What effect does hitting a branch have?

One more story for you. I was the shooter, had a moose facing straight at me at less than 20 yd. It was an easy shot with anything, especially the 375 H&H I was using that day. I had done it many times,...except that this time he was standing in a patch of willows.

Three shots with 270 Power Points, IIRC, and not a one touched him! He finally ran out of the willows, and onto the lake shore, where I decked him with one shot. Taking care of him, we found just a single bullet hole.

My brother thought it was great shooting to have hit him on the run, but I was disgusted, and to this day have never tried shooting through willows or alders again.

Ted
 
Shooting through scrub will deflect any bullet. I have even found tall dead grass to have an affect on bullets but not as bad as scrub.
Take your time and find an opening, those flyers in the scrub test your confidence.
 
Sometimes nothing happens, and the next time the bullet will explode on contact. Nothing is reliable, but combinations that at least leave the bullet intact give you a chance. The choice isn't between good and bad, it's between poor and pathetic. I'll do practically anything to get a clear opening for the first shot, but when an animal is already hit pounding one through the bush is sometimes your best move.
 
A bullet hitting anything located close enough to the muzzle AND before bullet stabilization will have a greater affect on the bullet path pretty much regardless of penetratable thickness of the obstruction(ie. sheetmetal, thin glass, sheetrock(drywall), paneling, branches etc.)

After stabilization distance, the affect gets more into angles of shot, obstruction thickness(as it relates to bullet length and bullet construction). Angle of obstruction plays a much more minimal role in bullet path thru object ie. slanted tree branch, vehicle windshield glass, etc.

Other obvious factors are distance beyond or behind the obstruction that was hit. Today's typical(not including varmint grenades, etc) OTS leadcore jacketed bullets are excellent thru obstructions and barriers but mostly after stabilization to be predictable and effective.
 
Yeah looks like the branch won.. sadly at the speed of a bullet, branches are like metal bars... Kind of like if you slowly enter water vs belly flop.. water acts like concrete at high speeds the same way a branch can at bullet speeds.
 
October 9 I saw a buck but he saw me first and stotted about 15 yards away and stopped behind a bush. All I could see was his head and butt and his vague shape behind the bush. I shot for the behind the shoulder at about 40 or 50 yards and he disappeared. When I approached he was down with a shot through his lower intestine and the opposing hindquarter. I finished him off quickly.

That was with a 130 grain Grand Slam bullet in a 270.

Did he take a step forward as I shot or was the bullet deflected that much?
 
ive done it twice. shot 150 yards across a clearing with a beaver pond on the far side on a moose. 7mm mag, 140 nosler e-tip. moose was behind just a bit of brush, and the neck and front shoulder area was pretty clear, so I took the shot, aiming right for the junction of neck and body, moose went straight down. but the bullet didn't hit there, it hit further up the neck half way to the head. went in and hit the spine, now the shot was ever so slightly quartering away. when the bullet hit the spine it absolutely positively turned over 90 degrees left and went down the neck towards the body. found poking half way through the shoulder blade. as you would expect from a deflected bullet it did not expand normal, one side started to, and the opposite side is bent over a lot bending the whole nose of the bullet over not letting it open. it did put a 1 inch round hole right through the center of the spine though.

second was the last day of rifle season years ago when we still had deer and could shoot does and bucks. I was party hunting with a friend. trying to fill his tag. I was in a tree stand. deer came along the quad trail behind me, a doe and yearling I first seen them at about 80 yards. tried turning around but was wearing a snowmobile jacket(loud) and the doe heard even the slight movement of my head turning. she froze for all of 10 minutes. I now knew there was no way I would be able to turn so I had to wait for her to come in front of me which meant passing right under the tree. the wind was fitting for this. well there was no fooling this old doe, at 40 yards she cut down wind onto the river behind me. the young one kept coming. she was right under the tree when the doe got my sent and spooked. the young one was confused and ran 25 yards into the bush and stood there. now were in the last 15 minutes of the season so I took the shot. tried for a head shot as that had the least brush in front of it. nothing happened she didn't move so I shot again. she slowly walked away. no blood no hair no sign of a hit. 2 misses. the brush won that one and we hung that tag on the Christmas tree
 
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