Your doing all the good. Stuff happens with inexperienced hunters. My wife was 25 when i took her hunting the first time and she struggled just as much as your son. He will get it!

I tried Remington's Managed Recoil .270 ammo one season and found it as effective as the full strength stuff. However, my shots were never more than 100 yards at best.

I also tried some of both Remington and Hornady 30-30 reduced recoil ammo at the range but will never take it to the woods after finding it shot about 6 inches low at 100 yards. That's too much of a difference over standard ammo and requires scope adjustment. The .270 Managed Recoil ammo doesn't produce the same amount of drop at that distance so that no scope adjustment is necessary. I'm keeping some of both calibers in my supply for the grandkids.

Grosvenor, your ammo was adequate to kill the deer with a well placed shot. Back to the range for several practice sessions. You single load the rifle for him where he can not see what you are doing. The first shot load an empty case and watch. Do this periodically throughout each practice session until he reliably accepts taking the recoil and staying on target when the hammer falls on an empty. When he is ready it will be obvious. It will take more than one trip to the range. Be patient. The third or fourth shot in a practice is good and shows progress but the first one is the one that counts. If the 243 is jarring him more than he is willing to accept, like redchevy suggested, a 223 might be a better choice for him. (What it took when my son was little). A 243 will kill a deer dead (and so will a .223) but often without an exit with a cup and core bullet.
A game we used to play when he was small was to tune in a hunting show and he would touch the deer on the screen exactly where to shoot it.
In reading your post it sounds like you are going at things the right way with your boy. You have my respect. Be patient with the mistakes that happen along the way. Be honest about the importance of shot placement and enjoy the heck out of getting to hunt with him. Before you know it he will be getting a drivers license, discover girls, and then be headed off to college...

IMO, it shouldn't be overlooked that reloaders were likely making their own reduced recoil ammo before the big guys latched onto the market. Perhaps smaller calibers like the .243 and 30-30 offer less room to work with in terms of creating a lesser bullet and load combination that carries sufficient knock down energy. On the other hand, with the .270 making use of a much larger cartridge, designers and reloaders are starting with something that's already deep into lethal ability.

I know we have some well-versed reloaders who frequent these discussions. Perhaps one of them has some experience creating lighter loads from already light cartridges.

You are missing the boat on this one Dan. I am one of those reloader you speak of. Redchevy already mentioned the partition and the young man had plenty of gun to do the job. With an excited young man, just getting his feet wet, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Dad can cut the shirt tail off his boys hunting shirt and stay after it.

Point well taken. My comments were based on pure speculation and perhaps riding the coat tail of those who claimed these lighter loads showed no pass through.

Thanks for the input.

I'm pretty good at trailing deer. Saturday evening my niece shot her new PB with my 6.8 and 115gr Fusion while I was guiding her. The shot was near dark, 12 minutes left, but was only 60 yards. At the shot the deer jumped straight up off all four feet and took off at a dead run. He got in some shinnery and I lost sight of him in the gloom but could hear him hitting brush. Not seeing him drop, we decided to back out for 30 minutes. We went and picked up my dad from his blind.

When we got back, we went to the spot of the shot. I found what I thought was the trail but couldn't find any blood. My niece was on my right hip looking over my shoulder and couldn't see anything either. I followed the buck's route for about 60 yards and still couldn't find anything. I had my dad 10 feet to my left checking openings in side trails. After about 75 yards, I spotted the buck piled up in between three dead shinnery trees (what I had heard earlier was him crashing, not running).

My niece told me she thought the shot my be a bit low. It was low and forward, just hitting the front portion of each leg and penetrating the cavity a little below and in front of the heart, just above the brisket and breastbone. She got all the good arteries, though. Here's where this applies to OP-because the bullet went in through the legs, the muscles in each leg kind of closed the hole. On the inside of the impact side leg, in the 'armpit' so to speak, there was a cantaloupe-sized hematoma where the blood had all pooled under the hide. So we got the desired result, a dead deer, but the expected blood trail was all still inside the deer.

I can only comment on the Remington Reduced Recoil 7mm-08 round. All my daughter's shots resulted in a dead animal that didn't go far at all. But she managed to put them all in the right place thankfully. Never had any doubts in the ammo. All her shots were less than 150 yards.

Maybe you will see it again or find it to learn what happened?

