I've read a lot of posts on here this year about people shooting bucks/does and the poor blood trails they've left. I can also offer evidence of the same issue with many of the deer I've shot with my Muzzleloader. I've killed probably 5 or 6 deer with muzzleloader, a Remington Model 700 w/ Nikon scope. Its a real tackdriver, but blood trails have always been average at ebst. I've dropped two deer right on the spot, and I've retrieved the rest after 30-80yds, mostly all lung hit deer. I shouldn't complain about finding deer, but the lack of blood does leave me puzzled. Does it have something to do with loose powder and the temperature at which the powder burns? Or is it some other ballistical force and the energy the bullets carry down range? It doesn't seem to be bullet specific, I've shot the Hornady XTP's and SST's, I know guys who have shot powerbelts, shockwaves, etc, and lots of people talk of poor blood trails. Is there a good explanation to this ongoing issue?
Why do Muzzleloaders leave poor blood trails?
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chuckinduck
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I hit a doe at 30 yards with a 300 grain Barnes Expander MZ and it looked like a slasher film! She ran 50 yards spraying blood out both sides of her. I love those hollowpoints!
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I also use 240gr SST Hornady's shot a deer 2 nights ago just after that last fresh snow. Was hunting up in a tree about 20 feet up shot the deer at about 45 yards i could see the blood trail from my tree stand deer went about 75 yards no problem seeing blood trail. Cut the heart in half .
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I shoot 150 grains of 777 with 250g shockwaves with a TC Omega. I shot my first deer with it Nov 16. double lung pass through. The deer sprayed blood for 50 yards and piled up. So far no complaints here.
The only problems i've had with blood trails we when using powerbelts..
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Higher percentage of body fat and thicker coat at the time of which most people muzzleload plus what has been said already about velocities = more poor blood trails.
Never experienced it myself with a muzzleloader, but that is what makes sense to me. I use 300 grain bonded shockwaves pushed by 100grains of powder. The blood trails are astonishing.
Never experienced it myself with a muzzleloader, but that is what makes sense to me. I use 300 grain bonded shockwaves pushed by 100grains of powder. The blood trails are astonishing.
I have generally gotten very good to excellent blood trails with a muzzleloader.
One deer with a .50 roundball/90 grains bp, and another 16 deer with either 250 grain TC PTX/90 grains pyrodex or my current load 250 shockwave/90 grains T7.
Most have gone down within 30 yards, none past 100.
Most blood trails looked like a crime scene.
One deer with a .50 roundball/90 grains bp, and another 16 deer with either 250 grain TC PTX/90 grains pyrodex or my current load 250 shockwave/90 grains T7.
Most have gone down within 30 yards, none past 100.
Most blood trails looked like a crime scene.
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I lost track of all the deer we ahve taken with our Knight 50 cals. For years my dad's load was 110 Goex ffg and 310 grain .45 cal lead hollow points. I use 110 Goex FFG and 300 gr .45 XTP.
I can remember two blood trails that were hard to follow and these were also under "today's" conditions. Deep light powdery snow. The blood would hit and get under the snow leaving no sign on top. Only the tiniest drops could be seen. Blood was ok on trees or sticks. We followed the deer's tracks and sometimes that was kind of hard as they crossed with others. What was strange was looking backward. Many of our footprints would then show the red blood on the bottom after we pushed/compacted the snow down.
This year we took two with 300gr SST. My dad's had a fine trail with double lung and mine was unreal with a upper heart shot with both lungs. Mine was leaving softball size puddles and spray over three foot high in the grass and tag alders.
Why did I try SST's I dont know. I guess I just wanted to see if they would group better then the 2 inches were getting with the XTP at 100 yards. They did so we tried them.
OK Now we have only ever recovered one bullet from a deer the rest were all pass throughs. The bullet shown below was from a 175lb 8 point quartering away. Shot was 30 yards away. The bullet was just under the skin in front of the left shoulder. Entered in front of the right rear leg. THis was also a heart hit deer. What better performance could one ask for.
