Still No Blood!

[Bones816]

First let me say I haven't been here for like a year. Last year at the advise of members here I switched to a Lehigh Defense 265 grain Controlled fracture bullet. Last year I shot a buck but had no blood for about 30-40 yards I'd say but found the buck. Tonight I shot a buck, 150 yards or so I think and I thought i heard impact and saw a deer that was hit. I really had no way of knowing where he was when I shot. I have shooting lanes 6'-8' wide and 100 to 250 yards long. He was broadside. I waited 45 minutes and went to look. No hair, no blood. I checked a couple likely trails but found nothing. I went to another spot that had a trail through the canes and tamaracks cutting across the shooting lane. There were canes broken and leaning the direction the buck scrambled off. I followed these broken and bent canes about 15-20 yards and thank God there he laid! Anyway, I really NEED a blood trail! It's just treally tough to find a hit deer in this crap! I'm shooting a CVA Accura with 110 grains of 777 loose and the 265 gr Lehigh. Is there a better bullet?

 

[retrieverman]

I can‘t really tell you what does work, but I can tell what hasn’t worked well for me...Parker 275 BE, Hornady 250 gr SST, and Barnes 250 gr Expander. I’ve had deer run quite a ways with absolutely no blood trail, but I’ve luckily never lost a deer.

 

[MrTom]

First let me say I haven't been here for like a year. Last year at the advise of members here I switched to a Lehigh Defense 265 grain Controlled fracture bullet. Last year I shot a buck but had no blood for about 30-40 yards I'd say but found the buck. Tonight I shot a buck, 150 yards or so I think and I thought i heard impact and saw a deer that was hit. I really had no way of knowing where he was when I shot. I have shooting lanes 6'-8' wide and 100 to 250 yards long. He was broadside. I waited 45 minutes and went to look. No hair, no blood. I checked a couple likely trails but found nothing. I went to another spot that had a trail through the canes and tamaracks cutting across the shooting lane. There were canes broken and leaning the direction the buck scrambled off. I followed these broken and bent canes about 15-20 yards and thank God there he laid! Anyway, I really NEED a blood trail! It's just treally tough to find a hit deer in this crap! I'm shooting a CVA Accura with 110 grains of 777 loose and the 265 gr Lehigh. Is there a better bullet?

Assume you're using a sabot with the bullet, I's try the 250 grain .451 Barnes XPB. Its a copper hollow-point bullet similar to the Lehigh but there are no petals that tear off. Hornady 250 grain XTPs or 250 grain Deep Curls are great bullets too if jacketed lead is an option.

Shot placement is also an issue. If your hits were high in the chest cavity but not on or near the spine the chest has to fill with blood before you'll see much unless the deer is blowing blood thru its nostrils. The lower the hit the better the chance of a good blood trail. I'd start with the bullets though.

 

[Nuallangus]

Hunting on the ground or from a tree? Tree gives you the downward angle and a lower exit hole

 

[45-70]

made no mention where he was hit

 

[Bones816]

Oops. I was hunting from an elevated box blind, about 15'-18'. Shot was actually low through both shoulders. Heart shot. I'll work on some pics here in a bit. Both entry and exit were the size of the bullet and I found no petals.
Yes, with a sabot.

 

[BadgerRidge]

. 452.250gr or 300gr Hornady xtp in black mmp sabot has been my go to bullet/sabot for about 20yrs.

They die quick and lots of blood when hit heart-lung, close or far out. Usually no more than 20-40 yds tracking and tons of blood. Sometimes dead right there.

Worst shot I made was at 115yds on the run (buck was wounded, back strap sliced in two by someone else's broad head in earlier archery. Was running awkwardly.. Really jerky, and the gash was dark black and clear as day up high behind his shoulder
. .. so I took a risky cull shot as he ran in a very odd trot across an open field) ...

Hit him in the liver. He went about 50 yds with lots of blood and went down in a ditch. I thought he'd died... But he just decided to bed Down there. I grabbed my dad's 12 from him and walked to get my deer. He jumped up out and I got him with a second shot with the slug about 10yds from me. He would have probably died in the ditch if I waited longer.

Hope this helps.

Yours

Tom

 

[GregK]

I recommend Fury Bullets
Bonded & great performance
In my 45 I shoot 40/240HP

Greg

 

[Bones816]

Entry, heart and exit.

 

[deerlessbob]

Those 300 grains XTP’s have given me great blood trails.

 

[Shorty]

Hi Bones. In my personal findings, when the heart is shot like yours it cannot pump blood. Just like any other pump with blown seals. The good part is they do not go far.....

 

[Bones816]

I was really fortunate he only went about 20 yards.

 

[bdog]

I don't have any advice on bullets, but congrats on a nice deer and shot

 

[Bones816]

Thanks bdog.

 

[Henry Miles]

You made a great kill shot, but if you want a blood trail, you'll have to move back about 6" and down a little bit with point of entry. Low chest shots behind the leg are the only guaranteed bleeders, other than downward angled shots from overhead.

The best approach is learn to track by pinpointing where the deer was standing and find the dug in hoof prints, where it was hit, and SLOWLY track the deer's movement, looking for single drops of blood to stay on course. It's takes some practice, don't get in a hurry and keep from disturbing the area as much as possible, because you'll probably have to backtrack at some point to get back on trail. The problem with a ML is you can't see what happens at the moment of impact, due to the smoke. That makes it essential to pinpoint the location of the deer's feet with whatever is in the immediate area BEFORE you take the shot. That way you can find the exact starting point of the run. Sometimes they will do a 180 before running off and you are lost unless you know exactly where they were standing BEFORE the shot. A well hit deer makes a death run and doesn't leap much, just runs hard and fast until they collapse. I've tracked and located a lot of deer in heavy cover this way. Take your time and don't destroy the evidence in the process.

 

[Bones816]

I get all that Henry Miles, I've been at this a while. This was my 63rd season of deer hunting, both gun and bow. Where I gun hunt is a tamarack swamp. It's super thick, can't see 10 yards. We have shooting lanes cut. The lane this one was on is about 250 yards. No time to age and score em if you get what I mean! I knew I hit him as his front end went down and rear end started digging. There is a bit of ice between the bogs and marsh grass and canes. I found what I hoped was his dig marks and that is exactly how I found him. I'll include a pic here but this pic has a little snow. There was none yesterday and the sun was pretty bright which casts weird shadows. I actually spotted a different color in the lane, put up binos, saw horns and then I actually put up my range finder! Couldn't get a reading and set the CVA on the rail and pulled the hammer back, cranked the scope up to 9 held the second horizontal mark on his shoulder and fred. It all took maybe 15 seconds! I am beyond happy with him as I have seen squat this year. Hoping for more blood next time!

 

[Bones816]

No way to tell right where they're standing when they appear and you have seconds to decide to shoot or not. I guess someone else may not shoot if they can't but that would mean you wouldn't shoot too many deer out here.

 

[rangerod]

No way to tell right where they're standing when they appear and you have seconds to decide to shoot or not. I guess someone else may not shoot if they can't but that would mean you wouldn't shoot too many deer out here.

At first I didn't understand what you meant about not knowing where the deer was standing. The picture cleared that up for me and I can see what you mean. That scenario could certainly mean a tough tracking job.

 

[Henry Miles]

You're in a different universe with that hunting scenario. Yeah, you NEED a blood trail! Good luck in the future.

 

[Bones816]

Exactly!