Thought I'd post this and a few photos. I know I didn't share my story or photos of my buck earlier this year but this seemed like something a few of you might be interested in.
Spent the morning in the North part of 412. Only really eventful thing besides seeing lots of game was a Sow with a cub. Also inadvertently walked into a kill site where a grizz had been busy eating a moose. Nasty smelling.
Figured we'd take a drive back into Waiparous and walk the edge of one of the clear cuts. Walked about 50 yards and found some fresh tracks from a buck that was trailing a doe and so with a friend in tow put a stalk on. Found fresh warm droppings and knew I was getting close. Then some very fresh tracks and guessed we were about 50 yards behind. Moved another 25 yards and she pops her head up from where she was bedded down and I take the shot. It was a front on shot but at 25 yards I'm more than comfortable with it. The buck was bedded down about 10 yards away beside her and he took off at the sound of the shot. He didn't make it very far as I heard a shot only 10 seconds or so later from the direction in which he ran. My doe jumped up turned and managed to run about 20 yards before I saw her backside go over he head as she piled up. Picked up my empty case and started walking over to where I saw her go down no blood to be seen, didn't see her immediately, thought "Oh no, did the shot go wrong. Am I going to be tracking a wounded deer for hours?" No need to worry though as there she was laying without so much as a twitch.
Now comes the interesting part. I've been using 130gr Barnes TSX in my 270wsm and they have performed almost too well. I had thought about taking a head or neck shot on this doe in order to go easy on the meat but felt the heart shot was the ethical way to go. Here is the heart which I didn't have to cut free:
You can see the the top of the heart seems to have exploded into red goop. The entrance hole didn't seep a drop of blood until a bit of pressure was put onto the chest from looking to see where she was hit. The guts seemed to come out with a problem and I thought at the time that it was odd her front right shoulder was dislocated and the leg was broken. I had thought at first that the bullet had gone through the heart and into the stomach area to come to rest. Thanks to my friend for bringing out his truck today. S10's are much easier on gas than my full size.
It took a bit of doing to figure out what happened but after getting home and skinning it and seeing the real damage I have to say I was stunned. After it entered through the chest, touching a left rib on its way in, it took a piece of the heart it continued on though taking some deflection from the rib. It then traveled towards the front right leg where it broke the bone clean in half. I assume the leg was tucked underneath her as she was bedded. It then deflected back in through the ribs, though the guts, and then lodged inside the skin after passing through her left hindquarter. Although it maintained most of it's weight it lost two of its petals as you can see here:
The damage caused the complete loss of the front right shoulder and leg as well as all the ribs on that side and I lost a chunk of meat in the hindquarter cutting and fishing out the bullet. I know it's uncommon to recover one of these and everyone asks about their performance. I'm staring to think that for close range, these work very well but maybe cause more damage than I'd ever want. Anyways take what you will from this but thought I'd share the story since so many have asked about TSX performance.
Spent the morning in the North part of 412. Only really eventful thing besides seeing lots of game was a Sow with a cub. Also inadvertently walked into a kill site where a grizz had been busy eating a moose. Nasty smelling.
Figured we'd take a drive back into Waiparous and walk the edge of one of the clear cuts. Walked about 50 yards and found some fresh tracks from a buck that was trailing a doe and so with a friend in tow put a stalk on. Found fresh warm droppings and knew I was getting close. Then some very fresh tracks and guessed we were about 50 yards behind. Moved another 25 yards and she pops her head up from where she was bedded down and I take the shot. It was a front on shot but at 25 yards I'm more than comfortable with it. The buck was bedded down about 10 yards away beside her and he took off at the sound of the shot. He didn't make it very far as I heard a shot only 10 seconds or so later from the direction in which he ran. My doe jumped up turned and managed to run about 20 yards before I saw her backside go over he head as she piled up. Picked up my empty case and started walking over to where I saw her go down no blood to be seen, didn't see her immediately, thought "Oh no, did the shot go wrong. Am I going to be tracking a wounded deer for hours?" No need to worry though as there she was laying without so much as a twitch.
Now comes the interesting part. I've been using 130gr Barnes TSX in my 270wsm and they have performed almost too well. I had thought about taking a head or neck shot on this doe in order to go easy on the meat but felt the heart shot was the ethical way to go. Here is the heart which I didn't have to cut free:
You can see the the top of the heart seems to have exploded into red goop. The entrance hole didn't seep a drop of blood until a bit of pressure was put onto the chest from looking to see where she was hit. The guts seemed to come out with a problem and I thought at the time that it was odd her front right shoulder was dislocated and the leg was broken. I had thought at first that the bullet had gone through the heart and into the stomach area to come to rest. Thanks to my friend for bringing out his truck today. S10's are much easier on gas than my full size.
It took a bit of doing to figure out what happened but after getting home and skinning it and seeing the real damage I have to say I was stunned. After it entered through the chest, touching a left rib on its way in, it took a piece of the heart it continued on though taking some deflection from the rib. It then traveled towards the front right leg where it broke the bone clean in half. I assume the leg was tucked underneath her as she was bedded. It then deflected back in through the ribs, though the guts, and then lodged inside the skin after passing through her left hindquarter. Although it maintained most of it's weight it lost two of its petals as you can see here:
The damage caused the complete loss of the front right shoulder and leg as well as all the ribs on that side and I lost a chunk of meat in the hindquarter cutting and fishing out the bullet. I know it's uncommon to recover one of these and everyone asks about their performance. I'm staring to think that for close range, these work very well but maybe cause more damage than I'd ever want. Anyways take what you will from this but thought I'd share the story since so many have asked about TSX performance.
