Favorite White tail caliber

[smylee grouch]

Ive been lucky and shot several in the heart and observed many more shot likewise. When they are in the open they almost always spring up, then dash in an " arc " before falling.

[Daniel Coats]

I learned from my bow hunting days not to chase after them right away. Watch as long as you can see them and mark where you are standing then sit your butt down and have a drink of water. Wait at least 10 minutes 20 minutes if they were still running when you saw them last. Walk slow and mark where you find blood. Never tried it before but I would think flagging ribbon would be ideal

[Darkhorse]

One thing about a moose, is that if lung-ed, even just one lung, they'll lay down and bleed out inside 60yards, if you don't chase after them.
It's difficult for some people NOT to chase after them. Found most clients to be of that sort.
I've never seen this, but have heard that a whitetail in a field, especially of shot in the heart, will dash to the bush before dropping. Anyone?

A whitetail deer is strung tighter than a drum. When shot, if the shot does not drop him on the spot, they will take off wide open until they bleed out. This is not a factor of caliber it's just that the deer's nervous system is a hair trigger. Whether in a field or the deep woods the effect is the same, they will run, usually in the direction they were heading when shot. Sometimes in an arc, sometimes not.
For many years now my practice has been to wear a compass around my neck. When I shoot at a deer and it runs I listen and take out the compass, then I get a reading to the last spot I heard him. After waiting 15 to 30 minutes I start looking for blood if I can't find any where he was standing I follow his trail as close as possible only now I'm also looking for the spots where his hoofs kicked up dirt and leaves and look down inside for blood. If blood is running down the leg often it will be where he kicked up the leaves. Sometimes that's all you get until the blood inside fills up enough to reach the entrance hole.
If all this fails I go back to where I was when I shot, get out my compass and head straight towards where I last heard him. I have recovered several over the years using my compass.
I like a .54 or larger. Not because the larger ball will flatten one faster but because the larger diameter will nick or damage more of the heart, lung, liver etc. where a smaller ball may miss it altogether. It also allows more blood to exit the body. And it causes more tissue damage as it plows through.
I match my caliber to the game, .54 for hogs and deer, and my .40 is pure death on a gobbler.

[Jakob]

White tail with my .54 Great Plains (roundball). I use 90gr 2F as a hunting load.
Tried going up to 110gr 2F for Moose hunting, but it was deeply unpleasant to shoot, so used my .54 1863 Sharps. (460gr ringtail, 60gr 1.5F swiss) instead with good success.
Hope to replace the GPR with my soon to be finished .62 Jaeger. (Any day now, for real!)

The white tail I got last year had both lungs totally shredded and still ran a good 50-60 meters. Despite the 2 big holes in it, it also took a while before it was spilling out any blood and I actually thought I'd missed it, before I luckily spotted a tiny drop of blood. We were just about to give up on it.

[Darkhorse]

My experience exactly Jacob. Good blood tracking skills are a definite plus. A roundball just doesn't usually leave a lot of blood for one to track. I killed my first deer with a roundball in 1976. I've had a lot of time to hone my tracking skill.

[Daniel Coats]

Blood fills up in the body cavity until it reaches the hole...aim low that's where the heart is also.

[Pukka Bundook]

Daniel,
From my experience, it seems that a higher shot in lungs knocks them down quicker than a heart shot, and have never aimed for the heart.
On occasion I have hit it, and they go like a bat out of hades, but a bit higher lung shot seems to more or less flatten them, or they might go ten yards or so.
This with a decent calibre and powder charge of course.

[Bill in Md]

Any whitetail, be it an Alberta bruiser or a Southern pup will die within seconds if shot through both lungs with any  projectile from a 20 some caliber modern rifle to a wooden arrow tipped with a field point. These are facts and all the stories of "I double lunged him and never found him" are just that!

[Daryl]

I've heard the same stories about moose and elk. 

[Darkhorse]

I think there is something to it. I always try to double lung them if possible. Sometimes  you get both  lungs and the heart as well.

[Daryl]

I think there is something to it. I always try to double lung them if possible. Sometimes  you get both  lungs and the heart as well.

Fellow did just that, many years ago, might have been 2007. I was helping gut out a moose one of the hunters shot, when another hunter, just out of sight of the bunch of us,
shot a bull with a 100gr. PYRODEX load, using a .54 TC. (yeah- he ruined that barrel- rotted it out in 2 years - wouldn't listen). Anyway, the shot was made at 170yards and the
bull was hit a bit low of centre, holing the first lung, heart and the second lung. The hole was about an inch in diameter through all organs. We assume due to the shock wave.
The ball ended up on the off side, under the hide. The bull took off running hard and collapsed mid stride after 40yard run. Just folded up.
The moose and the hunter.  Incidentally, he could not put 5 shots on a standard target at 100yards, without missing at least once. I would not have let him take that shot, because
I was with him when he was shooting off my portable bench in camp. He lucked out.