35 Whelen, NOE 180g and a doe

[mattd]

First rifle deer in 5 years. Been hunting that whole time with my whelen and the NOE 180g FP cast with the cup point and out of 50/50 WD. 20g of 2400 was my accuracy load, and in hind sight I should have pushed it harder.

She was at 50y Quartering away. I was very confident in the shot, but not much of a reaction and not a drop of blood. After over 30 minutes of looking I was about to call it a miss when My buddy stumbled over her in CRP grass that had laid down cause of it being later in the season. Easy to walk thru, but she sank down in it. She went 80y, and again no blood looking back on her trail.

Shot went in just behind the last rib, slightly clipped guts went thru both lungs and the heart and out the forward side Of the shoulder. Thought it didn’t exit, but after skinning it did. Lungs and heart show good expansion. Heart had about an inch diameter of hamburgered meat. No blood????

And then I remember this post; https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?372019-Have-you-hit-an-animal-that-left-no-blood-trail. Was pushing it a bit harder back then, and it’s still inconclusive I guess. But man, it makes me really regret not looking harder for that buck.

Lots of lessons learned as usual.

Entrance is a grazing wound a few inches behind the last rib before it penetrates the cavity
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Exit of cavity. Nice sized hole.
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Exit of shoulder just below hide. And the hide is flipped down below it before I pulled it all the way off.
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[Thumbcocker]

Suprised she went that far. Good shot placement. Congratulations.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Glad you found it! How's accuracy with an air cooled boolit?

[mattd]

It’s 50/50 water dropped. 1” at 50y which is pretty much as good as I do with anything.

[todd9.3x57]

nice shot!!!!!!

i use a (lyman #2 with a splash of tin) 200gr rcbs fn gc with 20.0gr of 2400/tuft of dacron(1726fps) in my 35/30. i have shot two deer and they did have a blood trail, even tho they went 15 and 25 yards. i shot a fork horn a bit high, behind the shoulder at 50ish yards. i gimped up to my buck and i seem where i hit him, there was blood and hair. i gimped down and there was even more blood. i get to him and it looked like a chainsaw went thru him, he was a bloody mess!!!!!!! i gutted the buck and there was a 3/4 - 1 1/2" wound channel thru both lungs(high lungs).

i shot a doe last year, but it was right behind the shoulder about 1/3 of the way up. she was 25ish yards away and she ran about 25ish more yards. it was raining and my brother got her gutted and dragged. (i have a disability)

but i shot another 4 pt about 7 years ago and i was using my 444 with 300gr fn gc(same mix) with 24.0gr of 2400/tuft of dacron(1624fps). i shot him at 60ish yards and it was HIGH behind the shoulder shot. he ran about 20ish yards, stood there, he did a circle and then he fell over. there was no blood, it bled internally.

[missionary5155]

Good Morning and Congratulations !
Thank you for the good photos and write up ! Those from the rear side shots are a challenge and you did well.
Some days it just ends up having to do alot of searching. But you got her and the good eating begins !
If the lungs fill with the leaking blood and no major artery is cut to pump through the exit there sometimes is little visual to go by.

[sharps4590]

I don't see how you could ask for any better performance from your load. It is called hunting and not killing.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

It’s 50/50 water dropped. 1” at 50y which is pretty much as good as I do with anything.


Just thinking you might get better weight retention and bigger exit wound with an air cooled boolit.

Our deer never seem to bleed much either. Never once have I gotten a "bucket of blood" trail. Chest cavities are often filled to the brim when I butcher.

[mattd]

Ahhh, I see what you mean now. I dunno. Never tried it. Weight retention was likely good. I only found 1 little sliver of lead, proly 2 grains worth. No other chunks or flakes.

I do like thinking about/discussing what would work better. I shoot so few deer with a rifle, I have a small data set. I haven't shot a deer with a jacketed bullet since 2007!

Of the 5 deer I've shot with cast only one bled. It was the NOE 311299 w the deep hollow point 75/25, WW/Pb, air cooled. Spot on broad side heart shot on a 6 month old deer. It ran 50y and painted the woods. Her mom I shot seconds before only went 35y, but didn't bleed. That shot deflected off her shoulder knuckle and I found the slug in her hind quarter. It looked like you'd expect a Nosler Partition to look.

For me, I'm leaning towards heavy for caliber, softer lead, pushed hard as possible and hollow pointed if available.

[ChristopherO]

I've been casting and shooting the NOE 182 WFN since this summer with 26 grains of H2400 (old can) and basically range scrap with a hint of typeset mixed in, not too much, though.
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Not cup point or water dropped, but in the 2,000 fps neighborhood, akin to the 350 Legend. I do powder coat and gas check them for this velocity to keep from leading the barrel. The accuracy is deer/coyote hunt ready (finally, it took quite a while to line this combination out), an easy 150 yard round, if not more, but need to test it first to know the actual ballistics and drop. Haven't shot a deer with them, yet, but your photo confirms what to expect, a good wound channel on a well placed shot. I've had lack of blood trails with 12 gauge sabot rounds, so it can happen with any projectile on certain situations.

I prefer softer than Lyman #2 from personal experience. Water jugs lined up at 100 yards show text book expansion.
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Glad you were successful in the shot and recovery.

[lar45]

Nice deer and rifle in an excellent caliber.

[outdoorfan]

I don't know if you can shoot those bullets air-cooled, but the flat nose air cooled would work really well, at that velocity, anyway.

Otherwise, I personally would maybe go with the deep hollow point if you are going to water quench them.