Okay guys,
This will not be a long and detailed post like I was originally going to do. There is just too much info to tell and I've got some family and work issues going on that is taking my time up so this brief story will have to work.
I got this little yearling buck about 740am on the 2nd day of firearms season. It was a relatively warm morning with blustery winds (up to 40mph later that day) and I'd been still hunting through a nice saddle against the wind through an ecotone of pines to hardwoods. Took a rest at the base of a tree to break up my outline and this guy came by around half an hour later.
Took two shots at him at around 10-12 yards max. The first entered through his left shoulder and exited his right front neck, no bullet recovered. Second shot was as he fell to his "knees" for a brief minute.... Second shot hit about an inch beside first shot and I found it lodged by the spine in one of the backstraps (booo!!!!).
Load used was a carefully handloaded 200gr XTP at 1300fps. Again, I was surprised that both shots didn't exit. My guess is that either 1) the bullet hitting a bit of hard bone stopped full penetration or 2) the excess speed on the bullet slowed penetration. From the looks of the bullet, excess expansion wasn't an issue. This pretty much sealed the deal for me. I'll be using a WFNGC hardcast next season to test its performance. I need to work up a HC load for accuracy, anyways.
For all those interested, I have detailed pics of the bullet damage when I was dressing/skinning the deer. The two 200gr XTP's had a bomb-like entrance cavity in the deer. Exit wound on the one bullet was decent but, due to its exit LOCATION, wasn't the size of the entrance wound.
Good job on the deer, Kegs! ... and everyone else! And good luck to those still hunting!
First test target the day before opening day... offhand at 15 yards. "warm up"
Deer down!
Happy camper!
Bullet
Fusion in the field