No Blood Trail

Cain R

New member
Got my Bull Moose this year. One shot at 42 paces. Dead center lung shot, and absolutely no blood trail! The load was Federal's 300 gr .375 H&H mag, the bullet completely penetrated and left a silver dollar sized exit wound. Funny thing was there was no blood trail until about 15 feet from the fallen bull. (He ran about 50 yards from where I hit him) The majority of any blood was from his nose and mouth. Lesson learned, don't assume you missed if there isn't a clear blood trail. Other than a .416 or .45 cal I can't think of anything that might make a bigger hole. Near as I can tell the loose thick hide slipped over the exit wound and kept the majority of the blood on the inside of the hide. Now off to hunt White Tail and Mule deer.:D
 
Cain congrats on filling your freezer!

Was the federal bullet a solid? At that distance, I could imagine the bullet zipping through, perhaps between ribs(?), and not expanding much.

As far as a bigger bullet goes, I'd recommend the Hornady 750 gr bullet in a 50 caliber. Either that or mortars!!

Snake
 
Scouter27, a 300 gr solid and a 300 gr expanding bullet would likely be very close in velocity at that short distance. As velocity drops(say at long distances), the effect will be a pass through similiar to that of an arrow with little or no hydro-shock. So velocity does have something to do with it, and therefore I don't think you've misunderstood anything. However, a non-expanding solid or a jacketed bullet that failed to expand are always possible, hence my question.

Snake
 
last night i found a deer that i assumed i had missed because i found no blood. the rifle was a ruger 77/50 with a 460 gr. 50 cal bullet at +/- 50 yards.
 
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