Sabot slug query for possible article

[schlupis]

Well congrats on your buck nice job. What state

[Patriot]

Xlobsterman,
Beautiful deer and welcome to the forum.  I like the apples in the pic.  I assume baiting is legal in your area.  The color on the deer's rack is also very neat.

Regarding the original question.  I shoot Winchester Partition Gold.  I've been blessed to have my most recent kills fall within sight.  There was a buck from 2002 that I hit perfectly at about 100 yards.  He ran across an open dirt field, but I was able to track him well.  Decent blood found on dried up grass here and there.

[Xlobsterman]

[font="microsoft sans serif"]This deer was shot in Nova Scotia, Canada.[/font]
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[font="microsoft sans serif"] Baiting is legal here in our province.[/font]
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[font="microsoft sans serif"]Randall [8|][/font]

[FFKEVIN]

A friend of mine and I hunt with similar equipment in a similar fashion.
We think we have noticed a trend lately. That is, that as we have begun using more improved, higher velocity,more aerodynamic slugs, we have seen less sign at the point of impact. No hair or very little hair and almost never any blood at the scene until significantly farther down the trail.

Now I know that there are many variables to this issue-range, point of impact,etc. Off the top of my head from memory it seems that with me, anything under 80 yards has gone down like it was hit in the head with a hammer and longer range hits, while killing quickly have necessitated some level of tracking. Two cases: last years 8pt -126 yards, broadside chest shot. No sign at impact-ran 75 yards before piling up. Never left any sign.

Sunday nights doe- Broadside heart shot-135 yards No sign at impact, ran 85 yards. No sign for 15 yards. Lots of blood at 40 yards.

In days or yore, it seemed that a blunt nosed, slow moving foster or modified foster smacked the deer in such a way as to leave more sign at the scene.

I would be interested in any personal anecdotes or opinions. Could be an interesting thread no?

 
[font=tahoma]Squirrelhawker - This year I shot a doe during our second gun season. (Shotgun only here in Ohio)  I have a 12 ga. and I use the Hornady SST Sabot Slugs, which I love.  [/font]
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[font=tahoma]Anyway, I was sitting in a great inside corner and she was broadside about 75 - 80 yards away in a cut corn field.  I shot her and her back legs kicked up like she got stung.  She ran about 30 yards and then went into the woods and I lost sight of her.  I called my hunting buddy and told him a just shot a doe.  He told me to climb down and make sure it was a good hit and call him back.  I got down, went out into the field and looked EVERYWHERE for any sign of blood.  I couldn't find any anywhere.  I even went back to the tree and used my climber to climb back up and try to look with my binos and get my landmarks again.  I went back out into the field and looked some more and finally I gave up.  About that time my buddy pulls up through the field on the quad.  I told him the story and asked him to give me a minute and let me get my climber and we could go get lunch.  As I'm packing up I hear him start yelling at me.  Since he came in from the opposite direction that I shot, he noticed a HUGE blood splatter on the back side of a tree right at the wood line.  As we followed the INCREDIBLE blood trail through the woods, we found her about another 30 yards into the woods from the tree line.[/font]
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[font=tahoma]Just like you said - Nothing at the point of impact and TONS of blood about 30 yards away![/font]
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[font=tahoma]You are not alone...   [:D][/font]

[MN_Prairie_Prowler]

I've been using Winchester Partition Gold 385 gr. sabots for the last few years with amazing results.
The 11 pt. buck I shot this year was 164 yards away. The bullet broke the shoulder that was towards me and exited on the opposite side. The blood trail started immediatley and could be seen from quite a distants away. He went about 100 yards.
Two years ago I shot a 8pt at 117 yards. The buck dropped right away and then got up and went only about 15 yards. Lots of blood.
Four years ago I shot another 8 pt at 85 yards and he never twitched.
One of my friends shoots the same slugs and also has had great results. Maybe give the Winchester Partition a try.

[Patriot]

Agreed.  I shoot the same and love 'em!

[Bigr]

Great points by all and , I would say no to copper soilds.
 
 Yes they can kill deer but the mushroom effect from a copper solid bullet is minimal along with the hydrolic effect.
This is why IMOP we see little trace of blood and hair with these style of slugs.
In and Out.
 
I shoot lightfield slugs as it is like dropping a granade off inside the deer !
Soft lead.
Lots of blood !
They usually don't go far enough to track as well.

[sprcub]

I shoot  the partiton gold sabots  with my scoped 870  from my stand and 1 oz winchester rifled slugs with my 11-87  plain barrel when im not in my stand the sabots  are great for long range  but sure dont drop em when they are close like a regular slug will they tend to run away when you shoot em with a sabot  a regualr slug  you can watch it blow a huge hole in them and they just plain drop !

[Chainsaw]

Here at Poverty Paradise we all shoot single shot 20 guage NEF Tracker II's that have rifled barrels, and have used mainly saboted slugs and have settled on 3" Winchester Partition Gold (dog gone pricey ammo) as they have consistently been the most accurate of all we tried in "our guns." YMMV
 
We have noticed little difference between the offerings available as too stopping/killing effectiveness. It appears to me that all the available offerings are devastating on whitetails.
 
I use a pure lead bullet from Dead Center in my NEF Sidekick muzzleloader, and have noticed little difference in performance from my slug guns.
 
I think the ammunition of today is way ahead of the old Foster type I grew up with as far as accuracy goes. As for performance, a shot through the front shoulders usually anchors anything I decide to drop the hammer on. In the smaller type woodlot I own, bang flops are appreciated so the front shoulders are my aiming focal point.(No Tracking Required)

[metrx]

Get a telephone book from a densely populated area....the kind that's full sized, and maybe 2" or more think. Soak it in a bucket of water for a bit. Then tie some cord or wire between two posts, and then drape the wet phone book over it. Back off 50 to 100 yards (or whatever range you like), and the shoot it with your sabots........AWESOME!!!!!

 
This is true, however, a bullet/slug no matter what its makeup (copper, lead, etc) function and react differently when striking and passing through different degrees of density and mass.  A thick, heavy, wet phonebook has a different mass and density than a a deer's chest cavity and you can get different results.