Deer with .357 what to do?

[boolitcastermaster]

Like I said the first priority in thick brush deer hunting is stopping, not killing.
That means making it physically impossible for the deer to move much past the point of impact.
That means destroying the brain (head shot), interupting the brain to muscle connection (spine shot) or breaking the shoulder bones (shoulder shot).
If I lung shot the deer in heavy brush with my Win 94 30-30 it would end up dead but perhaps under a log or in a clump of shrubs never to be found by a human.
Heavy brush shots are by definition short shots. If they weren't it wouldn't be heavy brush.
The shoulder is the easiest stopping shot to make under most circumstances but you need to use a caliber and bullet capable of breaking those big shoulder bones. My 45-70 Guide Gun pushing a 430 grain hard cast flat nose lead bullet at 1875 fps is the ticket.
You might lose a bit of meat but you will be eating deer tenderloin that evening not the coyotes and ravens.
I use a Savage model 116 bolt action in 30-06 with a high end Leupold 3-9x40mm scope for my normal open field hunts where it doesn't matter much if the deer goes 20 or 30 yards. The load uses a 165 grain nosler accubond bullet which is accurate and performs well.
The shoulder shot method is strictly a heavy brush method.
I have several deer rifles and I use the one best suited to the environment I'm hunting in on any given hunt.

[Ranch Dog]

Like I said the first priority in thick brush deer hunting is stopping, not killing.
That means making it physically impossible for the deer to move much past the point of impact.
That means destroying the brain (head shot), interupting the brain to muscle connection (spine shot) or breaking the shoulder bones (shoulder shot).

I have seen just as many of these shots go bad, if not more than heart/lung shots. IF you don't break both leg bones, the deer will be gone just as fast as anything else with absolutely no vitals hit. I have a three legged dog, it runs faster than a four legged dog!

I've seen deer with both front legs broken run off, especially bucks that are focused on trailing a doe. I have seen a buck with compound fractures of both rear legs, walking on bone ends, trailing a doe just as fast as any other buck trailing a doe. I assume he fractured them in a wire net fence. My dad then I tried to shoot him but he was moving to fast. One of my hunters shot him 24 hours later, a mile and a half from where we saw him. He was still running on his "sticks" with the hooves trailing by the skin.

If I lung shot the deer in heavy brush with my Win 94 30-30 it would end up dead but perhaps under a log or in a clump of shrubs never to be found by a human.

I live in heavy brush and as I said, until this year I haven't lost a heart/lung shot deer since 1991 and that is shooting a number of deer every year.

The shoulder is the easiest stopping shot to make under most circumstances but you need to use a caliber and bullet capable of breaking those big shoulder bones. My 45-70 Guide Gun pushing a 430 grain hard cast flat nose lead bullet at 1875 fps is the ticket.
You might lose a bit of meat but you will be eating deer tenderloin that evening not the coyotes and ravens.
I use a Savage model 116 bolt action in 30-06 with a high end Leupold 3-9x40mm scope for my normal open field hunts where it doesn't matter much if the deer goes 20 or 30 yards. The load uses a 165 grain nosler accubond bullet which is accurate and performs well.
The shoulder shot method is strictly a heavy brush method.
I have several deer rifles and I use the one best suited to the environment I'm hunting in on any given hunt.

I know I'm not going to convenience you but you are giving poor advice.

Here is what Outdoor life says about it: Where to Shoot a Deer for One-Shot Kills

[donhuff]

Not that it has anything to do with the topic...but.

I really envy you guys that can see color. Especially red. I am horribly color blind. When I go into the woods, all I see is brown! Gray, green, red, light orange,...........are all brown to me. If there aint no movement, I can't see it. Red apples on a tree are invisible to me until I get within maybe 20 feet of the tree, close enough that I can see the round shape of the apples. Then presto, I can see the red apples! Stop signs at night are non existent, I look for the white lettering on the sign or the white lines on the pavement.

I do not even know what a blood trail is, as I have NEVER seen one. Even when it was pointed out to me.

[Ranch Dog]

That's crazy! So you really don't know what red looks like? (stupid question but I'm curious)

[donhuff]

Not stupid at all, cause it is a odd situation for you and me. I can see red, but it may not look like what you call red. I can tell red lights from green (most people ask about that), and I can see stop signs..........in the daylight. At night, they are a dark green until I get within sa 50-75 feet of them. Then they amazingly turn red

It seems to be only certain shades, of a certain color,(mostly red, brown, and green) that I absolutely can not tell what it is. I see "A" color, but just can not for the life of me tell you what it is and be correct about my answer 80% of the time.

