Pearson or Willachoochee GA in 2007.
Palmetto Pines Plantation.
I was in a big shooting house / blind 15 feet up, in one corner of a field.
Rifle was my M1A semi-auto .308. Scoped with a fixed-power 4X scope by Bushnell.
Ammo was Federal Gold Medal 168 grain boat-tail hollowpoint match. (I probably should not have used this ammo, looking back and having studied the issue further).
Got in the stand before dawn, even before first light.
About 9:30 a.m., when it was good and light, I saw 3 deer across the field. I estimated about 275 yards. My gun was zeroed an inch high at 100, so I figured I'd be several inches low at close to 300.
I aimed too high over one deer's back and fired. And missed. Never saw any blood trail around that spot. Deer ran away looking healthy.
Another deer in the group did not move.
I checked, and it was a small spike buck. I decided to take it.
Lowered my aim to around the spine area and fired.
Deer was hit, but only staggered and ran off.
I waited a few minutes and slowly climbed down to see if it was nearby or left a blood trail or what.
While walking, I paced off the distance. The deer were only about 225 yards away. Not 275. I should have held dead-on, or at most a couple inches above the desired killing spot.
I found the deer dead in a huge puddle of blood about 20 yards away. The exit wound was big and bloody. I don't know if the bullet expanded, fragmented, or tumbled sideways, but it looked like somebody took an axe to the far side of that deer's chest.
It was a fairly small deer, maybe 130 lbs.
Palmetto Pines Plantation.
I was in a big shooting house / blind 15 feet up, in one corner of a field.
Rifle was my M1A semi-auto .308. Scoped with a fixed-power 4X scope by Bushnell.
Ammo was Federal Gold Medal 168 grain boat-tail hollowpoint match. (I probably should not have used this ammo, looking back and having studied the issue further).
Got in the stand before dawn, even before first light.
About 9:30 a.m., when it was good and light, I saw 3 deer across the field. I estimated about 275 yards. My gun was zeroed an inch high at 100, so I figured I'd be several inches low at close to 300.
I aimed too high over one deer's back and fired. And missed. Never saw any blood trail around that spot. Deer ran away looking healthy.
Another deer in the group did not move.
I checked, and it was a small spike buck. I decided to take it.
Lowered my aim to around the spine area and fired.
Deer was hit, but only staggered and ran off.
I waited a few minutes and slowly climbed down to see if it was nearby or left a blood trail or what.
While walking, I paced off the distance. The deer were only about 225 yards away. Not 275. I should have held dead-on, or at most a couple inches above the desired killing spot.
I found the deer dead in a huge puddle of blood about 20 yards away. The exit wound was big and bloody. I don't know if the bullet expanded, fragmented, or tumbled sideways, but it looked like somebody took an axe to the far side of that deer's chest.
It was a fairly small deer, maybe 130 lbs.
