Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.5 vs 30 cal blood trails?

Thanks for all the answers and info, everyone. I appreciate it.

In the end, there was no tracking needed. I never connected with the bigger buck I was after but with time running out I took a spiker. Beats tag soup and he was a hefty one for a spiker, at least. Ended up borrowing a rifle from a friend for it. 30-06, 180 gr Hornady round nose, modest handload of about 2600 fps. Shot hit the junction of neck and shoulder and punched a rib on the way out, recovered it just about to break out of the hide on the far side.