After the shot she dropped instantly to the side and let out a bleet, exactly like the primos can does. When I approached her she sat still until I was 10 yards away and she snorted at me, jumped up and took off. I was completely dumbfounded. The other doe she came in with was laying down about 20 yards away (I didn't see her at the time) and she jumped up and ran with her. We waited and then tracked her about 100 yards away where she was bedded down after letting her sit for an hour. It was heavy thorn bush. I followed some of the blood spots into it (trail started about 15 yards before the briars) and a friend who was also helping track was on the other side. He saw her jump out, cross the creek and lay down again in another pile of thorns 60 yards away. It was 34 degrees that night and late by this time so we decided to let her lay until morning. It was well into dark and we didn't want to keep pushing her out into the open woods, plus no chance for a shot. The next morning she got up again and walked off when we approached the briars. She didn't run, but jogged off at a fair pace.
Poor shot placement.
Checked the scope when we got it back and it was walking big time so I replaced it last week. Also when I got it back from the shop I could see a polished ring inside the chamber where the spent casing was hanging. I took a spent case, coated the neck with weenol and used a drill and stud to polish the tight spot out. 2 boxes of ammo through of the same SuperX for sighting and practice and not one hang. We had a couple of boxes of the stuff so we are finishing it off. 1" at 100yds after some work.
I didn't sleep at all that night and am not one to let one lay wounded. But we had no choice at that time. No shooting after dark and again no shooting on Sunday when we got up to check. I spent 5 hours in October crawling on my hands and knees through the briars to find and recover my buck I took during bow season. I don't give up unless I am forced to. The woods here are odd, you can have an open area of large trees with a 125 yard shot, yet that runs into acres of solid briars. You can guess where the deer like to go when they have a chance to. When ever I or my son takes a shot I am committed to finding the harvest, this was the only one that it didn't work out that way and why I was so frustrated with the hung up casing. This weekend when we went out I also took my CVA 270 as a backup in case there were any issues. It's way too much for my 8 year old, that is why we bought the junior handi in the first place.
We were able to harvest two does on opening day (Saturday) with no issues. One with the 243 and one with the 270.
I was extremely impressed with the entry/exit and it instantly dropped the doe this weekend. It is the first time I have butched a deer taken with a 243 and I was happy with the minimal secondary muscle damage the bullet produced. My 270 does quite a bit of damage sometimes which will render some of the shoulder meat useless. It removed the backside shoulder about 90% on the doe Saturday. I may look into a 243 barrel for my CVA for next year.
We did not see any buzzards after that day, till today (it is out behind my house/acreage) so she lived. I think the one neighbor took her on Saturday, he took two does also. All 4 passed within 15 yards of us as they came through. We already had two on the ground so we let the other two walk. I should have pictures once the mother-in-law gets them developed and I can scan them.
I am definitely not offended. I feel the same way that you do about recovering your deer. I should have posted everything in the original post but was thinking of it as a mechanical issue with little time to fix before the regular season opened. I was worried the shop was trying to pull the wool over my eyes on the gun and refusing to fix an issue blamed on the ammo.
