What, no blood trail?

kyscentlok at KYHunting.net writes

Remington Core-Lokt bullets?

My dad & I both shoot 175 grain core-lokts through are 7mm mags.
We both killed deer this weekend him a 7pt & me a 9pt. We both made really good shots & the deer did not go but maybe 60 yards but we could not find blood trails in either case. I believe it was due to them not exiting the other side. I believe the shells did an excellent job but if the deer had went very far. I don't know if we would have found them. Has anyone else had this problem! Should we try a different ammo!
Thanks in advance


My Reply:

I think a problem here may be the angle of the shot. If you shoot from a high angle, the exit wound is low on a deer. You have the reverse with a low angle shot. If you shoot in the middle, at a deer that is roughly on the same level as you, the entrance and exit wounds will be nearly the same height on the animal.

Now think of the chest as a bucket. When you pierce the lungs and heart, blood fills the bucket. The question then becomes how high on the bucket did you make the entrance and exit wounds. If one of the wounds is low on the body, you will get a nice blood trail. If you make a high wound, the bucket will be able to 1) contain more blood, before it spills out the hole 2) Leave less of a blood trail early on.

I've shot deer that left no blood trail except in the last 10 yards of their 100 yards escape. In other instances, from a high-angle bow shot from a tree stand, the blood on the ground has been profuse.

I would not blame bullet design for any of this. I prefer 30 caliber and up for deer, simply because I want as large a hole going in and out as I can get. If the hole is too small, it can get plugged up with hair or other material and not leave much of a trail. I came of age hunting deer in Ohio with a slug gun. Slugs leave complete devastation in the bolier room, and there is seldom any question of where the deer went as long as the exit wound is fairly low on the chest.

If you made a good heart/lung shot, and the animal expired quickly it did what it was supposed to do. The only adjustment for the future that I can suggest is a change in expectations, that and trying to produce the lowest exit wound possible.

BTW: I'm primarily hunting with either an '06 or 308 with 165 grainers. I would agree that the holes left by the 165 grainers outdid most of the wounds of the 180's I used to shoot. This year I tried a 35 Whelen with 200 grainers. I was expecting a bang-flop, and did not get it. The wound channels and the exit wounds were all quite adequate, but it still took 3 to put the beast down. He just stood there looking at me. You just never know.