308 ME Bullet expansion on smaller game. Possible problem?

1390 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Gee Wizz01, Mar 9, 2011

alawrence

Discussion Starter · Mar 7, 2011

Folks,

I went hunting for coyote this weekend and shot one at about 40 yds. I know that he was hit behind the right shoulder quartering away slightly. My hunting partner stated that it had been hit hard. He had another view of it from a different angle. The coyote ran into the brush. After a few minutes I crossed a small swamp area to where I shot it. There was definite blood in the snow, I tracked the animal for about 300 yds until the blood trail stopped. I could not find it anywhere. I hate to think that I just wounded it and that it is going to die a slow death. No animal that is hunted deserves that.

Now my question is, is it possible that the leverevolutuion slug did not expand in a smaller , thin skinned (40lb) animal? My partner shot another a little later with a 180gr 30-06 Winchester Silvertip. That one looked like it was hit with a howitzer. The only thing holding it together was the spine.

Any thoughts anybody?

Andrew

Save

1 - 7 of 7 Posts

stykbow57

· #2 · Mar 7, 2011

I dont know your circumstance , trees, brush or what ever but pumpkins and watermelons are thin skinned and they explode on contact! I'm not saying that you didn't get a good hit but I think the FTX is a pretty good bullet
maby not perfect but a coyote at 40 yds with 308 ME! Just the shock wave would do it in. just my opinion. Dennis

Save

big medicine

· #3 · Mar 7, 2011

Sometimes critters just don't die easy. I have shot a lot yotes with 22cal 55 gr FMJ. Even if it expands it is not the dia of a 30 cal bullet. Who knows what the deal is with the yote you shot. You could of hit it far enough back that it was a gut shot. And you sure can't compare one hit to another, each one is unique onto its self.

I shot a yote with a 303 Brit it was a stright on shot. I was crawling through a plum thicket and it was running stright towards me. I fired and the yore whirrled around and took out the way it had come. There was blood everywhere, it looked like some one splashed blood out of a 5 gal bucket down the trail, and we never found that yote. It is just the way it is sometimes. And then again sometimes all it takes is a 17 rimfire mag. I shot this yote at about 125 yards

Trickle of blood. This yote never even took a step.

When it was skinned

I honestly don't think it was any fault of the 308 FTX bullet. Sometimes they just don't give it up.

See less See more

Save

plumbercrackus

· #4 · Mar 7, 2011

i shot one through the neck at 50 yds last season with my 30-30 the only thing holding its head on was a flap of skin.
the spike i shot at 100yds dropped in its tracks .
your yote was probably hit further back than you think as big med.was saying ,even so ,at least down here in black brush and juajillo country they can hide in there and the buzzards will find them before you will.

Save

alawrence

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 7, 2011

Thnaks guys,

I shot a coyote last year in the chest with the 308ME at 75 yds. It never took another stride. The entrance hole and exit hole were the same diameter. This is why I was questioning the expansion. I am pretty sure that this coyote is dead now. The wolves in the area will dine well.

Andrew

Save

Halwg

· #6 · Mar 7, 2011

JohnnyLoco used to say you can't kill a rabbit with a 30-30 because the bullet passes right through, but you can take down a moose with the same bullet. Go figure!

Save

Gee Wizz01

· #7 · Mar 9, 2011

Coyotes are one tough critter! I have shot them with .243, .257 Roberts, 30-06, and 22 rimfire. Some drop dead and some take off. I shot a couple up close with the 22 and they were DRT. Last year I shot one through the shoulder with my 30-06 at about 110 yds and it dropped and didn't move, I stayed hidden in the brush for another hour trying to get another, with no luck. I walked out to retrieve the dead yote, and it tried to bite me! He was hit high on the shoulders and both were broke and he had a hole in the off side the size of a soft ball, but he was still alive and he took a 22 through the head to kill him. I felt really bad about the animal suffering, but he had dropped like a sack of rocks and never kicked or moved, and I checked him several times with my binoculars. They are just plain hard to kill.

Gary

Save

1 - 7 of 7 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month