Found this in a deer I shot,,,

[contender]

I use my T/C Contender on most of my deer hunting. I make my shots in the neck. Well, my last deer hung for a week,, and then I went to butchering it up. As I was cutting it up,, I found something by accident. There was NOTHING to indicate it was there before I cut the front shoulder meat into smaller pieces and was trimming off tendon. I found 3 bullet fragments. A small piece of lead,, a small piece of jacket material,, and some of the culprit,, a .223 cal jacketed bullet,,, or at least what was left of it after the deer had HEALED completely. I saw no sign of a wound,, infection,, etc. It was just imbedded in the meat of a front shoulder.
A bad hit with a small caliber,, and the wrong type of bullet for the job.

 

[powder smoke]

I use my T/C Contender on most of my deer hunting. I make my shots in the neck. Well, my last deer hung for a week,, and then I went to butchering it up. As I was cutting it up,, I found something by accident. There was NOTHING to indicate it was there before I cut the front shoulder meat into smaller pieces and was trimming off tendon. I found 3 bullet fragments. A small piece of lead,, a small piece of jacket material,, and some of the culprit,, a .223 cal jacketed bullet,,, or at least what was left of it after the deer had HEALED completely. I saw no sign of a wound,, infection,, etc. It was just imbedded in the meat of a front shoulder.
A bad hit with a small caliber,, and the wrong type of bullet for the job.

Ty, I also use neck shots when they present them selves. About 10 years I went on a hunt to Canada on Anticosti Island got talkin withe my guide about shot placement, he educated me about neck shots. A good neck shot will drop them in there tracks literally. Works for me.

How did you find him and how long after you shot him? Musta been a little while seein hit was healled over. ps

 

[contender]

This came out of a doe I neck shot. I used my Contender in 7x30 Waters,, and it dropped her immediately. The above bullet was NOT mine, it had been in her shoulder a while as it was all healed over.

 

[Fowler]

I know a few guys who worked as meat possessors in Gunnison Colorado every fall for all the big game taken in the area. One of them had a old mason jar (the big sized) of old crap they found when butchering. Lots of broadheads, muzzle loader balls, a few maxi style bullets, lots of bullet fragments that clearly were old. Deer and especially elk are tough critters that often survive shots that would just shock you.

I acquaintance purchased a big ranch 10 yeas ago and he shot a very old dry cow for his first elk on the ranch that fall. When he butchered her he found the lower half of her spine had been shot off by a muzzle loader at one one vertebra, and three vertebras down the top half had been removed by another bullet that was not recovered. I think he said she had one or two holes through a shoulder blade that he guessed had been from a 22 long rifle (there had been a real poaching problem on the ranch for 20 years before he bought it, there is not one now!).

Anyways her teeth were worn down to the gums so he sent the lower jaw in to the DOW to get it aged. They said they couldn't tell, their testing equipment only went to 25 year old elk and she was clearly older than that! So she was over 25 years old and had been shot on at least 4 or 5 different occasions with only the last one being fatal!

Animals can be tough!...

 

[Jeff Hoover]

Hey Tyrone ! A few years ago, I found a broadhead imbedded in a vertebrae, in a buck I shot. It was stuck halfway in. How that buck made it, still makes me wonder. The wound was all healed over. Just goes to show how resilient they are. Wish I would have taken a picture of it back then.

 

[dipper]

Yep, I have seen the same thing, but I have also seen a few that were infected and could not be eaten.
When I was with Fish and Game, had a guy I know bring me a deer that was full of infection, when he got the hide off, one of the hind quarters was awful....caused by a broad head..... he was the type that would take 50 yard shoots with his old recurve bow and he put his fair share of broad heads in deer and never followed up.
Needless to say, he didn't get another tag from me.... I told him to eat it or throw it away.... pay backs a bit$h.
YET, there are those that argue that the .223 is fine for deer and some even advocate the 22 Hornet.....
I know the arguments about shot placement, and I realize that shot placement is the most important part of the equation with bullet type being a close second.... but I just can't understand why some people feel the need to use the smaller calibers.... it escapes me.
Yes, deer and elk can be tough critters.... so bad shots with the wrong bullet let them survive at times..... and suffer for sure....even though they survive, they suffer.
As a hunter, I feel it's my duty to insure a quick clean kill.

 

[don44]

I couldn't agree with you more. At least use enough gun to get the job done just in case things aren't perfect.

 

[RugerBoi]

:shock: Amen, Amen, on enough gun...The animals deserve to be dispatched with the grace they display in thier being..I've shot Moose to little white tail with a 300 Win Mag since 1981. Don't waste meat, and all but one went down like a safe was dropped on em. RB

 

[sixshot]

Why 22 caliber guns are even legal on big game is a mystery to me.....I know, I know a swift or 22-250 will drop them like a sack of potatoes, that is when everything goes right but often does that happen. I've heard the story that a 22 long rifle will kill them & it will but the various Fish & Game departments need to tighten things up on some of the small calibers, there are way too many animals wounded with small, fast stepping bullets or guns that just don't belong in the game fields.
I suppose some guys would hunt with bottle rockets from their pogo sticks if allowed to do so. :wink:

Dick

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I killed an 8-pt. in Arkansas with my S&W M-29 .44 years ago. I was going to do a skull mount on him - when I skinned out the skull, a .22 magnum bullet was lodged in his skull at the rear/side base of the antler. Somebody had tried to poach him and was about 2 inches too high for a killing shot.

