I made the most of a rare sunny, dry day on Saturday and went out for a deer. After electing to sit in a high seat for a bit, I was rewarded after half an hour by a fallow doe emerging from the treeline and making her way from left to right along the margin between the wood and the meadow.
At a range of 100m, I took what I thought was a spot-on heart/lung shot when she paused and raised her head. The only reaction I got was for the deer to pause, then turn around and start walking back the way she had come. When she turned, I was very disturbed to see gut poking out through an exit wound approximately half way along her abdomen. My head being full of horror stories about following up on gut-shot deer, for the first time ever I decided I need to shoot twice. This time the round hit and she went down immediately, so I breathed a massive sigh of relief. Both shots were taken with the deer standing broadside on to me with no hint of quartering.
When I approached a very dead deer ten minutes later, I found entrance wounds on both sides. The first photo shows my first shot, which was exactly where I'd aimed it on the right hand side of the deer. So somehow the round had hit at the point of aim, then decided to travel along the abdomen and come out half way along. The second photo shows my second shot, on the left hand side of the deer, a bit further back than I would have liked because I was taking a hurried (some may say panicked) follow-up shot.
The gralloch revealed a very slightly nicked gut (fortunately the green was dry and fibrous and hadn't leaked into the abdominal cavity), as well as a heart with the top shot off, and some shredded lungs.
I'm convinced the heart shot was my first, but am very perturbed about the lack of reaction and the gut damage. I was using a rifle fresh from being zeroed at the range (incidentally at 100m too) with 140 grain Norma Whitetail in 6.5 Creedmoor. These are lead rounds that I have had very reliable results with before (as in it smashes deer flat), and I only have a handful of them left before I plan on embracing the future and switching to monolithic copper.
My first question would be whether I should just put it down to chance that my first round did so much undesirable damage and that the lack of initial reaction is normal. My second question is whether I was right to send a second round a few moments later, or whether I should have waited.
I am pleased that as usual I now have fridge full of delicious venison, but I think I need a bit of reassurance that it is either OK to wait a bit and just see what happens after an apparently unsuccessful shot, or whether it is better to make sure the deer goes down with a swift follow-up!
At a range of 100m, I took what I thought was a spot-on heart/lung shot when she paused and raised her head. The only reaction I got was for the deer to pause, then turn around and start walking back the way she had come. When she turned, I was very disturbed to see gut poking out through an exit wound approximately half way along her abdomen. My head being full of horror stories about following up on gut-shot deer, for the first time ever I decided I need to shoot twice. This time the round hit and she went down immediately, so I breathed a massive sigh of relief. Both shots were taken with the deer standing broadside on to me with no hint of quartering.
When I approached a very dead deer ten minutes later, I found entrance wounds on both sides. The first photo shows my first shot, which was exactly where I'd aimed it on the right hand side of the deer. So somehow the round had hit at the point of aim, then decided to travel along the abdomen and come out half way along. The second photo shows my second shot, on the left hand side of the deer, a bit further back than I would have liked because I was taking a hurried (some may say panicked) follow-up shot.
The gralloch revealed a very slightly nicked gut (fortunately the green was dry and fibrous and hadn't leaked into the abdominal cavity), as well as a heart with the top shot off, and some shredded lungs.
I'm convinced the heart shot was my first, but am very perturbed about the lack of reaction and the gut damage. I was using a rifle fresh from being zeroed at the range (incidentally at 100m too) with 140 grain Norma Whitetail in 6.5 Creedmoor. These are lead rounds that I have had very reliable results with before (as in it smashes deer flat), and I only have a handful of them left before I plan on embracing the future and switching to monolithic copper.
My first question would be whether I should just put it down to chance that my first round did so much undesirable damage and that the lack of initial reaction is normal. My second question is whether I was right to send a second round a few moments later, or whether I should have waited.
I am pleased that as usual I now have fridge full of delicious venison, but I think I need a bit of reassurance that it is either OK to wait a bit and just see what happens after an apparently unsuccessful shot, or whether it is better to make sure the deer goes down with a swift follow-up!
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nothing wrong with a second shot as if they start to wriggle and the head comes up then the front legs get a hold it will turn in to a
. 
