I’ve killed about 30 whitetails, mostly with a 243, 270 30/06, and 300 WSM. I seem to get better bloodtrails with the 30 calibers than the others. Does anyone else notice better bloodtrails once you reach a certain caliber size?

Dunno. I haven't killed a deer with less than 35 cal. in 20+ years and all but one fell where they stood. The one exception was a muley forkhorn. He turned around before he fell.

Yes. On average, thirty seems to begin leaving more red stuff on the ground and .35 more, lots more but, not as much as .45.

I haven’t noticed much difference between 243 and 270, but I have with 30.

On average, I see better blood trails with .30, .338, and .358 stuff than I do with the smaller chamberings, but it is expected. There are outlying incidents, of course, but on average, the larger bores seem to produce larger exits, which often equate to more leakage.

12 gauge slug guns spill a fair amount of barn paint

Am content w .35 rem in the timber. Spillage is rather soon and the deer is usually dead just over there (75 yards max).

I have a new .3006 to try, and snagged a .308 win last week

Only shot one deer w 243 win and it zipped through and the BT was minimal. I watched him walk off and tip over.
Worked, and 1 data point aint enough to make a call.

Killed a couple w .44 mag. Works but not impressed

I changed a few yrs back, when running lower V stuff, to break at least one shoulder. Kinda diggin neck shots these days. Bang flop.

Do enjoy blood trailing though.

In my experience the best blood trails come from full penetration with exits from hits at the mid line or lower and especially when the bullets are relatively low in their velocity.
My old friend Cy Moorhead, a trauma surgeon in Korea and Vietnam and also as a civilian doctor with over 30 years of practice explained it to me. He said the platelets in the blood are released instantly when red blood cells are ruptured by the attempts to compress the liquid. Liquids can't be compressed, but the semi-solids can be, so they rupture. The process turns part of the blood into a substance called fibrin which is what causes clotting.

Hits with bullets over about 2600 FPS do this instantly to the blood, and that why we see the:"jello" on the inside when we dress the game. Low velocity hits don't do it to the extreme that high velocity hits do. Blades don't rupture the cells at all and the process of clotting is much slower with deep cuts than it is with high velocity bullets. Bullets do a lot of damage to organs around the wound because if the shock they produce, which we don't see with blades, but nothing bleeds more freely then a cut with a blade.

Back to bullet wounds:

So the shock we see from the magnums is not as pronounced in the mid velocity hits. Real high velocity rounds tend to drop game in their tracks most times if your bullet doesn't fail, but there are always a percentage that seem to run off, and run farther then those hit with the older rounds that throw bullets at around 2500 FPS (which strike at even lower speeds) and give exits. Cy told me as a man with 50+ years as a hunter and also a surgeon with a 47 year long job before he retired, hits with projectiles that impact at 2100 FPS and lower bleed out a lot more then those that clot fast from the dump of fibrin due to hydrostatic shock from hits at 2600 and faster. Heavy pistol bullets cause bleeds that seem very voluminous, with blood trails looking like they come from a hose. The reason is that the hits don't rupture any red-blood cells due to hydrostatic compression so fibrin is formed too slow to stop the blood flow.

Looking back on my 50+ years of killing game and seeing game killed, I see what he was talking about. But I have seen some weird performances with mid velocity hits a few times too, so there are no formulas that are without exception.

Kills on game with large bullets from "slow rounds" like 8X57s with 170-180 grain bullets, 300 Savage with 180s grains, 35 Reminton with 200 grains, 303 Brit with 180s, 30-40 Krag with 220s, 30-06 with 220s, 45-70s with cast bullets, 44 magnums with hard cast flat point bullets ---and so on.........all seem too be extremely deadly with chest hits and yet many times the game runs a short distance after such hits, leaving a blood trail a blind man could follow. But such runs are very common and they are short because the game bleeds out REAL fast and can't go very far.

Kills with fast rounds like 270 with 130 grains, 30-06 with 150s grains 7MM mags with 140-150 grains, 300 mags with 150 and 165 grain and so on, usually drop game almost instantly about 90-95% of the time, but when you get to the last percentage, the ones that run..........they can and sometimes do run a long ways. The reason is the bullet caused it's one clotting and the brain is not cut off from blood pressure as fast as those that lost all the blood in the body cavity and on the ground.

