Hit the Trifecta

It has been a busy time the last couple weeks up at camp. Starting the weekend before Thanksgiving I rolled into camp late on Friday and the weather was terrible, cloudy and windy with a misty rain. Once unloaded, I had a chance to sight in my 6.8 AR with some new Hornady 120 gr SST. They were grouping tight and I was ready to go.

I got into the stand over looking a grown over food plot 2 hours before sundown. Nothing was moving except the pine tree I was strapped to. 5 minutes before all shooting light disappeared a hog busts out of the brush onto a logging road straight ahead. Lucky for me my rifle and scope were already pointed in that direction sitting on the shooting rail. The hog stared me down for a couple of minutes but I had the crosshairs on him already. Running out of light now, the hog decides to turn and head south away from me, I sent a round downrange and hit him broadside at 40 yards. I seen the pig literally spin out in the road and take off running dragging his outside front shoulder along and then nothing but a loud crash into the bushes. I climb down 30 minutes later and search for blood, I find nothing but deep tracks torn into the road and sign of him dragging a foot along the way. I decide to head back to camp for flashlights, my 45 and some help. Once back at camp my hunting partner pulls up with his 11 yr old son who just happened to shot his 1st deer, a nice fat doe. It was round of beer for the adults supplied by his happy/proud father, a good face painting for the young man with some blood and then back for the pig we all went. We get back to the spot and then start tracking. After a short 15 yard walk, we found him folded up in the roadside ditch. When he 1st busted out of the brush, I though he was a white hog with spots, after a closer look it was a blonde hog covered in dirt. Another round of beers were in order.

The shot was a perfect broadside hit, the hornaday destroyed both lungs, clipped the top of the heart and lodged inside the opposite shoulder however there was no blood trail to be found. The entry wound was the size of an exit wound but the hair soaked up all the blood. This concerned me but I decided to stick with the ammo the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning I am back out there looking for my 1st deer of the season. I decide to sit the same stand where the 11 yr old got his doe the night before. We were seeing alot of does on camera there and thought a buck would come checking on them. After a 2 hour sit out comes a doe and I continue to watch her for over 20 minutes moving through the food plot and sneaking up on the corn pile. At first I was going to let her walk but after thinking it over, I really wanted some bacon wrapped backstrap to take to Thanksgiving so I decided to shot this one. Again it is a good broadside hit, the round made a complete pass through and I found a good blood trail. That doe still ran 35 yards into the pines. Took me 35 minutes to track her down. After opening her up, I found both lungs were hit but the heart was still intact. The entry wound again looked like an exit wound and the exit wound looked like a small pencil sized hole. I am glad I took this one as I did not see another deer the rest of the weekend.

Fast forward to the Saturday after Thanksgiving, everyone at camp had atleast one doe in the cooler and everyone was hunting for horn. I am sitting in the same stand where I shot the doe and for the 1st 2 hours nothing is moving expect the birds. I am receiving texts from the other guys at camp complaining about the lack of activity but we are hearing plenty of shots from the nearby leases. All of a sudden I look up and there is a buck standing in the middle of the road, 130 yards out. Head down, he is looking in my direction then turns and starts to walk away. I have about 4 steps before he is out of sight so I throw up the AR, put the Leupold on him and fire. I seen him jump kick but its an extreme angle and I am worried. I let him sit 45 minutes then get down to check. I find nothing for the 1st 25 ft then a small drop of blood and some bone. Its another 25 ft and then the same, drop of blood and bone, I am fearing the worst thinking I glanced one off his front shoulder. He runs another 30 ft before he crashes into an embankment, gets up and jumps into the pines. Its been 35 minutes of tracking at this point, I back out, drop my gear & call in some help. 3 of us start working our way into the pines. We are finding 1 drop of blood at a time but they are 25 ft apart, atleast moving in somewhat of a straight line. It is a slow slog through some thick brush and we're are over an hour into it. Just when we are about to call it day thinking that the trail indicated a glancing blow, we find one branch going into a palmetto thicket that is just covered in dried blood. We push through and find him on the other side crumpled up, he was a 4 pt about 2.5 yr old. After dragging him out the 45 yards, we opened him up and discovered the bullet went in high clipping the front of the left rear quarter, punctured the top of the stomach, took out the top of the right lung and exited just in front of the right shoulder. Clean pass through but again not happy with the blood trail at all.

It was fun couple of weekends, my coolers are full of meat and time to give the camp a break for a couple of weeks. I do think I am done with the polymer tip bullets for now in the 6.8. The Hornadys are making great entry wounds and are doing some serious damage once inside the cavity but the lack of large exit wounds and potential blood trail made for some tense moments. I am going to switch over to a 95 gr or 110 gr Barnes TSX next trip up to see how they perform. I was recommended the Hornadys on the 6.8 forums by other hunters but at this point I am not impressed by what I experienced.