Entrance/Exit no blood discussion

[muddy]

These are pics of the deer my daughter shot. The entrance is on the right side, and appears to be a perfect shot. The exit is slightly back, obviously a slight quarter too shot. She barely grazed the heart, as seen from the pic, and there was practically zero blood. If I hadn't heard the "WHOP" of the bullet hitting I'd have said it was a clean miss. Zero blood for 70 yards and then I found a few drops. I followed that until I heard brush snapping and saw the antlers "lolling around" as the buck lay there dying. I would say I watched him 15-20 minutes before I was confident he was down and snuck back to get stuff packed up and let him die in peace.

Just discussing the oddity of such a great shot placement and how a new hunter might have written it off as a miss. If the deer had been 100% broadside I am guessing she'd have blown his heart in half. A few inches up, thru the aorta. Moral of my story is my daughter needs to aim mid body a bit more and save dad some pondering and frustration.

I have been looking at deer anatomy pics and think the angle caused the bullet to graze the tip of the heart and barely went under the lowest lobe of the lung and just by the stomach? The heart was very VERY deeply bruised so figure cardiac arrest killed him because of the lack of blood outside and internally.

Thoughts?

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[ODH]

Does it seem like that bullet didn’t expand?

[muskieman]

Muddy, I shot my buck last year at 30 yards slight quartering to. Clipped heart, took out lung and liver. He ran 180 yards onto neighbor property. We had a little snow left so blood would have showed. There was zero blood till last 20 yards. We just kind of grid searched... My dad kept asking if I was sure I hit him. I was sure and saw hole in him instantly after shot.... It was a 12 gauge Hornady and exit would proved it did open up. Craziest thing how far that deer went and literally no blood.

[Loppy]

I was just talking about this. I shot an 8 pointer a few years ago. He was less than 20 yards away and it was a clean pass thru. He went about 40-50 yards to a high spot in the marsh and i saw him flip over backwards. I waited for my cousin to get done hunting and we went back to go get him. I had where he was standing marked and we couldnt find any blood. My cousin ask if i sure i hit him. I told him i hit him right thru the chest. We searched a bit more and still no blood. I finally said I know where he is lets just go to him. When I was dressing him out i could see a perfect broad head "star" right thru the middle of his heart. We were surprised there was no blood. I went back the next day in the light out of curiosity, and there was virtually no blood trail. I could never quite figure that out.

[muddy]

No idea if the bullet expanded. I had to switch bullets last week as she missed a buck twice. When I went to the range the pattern was all over the place. These were Barnes bullets. I love them for everything due to their expansion and my sons deer bled EVERYWHERE. The new bullets were Leverevolution bullets and though they pattern GREAT I've never been impressed with Hornady bullets and their blood trails.

I have a couple weeks time before I can take my 3rd kid back out so I will likely hit th range again and take more time with the Barnes.

[muddy]

I was just talking about this. I shot an 8 pointer a few years ago. He was less than 20 yards away and it was a clean pass thru. He went about 40-50 yards to a high spot in the marsh and i saw him flip over backwards. I waited for my cousin to get done hunting and we went back to go get him. I had where he was standing marked and we couldnt find any blood. My cousin ask if i sure i hit him. I told him i hit him right thru the chest. We searched a bit more and still no blood. I finally said I know where he is lets just go to him. When I was dressing him out i could see a perfect broad head "star" right thru the middle of his heart. We were surprised there was no blood. I went back the next day in the light out of curiosity, and there was virtually no blood trail. I could never quite figure that out.

I've had several heart shot deer barely bleed. I think the skin around the heart area moves quite a bit when they're running and doesnt allow the blood to empty out.

[dan]

a lot of the time, and especially with early season deer with a lot of fat, i dont find a blood trail till 50 or 60 yards out. i remember a friend shooting a 10 pointer he was after and crying the blues that he missed. He shot it with a 12 gage right underneath him and thought he missed because there was no blood despite the low exit... im his defense the deer took two jumps and looked back at him before running off... I insisted I go look at the scene cause i was convinced he did not miss at 10 yards... no blood untill it got 40 yards or so and entered a thicket. heavy blood for ten yards snd there he lay. Heart was blown to pieces by that slug

[PK_]

Lack of blood internally is interesting.

I have had great shots, even double lung leave no blood trail. With bow, muzzleloader and rifles. Almost always in that crease right behind the shoulder, many times stopping the deer artificially. I always equated it to being a lot of overlap in hide and/or the scapula sliding over the wound channel. I always had tons of blood in cavity though. Very interesting and I do think a lot of deer are killed cleanly and chalked up to a miss or non-fatal hit due to lack of immediate blood.

[strehb18]

Most of the good shots where I don't see blood are generally not pass throughs. With a bullet, you'd hope the shock of the bullet would damage more even if it doesn't expand just from the speed of the bullet. I tracked a buck last year shot below the heart that you'd think was right on the money, but the penetration was poor.

[Rich M]

Some great blood trails have been shots with only an entrance hole.

The only one I've seen with just a single drop of blood - my BIL blew a doe's heart to burger and she ran 100 yards into dense pines, no blood. Found it by starting where she did and following every trail in, finally tripped over her. No blood, it was the weirdest thing but the pump wasn't operational, so no pressure to push it out.

