We had a pretty tough situation Sunday morning. My son is hunting for his first buck this year. He hunts with a .243 and has a doe, multiple pigs, and a turkey under his belt with that rifle. Someone turned me on to Hornady's reduced recoil loads, so I ordered some thinking it might help him avoid flinching. Come Saturday I set my son up for some shooting and, after he settled in with a few jumpy shots, he started drilling the bullseye. Boom, ready to go.

Sunday morning he shot (or shot at?) a management type buck that I had scouted for him over the last 6 weeks. I watched through my binocs, but it was a little foggy. I can't say I saw the hit, but the buck folded over backwards almost to the point of being on his back before regaining his feet and hauling arse out of there. Based on the buck's reaction, I was thinking he wouldn't be far. Sadly we couldn't find a drop of blood and our search ended without a buck. We searched hard and I was back up there yesterday morning looking for buzzards and checking ponds. No luck. No sign of him on trail cameras since Sunday morning.

Anyone have any insight or experience that might be helpful here? I know sometimes weird things just happen. Maybe he shot through the brisket or grazed him low? Maybe he missed, but it certainly didn't look like it. I'm still hopeful we will either find him dead or, preferably, he will show back up alive and give my son another shot (perhaps armed with a different round).

Sounds like he was hit forward in the lower neck area or maybe brisket. It may have hit the windpipe and that is why their is a lack of blood. The backflip is a sign of being hit forward and low IME. Hair on the ground would be the only evidence of a hit on shot like that. I might suggest you let your son practice with the reduced recoil loads but then load the full loads in the rilfe to hunt with...with the adrenaline and rush of seeing the buck he will not feel the recoil of the regular loads.

I dont know that I can help but ill offer a story im wondering about myself and maybe itll help or not. My friend shot at a big buck with a muzzleloader the other day and looked forever and didnt find any blood or hair. Game camera happened to catch the buck immediately after the shot. A small red dot can be seen on camera right behind the shoulder and about 2" from shooting under him. Broadside shot. I dont know how that could not of dropped a single drop of blood but it didnt.

Agree with STx idea of switching the loads on him. Would be an issue of resighting the rifle.

I have shot and my wife has shot several deer with reduced recoil ammo. If the shot was good the deer was dead and near. If he missed his mark i dont think a full power loading would change much.

Hope you find what you want, I too would be hoping he showed back up and gave yall another go.

We had a buck last year got shot with 180 grain partition out of a 30-06. We suspect the shot hit the brisket. We never saw or got another picture of him that year never found him dead. Have another on camera we think could be him with a scar on his brisket. May take a while to see what happened.

Man I hate that for y’all. The deer my son shot opening youth left not a single drop of blood, but fortunately folded right there. He shot the 6.5 grendel, no pass through and I had a heck of a time finding the entry. I’ve had similar experiences with the .300 blackout as well. My thought with youth who can’t handle recoil is to find the biggest bullet to make a big hole, so we’re working on .270 and 7mm currently. The .44 is a great option if you can find one.

On another note, my neighbor shot a deer square in the shoulder last season with a smaller caliber and the deer is healthy as can be this season. I saw that deer last dec limping into the feed pen.. he had a slight limp this year but put on the weight and no impact to horn growth.

Sounds like a forward shot, you may find him, you may not, but I like the advice of swapping out the reduced recoil while in the stand as long as it’s zeroed to those rounds.

Well put here. My thoughts are with both of you. That sucks for you both.

Stevarino, Im curious what the one shot in shoulder that recovered was shot with. Just trying to learn.

I can’t speak for the .243 loads ( I’m not a huge fan of the round even with full power loads) but my 13 year old hunts with the hornady custom light rounds in his 7mm-08.

He has shot a several deer and several pigs. What I’ve found is that those bullets typically don’t exit and most of the time little blood is found, BUT there is massive internal damage from a heart/lung shot. He shot one Saturday at 110 yards and the deer died within sight. Not a drop of blood but the cavity inside was jello. Bullet, like most others we found, was mushroomed against the far side underneath the hide.

Maybe switch to a accubond in the .243 that way you are pretty much guaranteed a blood trail in the .243.

As Stx mentioned, practice with the reduced recoil rounds.

Sounds like the shot was just a little forward as others have said. Mine was that way over the weekend and there was hardly any blood on the ground, but the 30-06 left nothing of the deer's lungs. The difference being that a 30-06 will destroy a shoulder and turn the bone into projectiles. A reduced recoil 243 load probably won't do that. Either work on a shot placement or get some insurance with a larger load

If he hit forward like others are saying there was no vitals there to hit?

Many think it doesnt make a difference what bullets you shoot and i disagree. I have hunted with and had many women and children hunt with a 223 rem and 60 grain nosler partition. Even hitting the shoulder it has always gone through and through and left blood for us. Its not my favorite, but it performs above its weight class.

We have banned the use of the .243 on our South Texas place. Central Texas only 100 grain core-lokt are used and they still sometimes don't leave a blood trail but it's easier to find deer their than in that South Texas brush.

"I might suggest you let your son practice with the reduced recoil loads but then load the full loads in the rilfe to hunt with...with the adrenaline and rush of seeing the buck he will not feel the recoil of the regular loads."

