I'll sometimes get a headscratcher of a terrible blood trail, even with a good exit location with a 7mm or .30cal bullet, but those are the exception, rather than the rule. When they do happen, it's often because of some tissue clogging the hole temporarily. I've had my share of hands and knees searching for blood when trailing deer shot with 6mm bullets, and while the Partition is my #1 pick there, I still had tougher trailing on average than when I used a larger caliber. Nothing is absolute, but trends are trends.
I'll also add that "dead is dead" for sure, and most lung shot deer are going to run anyway, but searching for pinpricks of blood by flashlight on pine needles in a briar thicket always sucks. I like to keep that stuff to a minimum by using a bit more rifle for hunting deer. If talking about critters of opportunity, like a hog or perhaps a deer that pops up while you are doing chores, just use whatever you've got handy, be it a .243, an AR, or even a shotgun.
The last deer I shot through the lungs was a buck from a few weeks ago at maybe 70 yards. At the shot, he ran right at me and bounded by, perhaps 10 yards from me. Looked a bit spooked and alert, but not mortally wounded (like an archery-hit lungshot). He went about another 40 yards into the brush and I heard him crash. Very minimal reaction on the deer's part. The rifle was a .35 Whelen shooting 200gr Fusions and the woods were certainly painted red for the entire run, but he still went about 100yds. Guess he didn't know he'd been shot by a "big gun".
