ORIGINAL: cayugad
Wiggy.. that is a nice big doe. Do you suspect that although the bullet did the necessary amount of internal damage to kill the doe, perhaps it never hit bone until it finally exited the shoulder. This would account for the small entry and exit wound while at the same time the good blood trail. It sounds like excellent shot placement to me. Congratulations on the nice deer. Lots of good eating off her.
That exactly what I was thinking. You're very intuitive, Cayugad. The bullet didn't hit a rib on the entry side, but there was a large "torn" flesh woundaround hole. On the button head I got last week, there was little blood on the ground even though both lungs were hit. This time the blood trail was there (due in my mind to the heart being punctured), and it was consistant, but not "heavy". There was nothing at the site of the shot, she didn't start bleeding for about 7-8 yards or so. After that it was obvious that she was dripping well on one side and spurting out the other. Deep, stumbling tracks on one side also indicated to me that she was running on three legs. Over all, I'm thinking that even though these bullets are effective and accurate, I don't think they offer the kind of expansion, raw knock down power,or over all performance that other bullets could.
Our early muzzleloader season ends tomorrow, so it's a little late in the year for me to be switching to another bullet, but next year I'm going to try some different brands.Or I may just cast my own bullets, I haven't decided yet.