I agree with Stx Ranchman, had the same problem with 12 yr old and his 243, flinching every time. I used the reduced recoil for one season. Did not have a single pass thru. Both deer were recovered and bullet was under the skin so no blood and made for some serious tracking problems.
I let him shoot the Hornady reduced recoil at the range to save his shoulder but switch to 100 grain regular loads in the stand. He wont notice and will feel way more comfortable pulling that trigger.
Good luck and happy hunting!

Had the same problem with 12 yr old and his 243, flinching every time. I used the reduced recoil for one season. Did not have a single pass thru. Both deer were recovered and bullet was under the skin so no blood and made for some serious tracking problems.
I let him shoot the Hornady reduced recoil at the range to save his shoulder but switch to 100 grain regular loads in the stand. He wont notice and will feel way more comfortable pulling that trigger.
Good luck and happy hunting![/quote]

I did similar with my son. He practiced with a .17HMR but when he got in the stand he used a 30.06. With the adrenaline pumping he said he never noticed the recoil from the 150gr round. He only shot the 30.06 at live game and never developed the flinch since practice was with the .17hmr.

I had considered the switch some of y'all suggested and just didn't do it. That's the plan going forward. Anyone want to sell me some ammo? Effing election.

What you have will work, just need to make sure the bullet is placed in the right spot. That excitement on the first buck can get anyone of any age rattled. What you did not mention was shot distance...how far was the shot?
Also I do not think the buck is dead, chances are he may or may not die just depending on exactly where he was hit. I am thinking he will show up on cams again or be seen in person in a couple of weeks.

use them for practice only

From an educated source - 243 Winchester

The Hornady Custom Lite .243 Win. load (87 grain SST bullet, MV 2800 f.p.s.) has a +/- 3 inch MPBR of 273 yards. However, this load generates so little energy that its Effective Killing Range (EKR) on Class 2 game is zero yards! Specifically, the load has a muzzle energy of 1515 ft. lbs., which is less than the 1539 ft. lbs. of energy that an 87 grain .243 bullet needs to get a Killing Power Score (KPS) of 15. This load is adequate for shooting large varmints and small predators (Class 1 animals), but it should not be used for hunting deer or similar sized animals.

The primary reason for using the reduced recoil .243 load is to virtually eliminate recoil during shooter training. Assuming an eight pound rifle, the reduced load produces estimated recoil of 6.4 ft. lbs., which is 37% less than the 10.1 ft. lbs. of recoil that a typical, full power 100 grain .243 load would generate.

This would be desirable when introducing a young or very recoil sensitive shooter to centerfire rifle shooting. However, the shooter should progress to shooting a .243 Winchester rifle with full power 95 or 100 grain bullet loads before he or she goes deer hunting.

59 yards according to my rangefinder. I'm got some 100 grain soft points, which is what he used on every one of his kills. But to your point, if the shot was that far off the bullet wouldn't have made the difference.

Appreciate all the feedback.

This. It is an SST bullet designed for expansion at lower velocity. Shooting a deer at 100 yards simply gives you approximately the same velocity as shooting a deer at 250 yards with a regular load. 2574 fps at 100 for reduced load,, 2600 for VMax with same Coefficient. So, I doubt it was a bullet problem, was more likely a placement problem..

Is he shooting off of bags/rest/???? when practicing? What is he shooting off of in the blind....same setup or different? Also, I have seen first time shooters of all ages misjudge exactly where to aim when a deer is standing broadside....the leg is forward vs. back almost always has the first time hunter aiming to far back or forward quite often. We used photos of deer and let them put a Sharpie dot on the spot the would aim for on various deer photos.

Over 50 years ago I can remember my Dad and I going through Field and Stream and Outdoor Life magazines looking for deer pics and various angles so that I could mark where I would shoot them. Thats still today how I picture my sight picture.

He had a good rest while practicing and in the blind. It wasn't a vice, but the All Seasons blind we were in came with a wide flat foam window seal rest that makes it pretty easy to get steady. He took his time with the shot, but obviously he only knows just how steady he was when he pulled the trigger. He said he felt good about it and has been very disciplined in the past for his age. We've also gone over shot placement quite a bit. I hadn't thought about his leg being forward leading to his shot being too far forward, but that's a possibility. One thing I'll improve next time is the height of his chair. He was on his knees to get to the right height for his shot, which may have been less than ideal. In the moment, I would have told you we had a 99% chance of success based on all circumstances. Kid was locked in. I wouldn't have let him pull the trigger otherwise. We let the same deer walk at 30 yards the previous evening because it was getting close to dark and I didn't want to risk tracking at night. Hoping this all ends well.

You sound like you know what your doing and everything was done right. Its easy for a shot to be off a little, especially with a youngster. Im gonna put money on someone seeing him again, alive and well. Hope so.

I don’t have the specifics and shouldn’t have said low caliber. I had video of him last dec and you could easily make out the bullet hole. I just can’t imagine a high caliber square in the shoulder not penetrating enough to kill that deer. I saw the deer opening day of bow and youth This season though, and as stated, he has a slight limp but looks extremely healthy. Saw last season during rifle before and after the incident.
I can only imagine the doubt one goes through after making a shot like that with no recovery.

This 6.5 grendel is a big bullet just not a lot of powder behind it and I was really nervous not seeing any blood or entry.
My oldest killed his first deer with a semi auto .44 and that bullet leaves a blood trail, but very little recoil..