Dart Gun Question

I have a dart gun that uses .22 cal dummy rounds and has five (5) pressure settings. Recently I had to dart a yearling buck with a pain med to treat an injury. The first time I used a 2 cc dart with the gun on #2 and the dart stuck perfectly into the yearling's thigh. The vet increased the dosage to 3 cc so I had to go up to a 3 cc dart. Obviously the 3cc dart is longer and heavier than the 2 cc. For what ever reason, the fully loaded 3cc darts with #2 pressure striking the hip have been bouncing and deflecting off the thigh. I believe the medicine is still being administered but it seems a bit to much for the deer...a full 3cc dart appears to hit with alot more shock. Does anyone have any suggestions for the future?



Perhaps I am using too high of a pressure or am too close when I shoot or the darts are too long for yearlings.



At all times, I used darts with the green collars and was at approximately 15-18 yards away.



Thanks



Daniel

make sure to use darts with gel collars and the dart should hang on for awhile. We typically have ours set on the 3 setting at 20 yds. We also use the green blank. Also if your shooting on an angle(quartering away) I have seen them glance off occasionally. Rick

Hollowroad, Buckskin is correct, use the green blanks for the 3cc dart at 10 to 40 yards

Thank you both. I do use the darts with the gel collar and had great success with 2 cc darts holding but the 3 cc darts did not. Perhaps the needle is too long, power setting to high, the shot is too close or the deer is just too small for a 3cc. The deer is a larger yearling and was in perfect health before his injury. I know the medication was recieved but the hit seemed hard, which is evidenced by the deers reaction and the fact that the dart hit and bounced out.

Daniel,

There could be several reasons why your darts aren't sticking Because the 3cc dart is longer that the 2cc, it has to hit in a more precise perpendicular angle. If you don't hit on a precise perpendicular angle,the extra length on a dart can cause it to tip upon impact one way or another, thus expending energy on an angle that can cause the dart not to stick, but to flip.

I personally have a numerous amount of darts bounce off the hip as well. Now I try to hit in the high half of the neck just ahead of the shoulder and have a whole lot better luck in my darts sticking.

Good Luck

Mark

Thanks Mark. I will try to make sure my angles are better. I am a little hesitant to go for the neck because I feel there is less room for error in the event something goes wrong. I just spoke to the vet and she suggested darting the same deer with a steroid so I will see how it works.