a 10 yard deer! :holysheep
I shot competition archery long ago and the best shots never killed a deer either.

[Charlie, AKA The Deacon]

My Oldest has done this a couple times but missed entirely! on close shots as he pulls the trigger he drops his arm to see! just gets buck fever! that would be my guess as to what your friend might have done. needs to work on follow through!

[44man]

My Oldest has done this a couple times but missed entirely! on close shots as he pulls the trigger he drops his arm to see! just gets buck fever! that would be my guess as to what your friend might have done. needs to work on follow through!
I thought of that, he might be peeking. Very true and is something I will discuss with him. I need him to come and shoot more. I want to run him through the wringer off hand but he has to work and can't get him over much.

[Charlie, AKA The Deacon]

I found that a Flintlock realy helps with follow through problems! with them if you do not have good follow through you will not hit. don't ask me how I know I just do. LOL

[ghh3rd]

I'm a 'new' hunter -- been trying for the last two years. My friend told warned me about buck fever, and I politely told him that I knew I would be calm when I shot, and probably shakey afterward.

This year in mid season I finally had my first shot, at anything, during muzzle loader season. I was in a climbing stand, and a nice big buck strolled right out in front of me, 30 yards out, sniffing the grounds as he slowly walked. I just couldn't seem to steady the rifle, and reaimed three times, finally pulling (yes pulling) the trigger (I remember thinking, "I pulled the trigger, I should have squeezed the trigger").

Mr. Buck took off crashing through palmettos until I figured he was about 75 yards away... sounded like he was thrashing around for a little while, and then it stopped. It turned out I had missed him completely, and the thrashing was him continuing to crash through palmettos for a great distance, according to a friend in a stand in that direction.

I tried the rifle offhand later on a tree stump at 40 yards and hit the knot hole I was aiming for. Now I know what buck fever feels like. I was burning up that morning :-)

Randy

[44man]

Yes, drives you crazy, doesn't it? When I started deer, it was with a recurve and I would shake like crazy when I seen or heard deer.
But pulling the string settled me down, maybe just the string tension.
My first deer was crazy because I don't remember releasing and every deer since has been the same, gun or bow. As soon as the sights are where I want them the shot is gone, automatic, I can NOT remember making anything go off.
I can hold forever on a target until shaking takes over but never on a deer. Holding off hand on a bottle seems like a few ounce trigger is 100# but there is NO trigger on deer. The gun has a mind of it's own.
I have so many deer kills that they have not bothered me for many years. My thoughts go to gutting and cutting meat and the work.
I have lowered my bow on the rope and had 20 deer feeding under me, bumping my bow because I did not want to butcher.
Yeah, I know, you need to spray the bow for scent and pee in a bottle. What crazy stuff to sell stuff you do not need.

[bowfin]

My Oldest has done this a couple times but missed entirely! on close shots as he pulls the trigger he drops his arm to see!

I have seen many turkeys missed because the hunter lifted his head to watch the turkey go down as he pulled the trigger. These were shots that would qualify as easy to make. It leaves the hunter scratching his head and asking, "How can you miss a standing turkey with a shotgun?

[sixshot]

I very seldom ever clean the barrels on my sixguns but when I do I always shoot a few fouling shots before going hunting or shooting in a USPSA match. I do clean my cylinders often & add a touch of oil to the ratchet & the gas ring to keep things from wearing out but that barrel only gets cleaned if it needs it & thats not very often with cast bullets.
Everyone that is a handloader also likes to tinker & thats the key with any gun, you need to know how it shoots, whether the barrel is clean, dirty, etc. They all behave different but there's a reason the bench rest shooters always foul their barrels before shooting for score.
I'm guessing that if someone missed a deer at 40 yds its not because of a slick barrel, most likely he hurried the shot, something we've all done when a shot looks "easy".

Dick