reynolds357
New member
Dusted off the old .243 Win this season for deer hunting. 90 gr deep curl slightly over 3100 FPS. I have probably shot 15 or so deer with the .243 over the years. Got it back out just to mix things up, and honestly, I wanted to see if the Deep Curl was all it is touted to be. After today, remember why I retired the .243 Win. Had a nice buck walk out at 120 yards. He was in some brush, but I was able to get a clean shoulder shot on him. I hit him perfectly in the lungs. He hit the ground. Jumped up, and ran through the thick brush out of sight. I walked to where I shot him. No blood. No hair. Only thing I saw was disturbed ground. I walked around and found no signs of the deer being hit. Being 100% sure I hit him, and hit him where I intended to hit him, I left and got my tracking dog. 60 yards through the deep brush, the dog found the deer. The deer's head was laying in a pool of blood that came out his nose (head slightly down hill from body) but other than that, not one drop of blood anywhere. The deer never bled from the body until I began to drag it, and then blood began to bubble from the entrance wound. There was no exit wound.
The .243 killed the deer. The Deep Curl did an impressive amount of internal damage. It lacked about 3" exiting. Turned both lungs to Jello, but no blood trail.
I have had this (no blood trail) happen to me countless times with the .243. I have tracked a multitude of other peoples deer with my dogs that were shot with the .243 that did not bleed. Is it just me, or have others had the problem of the .243 not giving adequate blood trail? Have the "big guns" spoiled me?
I am not complaining about the deer going 60 yards. 30 to 150 is expected for lung shots. My complaint is no blood trail.
The .243 killed the deer. The Deep Curl did an impressive amount of internal damage. It lacked about 3" exiting. Turned both lungs to Jello, but no blood trail.
I have had this (no blood trail) happen to me countless times with the .243. I have tracked a multitude of other peoples deer with my dogs that were shot with the .243 that did not bleed. Is it just me, or have others had the problem of the .243 not giving adequate blood trail? Have the "big guns" spoiled me?
I am not complaining about the deer going 60 yards. 30 to 150 is expected for lung shots. My complaint is no blood trail.