That might be the deal there - the fatal grazing of the heart stopped it and the pump was still, no pump, no flow...

[muddy]

Some great blood trails have been shots with only an entrance hole.

The only one I've seen with just a single drop of blood - my BIL blew a doe's heart to burger and she ran 100 yards into dense pines, no blood. Found it by starting where she did and following every trail in, finally tripped over her. No blood, it was the weirdest thing but the pump wasn't operational, so no pressure to push it out.

That might be the deal there - the fatal grazing of the heart stopped it and the pump was still, no pump, no flow...

That's an interesting theory.

[oldrank]

You shocked the heart and it stopped beating. Probably went into fibrillation.

[A5BLASTER]

These are pics of the deer my daughter shot. The entrance is on the right side, and appears to be a perfect shot. The exit is slightly back, obviously a slight quarter too shot. She barely grazed the heart, as seen from the pic, and there was practically zero blood. If I hadn't heard the "WHOP" of the bullet hitting I'd have said it was a clean miss. Zero blood for 70 yards and then I found a few drops. I followed that until I heard brush snapping and saw the antlers "lolling around" as the buck lay there dying. I would say I watched him 15-20 minutes before I was confident he was down and snuck back to get stuff packed up and let him die in peace.

Just discussing the oddity of such a great shot placement and how a new hunter might have written it off as a miss. If the deer had been 100% broadside I am guessing she'd have blown his heart in half. A few inches up, thru the aorta. Moral of my story is my daughter needs to aim mid body a bit more and save dad some pondering and frustration.

I have been looking at deer anatomy pics and think the angle caused the bullet to graze the tip of the heart and barely went under the lowest lobe of the lung and just by the stomach? The heart was very VERY deeply bruised so figure cardiac arrest killed him because of the lack of blood outside and internally.

Thoughts?20201005_071526.jpg20201005_074424.jpg20201001_202049.jpg

Best way to never have that happen again is to stop shooting them in the vitals and shoot them in the high shoulder/spine. Takes out the cns and they drop on the spot.

[muddy]

These are pics of the deer my daughter shot. The entrance is on the right side, and appears to be a perfect shot. The exit is slightly back, obviously a slight quarter too shot. She barely grazed the heart, as seen from the pic, and there was practically zero blood. If I hadn't heard the "WHOP" of the bullet hitting I'd have said it was a clean miss. Zero blood for 70 yards and then I found a few drops. I followed that until I heard brush snapping and saw the antlers "lolling around" as the buck lay there dying. I would say I watched him 15-20 minutes before I was confident he was down and snuck back to get stuff packed up and let him die in peace.

Just discussing the oddity of such a great shot placement and how a new hunter might have written it off as a miss. If the deer had been 100% broadside I am guessing she'd have blown his heart in half. A few inches up, thru the aorta. Moral of my story is my daughter needs to aim mid body a bit more and save dad some pondering and frustration.

I have been looking at deer anatomy pics and think the angle caused the bullet to graze the tip of the heart and barely went under the lowest lobe of the lung and just by the stomach? The heart was very VERY deeply bruised so figure cardiac arrest killed him because of the lack of blood outside and internally.

Thoughts?20201005_071526.jpg20201005_074424.jpg20201001_202049.jpg

Best way to never have that happen again is to stop shooting them in the vitals and shoot them in the high shoulder/spine. Takes out the cns and they drop on the spot.

Maybe for an adult, but for my kids I'm going to keep hammering shooting for the lungs. Larger target area and less meat wastage.

[A5BLASTER]

These are pics of the deer my daughter shot. The entrance is on the right side, and appears to be a perfect shot. The exit is slightly back, obviously a slight quarter too shot. She barely grazed the heart, as seen from the pic, and there was practically zero blood. If I hadn't heard the "WHOP" of the bullet hitting I'd have said it was a clean miss. Zero blood for 70 yards and then I found a few drops. I followed that until I heard brush snapping and saw the antlers "lolling around" as the buck lay there dying. I would say I watched him 15-20 minutes before I was confident he was down and snuck back to get stuff packed up and let him die in peace.

Just discussing the oddity of such a great shot placement and how a new hunter might have written it off as a miss. If the deer had been 100% broadside I am guessing she'd have blown his heart in half. A few inches up, thru the aorta. Moral of my story is my daughter needs to aim mid body a bit more and save dad some pondering and frustration.

I have been looking at deer anatomy pics and think the angle caused the bullet to graze the tip of the heart and barely went under the lowest lobe of the lung and just by the stomach? The heart was very VERY deeply bruised so figure cardiac arrest killed him because of the lack of blood outside and internally.

Thoughts?20201005_071526.jpg20201005_074424.jpg20201001_202049.jpg

Best way to never have that happen again is to stop shooting them in the vitals and shoot them in the high shoulder/spine. Takes out the cns and they drop on the spot.

Maybe for an adult, but for my kids I'm going to keep hammering shooting for the lungs. Larger target area and less meat wastage.

Why not teach them better marksman skills instead and let them see their animal drop in place and not have the mental stress hit them when they watch their deer run off after a vital hit.

And the high shoulder/ spine shot for a cns kill is the same size as a deer heart. So same size kill zone.