.35 Remington expansion second deer

[MeekAndMild]

Well, the .308 was taken out of the equation due to a cracked stock and no way to consistantly zero it so I had no excuse to not take out my little Marlin 336 in .35 Remington and the same 200gr Core Loct bullets.

Despite my worries about getting buck fever, missing et cetera the second deer was a nice little 3 point buck weighing about 100-110 pounds. This one took off running though and ran maybe 75 yards before falling behind a log on the ground just inside a blackberry thicket. Luckily he didn't have the oomph to get any further into the briers or I'd still be there toting him out.

The shot range was paced off at 115 yards and the the buck was halfway between broadside and quartering toward me. The bullet hit at the intended aim point, just forward of the spine of the shoulder blade and with that resistance expanded well. There was a good 3/4 to 1 inch exit pathway through both lungs and the root of the heart and then out the meaty part of the other shoulder. The exit wound was about 3/4 inch diameter with bruising of the meat out to about 1 and 1/2 inch diameter.

There was no blood trail I could find except right around where he fell.

I think the key to good expansion was the fact that the shot was through the shoulder blade in this case.

The landowner and his father both use higher velocity rifles for deer such as .243, .256 Roberts, 7mm 08, .270 and don't seem to think very much at all about my .35. But they do admit it doesn't seem to spoil much meat.

Neither one of them seems to think it at all odd that a deer would run off like that when it is shot. Being a relative newby to the whole thing I just don't know.

[Subby]

That doesn't sound too odd. It is a bit disconcerting to see them run away after a fatal shot tho. A deer can run 75 yards in what, 5-6 seconds? That's not a whole lot of time to die from a wound. Try to get in the 2nd-etc shots, watch them in the scope once they're down, be prepared to shoot again if the ears/tail/legs move, then sneak up and poke their rump w/ your muzzle. I don't think you're worrying about anything of consequence.

Sub

[Al Thompson]

Way to go!

Unless you break the spine, it's actually somewhat unusual to get a herbivore to drop instantly, especially when shot at ranges in excess of 50y or so. That's why many of us like an exit wound - better chance of a blood trail.

On an other note, that's why the handgun stopping power debates make me chuckle.

What's up with the .308?

Giz

[griz]

Congratulations M&M, glad you got him.

Gizmo, it also entertains me when I hear about how powerful some new super duper round is. Last night I reread an article on, IIRC, the 470 Linbaugh. The author said that the 350 grain load at about 1400 FPS would not expand but should still give 100 percent one shot stops on deer. I think anybody who has hunted with the same ballistics from a muzzleloader will know that is pretty optimistic. Anything with a half inch hole bored through it’s lungs will die, but it might run somewhere else to do it.

[MeekAndMild]

What's up with the .308?

It looks like the typical drying crack you get with walnut sometimes except it runs across where the trigger housing is and is on the inside on one side so it is making the stock unstable.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Having been a long time pistol range shooter I think I may be just prone to unreasonable expectations from all the stories about 'stopping power'.

There is an interesting note in the Speer manual about it being OK to use pistol bullets to reload the .35 rem for target shooting but they are not good for game due to too rapid expansion. Too much of a good thing?

The idea of a second shot on a running deer is difficult to imagine though in this terrain which has some clear cut patches and then lots of brush, 7 year old pines and the like. For this particular deer I couldn't line up for a second shot due to some obstructions. He was hidden in just a few seconds, came out in view, then was gone again and back in view then gone. Those 5-6 seconds were interrupted with several blank spots.

Some good advice I got was to sit down for a half hour before
going to follow the trail. People who have hunted a long time tell me this is a tested and proven way to reduce run offs.

[Kobra]

My brother in law shot a little deer this year with his 270 while we were hunting. He showed me his stand afterwards and where he shot it - for my future information. I helped him drag it out and then skin it at his place. The deer he shot took a direct hit to one lung, the heart and broke a leg on its exit. The deer ran 50 yards or so, with a heart that was total ground beef - I mean gone. If the heart had been laying on the ground after we skinned it I am not sure anyone could have instantly identified the organ. If I hadn't seen it myself I wouldn't have believed it. Amazing...........

[Al Thompson]

M - check these guys for a new stock...

http://www.boydboys.com/home.html


Giz

[Art Eatman]

The deal about waiting a half-hour or so before tracking a wounded deer: First, if he hears no sounds of pursuit, he's gonna quickly find a place to hole up and thus not run so far. Tracking quietly may mean you might see him before he can jump up and run further, or at least get a shot before he runs.

Second, he's at least going to stiffen up from the wound; and may well bleed out and die. In this latter case, your job in getting him home is easier, since you didn't keep him moving for a long distance.

Art

[MeekAndMild]

Giz, thanks for the link. Those are really good prices for laminated stocks! That is as cheap as the manufacturer wants for plastic. I'm going to see if it can be repaired but with the crack cutting across the area between the 2nd and 3rd receiver screws I doubt it.

The deer he shot took a direct hit to one lung, the heart and broke a leg on its exit. The deer ran 50 yards or so, with a heart that was total ground beef - I mean gone.

That is eerie! Its like they are hard wired to run and will run on autopilot unless it knocks them down.

Art, yes thats what the landowner says, to let the deer pass in peace and quiet rather than continuing to chase it and run it all over the county.