88:

Thanks for a very interesting post!

Great teamwork you and your son, too!

And thanks for adding what I think must be made clear to those who have never used bigger calibers on deer.

Just because they are hit by a .375 doesn't mean they won't run. And run they sometimes do, particularly when lunghit. Distance may be short, and on a solid broadside shot with no heart or shoulder struck, most certainly go down within a couple hundred yards, but sometimes I hear fellows say they are buying this or that cannon because they want their deer to drop at the shot. Well, it doesn't happen that way all the time, and anytime the gun goes off a rigourous search should be made.

One of the reasons I coach my kids about calling the shot is that in the field it has been extremely helpful on "runners", calibers regardless. When my son or daughter tells me the crosshairs were here or there, I KNOW they were, and can judge the followup accordingly. We drill that incessantly. This pays off. Last year we collected a deer that took a bullet that clipped a branch and deflected. My son told me exactly where the crosshairs were when the trigger broke {right down to the hair shade on the shoulder}, so I knew something was "up". After some searching, I literally found the clipped branch the bullet had hit before hitting the deer. I figured since the animal was about 25 yards from the branch, the bullet would have still been lethal, and it was. Four hours later we collected that buck.

The fellows who don't know where the sights were at the shot and who don't see the critter drop are faced with a big temptation to call it a "miss" instead of a hit, and may decide to head back to the shack for coffee and call it a day.

"The critter took off at the shot and that big gun would have dropped it if I hit it" all too often really means "I'm damn scared of that cannon and I have no idea where the bullet went."

A big powerful rifle does not guarantee instantaneous kills. Thanks for reminding us, 88!