Unrecovered game with FTX .44 265g

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zach.trumble

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Set myself up to shoot FTX 44 caliber 265 grain with 100 grains of Blackhorn this season. So far have shot two deer and recovered neither one of them. One deer had two very little drops of blood and no other blood for over 50 yards. Never got on a blood trail. The other deer had decent blood but I tracked for over a hundred yards and I could not recover it.

Am I making bad shots or is this a bullet problem?

I have one inch groups at a hundred yards. I'm a fairly consistent shooter on paper. Both deer were shot right around 110-120 yards. Both deer were shot with gun on a rest out of a blind. It's the same rest set up I used to shoot paper.

I feel confident that the shots were good but the hunting situation always brings lots of variables. Certainly possible I'm making bad shots but I'm wondering if the copper jacketed bullet is passing through without transferring much energy.

Last year I shot a deer with the Barnes TMZ and it took ten steps downhill and piled up.
 
What type of shots did you take on these deer? I have no experience with that particular bullet (and haven't really heard bad about it), but my guess is shot placement. I've shot alot of deer over the years, with many different bullets. Even with "bad" bullets, a good shot can still do the trick. Even if they did happen to pencil through, if the shot placement was good they still shouldn't have gone too far - even having a poor blood trail. I had one deer once that had basically no blood beyond the first 10yds... bullet penciled through the lungs. It ran about 100yds and I found it searching, not by blood trail.

My guess is the vast majority of game lost is due to shot placement, rather than bullet performance. You are right, alot of variables come into a hunting situation. Sorry to hear... might double check your rifle just to be sure something didn't unexpectedly change.
 
First deer was a broadside shot. Seemed pretty solid. Blood I found was with a clump of white hair, but that was it. Nothing else.

Second deer was slightly quartered to me. Shot at the shoulder closest to me. I did jump this deer while tracking and noticed it was only running on three legs so I hit the shoulder I was aiming at but maybe it was low and actually just hit the leg.

Looked at Ron's tests of the FTX and it doesn't mushroom out as much as other bullets do.

Just wondering if anyone else suspects poor performance with that bullet, but I doubt it because it is a popular bullet.

I'm just fishing for a reason why I lost two deer and hoping maybe it wasn't my fault! :oops:
 
I hear ya. It sounds like both shots ended up low for some reason, which would make sense as to why you didn't recover them. I'd double check your rifle to start with - just to be sure.

It sucks losing a deer, we've all been there at some point.
 
The white hair sort of tells me the shot placement didn't do well on that deer. Too low most likely. I'd get back on the range to double check the gun to be sure its going to go where its being aimed. If the gun was sighted at 100, did you take any shots further out, say 125 yards, to see where the bullets would hit? I have my long guns sighted for 100 yards and my shots stay inside and under that mark.
 
Clump of white hair indicates a creasing belly/brisket shot. Sometimes a little blood can fool you because it can peter out quickly when you think you have a good blood trail.
 
yeah I think you just went low twice, I sight mine in 3 inches high at 100 yds, I'd rather go high than low. 12-16 clicks up is what you may need. I am wondering why the poi may have moved.
 
Took a 125 yard shot on range at home. 1/2" low and 1/4" left in a right-to-left cross wind 12mph or so.

Pretty much dead on.

Both deer shot at about that range.

Don't know. Kinda not trusting the FTX though, going back to Barnse for this season.
 
I'll just add, an honest 110-120 yard range shot with a M-L is nothing to take lightly. One needs to be setup properly to make them work consistently. I'm one who lauds shot placement over relatively small differences with bullets. Under field conditions, there are a handful of variables at 110+ yards that may come into play, even with that seemingly steady rest. Then also it never equals a 308.

I took my longest shot yet on a good buck with a M-L Friday, unranged 110-120 yards. It was a good buck with a very steady rest. I'm about on at 50 so I held a bit high, but still on hair. He was angling right towards me. At the shot he ran like a rocket(good sign). He went over a rise on an IL field, out of sight. I went to check after 30 minutes, he went about 80 yards with the boiler room shot.

I'd continue some Bullet reviews & research, practice & use a rangefinder when appropriate. I'd much rather have no shot than to wound game, which often ends up as coyote feed.

Just some random thoughts.
 
if bullet went thru vitals equals dead deer, bad shot placement equals unrecovered deer..any bullet no matter what type if it goes thru vitals deer is dead and should be able to be found if you look long enough..
 
