Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Does .223 typically leave a blood trail?

Quoting regulations off a outfitter's website? What do the actual regs in B.C. say about it?

All my kids and grandkids shot there first several deer with a 222 Rem. still have it btw, as did most of my cousins and brother..

We only shot the Hornady 60 gr. HP or SP..it worked and we never lost a deer..We never shot over 100 yards but twice and that was a fluke on the kids part in that they saw and shot a different buck than the one I pointed to them! My grandson killed a nice doe at 200 plus yards with one shot and my son shot a nice 4 point at 200 or so yards when there was a 34 inch Mule deer looking right at him at 40 yards! I fainted on that one.:)

The answer to your question is most bullets will not leave a blood trail and you should only use those light caliber in more open country where you can watch them run and at least get a direction..most will fall at the shot however. Keep your shots under 100 yards and carefully place your bullets..With a kid its up to the adult to coach them carefully on bullet placement, stay away from varmint type bullets, use the 60 gr. Hornady is my advise, but there may be others.

Used properly it works, used poorly it wounds. Your friend may be better off with a 22-250 or a 6x45??? or even a nice little 25-35 Win. its deadly at 100 yards.

Might want to check your facts from the actual government site before you make allegations of impropriety....In BC the only restriction on deer is no rimfires.

Used my 223AI on deer this fall myself, after reading enough from Steelhead and Stick and Paul, etc,.....Want to report me too? Hell, the CO I ran into this fall uses a Hornet occasionally for giggles......

Yeah BC was always the odd ball of the rest of Canada. LOL

I was hoping that BCBrian would post the reg and he must have had as much luck finding it as I did. Can you post the reg if you find it for our American hunter friends. Thanks

In BC ANY center-fire is legal for all big game - with one exception.

For Bison - and Bison only (223's are still LEGAL for moose and grizzlies) the bullet must weigh 175 grains or more - and the energy generated must equal a certain Kilojoule value - about equal to a 7mm Remington Magnum - or more. That's because a few hunters have got "stomped" using lesser cartridges.

I haven't hunted BC all my life - without arrest - by simply doing what I want to - and guessing about the regs.

I love folks using an outfitters link as a basis for determining legalities.

Had an idiot just the other day call me a poacher for shooting a Grouse in May, regardless of the fact that Grouse is open in May in Alaska.

Too many folks talking about what they don't know.

Oh, I also find the reg in about 2 minutes of google time. Just go to BC fish and game site (not fish and game but whatever it's called in BC).

wilkeshunter,

Since I my experience matches you friend in numbers of deer shot at, I will chime in after reading only the first page. The first was a doe at 222 yards (Leica 1200). I was about 100 to 150 feet above on an oposite ridge. Sixty grain Nolser Solid Base lead tip entered above the sturnum and esited at the diaphrame. DDRT.

The next one was a buck 15" back to belly. Hanging weight with no skin, guts or legs below the hocks 99 pounds. Range was about forty-five yards troting. Shot once and jacked another shell in. Fired again. Dropped at the second shot. I thought I missed once since there was only one entrance hole about 1" diameter. While skinning it, we saw where one bullet exited behind the off side shoulder and the other exited in front of the shoulder. Maybe the second shot was not necessary.

Sure seems to me your friend is missing or hitting behind the diaphram.

I'm guessing by that, you still think you are right and Brian is incorrect.

Page 16.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlif.../Hunting-TrappingSynopsis_0910_Part1.pdf

Actually they do have baby seal safaris in Newfoundland and it's legal to bash their brains in there but if you did it on the other Coast you'd probably end up in jail for 10 years. Every province has different rules and to know them all , is impossible about as possible as for you to know what's legal in Hawaii or in New York. Try shooting something in the other provinces with the .223 and you will never hunt again. So posting the reg is the best since as BC Brian said there are restrictions even with the .223. So go buy your hamburger at Burger king since they make them there but don't muddy the water's with stupid quotes about Dolphin fishing and take it easy, smoke another joint and have a beer.

Even where the cartridge is legal, I don't think it's the best choice for an inexperienced hunter of any age. YMMV.

CLB

And my sig line has what to do with this thread exactly? And I am well aware where it is legal. I actually know some seal hunters....BUT, to point it out, my sig line is sarcastic wit, as apparently you missed that point.



Which is why I would actually look it up myself on the applicable governing body website, not pluck mis-information off of a hunting website.....Try it sometime.


