First CB Kill

[Anschutz]

Went out this morning well after sun up to walk the creek. Saw movement on the other side and turned out to be a few deer. Never got a shot but knew where they were going. Headed down the creek and crossed it just before I saw the lead doe pass through an opening. I was waiting on her at another opening but she paused and a yearling stepped out in the first. I settled the front bead on her shoulder and let fly. A 436 grain .458 bullet went jogging along at about 1500 fps and made contact. The others startled but didn't run away but I still never got a shot at another. As I walked up to check for blood a deer popped up and as it crossed into an opening I stopped it and the Guide Gun barked again. I went to check for blood and found the first deer. I followed the blood trail of the second for a while and it ended in a swamp. I looked all over the swamp and for about an hour on the other side. Zig zagging trying to pick up the trail again. By 1230 I needed to get the found deer processed so I'll head back out looking in a while. At 75 degrees here in Georgia and 5 hours after shooting, I'm not hopeful of being able to save any meat but I'd like to know that I killed it and if my shot was bad. Here's a few pics of the carnage. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/26/029afffdea378c236793379c5cd30d94.jpg
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[Edward]

Looks like the first shot was a winner,but knowing it"s hot and one is down you must have known bad shots happen to anybody.A little planning and that second deer would be there for someone to shoot and not wasted the next day,just sayin!

[Ramjet-SS]

Hey how do know that deer would have been available for someone else?

Maybe yote gets it or a car?

Deer jumps up he takes a shot with the intention of putting meat in the freezer. How and why would you judge him not being there and seeing all the circumstances surrounding the situation? Perhaps next time he should check his moral compass and then maybe call you to make sure it's Ok to shoot the next deer. YEA.......sarcasm!

[petroid]

Congrats on your first cast kill. Sure hope you find the other one. I've lost a deer before and it's a miserable feeling. You can do everything right and still not recover it, but if you do everything you can, it's all you can do. Good Luck.

[CITYREPO61]

Congrats on your first cast kill. Sure hope you find the other one. I've lost a deer before and it's a miserable feeling. You can do everything right and still not recover it, but if you do everything you can, it's all you can do. Good Luck.

What he says is very true. I lost a deer about 6 years ago and I think about her often. But regrettably it does happen. Best of luck!

regards
steve

[Anschutz]

The bad thing is I thought the second deer was shot better than the first. Put it right on the shoulder and let loose. I'd rather lose a little body meat than have to track through a swamp most days. Where I lost the trail there is a creek timing through about 25 feet across and up to my waist flowing fairly good from the rain. Only thing I can think is that it tried to cross and git swept away. I didn't hear coyotes last night so I'll keep trying today. Buzzards will be around if it's dead.

[Anschutz]

Also. This was my first kill with cast, open sights, 45-70, and handloads.

[Duckdog]

Our choice is a bit easier.... There's hardly any deer left because of wolves, bears and coyotes, so you really need to be taking only bucks. Definitely slows the additional shots up!

Without seeing the blood tail of the one your looking for, you very possibly pulled the shot and winged it through a muscle. if that is the case, luck be with you. In my experience with my 45/70, if you make even a remotely good shot on the deer, you should be able to find it.


What powder were you using? Reason I ask is, some are bit more position sensitive in that big old case. I went to 5744 for that reason. I used to shoot a lot of Unique in the 45/70 with excellent results, but wanted to take that variable out of the picture when using it for hunting, as it can be a bit position sensitive. Kind of like muzzleloading... even the slightest delay in ignition can cause a shot far from the mark in the field shooting at a deer.

My advise is to shrug it off and move on. I do not know about where you are, but in my neck of the woods, even if you loose it, it does not go to waste. In fact it amazes me how fast all the scavengers can find a carcass.

[Anschutz]

I'm using 33gr of 4227.

[MBTcustom]

Deer run. There is no way to guarantee a bang flop. I even saw a video of a deer that ran when it was hit with a 50BMG.
Just this year, I rained holy terror on the local deer population with my 45-70, but there were a couple times I was really glad there was not a swamp nearby.
Take this deer for instance: double lung hit with a 350 grain ranch dog cast bullet of 14BHN pushed along at 1650fps by 30 grains of 4227 and a tuft of dacron. She ran 75 yards uphill losing blood from both sides and her nose, leaving a blood trail a blind man could follow:
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Then there's the one in the background of this picture:
Shot quartering towards me (I was not aware of this). Tucked the bullet right in the armpit. Seemed like a perfect shot, but I tracked this deer over 250 yards through the thickest briers and thorny bushes I have ever encountered, then dropped the other one with an identical shot and it only ran 10 yards (you can see both entrance holes in the picture and I can affirm that both of them are within an inch of where I was aiming).
156505

Point is, you just never can tell what's going to happen. That's why its called hunting, and not shopping. You did fine IMHO. You probably just made a semi decent shot, and the swamp took it from there. I wouldn't be to tore up about it, but I'd watch for buzzards and see if you could settle your mind about exactly what "went wrong" if anything.

[missionary5155]

Greetings and Congratulations !
Deer get lost ! Rivers and swamps just swallow them up. We do our best and have to do that all the time. But they will still get lost. Thanks for the fine pictures.
Mike in Peru

[Ramjet-SS]

Our choice is a bit easier.... There's hardly any deer left because of wolves, bears and coyotes, so you really need to be taking only bucks. Definitely slows the additional shots up!

Without seeing the blood tail of the one your looking for, you very possibly pulled the shot and winged it through a muscle. if that is the case, luck be with you. In my experience with my 45/70, if you make even a remotely good shot on the deer, you should be able to find it.


What powder were you using? Reason I ask is, some are bit more position sensitive in that big old case. I went to 5744 for that reason. I used to shoot a lot of Unique in the 45/70 with excellent results, but wanted to take that variable out of the picture when using it for hunting, as it can be a bit position sensitive. Kind of like muzzleloading... even the slightest delay in ignition can cause a shot far from the mark in the field shooting at a deer.

My advise is to shrug it off and move on. I do not know about where you are, but in my neck of the woods, even if you loose it, it does not go to waste. In fact it amazes me how fast all the scavengers can find a carcass.

Amen to this.

[milkman]

Men plan, God laughs.... I took a shot at one this season with my Genesis rifle, a .358 Win. which shoots MOA or less. The deer was about 40 yd, standing on the edge of a shooting lane. I lined the rifle up about mid body directly in line with the front leg and at the shot it jumped in the brush to the left of the lane, stood there for about a minute and then fed back across the lane, taking it's time, till it fed out of sight. I never found a single drop of blood and I looked for about 45 min. Killed a nice doe in the same spot less than an hour later. Hit right where I aimed. Yep, thats hunting alright.

[Thumbcocker]

Congratulations

[Crawdaddy]

I have dispatched more than 1 with my 450 Marlin. Not much difference between it and a 45-70. Great choice of weapons. Congrats!

[krems]

Nice shooting!...those 45-70's pack a real punch. Don't feel bad about the lost deer - critters in the swamp got to eat too. I never tried 4227 powder as I always used 5744. Nice choice of rifle.