Last day buck

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
Today was my final chance to put meat in the freezer.The wind has blown like crazy for the last several days and this morning was no different. I really didn't expect to see anything, but was determined to try.
For the last two hunts i had been using a doe bleat and young buck grunt occasionaly to try to bring something in range, but with no luck.

About 10:30 this morning i decided to try a different call and set my deer call for a mature buck on one end and a doe estrus grunt on the other end. I had never tried the estrus call before.
I gave a few doe grunts and a couple of minutes later the buck grunt. I decided i would give it to 11:30 and call it quits till next season.
I continued calling about every 15 minutes or so.

At 11:15 i heard deer running through the woods toward me and 2 does blasted by on a full run about 50 yds. to my left. Does were legal, but it was too thick for a running shot.
About a minute later i saw a young doe trotting slow along the same trail, but stopping to look behind her a bit.
I figured a buck was following and sure enough he came along at a steady walk following the does. As he passed by at about 50 yds. i caught him in the one spot i had a clear shot.
I tried to put the crosshairs behind the elbow pocket, but he was steady walking, making it difficult in the thick stuff and at the shot he ran about 50 yds. and piled up.
I wound up into the backside of his shoulder a bit on the on side and a bit more so on the offside.

This was the first deer with my new .308 Zastava mauser "Ol Ben" with a load of imr 4350 behind a 30xcb bullet @ 2447 fps.
I'll try to post some pics tonight or tommorrow night, gotta cut up and grind some meat for now.
There was a little bloodshot meat(about a 3" area on the entrance and less on the exit), but i doubt if it wasted a cup full even at that speed and short range...in fact it may clean up when i soak it in salt water a bit.
But...it did bloodshot all the bacon meat over the ribs all the way to the hindquarter on the onside, but not on the exit side...very strange. Once the bacon meat was removed, the ribs were fine.

Had about a golfball sized exit even though the bullet was ht'd to 27 bhn.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Speed kills. I don't hunt with hard bullets, but if you get them going fast enough, they do the trick. Lots of stuff been killed with machine gun Ball ammo. Congrats on your last day harvest!
 

yodogsandman

Well-Known Member
Awesome! Kinda sounds like near jacketed performance. Didn't find the bullet did you? How'd his insides look?
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Way to go!

I'm sure glad someone's got deer. While I had fun my season was less than desirable.

Can't wait for the pics.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
Thanks Ian!

Yodog, Yes, it was near jacketed performance, but far less meat destruction. I'm taking a break from cutting it up right now, and it looks like it's going to clean up well around the entrance and exit...hardly any meat loss at all.

It looks like definite expansion judging by the exit hole, even though no big bones were hit.
I could probably find the bullet in the ground as i shot from a treestand and i found a sapling that the bullet hit about 4" above the ground on exit.

The lungs were completely deflated and it it also cut the valves on top of the heart completely. The shot angle didn't look right for that, but it did it anyway.
Despite the large exit, this deer hardly bled externally at all, but the inside was full of blood and finally the last few yards before he fell it was pouring out.
I attributed the lack of blood trail to the fact the lungs went completely flat...no way he could breathe and the heart was cut off from pumping.
It all just poured into the body cavity.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
freebullet, Thanks...i just got lucky by sticking it out. Another ten minutes and i would have got down and gone home deerless.

I will concentrate on that doe estus grunt more next season for sure though.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I hate cutting them open when they do that.
you think everything is fine then blaaah, blood all over your boots and hands.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
The Brits killed game and large game all over the world with 215 grain solids at 2100 f/s. It always come down to where you hit them. 35' you did a find job and enjoy your harvest.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
Okay, got the meat stripped off the bone and washed and is now soaking in salt water.
The pics will look much worse than it was as far as bloodshot meat.
Once i skinned the top membrane from the meat, most of it ran off...it was just trapped, not really bloodshot.
There was a bit however around the bullet entrance and exit. I reamed about a 1/4" to 1/2" around the inside of the holes. I lost maybe a half cup of meat at most.
Not bad for almost 2500 fps. and i think the small meplat on this bullet helped a lot in that area.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Great job,nice write up!

I'd agree on meplat.I'm still amazed at how smaller cals. ,with their much smaller meplats,....at around the same velocity,can lay the smack down almost as good as larger bullets.6's vs .30's.

At 2500,you're cookin.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I have only once (knowingly) used a call to attract a deer into range. Very interesting watching the progress of said oncoming deer. Even better when a second buck started following the first bucks back trail.
I shot the first at 15 yards, watched him run and fall at about 60y. I turned my attention back to the second buck at about 50y. He was still standing watching the first deer. I put the crosshairs on him and look a close look at his antlers. Which were duplicates of the one I took.
 

Chris

Well-Known Member
Good going there, Buddy. I'm glad for your success and the report. I have absolutely no experience using hard cast at higher velocities. VERY interesting, thanks.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
just got lucky by sticking it out.

I would call that perseverance rather than luck.

Nice job. Very nice job. RE: the bloodshot meat; household pets have to eat too. Timber (my avatar) would consider that bloodshot meat as chateau briand.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
011.JPG
This is a phone pic of the gut pile. You can see on the upper left that the heart valves were cut clean along with a groove in the top of the heart.
Right under the heart on the left are what was left of the lungs.
014.JPG
This was the entrance which actually cleaned up nicely once the membrane was peeled off and rinsed.
The bacon meat along the ribs was bloodshot all the way to the hindquarter.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
013.JPG
This is the exit side.

Okay i see it doesn't quite show it, but there was only slight bloodshot at the exit, and again, cleaned right up despite what the pics look like.
I think the bacon meat would have rinsed out too and i should have tried, but didn't.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Nicely done.

Our deer in the east half of the state are smaller & don't usually have enough meat on the ribs to worry about but, in the west half they are bigger. I don't fret over it either.

Good eats.