Not one drop of blood

[bassculler]

A 14 year old boy took his first buck at our property Saturday morn. The deer stepped out at 55 yards and he shot him with a .308. The shot was shoulder high and maybe a few inches back from the ideal shot placement....but not a bad shot. We found not one drop of blood in the direction the deer went. And, i mean, not one. All i could do was track poop drops. The deer apparently crapped periodically along his route. We finally found him 155 yds away and still no blood. Not even at the pile up spot. I have never seen that. Not one speck of blood. We found the entrance hole and it was not bleeding at all. The only place we saw blood was from the mouth, and it wasnt very much. It was a new one for me.....

 

[Philnlucky]

Congrats to your son on his first buck, and to Dad for the assist in recovering him!

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

I’ve seen people shoot them with “ match grade” bullets and have similar results. I had that problem when I shot Hornady light magnums in a .308.. Small entrance, no exit, but it blew deer up on the inside like they swallowed a grenade. That’s why I quit shooting them.

 

[earlthegoat2]

like @Hillbilly stalker, I too have witnessed similar results from low recoil 30 cal ammo.

In my instance it as “managed recoil” Remington 30-06 120 gr ammo. 30 cal in and 30 cal exit. There was snow on the ground both times so there was blood to be seen but very little.

Anymore, I tell folks to use a 44 Mag rifle if they want low recoil….but then they tell me that is also too much.

 

[Whit90]

Ole boys fluids were low.

I had one a couple years ago that hardly bled. Just a tiny drop here and there. I was on my hands and knees looking for specs of blood. Hornaday precision hunter in 7mm-08. I don’t shoot that ammo now.

 

[Buckfever700]

What grain and type of bullet? Hornady sst, core-lokt's, fusions, or barnes should have DRT or left a good blood trail. Good placement and quality bullets make a huge difference in recovery process.

 

[Philbow]

Usually:
1- high lung hit bleed less than center or low hits.
2- back of lungs bleed less than center or front hits.
3- sometimes entrance and exit holes become blocked so no or little blood escapes.
4-poor bullet expansion for whatever reason.
5- sometimes things just happen.
Number 5 will drive you crazy because next time with the apparent same hit it will look like you used a paint sprayer blood trail.

 

[Dean]

Years ago shot 2 deer with new ballistic tip (30/06) ammo, 1st zero blood, not an exit wound but literally mush - jello like - on the inside when cleaning, just scrambled the insides but didn't exit. Thought it was odd, (long time corelok user) but chalked it up to "not sure why". Anyway, 2nd deer shot, same thing - no blood trail, no exit wound - but mush inside. Seems the velocity was so high on those bullets that they fractured into zillion pieces upon impact inside.... not like the coreloks that stay intact typically and mushroom thru...

 

[godogs57]

Usually:
1- high lung hit bleed less than center or low hits.
2- back of lungs bleed less than center or front hits.
3- sometimes entrance and exit holes become blocked so no or little blood escapes.
4-poor bullet expansion for whatever reason.
5- sometimes things just happen.
Number 5 will drive you crazy because next time with the apparent same hit it will look like you used a paint sprayer blood trail.

There’s your answer. He hit both high and back. He covered the 155 yards in way less time than it took to fill up the chest cavity with blood and start emptying out. Part of our chosen sport. I didn’t hit everything perfect when I shot @ 14 years old either. Being his first, I’d say he did alright. He’s got a lifetime to work on bringing his shot closer to the deer’s oil pump.

What kind of bullet were you shooting? Just curious. I’ve killed more than a few and have had those same results with one particular brand of bullet. I’ve killed right at 75 with it and finally said to heck with it. (I love to experiment) of those 75, zero dropped right there, zero exited, zero left a blood trail. Many blew up when hitting the shoulder blade. Berger VLD Hunting bullets never worked in my situation.

Best of luck for him and get him to work on #2.

