More than one hit?

[6mm Remington]

My only Pronghorn that I have ever shot, facing me standing at about 200 yards some wind, half hour after sunup near Gillette WY. Shot the antelope through the lower white chest spot aiming for aortic arch. Winchester Model 70, .270 Win, 130 Partition (screw machine jacket with groove) at 3060 fps MV.

Bullet went into chest within an inch of aim-point, blew up part of aortic arch damaged both lungs with extensive hemorrhage in the connective tissue of both lungs, went through liver, paunch, blew up spleen/pancreas, penetrated intestines and through right hip. Bullet was expanded, under skin next to tail and perfectly mushroomed to Partition web (like catalog picture) after 3+ feet of pronghorn penetration. Buck fell straight down, got up and took off, passed a doe running flat out broadside to my left.

After another 100 yards of running, he slowed down a bit and I hit him again in left side, high lung shot, dropped him DOA, skidding in a cloud of dust. The second Partition went through both lungs, expanded perfectly, bled out in lungs and ended the drama. Buck (14-1/4 inch) Pronghorn weighed 135 pounds hog dressed (with skin).

Sometimes it is just not in the cue cards as to what they are going to do? I took every organ out and looked it over as I dressed this goat. I have never had more than 75 deer shot with same PT bullet go more than 30 feet after being shot with 130 Partition from this rifle from 30-400 yards, go figure?

Good story Charlie. Those darn antelope are one tough critter. They can be easy to put down, but I have also seen them do amazing things. That sounds like it was a big bodied bugger. I've been thinking about getting a portable scales so I can weigh some of the game we take.
David

 

[Oldtrader3]

David, we shot five buck Pronghorn on this trip with: 6mm Rem, .257 Bob, (2) .270 Win's and a .25-06. Everyone of these animals carried on for 20-30 seconds before expiration and all were well hit with fatal double lung shots on the first shot! I was amazed at how tough they were.

We had paid an ranch access fee and the rancher was kind enough to weigh each animal for us when we checked in and registered our kills with him. We also each had brought fabricated stainless steel speader bars to spread rear hocks for cooling which made hanging and weighing easy.

 

[IdahoCTD]

That's amazing. Antelope are usually waiting to die. It almost seems as if you could flick one in the ear and it would fall over.

I remembered a deer I shot that took 3 rounds from a .300wm and 200gr Sierra's. I think it was a case of the wrong bullet as they pencil holed right through him at about 100yds. He would of died after the first as it went right through the lungs but I kept shooting until he fell. I switched to 180gr Sierra's after that until I traded the rifle to my dad and never had the problem again.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Nearly as I could tell, these bullets all expanded and left larger exit then entrance holes. At least that is what the skinned carcasses revealed. All were pretty classic lung shots at around 100 to 450 yards range.

I did not ask what make bullets but exit holes were consistant with good performance. I know that the (2) .270's and the .257 Bob were were 130 gr and 100 gr Partitions respectively. None of the animals, except mine went more than 30 yard after being hit. Pronghorn hunting is not my specialty.

 

[big rifle man]

Shot an Elk facing dead on at 125 yards with an 06 and 180 grain Hornady interlock. The Elk just stood there, looked around and began turning to his left so as to go back down the canyon he came from. As he turned I put another bullet just behind his right front shoulder. He stopped, looked around and then dropped his head. I was going to shoot again and he decided to call it a day, falling basically on his nose and then to the ground. The first shot went smack through the middle of his chest and ended up destroying his heart. The second shot destroyed his lungs. After switching to my .338RUM I haven't had a repeat performance.

 

[cloverleaf]

[/i]David, we shot five buck Pronghorn on this trip with: 6mm Rem, .257 Bob, (2) .270 Win's and a .25-06. Everyone of these animals carried on for 20-30 seconds before expiration and all were well hit with fatal double lung shots on the first shot! I was amazed at how tough they were.[/i]

Dont remember where I read, it and I dont have the numbers on a deer's leg for comparison, but the antelopes foreleg bones are somthing like seven times stronger than the foreleg of your average hereford cow. IF that is any indicator of how tough the rest of him is, we shouldnt be surprised. As we know deer have an amazing ability to soak up lead. CL

 

[IdahoCTD]

Their bones are tough but their tenacity for life generally isn't. The bone strength if for the speed they travel. All the antelope I've shot died on the spot. I've seen a few poor shots by others and they still didn't go far.

