Rifles & Blood Trails

[Culvercreek hunt club]

30-06 with 165 gr sierra game king and I haven't had an issue with blood trails when I did my part. You take the heart out and you will be a spray blood trail. This was last year. 

[Shadd Rapp]

This was a blood trail from a .270 150 grain bullet. She died in 50 yards of where in shot her.


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[The_Real_TCIII]

These pics are the trail from the second buck I described, it was an unholy mess Same .270 same bullet, much closer shot so I had a low exit.

[mowin]

9 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

These pics are the trail from the second buck I described, it was an unholy mess Same .270 same bullet, much closer shot so I had a low exit.

That's a great BT.  The low exit wound is definitely a help. 

[Marion]

These pics are the trail from the second buck I described, it was an unholy mess Same .270 same bullet, much closer shot so I had a low exit.

Stevie Wonder could have followed that blood trail

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[Will_C]

The most consistent thing I have noticed about blood trails is having a low entrance and/or exit hole in the heart-lung area. If you have that, you will have good blood trail. Higher up, it can be take a while to coat the ground.

Will

[mowin]

Of course this depends on the terrain, but often in thick brush/tall grass area's, I typically find more blood sign on the underside of the limbs, grasses then on the ground.  As the deer pushes aside the brush, blood wipes off or sprays on. 

 

[Buckmaster7600]

Up until last year I was 5 for 5 with my 35whelens on them dying within feet of where they were shot. Then last year's ADK buck happened and he kept getting up after being knocked down. Needless to say after putting in a fresh magazine and a 1/4 mile track I killed him. Luckily the blood trail was very easy to follow.


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[Pygmy]

I quit counting years ago, but in rough figures I have probably killed about 70 deer with shotgun slugs, 60 with various centerfire rifles and maybe  25 with a muzzleloader ...

I have never hunted much with small bore like .22 centerfires, although I shot one with a .222 Rem and  2 or 3 with a 25-06... The majority of my rifle killed deer have been shot with a 7mm08  and a .280 rem, along with a couple with a 30-06 and a couple with a 9.3 x 62, which is roughly equivalent to a .35 Whelen.  The shotgun slug deer were killed with foster slugs, Brenneke slugs, and Win BRI sabot slugs....never used any of the newer  high tech shotgun slug loads...All my MZ deer were shot with .50 cal round balls or NoExcuses 460 grain conicals..

 

I don't recall any real trend for better blood trails from one  weapon to another....On a broadside shot I usually line up with a foreleg and aim about 1/3 of the way up the ribcage...That has resulted in many heart shots, and many times broke a foreleg in the process..They run off with a foreleg flopping and usually drop within sight..

I have had a few that were hit high or high and slightly back that ran quite a ways and did not leave good trails...Two deer in particular would have been difficult to track without good snow...Another there was no snow and I could not track it, but fortunately it was found by another hunter...Those three deer were shot with  three different instruments, a shotgun with slugs, a 7mm08 with 120 barnes, and a MZ with a heavy conical.. Nearly all of the deer I have hit in the low chest or center lungs have left good blood trails

Soo, from my limited experience I am guessing that WHERE you hit has a lot more to do with the blood trail than WHAT you hit them with, within reason..