![Image]()
For all you guys saying they are not expanding is this just a guess or have you recovered the bullets? (Powerbelts aside)
As someone else said no exit with a high hit needs lots of blood before seeping out. Add the deep light snow and what drops out my be under the snow.
I can think of about 7 deer now that were shot on cristed snow with the 300gn XTP. Blood could be seen wide and far. Looking close many also had a very fine pink dusting. I would not ahve been able to see this on leaves.
Anyway this is what we have seen so far and totals deer should be 50 plus deer. Most deer drop in sight. I don't recall any/many that made it over 100 yards. I would say average distance was 25 to 50 yards traveled. We don't aim/shoot to drop in tracks. Heart lungs!
Skinner
I can remember two blood trails that were hard to follow and these were also under "today's" conditions. Deep light powdery snow. The blood would hit and get under the snow leaving no sign on top. Only the tiniest drops could be seen. Blood was ok on trees or sticks. We followed the deer's tracks and sometimes that was kind of hard as they crossed with others. What was strange was looking backward. Many of our footprints would then show the red blood on the bottom after we pushed/compacted the snow down.
This year we took two with 300gr SST. My dad's had a fine trail with double lung and mine was unreal with a upper heart shot with both lungs. Mine was leaving softball size puddles and spray over three foot high in the grass and tag alders.
Why did I try SST's I dont know. I guess I just wanted to see if they would group better then the 2 inches were getting with the XTP at 100 yards. They did so we tried them.
OK Now we have only ever recovered one bullet from a deer the rest were all pass throughs. The bullet shown below was from a 175lb 8 point quartering away. Shot was 30 yards away. The bullet was just under the skin in front of the left shoulder. Entered in front of the right rear leg. THis was also a heart hit deer. What better performance could one ask for.
For all you guys saying they are not expanding is this just a guess or have you recovered the bullets? (Powerbelts aside)
As someone else said no exit with a high hit needs lots of blood before seeping out. Add the deep light snow and what drops out my be under the snow.
I can think of about 7 deer now that were shot on cristed snow with the 300gn XTP. Blood could be seen wide and far. Looking close many also had a very fine pink dusting. I would not ahve been able to see this on leaves.
Anyway this is what we have seen so far and totals deer should be 50 plus deer. Most deer drop in sight. I don't recall any/many that made it over 100 yards. I would say average distance was 25 to 50 yards traveled. We don't aim/shoot to drop in tracks. Heart lungs!
Skinner
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I also have wondered if this could be the lack of blood trail problem. All that winter hair could soak up alot of blood.
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I think this is pretty close to what may be happening. I shot one after they fattened up and had lost a blood trail. 250grain Shockwave with 150 grains 777. She stopped bleeding because of fat plugging up the entrance and exit wounds. I really like the shockwaves, they group well for me and they carry accurately at greater distances that I often find myself hunting on three of the farms I hunt. With that being said, if I did not have the ranges to worry about and were hunting in situations that only offered me shots less than or equal to 100 yards....I would be hunting with a heavy grained hollow point. Every single deer I have ever shot with a hollow point sabot slug out of a muzzleloader has just absolutely annhialted the animal. Most of them dropped on the spot as well, never an issue with a blood trail. Shot placement I have found, is to be kinda critical with any of the ballistic tip type sabot slugs. They carry real well downrange, but they tend to zip thru the animals quick and don't always expand...but are most certainly better than any of the powerbelts I have shot or read about.
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Yep,... me too.
But I use the Hornady XTP's in 240 and 300 grain,... never had a problem with them either.