And because of this, I am very color ignorant. You can try to teach me, but it doesn't work, cause with different shades of light, my colors change from what you might see.

I have learned over the years to cope with it by not saying much about the color of things. I tend to wear blue jeans, or khaki or black slacks, so that what ever shirt I put on will not look so mismatched. Not that it bothers me so much but my wife can't understand it. She is constantly telling me to change shirts so it will match!

My flight physical doctor laughed his azz off cause I missed so many of those colored dot things. He passed me anyway cause he knew I was flying for fun. Then he died and I had to go to a new/younger Dr. He failed me and took away my night piloting privilege, I told him I could still fly as good as I ever had and that I have over 450 hours of night flying in my log book. I told him that I did not go to controlled airports where I might get a light signal, and that I could land in the first 500 foot of any runway and did not have to worry about the red lights warning me about the end of the runway was near. He did not care...............nor did I. I still flew at night.

Me, my two brothers and my dad were all color blind. My twin got turned down for a couple of jobs because of it.

So to answer your question, yes, I do know what it looks like. But I can't always see it cause sometimes it's green....and you can't see it .

[Moon Tree]

Geeze Don that would kind of suck for tracking a deer. But, we all have are little imperfections and we learn to compensate for them. I suppose if I couldn't see a blood trail, I'd get better at determining a 3 minute old track vs a 3 hour hold track. Heck, hunting with this .357 might cause me to do just that. haha

[Rooster59]

The only shot I got on a deer this year ended poorly. The first failed attempt for me.

The distance wasn't bad, 125-135 yards, and the rifle was sighted right on for that distance. The blood trail started about 15' from the shot point. They were smaller than a dime and 5' apart then disappeared 50' later. The deer was shot at the edge of a 15 acre field and he headed straight down into the wooded draw. After searching through the trees with little brush he wasn't found. There were a lot of displaced oak leaves in a trail straight to the ditch at the bottom.

The previous shots on deer with this Marlin 30-30 and Speer 150FN handload resulted in perfect heart/lung shots with runs no longer than 25-35 yards. Exit wounds were good sized for a .308 jacketed bullet designed for 30-30 velocities. All in deep draws and moderate brush/tree cover and under 75 yards. Until this year I was very happy with this rifle and ammo. Now I am going back to the tight, steep wooded draws and rifles with barrel bores of .452" to .457" and projectiles no less than 300gr. If they are going to run, they will have to dodge trees and climb steep hills to get away from me.

[Ranch Dog]

I don't know if I would get too upset based on the single event. What happens at the shot and at the hit are very dynamic and things happen that we will never have the answers for.

The very first deer I killed with my RG4570 was a spike that I shot at 70 yards with a full dose load pushing a 425 bullet. The deer took the hit and walked off, within a few feet it was out of sight. This is a load that will literally know a 5 to 700# nilgai bull off it's feet. I waited 30 minutes and eased up to the spot of the hit. No blood ,so I turned into the waist high grass. The deer was just beyond the point I lost sight of him. There was a lot of blood where he laid but none from the hit to that spot. I could stick my fist through the hole I knocked through him and there was nothing inside him. It had all poured out once he was on the ground. I can't explain his reaction and the lack of a blood trail.

[Moon Tree]

Thanks RD, for all the encouragement and support. Heck, I've taken 2 deer this season with this little Rossi. The buck was the heaviest bodied deer, I've ever taken and the doe might be the largest doe of my life. I just want to make sure that I'm doing everything I can on my end to make it right for the beautiful animal that I am attempting to harvest. I owe it to them.

I am really in love with this little gun. Coupled with the Blackhawk, they are way too much fun to shoot and to hunt with.

I'm heading out Friday for a guy's weekend at the cabin. We've been getting together on the 2nd weekend of Jan. for 34 years, to shoot, hunt, catch up and lies to each other. haha At some point this weekend we're going to attempt a coyote hunt. Guess what rifle I'm taking? Yep, I'm leaving the scoped .243 and .270 at home.

I'll post pics next week of the fun.
Dave

EDITED Reading back I see you were talking to rooster.

[Ranch Dog]

Sound good and looking forward to the report!