Coues with a 7mm Rem Mag

[billrquimby]

I'm new to the big gun game and didn't know much about the possibility of too much bullet. Last year I shot a coues center mass with a 7mm rem mag and 150 gr nosler partition.. Deer dropped in its tracks.. 2 hours later when I got over to the deer it got up like a pheasant and took off down the hill right at dark. Never found the deer. I must have punched a clean hole right through the liver Since then I've decided for smaller big game, I'm never shooting a bullet without a ballistic tip again.

 

Good luck

 

Two hours later after dropping in its tracks? I doubt that any animal could survive a 150-grain 7mm Nosler partition bullet punching a hole through its liver. I can think of two possibilities:

 

1. The bullet passed through meat high on its back without hitting bone, but knocking out the deer. I have had this happen several times and each deer dropped instantly, only to run off seemingly not injured at all as I approached. I once shot a Texas Hill Country buck as it was jumping a fence and it fell like a bag of beans. As I walked over to it, it jumped up and ran straight at me. It was only confused, I'm sure, but at the time it sure seemed as if it was charging me full tilt. I missed my next shot as it was coming at me, but killed it as it turned broadside just a few yards away.

 

2. Two hours is a long time. Any chance that you did kill the deer you shot at, and the deer you saw run away was a different buck? I've had bucks explode out of nearby cover as I approached one that I'd killed. Coues bucks often bed close to each other, and are especially good at holding tight until they're almost stepped on.

 

Bill Quimby

[bullwidgeon]

I watched my buddy hit one hard with my .300 WBY shooting 150 gr Hornady softpoints last year at 175 yards that cartwheeled and fell down. It was hit just behind the ribcage, high. After about 10 minutes (we were waiting a little because after the cartwheel he disapeared into some very thick brush and I wanted the shooter to stay on the gun on the tripod ready to go) the buck lifted his head up out of the grass and just sat there. We waited another 15-20 minutes and started to work our way over to him, we had no shot on him bedded, just his head. When I got about 20 feet from him he jumped up cleared a little canyon, jumped 2 fences and went from the very bottom clear to the top and went over one of the larger peaks in the Guijas in a matter of seconds, just enough time for my buddy to send 2 more shots after him. He had a little bloody red spot on his sides where the bullet went in and came out a little bigger on the side. We never found that buck and other than 4 or 5 small splotches of blood in his bed where the inital shot was, we never cut blood and we followed him all the way up the mountain, over both fence jumps and looked on the other side. Certainly a balistic tip may have put a bigger whole in that one, also a shoulder shot or any frontal bone shot woulda have killed that one dead with the bullets I had. 7 mags are fine but shot placement is everything, even when using a .458

 

Bret M.

[105Coues]

Ballistic tips and my 300WM rock for whitetails. They do blow up some meat at close range but a little meat is better than no meat at all. Most of my shots are at extended ranges . I recommend fast expanding bullets because WTY's are not very thick and at extended ranges these bullets do not just punch a pinhole through them.

 

I took a guy out who shot a buck at 411 yds right through the lungs with a 308 and the bullet didn't expand. It was a 165 bullet. We recovered the buck with a 308 diameter hole right behind both shoulders but it was sad to watch because after the first shot it went in the bushes for 5 min or so before expiring. Seemed like an hour.

 

Think high power calibers with light bullets if you are taking extended range shots.