When I was about 15 I shot a little basket rack 8 pointer at about 70 yards with my CVA .50cal Missouri Rifle and a 410gr flat point Buffalo Bullet. About 5 steps in front of him was a little oak sapling about 2” in diameter. That bullet hit that sapling just barely left of center and left a 3/4” hole through it before hitting the buck right where I was aiming.
He turned around 180 degrees and flopped over dead. I didn’t even know the tree was there or that I’d hit it until I walked up to the deer. Not knowing any better I became an instant believer in the “brush buster” theory and it was some years and a couple magazine articles before I figured it out.
