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

I hunt the same country as CRS and public access or land. Used both 6.5's and 30's . I am a fan of behind the shoulder double lung shot with exit hole. When having to shoot at less than 90 degree angle I aim to break the far shoulder still usually getting an exit hole. I like eating venison at the ranges I typically shoot CNS shots are for stuntshooters not me. The way it is for me I don't hunt with a crowd. Mb

Bob, got any pictures ?


[quote=jwall]

Where I've been hunting since 2012 it is family property and I am the ONLY 1 with permission to hunt it. I hunt
every day I possibly can till AFTER Christmas but I can't put pressure on the deer so they are going about their natural
business.

The reason I began shooting CNS is too often I'm close to a property fence and I can't hunt the other side SO I need
stop the death run

I really like CNS shots for multiple reasons.



The bullet almost exited the hide -- on back line. 30-06 165 HBTSP
The blood at his mouth is ALL the blood trail .



No comment necessary



Notice BULGED eyeballs. He was walking straight away and my ONLY shot was back of the neck. The bullet ranged
upward, cracked his skull and knocked his L antler loose. It's against the gate cable to hold it up.



That's bullet ENTRY, he collapsed. 30-06, 165 BTSP.

Jerry


BTW bobby, I got more pictures.

I have done both. .223 with a mono destroyed a lot of meat IMO.

I guess it’s different strokes for different folks. I grew up bow hunting and I tend to shoot animals in the lungs. That means heart sometimes too. I guess I’ve lived a sheltered life that so many people hunt places that lung shot deer are too hard to find.

Sometimes ya' don't want a Bang/Flop!



ya!

GWB

Yep

Circumstances dictate.

Jerry

I never used a 223.
Type of bullets make a real difference.

Jerry

Fellas I’m NOT saying y’all are wrong..at all

I’m not trying to change your minds.

I’m just saying it works for me.

Jerry

I've killed quite a few with both calibers, but not those specific three cartridges in a way to provide direct comparison. You'd really have to use say an 120gr 6.5mm and 165gr .308 both at the same impact velocity. Not really gonna happen.

I can tell you that while a 300 win mag 165gr SST vs .260 with same does put more blood down, the .260 drops more of them on the spot with the same shot placement.

Obviously I like my 6.5s but I concede that a 30cal hole leaves an easier to track blood trail if it’s needed. This is my experience with a 308 vs a 260/6.5 Jesus.

While I'm one that agrees with you, I have to admit that there are a lot of factors that can make no/little tracking attractive, if not essential.

But, a well placed 300g bullet out of my 45/70 isn't creating a tracking "situation" that requires tip of the spear tracking skills.....

I must be crazy. I actually enjoying trailing game after the shot. I understand how some situations would warrant anchoring and animal, but most of mine do just fine with lung shots through the ribs.
Larger calibers definitely offer better blood trails, but shot placement makes more if a difference. I’ve killed deer with my 338 Fed with high lung shots ( not intentional) that ran quite a ways before leaving blood. I’ve also killed plenty with low lung shots from a 223 that left perfectly adequate blood trails, although smaller that trails a larger caliber would have produced.

I do avoid bone because that’s where the meat is.

Half the time a critter runs closer to the road, not further so that argument is a draw for me.

As far as blood trails, a solid lung hit normally won't require one though it often provides a very short one for me. I read here all the time about lung shot runners but that just isn't my experience if both lungs are hit tight behind the shoulder. They rarely go further than 20 or so yards, sometimes a bit further if they're going downhill, just like shoulder shot critters do.

One thing I have seen a few folks mention here is the bullet itself. Things like bergers designed to penetrate a few inches then explode won't do much for blood trails, whether they're needed or not. They do make for nicer, often bloodless pics though.

To answer the OP's initial question, I would assume .308 cals do make a critter bleed more than a .264 all things being equal, but not enough for me to notice.

ditto

ditto
-----------------------------

For years hunting WT the lung shot was ALL I took. I had DRTs and Run till they can't.
No predictability. I'm talking a whole lot of lung shot WT.

Jerry

Probably half the deer I've shot have been taken with a 12 ga. brenneke slug. They do penetrate.

IMO any blood trail is simply a luck thing. Hides that stretch and fat that will clog any hole you can make.
Last 2 deer with a Brenneke were a decent buck that made it probably 200 yards leaking heavy all the way. And a 100 lb doe that went 50 yards without losing a drop until she laid down

Both good hits tight behind the shoulder.

^^^^^^^^^^^ Well said, I agree ^^^^^^^^^^^^

I've never killed a big game animal with a shotgun besides one mountain lion, but that's a story for a different time. Maybe the slower velocity of slugs vs the higher velocity of modern rifle bullets is the difference?

Not in my experience.

Have used a fair number of rifles (various cartridges) on deer as well.

.243, 25-06, .260, 7RM, .300 Savage, .308, 30-06, .300 WM, .35 Rem

And I believe that having an exit does matter. Have shot a few deer with rifle bullets that didn't exit, or had multiple small exits from fragments
But even withan exit hole, a blood trail is an iffy thing IMO...

I'd guess that I've seen more deer drop quickly from fast bullets that didn't exit than from through and through shots from a premium rifle bullet, but that is as an aside. This discussion is about blood trails, and I have never seen any reason to count on having one. Shotgun or rifle...

Seen a fair few deer that didn't bleed on their feet, even with big exit wounds. Lay them down and puddles form.