Those hit with super fast bullets that break up can add another factor. Wounds that sometimes don't go very deep or that turn off-line to an extent you don't hit the things inside you wanted to hit, and/or do as much damage as you intended.

But these observations are generalities, not immutable laws.

I have seen low velocity bullet do weird things a few times and I have seen very poorly made bullet kill like lightning. But in general trends what Cy told me is consistent with most of the kills I have seen in my 56 years of killing game.

All the same bullet?

It seems that if the heart is wrecked by a high speed impact the blood pressure would then be zero, never mind clotting or any other mechanism.

IME the bullet brand/type makes more of a difference then the caliber. I have shot most of my deer with a 243 and 30-06 using Corelokts. I've never had a bullet not pass through and the amount of blood seems about the same. My son shot a doe (low lung shot) with his 30-06 loaded with a 165gr Hornady flat base and the exit hole was huge but we didn't find blood for 60 yards. Then we found a lot of blood.

Probably the most impressive blood trail I ever saw was from a 45-70 with a 405 grain Remington on a mule deer doe at 60 yards. I had a doe tag for one of the Eastern Washington units and decided to try my luck with the Marlin that day. It was pretty cool and the ground was frosty. I happened on to several does about 60 yards away. They were kind of clustered except for one so took the shot at her since there was no chance of a pass through injuring another doe. At the shot, she spun and took off. Briefly. She made it about 30-40 yards and collapsed. The trail of blood between where she was standing and where she dropped looked like it was rolled on that frosty grass with a six inch paint roller.

I've killed 'em with a 2 bladed broadhead and recurve bow, a .50 cal roundball, a .223 to a .300 WinMag and haven't really noticed much difference in blood trails. Shot placement matters more than caliber in my experience.

Sometimes it looks like a red 3' stream of water from a garden hose!

LOL that is funny!

A sharp two bladed broad head put in the right spot makes the most impressive blood trail I’ve seen.

Two holes leak more than one and exit holes bleed a lot more than entrance wounds. The specific bullet makes a lot more difference than the caliber.

Yes I do

I like the big old 3 blade Snuffers

With over 30 kills on Tennessee size deer with 243, I have never had a GOOD blood trial. Fortunately I seldom need one as most deer drop instantly or run very short distances. I am using 243 in open fields or very thin woods. If hunting fields with high brush or heavy timber around the field, I take the 270 or 7-08. The 270 produces more drop where they stand results.

Thanks for the replies. Some of you said bullets make a bigger difference than calibers do for blood trails. I have to ask, which bullets do you prefer for good blood trails. I’ve used Core Locks, Power Points, Ballistic Tips, Accubonds, and Partitions.

Most impressive I’ve personally seen was with a 45/70 405gr hard cast at about 1500 FPS. Shot was about 25yds and the buck was standing on top of a hill. Buck rolled down the hill about 15yards and it looked like you had sloshed blood out of a bucket on your way down the sharp decline. I’ve only killed three deer with the 45/70 but it has had the best on game reactions.


The only one I’ve had very bad blood trail performance on was a 223. Bullet was a 75gr hpbt. Entered high shoulder went down a rib then exited out the opposite neck. Buck only made it 15 yards in open timber before crashing dead but there was zero blood trail.

The others have been mostly similar depending on shot Type/angle taken. .308 caliber 150 and 165 gamekings from 308 Winchester and 30-06 one sample with a 180gr partition from a 30-06. 270 Winchester 130gr ballistic tip and 130 Trophy bonded Tip.

All southern whitetail at spitting distance to 175yds most under 100yds.

My use of .30 caliber bullets in deer has mostly been limited to 150s in a 30-06. And I haven’t gotten any blood trails that I can remember. Of course, I haven’t had any kind of trails that I can remember. The deer has almost always been laying right there where he was hit.

The only "blood trails" (if you can call it that) we've gotten from 22 and 24 CFs have come from fine pink mist. Can't see it unless on snow. Even then my old eyes don't spot it well. My son has done so.

Just an impression: reliable blood trails start at around .308". Not saying 25s to 7s are no good. They are great killers, as are the 22s and 24s. But in thick cover (as here) a deer cartridge starts with a 3......or 7.62.

Mathman's point is valid. And mostly explains why arrows and large bore low-velocity rounds leave better blood trails than .300 Wins. It's a matter of time under pressure. At zero blood pressure there's not much leaking. Not much running, either. Not just external bleeding, also correlates with extravasated blood in tissues ("bloodshot").

