As so many have said, "location, location, location". That being said, we certainly don't always hit our intended location and we need that blood trail you are talking about. Ideally then, you are looking for the most expansion, mixed with an exit hole. I hunt with bullets that I know my gun shoots accurately, and then factor in wound channel and exit holes. I have used many bullets over the years and have found that 300gr Barnes Original Semi Spitzers with .458 orange sabots from MMP and 300gr Fury bonded bullets with the same sabots are the best for the combination of accuracy/damage/blood trail. Again, different rifles are going to like different bullet/sabot/powder combinations. Accuracy is the number one thing you need to look for in a bullet, and the terminal energy and blood trail are secondary. I will add that a bullet I have stopped using that was extremely accurate for me is the 300gr Parker Ballistic Extreme. The accuracy was excellent with these out of several of my muzzleloaders, but out of the 3 deer harvested with this bullet, 2 of the 3 bullets did not exit and the jacket separated each time from the lead. After separation the lead did not hold its mass and was badly fragmented. That being said, all three deer died quickly and didn't travel far, but I knew I had other bullet options with similar accuracy where the bullet would function better upon impact. Parker bullets are heralded as some of the best, I am only providing my limited experience with them. I would also note that the 3 deer harvested were by youths, all under 15 with a 100gr triple seven charge. Maybe the lower velocity had something to do with the terminal performance of the bullet. I am having a smokeless model built right now for exceptional range and wouldn't hesitate to try some Parker bullets with that gun (and probably will). As a final note, I will mention that I, and many people I know have had a great deal of success with Powerbelts. They get bashed on here pretty badly, but I have never had a poor result with the Powerbelt Platinum 270gr bullets. They have always been very accurate when I was using my CVA Accura rifle, and they are the bullets are have switched to for the youths that I take hunting (easy to push down the barrel for them and they flat out do the job, and that is with 2 50gr triple seven pellets). All that being said, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION- stick with the most accurate bullet you find and go from there.
