dtech
New member
As many of you may have already heard, Minnesota has for the first time in history allowed the .224 diameter bullet to be used for deer. I know this is one of those topics, much like "barrel break-in" or "moly-coated bullets" that can spark controversy and even heated discussions on the Internet, but that isn't what I'm going for here. I just wanted to pass-along some results from the Dtech hunting party.
My nephew Evan took three deer with his 18" mid-length this season. He was running a 60 grain Nosler Partition with a moderate charge of Varget. All three were "one shot kills", and where they didn't all just "drop in their tracks", we didn't have to chase any of them down, or shoot them again.
One of the deer he got was a nice buck. The rack was not well developed, but the deer weighed about 140 lbs field-dressed. That deer was shot through the chest cavity at an angle, and the bullet was found just under the hide on the far side. The deer was running when it was shot, and continued running for about 30 yards. We recovered two of the 60 grain partitions from Evan's deer, and both of them retained about 40 grains of their original 60 grains.
Here's a picture of one of Evan's partiions we recovered.
This year I built myself a new 6.8 SPC. I also opted for an 18" mid-length. I was shooting 110 grain Sierra Pro-Hunters and H-322. I also took three deer, the first was a small buck. The first weekend was quite windy so nothing was moving. My family got together and made a small drive to me and pushed the buck out to me. He came out facing me at about 30 yards. I took him in the brisket, and the bullet exited his ribs near the diaphragm. He bolted and made it about 50 feet before dropping.
This last weekend we still had several tags to fill, so my brother invited us up to where he had been hunting. His group of hunters had a huge parcel of land that they had been wanting to make a drive on, but never had enough people to do it with. With Evan, my son Marshall and myself added to their crew, we decided to give it a try.
I've never hunted with a larger group of hunters like that before, so the experience turned out to be interesting to say the least! There were now 10 hunters, 7 posters and 3 drivers. Once I was at my posting place, it was probably only 15 min. or so before deer started to appear. The first that I saw was a nice doe. It was in fairly thick brush about 85 yards away. She was moving right along, and I knew I only had a few seconds before I wouldn't be able to see her at all. I took the shot, trying to place the bullet behind her front shoulders. She bounded out of sight within a few seconds after the shot, but I felt confident that I had at least hit her.
A little while later, the woods sounded like a clip from the movie "Hamburger Hill" The folks posting were all quite a distance apart, covering the areas that we thought the deer would travel. I could hear shooting on both sides of me. Just a few minutes after I had shot at the first deer, another one appeared in the same thick brush. This one had stopped, and as I looked at it through the scope, the only areas that I could make out at all were the nose, part of the neck and it's tail. Rather than wait for it to get chased, I took a shot for the neck. The deer tipped over right were it stood.
When our partners finished the drive, I went over to see if I could find any sign that I had hit the first deer. It was about 85 yards to where I had shot at the running doe, and I found a small amount of blood with the tracks. About 50 yards away from where I shot it, the doe was piled up under a tree. The bullet had passed-through the rib-cage just behind the front shoulders.
I went back to the brush and found that the deer I had shot in the neck was a nice 8-point buck. The bullet had struck the neck, but I couldn't find an exit wound. The buck weighed in a 157 lbs after being field-dressed. When I removed the hide I was able to see that the bullet had struck and broke the spine. By the looks of the entry-wound, it appeared as though the bullet had opened up on the brush before hitting the deer. I'm going to let the buck hang until next weekend before we butcher it, but I am anxious to evaluate the remains of the bullet.
Here's a picture of Evan and I with the two bucks.
My nephew Evan took three deer with his 18" mid-length this season. He was running a 60 grain Nosler Partition with a moderate charge of Varget. All three were "one shot kills", and where they didn't all just "drop in their tracks", we didn't have to chase any of them down, or shoot them again.
One of the deer he got was a nice buck. The rack was not well developed, but the deer weighed about 140 lbs field-dressed. That deer was shot through the chest cavity at an angle, and the bullet was found just under the hide on the far side. The deer was running when it was shot, and continued running for about 30 yards. We recovered two of the 60 grain partitions from Evan's deer, and both of them retained about 40 grains of their original 60 grains.
Here's a picture of one of Evan's partiions we recovered.
This year I built myself a new 6.8 SPC. I also opted for an 18" mid-length. I was shooting 110 grain Sierra Pro-Hunters and H-322. I also took three deer, the first was a small buck. The first weekend was quite windy so nothing was moving. My family got together and made a small drive to me and pushed the buck out to me. He came out facing me at about 30 yards. I took him in the brisket, and the bullet exited his ribs near the diaphragm. He bolted and made it about 50 feet before dropping.
This last weekend we still had several tags to fill, so my brother invited us up to where he had been hunting. His group of hunters had a huge parcel of land that they had been wanting to make a drive on, but never had enough people to do it with. With Evan, my son Marshall and myself added to their crew, we decided to give it a try.
I've never hunted with a larger group of hunters like that before, so the experience turned out to be interesting to say the least! There were now 10 hunters, 7 posters and 3 drivers. Once I was at my posting place, it was probably only 15 min. or so before deer started to appear. The first that I saw was a nice doe. It was in fairly thick brush about 85 yards away. She was moving right along, and I knew I only had a few seconds before I wouldn't be able to see her at all. I took the shot, trying to place the bullet behind her front shoulders. She bounded out of sight within a few seconds after the shot, but I felt confident that I had at least hit her.
A little while later, the woods sounded like a clip from the movie "Hamburger Hill" The folks posting were all quite a distance apart, covering the areas that we thought the deer would travel. I could hear shooting on both sides of me. Just a few minutes after I had shot at the first deer, another one appeared in the same thick brush. This one had stopped, and as I looked at it through the scope, the only areas that I could make out at all were the nose, part of the neck and it's tail. Rather than wait for it to get chased, I took a shot for the neck. The deer tipped over right were it stood.
When our partners finished the drive, I went over to see if I could find any sign that I had hit the first deer. It was about 85 yards to where I had shot at the running doe, and I found a small amount of blood with the tracks. About 50 yards away from where I shot it, the doe was piled up under a tree. The bullet had passed-through the rib-cage just behind the front shoulders.
I went back to the brush and found that the deer I had shot in the neck was a nice 8-point buck. The bullet had struck the neck, but I couldn't find an exit wound. The buck weighed in a 157 lbs after being field-dressed. When I removed the hide I was able to see that the bullet had struck and broke the spine. By the looks of the entry-wound, it appeared as though the bullet had opened up on the brush before hitting the deer. I'm going to let the buck hang until next weekend before we butcher it, but I am anxious to evaluate the remains of the bullet.
Here's a picture of Evan and I with the two bucks.
