Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullets And Twigs

Always had open clear shots with no worries of my bullets hitting anything but the deer I was shooting at.
I recently acquired permission to hunt 15 acres nearby. My stand is located on top of a ridge overlooking the property which was logged approximately 5 years ago.
The terrain allows me mostly open, unobstructed shots, however there is quite a bit of new growth forest, consisting mainly of small pine trees and choke cherry.

My question is: how do small branches and twigs affect the flight of a bullet.
I'm not talking about large branches, but rather small ones (1/4" in diameter)
Most cannot be seen in low light at a distance.
I would not be shooting intentionally into the brush, but if I were to hit one of these branches or twigs, how will this affect the flight of my bullet?
Do I risk wounding an animal? With the bullet just break through the branch or twig and continue on its path? Looking for some real life experience in this area, thanks for any input.

No experience with twigs. But I seen how a bullet can be deflected very easily.

Several years back me and my dad did a bison ranch hunt well more like a shoot. Wanted meat not a hunt. He lines up on a nice cow lets the shot fly. Shes stands there and looks at him. Meanwhile a smaller yearling was standing about eight feet behind her starts getting all stiff and shaking.

WTF. Get out the binos and confirm the smaller one is hit. Finish her off. We start trying to figure out what happened.

There was some old pasture fencing still standing in some tall grass my dad shot through. Turns out he hit a barb of barbed wire. Not the main wire the actual barb and unwrapped it with the bullet. Bullet veered a good eight feet behind and about three feet below the intended target. Recovered the bullet and it had about a third of its diameter shaved off down about half way. Bullet entered the bison base first.

After seeing this I don't want a bullet hitting anything.

Don't shoot through brush or twigs.... The end

I can relate some instances.

Blackpowder season in New Hampshirenl heard my buddy fire up on the ridge. He had been sitting on the ground and a big doe ambled by at about 20 yards. He fired with the 50 cal M and big conical. Doe ran off. We climbed to look and no sign of a hit. I sat where he was and looked along his shot path. About half way to the deer was a hardwood small sapling that was cut and dangling.

Another time l fired at a buck at about 20 yards up in the woods thinking l had a clear hole but it all happened fast. The bullet hit a twig, deflected and struck the buck more forward than intended but broke the upprr leg bone...but it was a tough bullet and penetrated well even though oh t went in dort of sideways.

Another time a 160 partition hit a red willow twig up in Manitoba, tumbled, and struck the buck in the liver. He was dead in 100 yards. The bullet had spun out both cores.

OTOH a pal shot through a small tree one time and killed a buck.

Best to avoid brush if you can...but ever wonder why bullets deflect off twigs but we expect them to break leg/shoulder bones and still track straight through animals?

Yep


I had a 200gr RN from a 35 Rem turned by a holly tree twig while making a shot on a decent buck @ 30yds. I was aimed tight to the shoulder, bullet struck halfway up the neck. Never saw the twig until I retraced what happened after recovering the deer.


I had a 300gr Barnes Expander turned by a brier while making a shot on a huge doe with my muzzleloader @ 50yds. The brier made an upside down u and it's apex was right in front of my barrel. At the shot the doe ran off and I checked out the sign, there was none. When I looked back that brier was in two pieces sending the bullet to who knows where.

I missed a 10pt at a mere 20 yards because of a twig smaller than a pencil in diameter.

Was the sun in your eyes too?

don't do it. privit small 1/4 inch thick end branches, 40 yards, 180 grain Hornady interlock, no blood, no hair, no deer.

Nope.

I killed the deer. He ran 80 yards and stopped, the next bullet found shoulder.

Afterwards I found the branch the slug hit. It was about 6" in front of the muzzle.

My trophy from 1996 is a broadhead stuck in a hunk of 1 inch beech sapling. That's what I got for a conciliation prize after taking a shot at a monster 8-pointer at 15 yards.

The bottom line is that brush busting is a complete myth. You may hit the deer but it won't be where you aimed. It matters not on size, distance from the target or distance from the muzzle. It will change the flight of the bullet in completely unpredictable ways.

My latest experience was during a sighting-in session this past fall. Angus and I were shooting some of our deer rifles for a last check and were getting really wild results. At first, I was wondering if this was some strange result of the Dyna Bore Coat I had applied over the Summer. However, changing the focus on the spotting scope revealed the problem-- tall grass about 20 yards out from the target. I hopped on the Cub Cadet and had the problem taken care of in 5 minutes.

I've shot a couple trees, but they were all real trees, at least 3" in diameter. I always go for mature trees.

If you are going to shoot em shoot big one's. lol

My favorite story of bullets and twigs took place in Africa. I was hunting eland, and finally got a shot at a big bull standing broadside about 200 yards away. There was a twig no bigger around than my little finger right in front of the sticking place behind the shoulder, but I couldn't have it it delberately with an entire box of ammo, so just aimed and shot. The PH and I saw dust fly in exactly the right spot, and the eland immediately disappeared behind some brush. I was shooting a .338 Winchester Magnum with 250-grain Nosler Partitions at about 2700 fps, and the PH was so confident the bull was dead he shook my hand heartily.

We gave the eland maybe a half minute and walked over there, then around the brush he'd trotted behind. He was still standing, maybe 100 yards away, though with his head lowered, this time facing in the other direction. I put a bullet behind that shoulder and he went right down.

The first bullet had hit the twig and turned sideways, leaving a hole forming a perfect silhouette of a 250-grain Nosler Partition in the hide. The twig had been so close to his body that the bullet actually slapped it against the skin, and the thorns left little swirls in the hair.

I coild provide several other examples, but that's my favorite. If a tiny twig mere inches from an animal can turn a 250-grain bullet entirely sideways, what do think one could do to a typical deer bullet a few feet further away from its intended target?

I remember that one...and this little dude who got a twig between him and you the first time you saw him......caused the bullet to go we knew not where.

He wasn't so lucky later that same day.....




The Eland in Johns story....






And my weird one, a cull waterbuck, laying just a few yards away in a fallen tree. I figured, what the hell, and stuck an '06 through the mess. It never made it. He didn't move so I figured Id do it again...the second bullet made it...

that's a hell of a dung pile over your left shoulder

Tom,

I remember hearing the first bullet shot at the springbok rattling off through the thornbush!

Some people think big, slow bullets will get through brush, especially solids, but Craig Boddington once shot at a Cape buffalo with a .470 solid in fairly thick cover. The bullet went right down, but the bullet landed at least a couple feet away from where Craig aimed, due to encountering a branch he couldn't see, since naturally his double had open sights. Like the Partition on the eland, the .470 solid hit sideways, but broke the bull's neck. Craig had aimed at the shoulder!

I once had a 300-grain Minie from a .50 caliber muzzleloader deflect on some light brush. It never touched a whitetail buck standing right behind the brush.

My dad has shot numerous deer straight through grass, brush, and pine tree boughs, using a 20 gauge slug gun.

I don't agree with it as I think it's tempting fate, but it's tough to argue with his dead critters. He used to laugh at me for turning down such shots. OTOH, he grew up after the Depression, and a deer is "meat" to him--and he is going to take a shot whether it tempts fate or not, as he is driven by wanting something to eat.

Yeah, it CAN work, just as we sometimes draw the third ace to a pair. But it sure doesn't work every time, either in poker or hunting.

Man! Thanks for the info everyone. Not very encouraging, but I'd rather know the truth than to act (shoot) hastily and risk wounding an animal.
Looks like I will be on FTA (Full Twig Alert) when I hunt this property.

As a side note if you have a McSwirly you can shoot through anything