Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Which Bullet????

I need some help in selecting a bullet that will leave a good blood trail and QUICK. Hunting scenario is heavy woods with heavy brush.so a hit deer will be out of sight in 2 jumps and with no blood trail, it is only a guess which direction your shot deer went. The 2 calibers in question are 7x57 and 25-06. What are your suggestions??? Thanks

I’d be more inclined to high shoulder shoot them if you are worried about tracking them. Since it’s heavy woods I’d say a partition, accubond or TTSX whichever your rifle shoots well.

Yep

.308 Winchester, 2700 fps, 15 yards, Sierra 165 grain BTHP Gameking.

Deer can be seen top-center of pic, he was leaking too bad to go any further.

Hornady SST, both of which are available in factory loads for the rifles you listed if you don't reload. I'd probably go with the 139gr in the 7x57 in heavy brush. I shot a mule deer buck with a 165gr SST hand-load out of a .30-06 @ 180yds. The exit wound was at least golf ball sized, the deer didn't take a step and there was a good spatter of blood on the juniper behind it.

In my 25-06 I’ve used a Speer Hot-Cor 100 grain and shoot them right square in the shoulder. Put the whole front end out of commission....drops them in their tracks.

That’s one hell of a blood trail!

I have killed dozens of deer with the 25/06 and all but one have been killed with plain ol' 120 gr. Remington CL's. I don't shoot high shoulder all the time...depends on the shot. However, 80-85% of the ones I have shot expired right where they were shot at. And to the best of my memory, of the ones which have run none ran more than 25-30 yds. after being shot. Of the ones that ran, I had one for some reason that didn't bleed at all yet it barely made it off the right of way I shot it on before dying. I talked my BIL into shooting the 25/06 and he got him one. He killed a big doe yesterday with it and although he hit it a little far back with the CL, he said there was blood everywhere. He gave it 45 minutes before he looked for it and said it wasn't 20 yards or so into the briar patch.

All that being said, this year I have been shooting a 270 with the Barnes factory ammo with the 130 gr. TTSX and count me impressed. I have also killed a lot of deer with the 270 over the years and have never been as impressed with it as some are. However, this year has changed my mind with the bullet. So...I ordered some of the Barnes ammo with the 100 gr. TTSX for the little 25 and can't wait to see how it shoots in my rifle and if it shoots well, who knows, I might still get to try it out on a deer this year. If it performs like the 130 gr. does in the 270, I might well be changing my fodder for my favorite caliber next year.

That was my thought, too.

I used a Hornady 200 gr. RN in my .35 Whelen this deer season, hit the buck just ahead of the last two ribs on a quartering shot. The bullet traversed the chest and lodged just under the hide on the point of the far shoulder. When the buck was field dressed his lungs had been liquified they just poured out of his chest. Still he managed to run 40 yds. before crashing into a fence, amazing what they can do fueled on adreniline alone.

I'd pick a bullet that'll punch an exit, preferably a mono metal and then a partition bullet. I'd probably go with the TTSX 80 grain in .257 and the 110 grain in 7mm and drive them as fast as I accurately could. I've been thinking of trying the 80 grain myself in my .25-06 and .250 Savage.

That is a heck of a blood trail right there. Saw one like that about 20 years ago when I was trying out the Sierra 140g BTHP Gameking in a .270Win. The armpit exit hole was substantial.

That was a similar shot. I was in a treestand, shot that deer and the exit was as you described.

Another smaller buck traveling with him was confused at the shot, ran right under me and stopped with a "merp" about 25 yards away. He was facing away, a shot to the center of the neck where it meets the body dropped him like a poleaxe.

That bullet works great in my .308(s), but I did find out it is very similar to a varmint bullet in a .300 WinMag when applied to the shoulder of a large deer at 40 yards. I lost the whole shoulder on that deer, and never used a .300 afterwards anyway, coming to prefer the .308 for various reasons.

Partitions. Shoot low in the chest for quick blood. High shoulder for bang-flop.

I tried the 80 TTSX in my 25-06 this year and I’ll never use it again. One deer definitely isn’t fair judgement, but damn hitting a deer behind one shoulder with an exit through the other and I get no blood trail at all. Yes the deer died, but he ran 250 plus yards; not acceptable considering where he was hit. For me, a Nosler Ballistic Tip is a no brainer for whitetail!! Most drop in their tracks, the few that don’t leave a blood trail that a blind man could follow.

This is more the way I go: somewhat frangible bullet with high sectional density. You want the bullet to lose weight if you want big holes and quick death, and you want the bullet to get through bones and through the vitals at tough angles. Somewhat frangible, heavy for cal bullets work great for this task.

My 2 pics would be the 160 grain 7MM Nosler Partition and the 120 grain 25 cal Nosler Partition.
Many other bullets work very well too, but those 2 have always done extremely well for me.

Damn Vic....that deer was a hell of a bleeder.

In woods hunting inside 150 yds I would use the 7x57 and due to its velocity, I would opt for very soft, heavy for caliber 160 gr on up. Sending out a stout, tough bonded or mono like a Barnes bullet for example in 25-06 at 3,000 plus will penetrate, exit and leave a hole the size of a straw, not exactly the best for tracking in my opinion. At short woods range, the bigger, the softer, the better in my opinion.

Ballistic tip