Sagebrush1
Well-known member
Hello,
I was telling my son about this, and it made me want to throat out here. Happened about 10 years ago. It’s always baffled me.
I was hunting mulies in September with my .58 flinter. I’d spent a long week not seeing much. Finally one morning I managed to sneak within about 60 yards of a buck. He was up a slope standing broadside on a big rock outcrop. I took my shot. The smoke cleared and I saw him run off to the left. I reloaded and gave him a little time, then started up. So-far, so-good.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. I got to where he was, and as expected, the large granite slab left little sign. I walked a few steps left and saw a single big drop of blood on an old, grey branch, indicating he was moving to the left as I expected.
As I lifted my gaze along his line of travel, I saw something laying on the spalling rock about 10’ from where I stood. It was a piece of lung - what I interpreted as being the top corner of one lobe - approximately 4” in height. Wet, and pink.
My first thought was that I musta blown a good hole in this guy, and this is gonna be easy. Some things I noticed, however, made me curious. This piece was pristine: cleanly sliced, laying delicately on the ground, no pine needles stuck to the up-side indicating it hadn’t rolled, and no blood. I placed my hand on it and it was damp and cool. Specimen-like.
So what ensued was my longest, and most difficult track job of my hunting career. It was a good 200 yards of interpreting tracks with one heavy foot, backtracking, sticking markers, and hands-and-knees searching for a couple tiny little drops of blood.
Now when I finally spied him tangled up in a deadfall I was ecstatic! I got over and saw the small, round entry, then immediately rolled him over to see that big gaping opening in his off side - only to see another perfect .58 cal hole.
It was a clean, no-rib pass through that hit high-lungs, which makes sense given the lack of blood. However, I can’t figure how that big piece of lung got out that little hole? Could it “vacuum” out behind the ball as it passed? Without being torn up?
How did it end up a good 20 feet from impact? It in such perfect condition?
And yes, I have always kicked myself for not taking a picture. Duh! What say you?
I was telling my son about this, and it made me want to throat out here. Happened about 10 years ago. It’s always baffled me.
I was hunting mulies in September with my .58 flinter. I’d spent a long week not seeing much. Finally one morning I managed to sneak within about 60 yards of a buck. He was up a slope standing broadside on a big rock outcrop. I took my shot. The smoke cleared and I saw him run off to the left. I reloaded and gave him a little time, then started up. So-far, so-good.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. I got to where he was, and as expected, the large granite slab left little sign. I walked a few steps left and saw a single big drop of blood on an old, grey branch, indicating he was moving to the left as I expected.
As I lifted my gaze along his line of travel, I saw something laying on the spalling rock about 10’ from where I stood. It was a piece of lung - what I interpreted as being the top corner of one lobe - approximately 4” in height. Wet, and pink.
My first thought was that I musta blown a good hole in this guy, and this is gonna be easy. Some things I noticed, however, made me curious. This piece was pristine: cleanly sliced, laying delicately on the ground, no pine needles stuck to the up-side indicating it hadn’t rolled, and no blood. I placed my hand on it and it was damp and cool. Specimen-like.
So what ensued was my longest, and most difficult track job of my hunting career. It was a good 200 yards of interpreting tracks with one heavy foot, backtracking, sticking markers, and hands-and-knees searching for a couple tiny little drops of blood.
Now when I finally spied him tangled up in a deadfall I was ecstatic! I got over and saw the small, round entry, then immediately rolled him over to see that big gaping opening in his off side - only to see another perfect .58 cal hole.
It was a clean, no-rib pass through that hit high-lungs, which makes sense given the lack of blood. However, I can’t figure how that big piece of lung got out that little hole? Could it “vacuum” out behind the ball as it passed? Without being torn up?
How did it end up a good 20 feet from impact? It in such perfect condition?
And yes, I have always kicked myself for not taking a picture. Duh! What say you?
