Today, the last day of the Thanksgiving weekend season, I got another doe (with the 20-gauge Hornaday SST). It was about 100 yards away and at that distance there was no need to use a rangefinder. It was standing in some tall grass with a fawn. It ran at least 50, maybe 75 yards before going down. She was sort of quartering away. The bullet entrance hole was at about the diaphram and exit hole was just behind the shoulder on the opposite side. The slug went through the animal above the center of the rib cage, about 2 inches below the bottom of the spinal column. I think the slug probably missed or barely hit the lung on the front side and went through the top of the lung on the far side. The exit hole was about 1-inch in diameter. Instead of field dressing deer, and hauling them home to butcher, I cut off the shoulders, back legs, and backstraps in the field. Therefore, I am not exactly sure which organs the slugs damaged. Toward the end of its run the deer disappeared behind some trees. Although there was some snow, the blood trail was not too good toward the end. The deer did a little semi-circle and died in some tall grass. If there had not been snow I may not have found her. That is, I may have thought my hit was bad and that she had run off rather than doing the semi-circle and dying close by. Had I centered the lungs better, I think there would have been a better blood trail and she probably would not have run as far.
