Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Whitetails and "hydrostatic shock"

This is one of the oft argued topics in riflery related to hunting, so it's always worth one more round, right?

My own experience includes "autopsying" well over 300 deer. Nobody seems to resist when you volunteer for that duty, and for many years, I was so fascinated with the results that I'd almost always volunteer for that duty. I hunt the south, where our average whitetails run from 120-180 lbs. AVERAGE, so my comments will apply specifically to them, and NOT to the larger 200+ pounders typically found in other regions.

In my experience, the thread on Rem. Core Lokt bullets, and more particularly MD and others' assertion that up to 2800 fps. (and on SMALLER, under 200-250 lb. whitetails, etc. up to 3100 fps. or so), conventional cup and core bullets work very well. I don't shoot deer in the butt, so disregard these comments in regard to that type of shot.

My experience and observation indicates that there's nothing that really surpasses the traditional "soft" cup and core bullets on whitetails, and I'd include velocities up to 3100 fps. I shoot Nosler Ballistic Tips a lot, and they're devastating on our southern whitetails. I should also note that I usually hunt from tree stands, and that this (in part) allows me to wait for good broadside or shallow angled shots.

These factors combine so that, to date, I've rarely had to track any of my own deer. I've had to track some that others have shot, and I don't like it. I like my deer to drop at the shot, and I like to find it right where it stood when I pulled the trigger.

To date, NOTHING works as well as a "soft" traditional cup and core bullet, or the Nosler BT's for accomplishing just that.
Now I realize that not ALL of us hae the luxury of being able to wait for a broadside or near broadside shot, of course, so those who "must," for whatever reason, take other type shots may want to seek advice elsewhere on THAT subject. However, it's also been my experience that most deer WILL give us a good profile for a shot IF we can just show a little patience.

I trained myself early on, because I got so excited when a deer would appear, to just FREEZE on my initial sighting of a deer. Then I'd force myself to actually THINK for a second, and determine just how much time I had to make the shot - which usually turned out to be plenty enough to wait for a good profile for the shot. This helped me place my shots, and no doubt saved me some "lost" evenings out in the woods with a flashlight - something I do NOT like when I could be back home swapping lies about the hunt and frying up some backstrap with some onions, Worstershire and whatever else seems appealing at the moment. I love venison as much as I abhor tracking! Learning to freeze at the first appearance of a deer eliminates the adrenaline response that so often leads us to hasty mistakes.

Anyway, I also learned that if I move the rifle v-e-r-y
s-l-o-w-l-y, I could bring the rifle to shoulder with a deer right UNDER me. This wasn't a small finding! It's enabled me to eliminate virtually all need for shooting running deer, which all too often results in tracking - did I mention I just HATE doing that? After all, a deer lives in the woods, and the tree branches are nearly always moving, even if moderately, and birds fly, etc., so deer mainly notice only movement that is too fast, and thus seems threatening to them. They don't notice very slow movement at all, typically.

Combining these two simpe principles - freezing to calm down before the shot (which allows waiting for a broadside or nearly broadside shot) and moving the rifle very slowly so as not to be noticed by the deer - I've been able to compile a record of one shot in-the-tracks kills that would at first seem impressive. However, it's really not anything that most all of us can't do, if you think about it a minute. Think about it a second. Freezing initially gets us past the adrenal rush and allows us to THINK instead of merely react. Deer aren't dangerous, so this is good here. Then, moving slowly won't scare the deer into forcing us to make a running shot, or worse, pulling the trigger just as it moves. Simple. Effective. Reliable.

Now comes the in-the-tracks part of the "secret." I've shot the bulk of these little whitetails with .270's, '06's, .308's and a 6mm. Rem. Deer are big targets, really. A lot bigger than the 8" paper plate many use to check their sights! Standing deer are actually pretty easy to hit, and hit well - IF they're standing and unalarmed. The meat may taste a mite better if they're not pumping adrenaline as well, so there are many reasons to seek a standing broadside shot. The "trick" is to put them down right where they stand, and that's where "hydrostatic shock" comes into play.

In my experience, a standing broadside deer shot in the forward part of the lungs in the high heart area, will typically fall at the shot and not move from that shot if shot with the typical .270/'06/.308 with the lighter (130 gr. .270 or 250 gr. '06/.308's) cup and core or BT bullets, or some similar caliber and load. At the shot, they'll typically act as if a strong electrical current had hit them suddenly, sometimes will stiffen (if there's time to notice) and just collapse. THIS is what we all seek! If the heart is hit, they'll usually make a mad dash for some 25-40 yds. and then collapse. Scares me near to death, so I try to avoid an actual heart shot!

However, though I've never hunted with them, I've noticed a clear trend among the stories I regard as "reliable" from those who shoot our little whitetails with the newer homogeneous bullets, like the X and TSX. They'll typically brag about hitting it "right in the heart" and wind up saying "... and it only went 50 (to 75 yds.) before piling up dead!" That's a good job, of course, and a clean kill - something we all seek - but for me, I'll take the traditional cup and core bullets or a BT ANY day over the harder, more limited expansion types, regardless of construction ... on whitetails, anyway. I've got some 250 gr. Nosler Partitions in case I get to make that elk hunt some day, but Jack O'Connor's comments about the fast/light bullets has proven itself on whitetails almost unerringly.

I HAVE found that the .30/30 and .270 are two of the most reliable calibers around, and one reason for this is that almost all bullets for them are designed specifically for these calibers, almost exclusively, and therefore the bullets used for them can be more nearly a "tailored fit" for their use. The .30/30 clearly doesn't kill QUITE as quickly, but with a good shot, it's often an in-the-tracks killer.

I have concluded that - FOR WHITETAILS SPECIFICALLY - hydrostatic shock DOES exist, and not only that, but it WORKS, and it works RELIABLY and WELL, but it works only by far better with the "softer" and quickly expanding bullets and velocities over about 2700 fps or so, on up to maybe 3100 fps.

WITHIN THESE SPECIFIC LIMITS, AND ON WHITETAILS, I believe hydrostatic shock is possibly one of a hunter's best freinds, and if one has the discipline and wherewithall to wait for a good shot, and place the bullet well, killing whitetails in their tracks is not only easy, it's really sort of our obligation as a good hunter.

Use a magnum and the above often doesn't apply. A buddy has lost some deer with 100 gr. .264's and 140 gr. BT's in the 7 mag., so the above isn't a genarality, it's a specific. However, it's the "secret" I've used for many years to avoid the dreaded and hated duty of tracking.

Does anyone else here use these little "tricks" to avoid having to track deer? I nearly lost one once, that went only 30 yds. It fell into a stump hole that was surrounded by briars, and nothing white showed, so it was very hard to see. I was about to abandon the search when I came back by it, and leaned over and shined the flashlight and found it. DARN! Over 1 1/2 hours of good cookin' time wasted!