Good luck!

Good post.

Dead right there (DRT) is a term I try to avoid after seeing deer and especially hogs that have taken a lethal hit bolt and run like they weren't even touched. IMO, it's a term than can result in less experienced hunters giving up too quickly and easily when looking for deer after taking a shot at one.

a 6.5 grendel is one of the worst rounds in the deer woods imo. I let my son use one for half a season and never again

Nice to have a 'blood trail' but most mortally wounded deer will expire within 200 yds. of the impact location (often within 100 yds).... so simply canvassing a 200 yd. circle will usually turn up your animal.

IF not found in that area then chances are excellent it was NOT a 'good' hit and the deer can travel quite a long ways. In that case, even if you had a sparse blood trail....you often never find the deer.

When searching for deer....don't be inclined to look only in the direction you last saw it go. They can veer off directions you might not expect or even double back. Always search in a complete circle IF you haven't found the animal within a reasonable distance, the way you think it went.

Agree with the info from chuck hawks website

Try the 170gr 30-06 Lite Federal Fusion.... 80yd broadside shot on 140lbs doe, dead center shoulder hit with a exit wound and great blood trail; she went maybe 40-50yds and left a blood trail that Ray Charles could follow!

I've guided youth hunts before with .243's in full power loads, with broadside shots inside 100yds and failed to get exit wounds and blood trails, now that I think of it I don't remember ever getting an exit wound with a .243 - And yes that was with 100gr bonded ammo.

My son has been a killing machine with his grendel. Low recoil and plenty of knock down for us.

I'll just reiterate, I think there is too much emphasis being put on a having a 'blood trail'. A blood trail (if substantial) certainly makes tracking much easier but far too many people rely on one and many deer are not recovered each year when folks 'give up' for lack of having a big red road to follow.

The majority of deer if hit well in the vitals will be within 200 yards of the impact site....usually less. Every inch of that circumference should be thoroughly searched. If the animal was hit hard....more often than not it will be recovered.

Yes, I recognize the terrain has a lot to do with that. Believe me...I've been on my hands and knees crawling through the thickest white-brush and cactus South Texas has to offer and Greenbriar and Bramble here is Deep East Texas, but if you put in the effort you'll find your deer (if well hit).

I am thinking the move to the reduced recoil ammo was to cover up something short on the part of the shooter. It's the shooter that needs fixing and the need for reduced recoil ammo is misplaced. If the shooter cannot accurately shoot the gun with the ammo intended for it, then something else needs to be done. Seldom is there a true quick fix to shortcomings.

What ammo are you both using? We use the hornady black 123 gr eld. My son dropped his buck youth weekend like a sack of concrete. Ive never had an animal run, just not a lot of blood..

It looks like we might get another shot, but I’m not 100% sure what I’m seeing. The first two pics are trail cam pics from October of the buck in question. He is easy to recognize because of the kicker on his right g2. Yesterday evening I got one pic of what I think may be the same buck. The pic is a little fuzzy and pigs and turkeys came in a minute later, so I just have the one pic. Maybe one of you master photo editors can help me out here. What do y’all think? Is the third pic the same buck? If so, we’re back in business and I’ve got a great excuse to be back at the ranch this weekend. The fourth pic is my attempt to zoom in and enhance, but I suck at it. I need some of those folks from the Bourne movies or something.




And here is the pic from yesterday evening...

Sure looks like the same buck to me

Looks like he's still alive! Personally, I think the .243 is one of the most overrated calibers out there for deer hunting. Start the process now on getting a suppressor.

How many have you personally shot with one?

Two. And had good shots on both and very little blood trail and they ran much farther than I would have liked to see, so I'll never use it again and neither will my son. Probably another 6-8 by my brother with the same results, or not recovering them at all. And another 3-4 with one of my best friends son, same results.

There are tons of better calibers for deer hunting that still have manageable recoil, IMO.

Easy bud, he’s 9 and I suspect the only shortcoming was a case of buck fever. He has a handful of kills with his 243 using standard 100 grain rem CLs. I made the switch based on a friend’s recommendation and have been kicking myself because we may have had a better chance at a blood trail with a standard load. Regardless, it looks like we may have our shot at redemption.

They sure like 243's at the King Ranch (at least they used to). I wonder what they don't know?