Thread: Where was this hit?

Originally Posted by Tahr

I will probably never know.

Bella found it laying down right where it went out of sight. Quite a bit of dark red blood. It jumped up and ran and then stood, I didn't get a shot and it ran again. 20 yards and Bella found it again and I got 2 quick shots at it. One broadside and one going away. Then to complete the cock-up I had to cut its throat.

It had a high shoulder shot that didn't go through it and one through its back leg (but I cant for the life of me remember which one). I gave the shoulders and the good hind leg away - Ive rung the guy to let me know what hind leg it was . There wasn't any blood on its coat anywhere. If I had hit it in the shoulder at 15 yards I would have expected the Barnes to go right through but it didn't, so its all a bit of a mystery.

All in all shit shooting.

Dark red would most likely be veinous blood, or blood returning to the lungs which for me isn't a lung hit in the vital exchange area anyway. Most likely it would be gut/organs and this would seem to be supported by the awkward arched back stance as the animal went to move away and also by the fact that it didn't go far but sat down virtually straight away in cover, but with no blood on the coat anywhere - well that is a mystery. If it was a rear leg I would have thought it wouldn't have sat so quickly????

And you say shit shooting - but the animal didn't go far and remained anchored if not dropped cleanly. Something didn't quite go to plan, that's for sure but looking at the positive on it you didn't clip it in a kneecap or take the bottom jaw off or something stupid like that which results in a non-fatal wound but a lost animal that basically starves to death! Sometimes stuff happens, I recall seeing a similar thing where a 150gr .308 cup-and-core pill from a packet of factory ammo blew up on the shoulder of a stag at close range due to the amount of dry wallow mud on it and left a wide but shallow wound that didn't kill or anchor the thing. This is why I've gone to 165gr in the .308 now, wider recommended weight range and reported better SD and penetration ability for the 165gr pill vs the 150's.