 

[godogs57]

Years ago shot 2 deer with new ballistic tip (30/06) ammo, 1st zero blood, not an exit wound but literally mush - jello like - on the inside when cleaning, just scrambled the insides but didn't exit. Thought it was odd, (long time corelok user) but chalked it up to "not sure why". Anyway, 2nd deer shot, same thing - no blood trail, no exit wound - but mush inside. Seems the velocity was so high on those bullets that they fractured into zillion pieces upon impact inside.... not like the coreloks that stay intact typically and mushroom thru...

Early on, the BT’s would expand very fast. Nosler constantly tinkered with each of their BT’s, most of the time toughening them up with thicker jackets, altering the composition of the lead, etc. Some went through 8-12 iterations before Nosler was happy with the terminal performance of a particular caliber and weight. Some were tough as nails from the get go….7mm 120 grain was tough as a brick, as it was specifically designed for metallic silhouette shooting. There are larger BT’s that are tough enough for elk hunting. If you like BT’s and I do, buy some current production bullets and you’ll be good to go.

 

[bassculler]

His dad said, 150 grain winchester ammo. After all that tracking, he said he will no longer use it.

 

[Buckfever700]

I understand that, nobody wants to track a deer longer than the original shot. Get him some new bullets off the list below for the remainder of the season. Safety first and good luck hunting!!

The 8 Best Factory .308 Ammo Options For Hunting Produced Today

We give our top picks for some of the best .308 ammo on the market today, and what types of game you can harvest using it.

www.wideopenspaces.com

 

[Kris87]

Situations like this are why a good tracking dog can often be needed. The deer would have left a heavy trail of stress releasing hormones from its interdigital glands. Dog would have went right to it. Just food for thought if anyone else runs into a scenario like this.

 

[godogs57]

His dad said, 150 grain winchester ammo. After all that tracking, he said he will no longer use it.

That’s a statistical sample of one presumably. Not enough “data” to make that call. Could have been the location of the shot, the shot angle, etc.

in the end, credit goes to the trackers not giving up after 50-60 yards and saying “looks like a clean miss”

 

[Railroader]

I am very glad that y'all hung in there and found that boy's first deer, after a marginal shot.

I hope that the Dad will not do the kid the disservice of allowing him to think that some "better" bullet would have produced a different result, put in the same place.

I hope Dad will be truthful, and focus the attention on putting the bullet in the boiler room, where it needs to be.

Again, hat tip to y'all for not givin' up, and making a happy ending...

 

[buckpasser]

I am very glad that y'all hung in there and found that boy's first deer, after a marginal shot.

I hope that the Dad will not do the kid the disservice of allowing him to think that some "better" bullet would have produced a different result, put in the same place.

I hope Dad will be truthful, and focus the attention on putting the bullet in the boiler room, where it needs to be.

Again, hat tip to y'all for not givin' up, and making a happy ending...

True. The lesson was probably learned anyway if the boy was paying attention. I’m betting nobody was feeling too good about their odds for that first 154 yards! Haha

We had a similar story last year with a “perfectly” hit buck my son shot. He did bleed, but not much for being drilled. We’re changing ammo too, but I think it does a young one good to see that the deer might escape if not hit really well. This is with .243 100 g CL. It just went hole puncher.

 

[WOODIE13]

22-250 vmax at 30 yards Saturday, heart was in pieces no bigger than your thumb nail, ran @ 120 yds, no blood...told her to aim just above and behind the joint, it took step when she shot, ran off like it wasn't hit, hole got clogged with some lung.

Crows helped me find this one 3 hours later

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

22-250 vmax at 30 yards Saturday, heart was in pieces no bigger than your thumb nail, ran @ 120 yds, no blood...told her to aim just above and behind the joint, it took step when she shot, ran off like it wasn't hit, hole got clogged with some lung.

Crows helped me find this one

View attachment 1264043

I've had Blue Jays and squirrels help me out before too.

 

[WOODIE13]

High shots and heart shots bleed very little, broadhead or bullet in my experience

 

[ddavis1120]

If I was a betting man I would say Winchester Deer Season XP. I quit using them after a no blood trail deer. (heard him hitting almost every tree and bush for about a hundred yards so it wasn't much of a tracking job). But I've also had them DRT as well with the XP. Just never had any pass throughs and I decided there were better bullet options out there.