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My friend shot a very big Mulie buck head on many moons ago. He was using a .300 Win Mag and the original 200gr X bullet. The buck drop on the spot and the bullet was recovered under the hide behind the ham.

I don't think anything other than a CNS hit will give you 100% drop on the spot. On the other hand sometimes they drop right there from a lung shot. Animals are funny that way.

I think your 250 yard tracking job has mostly to do with missing the heart, and possibly the lungs too. Just a little different shot placement and your tracking job will be much shorter, imo.

+1 Aim for the throat patch.

Made that same shot on two deer on consecutive days. At the shot the deers front legs went straight back and the deers head hit the ground. Deer took off running , head on the ground, pushing with the back legs. Ran about forty yards 'till they hit a tree.

First deer I ever got was shot with my old 7x57 with a 154 gr. Hornady RN and I center punched his chest just above the brisket at all of 10 yards. There was an immediate gusher of blood fanning out over serveral feet...the deer ran down hill for 40 yards, stumbled and nosed into the ground. We later found the bullet imbedded in a steak from the rear quarter. A frontal shot is deadly but there is not be much room for error...a little to the left or the right and you can have a real problem on your hands.

Yup doesn't matter the projectile; bang-flop.

Amen on that shot placement. Not only does it take out the spine, but blows bone into the heart, lung, liver region.

I think that a more violently expanding bullet would have killed a bit quicker.

I don't think a heavier bullet would be the right direction to get that effect.

I shot a nice white tail buck just like that about 5 years ago. We were only 70 yards apart or so andhe didnt flinch a muscle. Fell dead with his hooves in his tracks. I was using a .30-06 with 150 grain core loks. I was also aiming just under the throat patch by an inch or so

I shot a spike muley head on that way last year. He dropped straight down, because the 100gr Hornady interlock from the 250 Savage hit the spine. My second shot at my antelope buck this year was just about head on (first shot missed and hit the leg). He spun around twice and dropped. Same 250 Savage, same 100gr Hornady interlock. That one hit the lungs and the heart. 70 yards or so for the muley, 200 or so for the antelope.

I will second my old buddy Steve (Dogzapper) on shooting facing animals a little higher than most people do. The lowest place I'd aim is the "dimple" at the bottom of the neck, which the Germans have some nifty compound name for that I can't remember right now. If you put the bullet there, or a little higher, the animal drops from a broken spine. Even if the bullet is a little off, they'll usually drop and a cut carotid or jugular will bleed them out quickly.

I've seen a bunch of animals from pronghorn to Cape buffalo dropped with a shot from the "dimple" upward.

Schnelltotmachenhalsplatz, vielleicht?

Shot a doe this fall with the White and a 460gr. no-excuse conical. Not dead nuts front on but pretty close. Clipped the point of the shoulder (near side) going in and found the bullet under the hide after travelling throught the opposing ham. Cool thing was with that big slow slug the HQ wasn't hurt at all, just a ragged hole. Couldn't have found an angle to go much further through a deer. Gotta love kenetic energy. was also the nicest looking mushroomed bullet I've ever seen - lost 5 grains.

Shot one with a 257 roberts and 120 gr core lokt from that angle and it went in the right side of the chest bored a hole in the neck vertebrate and exited the off side hip. Pretty much DRT. I really don't think you could say in your case. I've seen deer drt when you couldn't find where they had been hit and have seen them run after being hit perfectly in the heat lung area leaving a blood trail that Ray Charles could follow. It seems every one is different.

Do that in the East Texas woods and some redneck will be claiming your deer because you aint gonna find him.



No. As Dogzapper said, frontal shots tend to be low. You have to picture your bullets path through the vitals before you shoot and aim accordingly.

My brother-in-law shot a heavy Axis buck at 40 yards frontal with a 300 Wby, 180 gr Scirocco moving 3200 fps. The bullet did not exit. I found it in the third stomach. You just can never predict what a bullet is gonna do, even when you think you have the magic bullet.

That's easy for you to say.

And if he won't pick up his head so as to present that shot?

My wife shat a muley this year with her 243 and 95 grain bt at 250 yds. It was a strong quartering away shot.It entered at the last rib and exited out the throat. He went about 5 yards. The was about a 6x4 chunk of lung laying there when we found the deer. That deer was the only one I have dressed that had no blood in the stomach cavity, or the head and lung area.

I center punched this deer in the brisket with a 155gr A-Max from a .308 win @ 200 yds. He took one big leap and it was all over. I was quite surprised to have him die that quickly.

About 10 years ago in VA, I shot a doe in the chest from about 15 feet with a TC contender in .41 MAG, shooting the Speer 220 gr. Semi-jacket SP over a max load of H110. Hit the sternum, and ribs, and deflected out the opposite hip. Deer stumbled, staggered about 5 yards, presented a broadside shot, whereupon I shot it with a Sierra 210 JHC. The first round left about a 50 cal hole all the way through, no expansion that I could find in the post mortem. the JHC left a fist sized hole all the way through.

Charlie - mighty nice buck!

Nice Deer!