I have only shot one deer with the 265 gn FTX. It was a large, mature doe. I was using an Accura V2 and the FTX was loaded over 110 gn of BH209. I shot her at 92 yds, with a quartering away shot and she was DRT. She literally dropped dead in her tracks. The bullet entered at the 3rd from last rib, taking out that rib and passed through, exiting just behind the shoulder on the other side, taking out a rib there, too. The exit wound wasn't much bigger than the entry but both lungs were pretty much turned to jelly, with massive internal hemorrhaging. She was completely bled out when I got to her. That's only one deer, but I made a good shot and the bullet did exactly what it was supposed to do.
 
Shot placement aside:

My experience with the FTX was with a .44 mag rifle that I had and I shot 225 great FTX through it. I used it to kill several deer without an issue. It is still a copper jacketed bullet though. I now use a muzzleloader for my deer hunting during the regular gun season and use Barnes expanders, a much better option than jacketed bullets in my opinion as they have great weight retention and performance.... just my 2 cents
 
I just took my 2nd deer with the 265 gn FTX over 110 gn BH209 this evening. A yearling buck at 174 yds. I'm not sure where I hit him because I shot him 20 mins after sundown and field dressed him in the dark. I'll check that out tomorrow. When I skin him. He dropped dead in his tracks and when I gutted him, I noticed I literally shot out his heart and it was basically nonexistent. I am now 2 for 2 with the bullet and both deer were DRT. I have no complaints with it.
 
Just curious Zach, when you shoot at the range do you shoot with the rod in place and when hunting and you shoot off a rest is the rod in place? Resting the gun on the barrel may be a problem with the rod not there at one place and then there at the stand. I have to catch myself at the range sometimes because I don't put the rod back in the ferrules, just set it aside on the bench to facilitate loading time. I hunt with the rod in the ferrules and have sighted a gun with the rod on the bench then hunted with the rod in place and gotten two different points of impact using identical loads. At the range I try hard to shoot with the fore end of the stock on the bags, but in haste in the stand have shot with the barrel being on the side wall that creates my rest and again I end up with less than good results. Just curious if there's a chance that range patterns and field patterns are being affected in some way unconsciously. It happens.
 
Today, I processed the deer I shot yesterday evening and got a look at the damage. When I fired, he was quartering towards me, with his head down browsing. The bullet struck him dead center in the top of the neck, completely severing the spine, then continued through, exiting just below the bottom of the last two ribs. It's no wonder he went down immediately. Any bullet would have taken him down with that hit. As I mentioned before, during field dressing, I noticed his heart was basically blown up so the bullet also passed through it, expanded and did what it's supposed to do.
 

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I have noticed that a lot of hunters tend to hit back toward the stomach on longer shots. I also believe a lot of people aim at the wrong place.
I do a lot of bow hunting and many of the deer I get go less than 40 yards. By placing your shot or arrow in the nest of arteries right at the top of the heart you increase your chance of recovering the deer with out any problems.
 
Sorta surprised that no one has commented on the "hunting" aspect of this as opposed to the "shooting"...

* Did the hunter clearly ID "X tree" or a landmark near each deer at the time of the shot?

* Did the hunter then wait 20 to 30 minutes before beginning the tracking?

* Was a flag of flagging tape (or toilet paper) placed at the first spot of blood?

* Then was more tape/paper placed at other spots, to ID the deer's line of travel?

* When blood spots stopped, how much time was spent looking for more blood?

* Did the hunter drop down to his hands and knees -- searching each leaf and twig -- for signs of blood?

* How far along the "last known line of travel" did the hunter pursue the deer?

* And how wide, from that line, did the hunter then search to each side?


If it was me, I would have spent a minimum of THREE OR FOUR HOURS looking for each deer, per the above guidelines -- as I feel that you owe the animal that much effort.

As the shooter/hunter said -- his gun shot "right on" -- so maybe the loss of deer was more due to "fieldcraft" and effort, after a low shot was made, and not just due to the shooting itself.........................

Just my thoughts...

Old No7
 
Old No7, I'm on the same page as you. I feel for the OP as it always stings to think you hurt something and didn't recover it. I can say I've been in on some long tracks before, and we only give up after a fairly exhaustive search of the area. I have also found deer far from blood by simply drawing the most logical line from where the shot hit to where I last saw the animal. I'm not knocking the OP, just saying that maybe more time should be spent tracking and looking before saying the bullet is at fault.
 
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