.45-70 on whitetail

[dougjones31]

I finally got around to hunting in a thick area with my .45-70 guide gun. I shot 2 deer at @ 30 yrds. I had to take a heart shot on both because I could not see the neck and head when they stopped moving. I shot both of them through the heart/lungs with 350gr copper coated. Both of them ran @ 50-60 yrds into some thicker crap!

Dammit! If you don't hit bone....they will run.


That being said.....tracking the deer was easy. The blood trail could be seen from from a helicopter. Seriously! I like my little guide gun.:biggrin:


NOTE....

1. The gun is very accurate. I shot 1 inch groups with it @ 100 yards.

2. Don't worry about hitting a limb and deflecting the bullet.....I shot through a 3" pine tree during target practice and still hit the milk jug that I put 10 yrds behind it!

[762 shooter]

After having shot hundreds of calibers, the .45-70 is my favorite. Everyone needs to own one. Now if I could just get that Gatlin gun built...

[gunseller]

I have shot deer with both warm loaded 400 grain bullets and factory 300 ammo. Both worked about the same, lots of blood and done about 50 yards after hit, heart/lung shot also no bone. I did shoot one at around 400 yards with a 500 grain hard cast semi pointed bullet out of a 1873 Springfield using black powder. That one went 200 yards. I have two lever actions and two single shots. I use black powder in the single shoots. In a 1895SS Marlin you can get it up into African big animal class. That is if you can take standing behind it. It sounds like you made good shots on the deer.
Gunseller

[dougjones31]

I was hunting meat and I refuse to shoot them in the front drive gear, which will put them down instantly. It wastes too much meat. I will wait for a neck shot the next time though.

Funny thing...I shot the big doe first. Then the buck ran right into the spot where I shot the doe. Both shots were identical.

[Para Driver]

you are not using enough gun, try a .458 win mag next time...

[BUFF]

It seems like heart- and lung-shot deer just about always run a ways, 50-100 yards being pretty normal. That's a nice thing about the bigger rounds, they leave two big holes so you get a blood trail.

I love the .45-70, having 3 of them: 2 Siamese Mauser sporters and a Browning 1886 lever gun. I had a Marlin and another Siamese, a Navy Arms conversion. It is a great short-medium range gun for any critter of size.

[Dorsai]

Fairly typical. If you don't break the shoulders or get the central nervous system, you are depending on blood loss to lower blood pressure enough that they fall over and can't run any further. The .45-70 definately makes a big hole to make that blood loss as fast as possible.