Shot a few deer with sub/transonic .308" 170s. Blood trail was not great, but decidedly better than with full-speed 22s and 24s. Less mist. Longer avg runs. Low in the chest, more bleeding, high in the chest, less.

The 6.5 Swede leaves a nice trail and usually not that far.

I get good blood trails right where they hit the dirt. Unfortunately times where a blood trail was most needed we didn't find the deer until too late. The 375 H&H leaves a pretty good blood trail as do the 2" mechanical broad-heads.

Although I do think larger calibers help it is more where you hit them that determines how much of a blood trail you get, and almost always two holes are better than one. But I would say two bigger holes are better than two little holes.

I can't tell if I am getting good blood trails or not.

They always fall right on top of it.

The most "drop on the spot" kills I have observed have been with my kids shooting their 250-3000 with 100 gr Rem PSP bullets, all less than 100 yards. Enter that into the equation!

.243 rarely provides me a blood trail and they seem to run. I also have less exits using a .243. This is using 85-95 gr bullets. My .30-06 has always left a trail that is easy to see. My experience is that the .30 cals offer more consistent results.

I agree that slower impact velocities and larger bore diameters seem to leave better blood trails. My first 358 showed me this as soon as I started using it. That said I feel the Hornady Spire points and round noses with their pre skived jackets up front seem to leave more blood leaking than some other bullets I have used. Seems like it turns the front of the jacket into a bunch of little knives.

There is always a possiblity of a good shot and not DRT no matter how good the shot placement. Most of the time they drop, but sometimes they don't. Wild hogs in particular. It might not happen often, but when it does it is nice to have a nice & obvious blood trail. I switched to the 450 Bushmaster with the 250 gr FTX bullet 2 years ago. In that time of all the deer shot, one deer dropped, and then got up an took off into heavy brush. There was so much difference between a 30-06 and 450 Bushmaster when it comes to a bloodtrail it is no contest. No looking for drops, there is blood everywhere.

Here is a video showing what I am talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLWxMdwRPP4

In my experience the bullet construction has more to do with blood trails than caliber. On deer softer bullets leave more blood on the ground than controlled expansion bullets.

GreggH

I don't worry about blood trails. I worry about well-placed shots, regardless of caliber, and I stay away from "hard" bullets, unless they are "hardcast". Blood trails, and the lack of them, have been interesting to observe, but they have never correlated with the rapidity of death of the animal in any way. Most of the animals that I've seen die within a handful of steps of being shot (non-CNS shots) have exhibited zero blood trail. Blood trails have been almost completely irrelevant to me. I know others have had different experiences.

I haven’t really noticed a particular caliber range that gives more blood. Most of our shots are drt,which is my preferred blood trail.
I have found that most deer shot in the lower 1/3 will bleed quicker and a lot more no matter the caliber or speed.
Guess that’s a simply answer but that’s what I’ve found in my 25 years of killing

Entry and exit locations have a play in this as well as caliber size.

I shot a med sized bull moose a couple weeks ago with a 7mm 160gr NP. Range was 250yds from a 275Rigby. Classic full side view at the shot on a standing animal. POI was a high double lung shot with entry and typical larger exit clipping ribs on both sides.. Moose did a run/flop over open ground. Saw the whole thing. Not a drop of blood was spilled as all the blood drained into the cavity and not out the high exit hole.

The 405 gr FP in a 45-70 seems to be magical. You won't need the blood trail that it gives very often. Just push it at medium to ho-hum speeds. The American Bison hate that load. Be Well, RZ.

I think the bigger diameter bullets make better blood trails. I use a 338 some, it makes big holes. I have a 358 Winchester. It made a big hole in a pig.

Most of my life I've hunted primarily with 7 mags with a few .270 kills, usually with bullets like Interlock, hotcor, fusion, etc. I wouldn't bet any money I could look at someone's deer exit hole and say which caliber caused it. Recently I've gotten into.308 and 30-06 and It seems to be more blood from the entries.

I'm remembering a .270 with a norma factory 150 gr. hit a mule deer standing broadside on a steep hill. It blew about 3"or 4" dia. hole thru the exit and a bunch of bone and lung tissue onto the grassy hillside. That would seem to have been a much bigger gun to cause that.

Agree with what a few have said here, .358's bleeds a lot, but all have been under the dead animal or at the end of a very short trail, great diameter for ALL game anywhere.