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found early muzzy buck

alter

alter

Member
so .. im sticking my nose out here to probably have it chopped off but wanted to post anyway so other inexperienced hunter's can also learn from my mistakes.

this is only my second year of deer hunting since i was a kid and then i was just basically an extra tag for my uncles. i was never taught a thing. last year i never wounded an animal as the only shot i got was late muzzy on a doe and i harvested her with a very clean kill.

this year i decided on early muzzy and the day before last of the sason i had a smaller buck come in at 50 yds. took the shot and he made a hard left and disappeared past some trees. last i saw him he was running full bore through a clearing and entering timber after 200 yards. i checked where he was when i shot and found white hair on the ground , no blood. followed his path in a zig zag all the way to where id last seen him , no blood , followed into the timber for roughly 200yds back and forth and no blood (i could see his running path through the leaves) backed out and took the hair to an experienced friend who was pretty sure it was belly hair and that i must have shot low and shaved his belly.

got a call today from the guy who owns the land and he found it , if i had walked a straight line from where i had last saw him for about 500 yds i would have found him. not sure where he was hit of course as he's been coyote/crow dinner for quite a while but did tag and take the antlers at least. was just a 4 point.

got REAL mixed feelings about this not sure if i should be happy that i found him or bad that i didnt find him right away. ive had like 5 people now tell me that muzzys are notorious for no blood

using powerbelt 245s with 100 grains btw if that makes any difference
 
Glad you have closure on your buck. FWIW, through my years of muzzleloading and having shot Powerbelts through a couple of my rifles, they have always left the worst trail (they did group nicely out of a couple of my Traditions rifles). Out of my Knight Disc Extreme that I'm shooting now, I'm using Barnes Expanders 250 grain and they knock the pants off anything it hits. Great blood trails, serious carnage. The exit holes should be R rated. Get a few more years behind you and you'll find what works for you as well.
 
Another vote for Barnes here. Glad you found your buck man. Stick with it. I got my first muzzy deer this year. I put a bad shot on him and the Expanders sure did a number on him.
 
Switch to Barnes, you won't regret it! And congratulations on your finding your buck. Sometimes your story is the way it goes. Glad you finally got him
 
Good deal! With what you had for evidence, I wouldn't have gone any further than that either. I have shot some of the copper powerbelts in the past and switched back to hornady xtp's. I want to give the barnes a try. The copper powerbelt were terrible. The didn't mushroom and pass through, but instead the exploded on impact. Shrapnel all over in the deer I shot. Not a good bullet in my book.
 
LYON said:
Good deal! With what you had for evidence, I wouldn't have gone any further than that either. I have shot some of the copper powerbelts in the past and switched back to hornady xtp's. I want to give the barnes a try. The copper powerbelt were terrible. The didn't mushroom and pass through, but instead the exploded on impact. Shrapnel all over in the deer I shot. Not a good bullet in my book.
Click to expand...

I think i'm gonna try the Barnes out , that doe i got last year i hit just behind shoulder quartered to , there was no exit wound and the field dress was a mess , was like a mini hand grenade went off inside her. sure she went like 20 yds but im guessing shrapnel like you said
 
I have found Barnes expanders to be the best as well. The precision rifle dead centers are pretty awesome as well. The hornady XTPs were always tack drivers but never had a good blood trail. The 195 powerbelts were amazingly deadly out of my 45 cal but never did get a pass thru. It was like a grenade going off in the deer though. Right now shooting 250 grain barnes TMZs but thinking of bumping up to 290 grain.

At least now you know what happened to the buck and you learned from the experience.
 
Accuracy isn't the issue. It very well could have and probably was a bad hit. I can hit a silver dollar at 50 yards. I free handed the shot and more than likely dropped the muzzle a but. The issue was lack of any blood trail.
 
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