Every year since 2000 i've taken 2-8 deer. 95 percent of my deer since were taken with a muzzleloader at ranges of <60 yards. Shots are picked carefully and over 50 percent bang flopped. No deer i've shot has traveled more than 100 yards after being hit since 2008.
For many years i tracked wounded deer and elk for other hunters. Many hunters who called the dog and myself could not pinpoint the spot the animal was at when shot. While on a tracking job another hunter said he may have hit a trophy buck. i found a streak of blood and gore eight feet long where the bullet exited, we found that huge deer.
Most animals i tracked were shot behind the diaphragm.
Last season i took a deer to the local processor. i mentioned to a butcher that elk season would soon open. He hated to see the elk come because most were badly shot up.
My .50 caliber Encore rifle fires a .451 250 grain SST bullet set in a sabot. My powder charges are heavier than most muzzleloader hunters use; 120 or 140 grains of powder. Sometime the bullet exits, sometimes not. Typically the heart and lungs are reduced to mush by bullet fragments. Several years ago i started doing CNS shots whenever possible, bang flops.
For many years i tracked wounded deer and elk for other hunters. Many hunters who called the dog and myself could not pinpoint the spot the animal was at when shot. While on a tracking job another hunter said he may have hit a trophy buck. i found a streak of blood and gore eight feet long where the bullet exited, we found that huge deer.
Most animals i tracked were shot behind the diaphragm.
Last season i took a deer to the local processor. i mentioned to a butcher that elk season would soon open. He hated to see the elk come because most were badly shot up.
My .50 caliber Encore rifle fires a .451 250 grain SST bullet set in a sabot. My powder charges are heavier than most muzzleloader hunters use; 120 or 140 grains of powder. Sometime the bullet exits, sometimes not. Typically the heart and lungs are reduced to mush by bullet fragments. Several years ago i started doing CNS shots whenever possible, bang flops.