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I shoot a TC Encore, 150 grains of Shockey Gold Pellets, with a 300 grain TC Shockwave Bonded in .50 cal. I've never had a deer make it over 100 yards with massive blood loss. I'm not quite sure what the problem you are experiencing may be caused from. As far as not having passthrough shots, I've never experienced that either. Maybe I'm just lucky. One thing to keep in mind though, high lung shots above the center of the animal will tend to bleed less than shots through the lower heart lung area.
Also, on a side note. I used to shoot 777 but it kept leaving a foul ring in my barrel making it almost impossible to seat the next round properly. I highly recommend the Shockey Gold Pellets. It took me a little bit to get over the whole square peg in a round hole thing, but they are awesome. Just for the heck of it I shot 18 rounds through my Encore and never cleaned it between. The last shot was as accurate as the first.
Good luck hunting.
Jim
Also, on a side note. I used to shoot 777 but it kept leaving a foul ring in my barrel making it almost impossible to seat the next round properly. I highly recommend the Shockey Gold Pellets. It took me a little bit to get over the whole square peg in a round hole thing, but they are awesome. Just for the heck of it I shot 18 rounds through my Encore and never cleaned it between. The last shot was as accurate as the first.
Good luck hunting.
Jim
Another vote here for the Barnes Expander bullets. I now shoot the Expander TMZ tipped bullet (290 gr.) with 150 gr. of 777 pellets. But, for most muzzleloader hunting where it is going to be shorter ranges, the original open hollow point Barnes Expanders are great. These things have a massive open hollow point, and will open up at any muzzleloader velocity.
I shot a big doe last week with the 290 grain TMZ's, right before dark. By the time I changed my clothes and went to drag her out, it was dark. Once I got to the place where the deer was standing at the shot, the blood trail started. It was like someone was going along dipping a paint brush in red paint and shaking it out along both sides of the track. It was just as dramatic as any rifle shot blood trail I have seen. I even tried turning off my flashlight, and following the trail with no light (the moon was not out). I was easily able to follow the trail in the snow with no light on. The deer went about 50-60 yards and piled up. Hit was right behind the shoulder mid height.
I shot a big doe last week with the 290 grain TMZ's, right before dark. By the time I changed my clothes and went to drag her out, it was dark. Once I got to the place where the deer was standing at the shot, the blood trail started. It was like someone was going along dipping a paint brush in red paint and shaking it out along both sides of the track. It was just as dramatic as any rifle shot blood trail I have seen. I even tried turning off my flashlight, and following the trail with no light (the moon was not out). I was easily able to follow the trail in the snow with no light on. The deer went about 50-60 yards and piled up. Hit was right behind the shoulder mid height.
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Jim, I swear by American Pioneer. I've never had a crud ring, stinky smoke, an unruly recoil, or a hard loading sabot since I switched from 777 and Pyrodex.
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I Can't say why I've stuck with the Powerbelts so long,,, must have been the Advertising.... I've only taken 3 deer with them but you are right... blood trails were hard...
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i agree with the small specs of blood. Every deer we have taken this year had small specs of blood spray. I shot a 50cal with 245gr wal-mart brand bullet(i wont say the name). Everyone else was shooting the same brand and had the same reaction. Im thinking thats the problem.
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:tsk: Walmart?
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Try the Barnes Expander. You'll love them. Knight sells them as Red Hots.
"Scissors cuts paper, and the Barnes will give you a complete pass-through where other bullets cannot."
http://www.chuckhawks.com/barnes_expander_bullets.htm
The EZ Load sabots really do work too. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/s...000000_425010000?cm_ven=bazaarvoice&cm_cat=CAT&cm_pla=425010003&cm_ite=name_cat
They're softer, and seem to have better expansion and velocity, making more consistant groups.
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I've shot probably shot close to 20 deer with my Omega and have had great blood trails all but about 2!! I'm shooting 130 gr of Pyrodex and a 45 cal 250 gr XTP Hornady!! I just killed a doe Wed morning and she only went 30 yrd and piled up, the blood was spraying like a paint can!!
Scott
Scott
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