Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 338 TSX on Black Bear no blood????? need opinions

I'm still trying to figure this out. Last fall bear season over bait. I shot at 40-50 yards with Federal ammo with 225 triple shocks. The bear skidded forward hitting the ground then got up and ran off. It was a quartering away shot and I aimed for the opposite leg. I got down and no blood, searched with help and blood tracking dogs and nothing. I've heard nothing but good about the TSX's. Two years earlier with the same rifle and Rem 225 core lokts it blasted the opposite shoulder so bad it looked like a gut shot on the ground. There was pieces of bone all over.

All I can guess is that the bullet went through with no expansion???? does that sound right? The bear did skid forward and hit the deck.

A different bullet but I shot a deer one time with a Nosler
ballistic tip (120) with a 7mm08 and he left no blood trail until right before he fell for good. He was about 130 yards standing in a food plot and at the shot ran in the open for over 100 yards with plain tracks to follow. I followed those tracks looking for blood to determine how bad he was hit and there was no blood until after he went in the woods and about 20 yards into the woods there was a speck of blood and the deer was less that 15 yards from that first speck. The bullet went through the lungs and was against the skin on the far side making a bulge but not breaking the skin and no blood until it came out his nose. I suppose a piece of fat or something plugged up the entrance hole but do not know for sure. The bullet had expanded and done a lot of internal damage but no blood for a long ways and the deer laying close to the first blood. Shooting deer and you will see some things that are hard to explain some times and I think bear will be the same or maybe worse. miles

I've shot quite a few elk with a 270 with almost no blood showing. Often, the bullet will be trapped inside the hide on the far side with no exit hole. The entrance hole will show just a trickle. However, the inside is massive destruction. Since I went to a 300 WSM, I've never had this happen as the bullets will exit leaving a big bleeding hole.

No offense intended, but, I have come to believe that running a Mono bullet through the chest of an animal and expecting a blood trail is not bright.

The just do not normally make a big hole in the hide. They tend to make a very big mess of the inside of the chest. If you disconnect the plumbing inside the chest, blood pressure goes to zero instantly. This leaves your only ally for a blood trail being gravity. If you just scrambled the contents of the chest you have all sorts of debris to plug holes.

I have seen this with .243s, .270s, 30-06s and .50 cal muzzle loaders. I have seen holes through the shoulders and hide that I could easily stick a shovel handle through not bleed when the heart and lungs are destroyed. I have yet to see one of them make it past fifty yards give or take though, even when the heart is left intact and connected. I have never seen an X, XLC, TSX or TTSX not expand. I have seen a number of caliber size holes in the hide with massive internal damage though.

A .338 cal hole, even if there is no expansion is still a .338 cal hole. If it was through the shoulder/lungs, that bear wouldn't go far. I'm assuming from your post that the bear wasn't recovered? I don't mean to be a jerk, but my guess is you gave him a minor clip and the bear is still walking the woods.

What's your prefered bullet?

This is probably the case but he skidded forward quite a bit, that's the part that doesn't make sense to me.

Guys don't worry about offense taken, I'm looking for answers
and the reality is I didn't get the job done.

One thing I kick myself about is not getting a follow up shot...
It might make work for the taxidermist but at least he has
something to work with......

Later in October I used hounds and I had three rounds into the bear
before he hit the ground....A little overkill but.....

Exact same ammo at 60 yards

Three years ago I shot a deer broad side at 200 yards. The ONLY blood lost outside that deers body was in the bed of my truck.

I much prefer Barnes. TSX or TTSX makes no difference to me. Caliber makes no difference. I just accept that I might not get a blood trail on occasion, and that a deer shot in the place I normally shoot them will be dead within 50 yards almost all the time, and won't be over 100 yards away worst case. It's not perfect, but it works for me until I can find something better.

Bears are notorious for leaving faint bloodtrails. There fur is like a sponge and their fat plugs the hole many times.

+1

+2

+3 Especially Fall bears with lots of fat.

Also, IME many black bears drop at the shot -- no matter how trivial the bullet damage -- and then get up. One that my friend shot with a .270 had a small graze along his foot. The bear dropped, then jumped up and ran off, but succumbed to a second shot through the lungs.

No blood, and no luck with dogs. You may have missed.

Man, that stinks, K J. Sounds like you hit him. Fairly close shot on a stationary critter, definite aiming point. You will never know exactly what transpired. Strange things happen occasionally.

I re-read my post and forgot to mention he turn to
bite at his side when he skidded forward.

I think you guys are right that it was a marginal
hit at best, if at all.....I don't think it was a clean miss
judging by his actions.

I was a little concerned about the performance of the
bullet.

What's your thoughts on moving to a 210 Nosler Partition?

I shot a big Oregon Bear last year with a 260 grain nosler partion out of a .375 Ruger at 15 yards and there was not one drop of blood. I think the fat and hair just soaks up the blood even with a .375" hole.

I have hunted bears quite a bit in the past. I have been on more than a few hairy track jobs with buddies and other people in camps. An anchoring shot is always preferred to a track job. Bears rarely lay down after the wound as deer do. They walk or run for a very long time or until they expire. When rifle hunting over bait, try to make an anchoring shot. I like the point of the shoulder and try to drive the bullet through the vitals. Anytime you can "turn the switch off" by massive trauma to the central nervous system of a bear, you can rest assured you will recover your game.