I saw a test done about 35 years ago where different calibers were shot through a screen of dowel rods at a target. The take home message was that it didn't make any difference what weight or velocity the bullet was it was deflected significantly. It was surprising the big slow bullets moved about as much as the light fast ones.
Got you it was the second shot. I use leupold vx2’s and there are always sticks, stems, and twigs i can’t see. Lots of times more magnification actually makes the problem worse rather than better. But we are talking eastern hardwoods and not field hunting. 75 yards is a long shot with most being 50 and under.
And i have shot deer that hit something i did not see. I shot a buck standing about 75 yards uphill from me with a 338 win mag and a 225gr hornady sst bullet. Scope was a burris ff2 3-9x40, should have been plenty enough optic. Still couldnt see the twig. The bullet hit that and broke in half went about halfway in the deer and tumbled all the way 90 degrees and lodged in the close side ham. That piece weighed 130 some grains, the other piece totally missed the deer as there was no other hole. The deer stood there probably 5 seconds and then took a dead run straight down the hill at me and fell over.
If you are going to kill mature deer here you have to go where they are and it generally is not in a field or clearing unless it is night time.
When shooting in such conditions, how does one assure the backstop is clear of other hunters? Just hope and luck?
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
It becomes obvious how hunters are killed in the woods each year and why they are usually killed by family. This has previously been a huge mystery to me.
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
And if they are screened by brush, what good does that do?
Im not talking about shooting through a bush at something you cant see. I can definitely tell you have never stepped one toe in an eastern hardwoods forest.
And John Wooters and John Sundra and Jack O'Connor and probably a few more I can't think of right off hand. I still have several of those old articles around.
Got you it was the second shot. I use leupold vx2’s and there are always sticks, stems, and twigs i can’t see. Lots of times more magnification actually makes the problem worse rather than better. But we are talking eastern hardwoods and not field hunting. 75 yards is a long shot with most being 50 and under.
And i have shot deer that hit something i did not see. I shot a buck standing about 75 yards uphill from me with a 338 win mag and a 225gr hornady sst bullet. Scope was a burris ff2 3-9x40, should have been plenty enough optic. Still couldnt see the twig. The bullet hit that and broke in half went about halfway in the deer and tumbled all the way 90 degrees and lodged in the close side ham. That piece weighed 130 some grains, the other piece totally missed the deer as there was no other hole. The deer stood there probably 5 seconds and then took a dead run straight down the hill at me and fell over.
If you are going to kill mature deer here you have to go where they are and it generally is not in a field or clearing unless it is night time.
When shooting in such conditions, how does one assure the backstop is clear of other hunters? Just hope and luck?
When hunting heavy bush with hounds everyone is put on a stand and spaced well apart. Everyone knows where the others are, where your safe shooting angles are and you don’t leave that stand. Anybody who goes “Dora the Explorer” generally doesn’t get invited back.
And you’re not shooting at something you can’t see, but at something that isn’t standing still. Watch some of the driven boar hunts on YouTube, it’s very similar.
I love the campfire. Guys with experience in one type of hunting or location, critiquing things they have no idea of.
Are they in Human Resources at work?
As others have stated if you hunt here and think You can avoid brush, you better do your hunting with a light.
And it's not just here. Texas has a little bit of brush, Seen just a little bit of screen hunting Georgia. Most of my experience in Colorado wasn't too brush, partly due to elevation, I think. But, it sure wasn't always open field. Never been to Alaska or Africa, but have heard stories...
Then, there is the "What the hell". Trying to get a doe, in the woods. She came by at about 50 yards, walking at a decent pace. Nice and open there, I was following and went for the shot. Instead of dropping, she spun and ran. I shot again, she did another 180 and ran. Just as she was getting into deep brush, i shot, again. She went down.
Backtracking to figure out what happened, I found an 8 inch locust tree with a new hole. Somehow, I missed seeing a tree as I was lining up a shot at a moving deer. A whole dam tree!
But that's how I roll. Then there was a buck...3 or 4 shots...WTF...How did you miss... every round matched a shot off twig on a branch I didn't see in the tree next to me.
Amazing how you can't see them up close.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
Many say use heavy for caliber, slow moving bullet when shooting through thick stuff (briars), small twigs, etc. Many say you have to use a “tough bullet” vs something like ballistic tips or BERGERS. My question is, are there any objective studies on this topic that shows a significant difference in altered flight path or bullet integrity when thin brush is shot through? Lots of theories out there, but really want some authoritative information.
evidently the answer to the OP's question is.....no
Sometime in the late '80's my dad borrowed a VHS tape from a friend. It was a "myth buster" type video.
"Brush-Busting" was one of the things they wanted to test. They had something set up like bookends and filled the gap loosely full of brush/sticks then shot various projectiles into the brush. They all showed fairly significant deflection on a target fairly close to the "simulated brush pile" IIRC they ran a reasonable gamut from 223 up through round-nose FMJ/Solid either .375 or .458. I can no longer recall most of the cartridges nor projectiles save one. They shot a .50BMG through the loose twigs and sticks and that showed a fair amount of deflection as well.
There were some "tests" showing different handgun rounds being shot into new at the time Kevlar vests.
"Police Academy" was fairly recent and Tackelberry had his famous line about his Python in .357 cracking the engine block of a truck, so, they shot an engine block, I sort of recall they had some kind of AP projectile with maybe a green coating, and it just left a bullet mark/stain on the block, no cracks, no holes.
I can walk on water.......................but I do stagger a bit on alcohol.
Lee Trevino said a tree was 90% air. We all would like a perfectly broadside, standing still shot but that's not always going to be the case under hunting conditions.
Has anyone posted this yet? This is one of the better videos I’ve ever seen on the subject. The privet hedge is EXACTLY the sort of thicket I hunt in, though he appears to be shooting through more brush than I ever would.
It’s a seventeen minute video. The Cliffs are that yes, higher velocity stuff appears to deflect and tumble while the slower and bigger stuff appears to just bore right through. The .444 and the 45-70 both went through 3/4 inch pieces of privet hedge and kept going straight.
Lee Trevino said a tree was 90% air. We all would like a perfectly broadside, standing still shot but that's not always going to be the case under hunting conditions.
It is if you make it that way. Only YOU take risky shots.
I walked away from a bunch of iffy shots a week or so ago. Try again some day. Or not.
When you force the issue that you HAVE to shoot, then is when ugly things can happen much quicker.
Lord knows wide open standing still shots have been messed up. Why ad anything else in. Its not fair to the animal IMHO
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
And if they are screened by brush, what good does that do?
Im not talking about shooting through a bush at something you cant see. I can definitely tell you have never stepped one toe in an eastern hardwoods forest.
Only obviously! But I am not talking about shooting through brush at what you can not see. I am talking about shooting AT what you CAN see and hitting what you can not see behind the brush.
How do you clear your backstop? Or is this a foreign concept?
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/ni3UWjy.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/qav4FAi.jpg)