My son killed a big old buck here in Alabama a few years back - long, big-bodied deer but poor, and had some little knotty, gnarly antlers that just lay back along his skull (he shot him right at dark on an either-sex hunt day). When we skinned him out, his hindquarters were full of birdshot. He was so poor and emaciated we couldn't eat him.

Use enough gun. Put a proper bullet in the proper place.

 

[contender]

This isn't the first bullet fragment I've found that wasn't mine over the years. My favorite story is about the deer (a nice 7 pointer,, or 4x3 to you westerners,) I killed near the end of the season,, and when I was cutting his hide at the skull plate. I found the remains of a 30 cal bullet. A few weeks later I was talking to a neighboring friend & he related a story of how his 14 year old son had been riding his 4 wheeler & had a "big 10 pointer" jump up,, and the boy "Shot him right between the eyes." The buck "dropped right there," so the boy didn't check the deer but rode off to get help. When he returned,, the buck was gone. He had used his 30-30. I killed that nice buck as I found that 30-30 bullet lodged at the base of the antler. I still have it in my bunch of odd bullets.
And yes,, folks,, even though a 22 LR can kill a deer,, it's NOT the bullet/caliber of choice.

 

[don44]

Why 22 caliber guns are even legal on big game is a mystery to me.....I know, I know a swift or 22-250 will drop them like a sack of potatoes, that is when everything goes right but often does that happen. I've heard the story that a 22 long rifle will kill them & it will but the various Fish & Game departments need to tighten things up on some of the small calibers, there are way too many animals wounded with small, fast stepping bullets or guns that just don't belong in the game fields.
I suppose some guys would hunt with bottle rockets from their pogo sticks if allowed to do so. :wink:

Dick

+1 You are sure right about that sixshot.

 

[KTM]

Years ago my father found this broad head in a deer that he shot with his .308. Prior to my father's shot the deer didn't show any signs of injury. :wink:

 

[contender]

Cool find there KTM!
Jeff mentioned finding a broadhead in a vertabre. I have seen in a museum, a prehistoric fossil vertabre with a stome arrowhead imbedded in it.
I think these things are cool! It shows how tough animals are,, (and how bad humans are occasionally!)

 

[KTM]

Contender, I'm not sure but I seem to recall that this broad head was also near one of the deer's vertebrae. That was 20+ years ago when my father shot it and he passed away in 2007 one more thing on a very long list of things I'd like to ask him about... :roll:

 

[don44]

The first deer my son ever shot in Idaho(1982) had a broadhead imbedded in the hind quarter. The meat was all infected and was simply ruined. When we were skinning it a big gob of pus just fell out onto the ground. It was no telling how long the buck suffered. Please use enough gun and good judgement!

 

[David LaPell]

A friend of mine once shot a large 10 pointer and in the shoulder well grown over was a flatttened out round ball that we weighed out and determined was from a .54 caliber. As much tissue that had grown over that round ball we figured that it had been certainly a few years before.

 

[david in germany]

When I was about 15 my dad and I walked up on a dear that just froze up when he saw us. I had a scoped .22 and my dad had his 12g with 00 buck in the gun. the dear was about 40 yards away and I could see the 2" or so spikes just out of my dads view. Dad told me to go ahead and shoot but I did not feel comfortable with trying to put him down with the .22. I told dad if he wanted to shoot that he could do it but I would not do it with the .22 and he didn't want to believe me about the spikes. Dad was a little mad at me for not doing it but I sleep well over it. I didn't like how he took chances like that.

Another time I was carrying my 30-06 and a medium sized doe popped up about 60 yards or so away (day before doe season) and dad told me to shoot her since it was so close to doe season anyways... Brought the scope up about 5" over her back and took a big chunk off the pine tree behind her.
Sorry dad, I missed. LOL

 

[contender]

Great story David. While we all would like to envision our parents (& others we've admired in our youth) as perfect,, as we age & gain wisdom,, we realize they were human afterall.
It's good you felt a tug of ethics at a young age,, and didn't do something you'd feel bad about later.

 

[45nut]

I shot a doe between the eyes last year with a 45 colt she rolled up in ball and hit the ground with a thud. I watched her for 30 or 40 seconds then put my 92 up got my knife from out of the back of the mule we were in and started walking up to her about the time I got to her she got up and ran like the wind never to be seen again.

A 45 colt with a 260 grain flat point loaded with a heavy dose of 4227 out of a 92 Winchester at 50 yards and she got up and walked off if this didn't happen to me I would not believe it. I have shot a bunch of deer with a 45 I know it's up to the task but it didn't work on this deer she must have had a metal plate In her head