In that province perhaps....But thats kind of a moot point isn't it, as I've never said that I'm venturing to Alberta to hunt with my 223AI....Again, relevance to this thread?



No, what Brian actually said, is that there are restrictions with Bison....Not the 223.



A couple of things wrong here....1) I don't eat at Burger King. 2) a sig line is exactly that, a signature line...You'll notice that quite a few of us have them at the end of our posts.... 3) I don't smoke dope, and I rarely drink beer. I'm guessing that perhaps you should try that one yourself.

AND 4) How is any of this relevant? You jumped on Brian because you thought he was wrong, did a 0.3 second search to back yourself up, and fell on your face. Let it go. You are just digging yourself deeper, and the first step when you find yourself in a hole, is to stop digging.

I didn't read through all this, but from penetration issues, a 55 softpoint is a suggested house round in the 223, meaning it doesn't penetrate that far.

First you have to hit em right... but then you have to have a capable bullet. Capable could be a varmint HP that catches only ribs, no exit and ain't going far but doesn't leave room for error. Better choice would be a tougher bullet IMHO. I know there are others out there that are factory adn better choice, WW 223 in 64 soft points come to mind but you might have to order them.

Hit correctly the deer wont' go far period.

As to the suggestion of neck shooting, the neck IMHO is by far the WORST target, it has lots of non vital areas in it and you have to be more precise in that shot than even with a head shot. I've lined out vitals on the neck and the head and posted em here before... I know I'll never shoot for the neck unless its the only target... and I'll know I have to be perfect, bascially you need to be able to hit a golfball size target... of course the spine is there, but I"ve seen the neck stop bullets before with out penetration, even from a 300 mag.... and especially 63s in 223, though the deer were paralized the bones were never 100% penetrated. YOu have the 2 pipes, vein and artery, but in there is a windpipe and esophagus too.. slow deaths if thats all you hit.... and then there is meat above and below that is just flesh wound.
IMHO teach the kid to line up with the front leg and dump one in about 1/3 of the way up, and if any angle to the shot, shoot for the offside shoulder, but let it get through ribs on entry, not bone.
IF you pick a better bullet like a tsx or such, then break all the bones you want....

Rost, can you point me in the direction of the thread where you outlined the vitals, head & neck ? Got a buddy I want to show it to !

Paul.

We use a NEF Handi rifle in 223 for our youth hunts.
The kids can shoot it well and it has very little recoil.
Handloads with 60grn NP or 60grn V-max. Very seldom get exits.
Bullet placement is the key as always. Double lung= no blood trail; Low behind the shoulder=good blood trail.
We try to keep all shots inside 100yds and broadside only.
Coach

This is a good example why so many states including mine do not allow 22 cal rifles in the deer woods...Sorry about your bad experience though it's always tough to loose a deer.....................547.

Why is that?

my mileage varies.....of course this was only a Hornet:

I have a couple cases I know of where a .22-caliber centerfire didn't leave the shooter satisfied.

1. I was talking to a guy on a hunt three or four years ago that shot a javelina (top out at about half the weight of a small whitetail) with a .22-250 or .223 (I think it was a .22-250), hit it a little far back (easy to do on a javelina because their lungs are farther forward in the chest than a deer's are), and was very disappointed in the performance. As I recall, he didn't get much of a blood trail at all. I've hit javelina with the same kind of shot placement, and they've been DRT with plenty of blood to track even if they had run.

2. I shared a camp a couple years ago with an experienced hunter who shot a small whitetail with a .22-250. As I recall, he was using an appropriate bullet but shot a little too far back (but not "gut" shot), and it took he and his buddy, another very experienced hunter, over two hours to find the deer because it didn't bleed much.

Obviously both those cases involved less than ideal shot placement, but those experienced hunters both firmly believed that they would have had a much easier tracking job with a larger caliber bullet.

That brings up another point - how much diligence are your friend and his son applying to looking for the deer? Just because there is no blood trail doesn't mean the deer can't be found. I know it is a pain in the rear to do a search for a 200 yard radius around where a deer is shot without blood or anything else to guide the trackers, but it could be a good lesson for the kid on following through all the way once the trigger is pulled. If the kid put the bullet through the lungs, which he could have done without having a blood trail with a .224" bullet, I would expect that the deer would be less than 100 yards away from where it was shot.