 

[35 Whelen]

A person should remember that this killing of game is really a fine balancing act. Pick a caliber any caliber and then find the bullet that matches that games weight and density correctly and you are going to have a much higher odds of killing it instantly than with the same caliber and the wrong bullet. Take a 270 Winchester with a good all around bullet in say 130gr say just a regular old Remington Corelokt and shoot the biggest buck you have ever seen 250 or even 300 lbs field dressed and you can knock the snot right out of him and flatten him if you can hit him right practically every time when hit right . But take that same shot with a big magnum rifle and bonded bullets designed for a Kudu or Moose and you will more than likely be in for a long wild goose chase into the dead of the night and maybe never get him. We find as the years have gone on people have changed alot in what they shoot but not how they shoot. I am a third generation hunting guide, and when I was a kid in the early 60s at least 50% of the hunters showed up with open sighted lever guns, on deer hunting trips here in Northern Maine. One of the most popular guns in a modern caliber was the Savage 99 in 300 Sav. Of course nowadays 90% show up with a scoped rifle and many in magnum calibers . We have always requested folks "sighter in" after they arrive at the lodge so we can make sure they cant blame the gun later on and just get a general feel for how careful they are with firearms around others........................... I can honestly tell you that I dont see a big difference in peoples marksmanship over the last 40 years................. nor do I see a big difference in their ability to make well placed shots . So even though there has been some major advances in guns , scopes , internet knowledge etc to the public . I dont think people have changed very much. We had about the same amount of trouble with wounded game then as we do now. People seamed to get just about as nervious then as they do now. Lots of folks showed up with a gun that was too much for them to shoot then as now. There was the "big bore" crowd and the "hyper velocity" fellas then as there is now. And of course you had the "two holes" experts and guys telling about guns that shoot so flat that the bullet rises from their barrels for many hundreds of yards before gravity can even touch their loads and many of them all talking about targets with groups you could cover "with a dime". However all the magnum rifles and bonded bullets and custom tuned actions or euro scopes will NEVER make one once of difference when that big one finally steps out and your teeth start clackin and your knees start loosing their ability to hold you up. And because I am always standing beside them and slightly behind them I have had the chance to observe many fellas take that shot many times and I can assure you that what I see or saw was quite different than how most of them remember it or repeat it later on. Hunting is a great sport and most of us want to have quick clean kills .................. however the odds are really against that being the norm because of many factors the avg guy has no control of. When most of us think back on the wounded game we have had to chase it can usually come back to the same things , wrong bullet in the wrong place at the wrong time or even the wrong animal! Get one gun and learn to shoot it well, pratice often, pick a bullet that has a proven track record with the game you are hunting, and place your first shot well. Your clean quick kills will go way up. And dont forget, if you are going to take an animals life, before you squeeze that trigger, to say the indian prayer "Brother I am sorry you must die"

 

[Oldtrader3]

I respectfully disagree about accurate shooting in the area of scope sights. I certainly do not have the exposure to guided hunters under the conditions that you see from year to year in you normal business of guiding hunters for game. However, I have to give the nod to optical improvements and scope design excellence over the past 40 years by reflecting on my own experiences (50+ years) and those of my close hunting buddies (those with whom I have repeatedly hunted for years) and their personal optical equipment evolution during this period.

I have one scope, an Illuminator (Redfield-Denver) 3-9x42 scope made in the early 1980's which I still own and use occasionally because it is the only of my American made scope from that era which has survived and is still good enough optically to even consider comparing against more modern scope designs, built since about 2001. This includes branding from the Bushnell Elite Class optic to the better European optics. All of the other scope brands which I have owned during that time are long gone and either broke or just do not get it done anymore. That is all except one Zeiss Diavari which I paid $1500 for in the mid-1990's and of course, the aforementioned Illuminator.

What I recount about the older optics is a lack of holding zero, maintaining seal integrity (fogging) and control of adjustments in order to change zero in a box shape, not a cocked, parallelogram! So, the shooter abilities may be the same but he/she has better equipment which to me is a significant change. BTW, I have used a scope almost exclusively for nearly all shooting and certainly while hunting larger game for the past 50 years. Nearly any good quality optic which you buy now will give you pretty good contrast, resolution and reasonable adjustment accuracy. Plus they will hold zero. I do believe that these metrics have improved with most scope brands during recent history and they do help people shoot better.