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Old 01-09-2010, 04:11 PM
  #5  
spaniel
Nontypical Buck
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I am fortunate enough to hunt areas where I can typically see my deer go down. I shoot quite a few deer (3-6 per year) and in my experience with several different bullets it's not that unusual to find no blood. If you deflate the lungs on impact they will not aspirate the blood out the mouth/nose or wound. If the impact hole is not positioned for the heart to squirt it out or you ruin its pumping ability on impact there is no pressure to push it out.

Worst of all are high hits that miss the shoulder (which would typically drop them in their tracks) as the blood will pool in the bottom of the chest cavity.

Your deer only went 50 yards. This has to be acceptable performance from ANY bullet. No bullet can guarantee they will go anywhere shorter. I shot my buck this year at under 20 yards, frontal shot, cut the heart in half and hit both lungs, bullet cut a path of destruction all the way until it stopped in the hind quarter where it was recovered (325gr FTX). Yet that deer covered about 75 yards or so before he dropped.

If you hunt an area where 50 yds run is a problem, I suggest focusing on accuracy and placing the bullet in the shoulder blade over searching for another bullet because nothing is going to guarantee that.

FWIW I have shot a deer with a Barnes Expander shotgun slug that was recovered opened to the size of my palm, and there was no blood, it ran about 70 yds.
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