Took this average sized (for here) doe yesterday morning. 65 yard shot that I either pulled a bit or deflected on me. Found later I hit her forward and a bit low, took out a leg and knicked body but nothing that would be fatal right away.
Long tracking job of around 400 yards with sporadic blood--grey cloudy day made it harder to see blood from other reddish things. But there was something every 10 feet or so on average. Eventually after 2 hours found her to finish her off. Relieved as I absolutely hate to lose a wounded deer.
Nice to get the first one with the MZ but not happy with the shot. Might not have been me but gave me even more incentive to work out a load and be real confident before trying again. Also found some things out about reloading in the field. Shooting 100 grains of 777 with a 250 traditions smackdown sabot out of a Vortek strikerfire backcountry--and it was not easy to get a follow up shoved down the dirty barrel, even if I ran a clean patch down first. And my rod off the gun could be longer--got the first clean patch stuck deep and couldn't pull it out. Had to remove the breech plug and shove it through. Do folks fire a cap to clear first shot debris? Maybe that would help. Deer are already aware you are there in that situation and where I hunt unless you drop them at the shot you aren't going to get a follow up very often until you track them.
Definitely want to try white hots and wring out the barnes TEZ's to see if that makes follow up loading easier. If that doesn't work well I might try loose--blackhorn if I do that.
Oh, per my earlier question-- I loaded the gun 13 days earlier, just kept it dry, my shots went boom just fine.
Drag was really pretty easy as that can go, but sure am sore today! Bit of a chore to get them up in the truck bed by myself but have a pulley for that, just look for a tree with a stout limb to back up to.