When you shoot a deer with a 30-06......
should there be blood at the spot you think it was when you fired? I took about a 60 yard shot, and the bullet could have deflected off some brush. But the way it spun around, i was sure i hit it, but no blood there. I made ever widening circles in search of sign and still didn't find any. Must have missed, but just for future reference, do they usually lose blood instantly? Or, depending on where they're shot, are they ever able to run 20 or 30 yards before the blood starts coming out?
Joe
Joe
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It all depends...on what you hit (heart, lungs, etc.) but if he turned and wheeled and RAN you might not find any blood for up to 200 yds, depending on wound. If the bullet did not pass through, it is quite possible that you would find only minimal blood to trail as it would be held internally as it bled out. IF the weather is really cold...say 35 degrees or less..you might try to widen the search in the morning and work it out to at least 100 - 150 yds. from where you shot and then lost sight of him.
Good luck
John
A penny saved is a congressional oversight!0 -
I've seen them go 300yd with no heart and no blood trail, and I've seen them flop on the spot from a shot to the same area. I've seen blood trails that were 4" wide in 10' streaks (paint brush effect) and they still went 100yd in knee deep snow. I've seen them drop, get up, drop, get up and run leaving blood 4' up on tree trunks and never recovered them (-20 overnight temps, last saw that one the next day when we kicked her up off her bed and she ran like she wasn't hurting at all. Same deer, tracks led to her and there was a blood spot on the bed).
It's not the gun, cartridge or bullet, it's the tissue dammage, adrelian(sp) and just how that deer feels at the moment.
Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.0 -
#1 reason why you take the shoulders out or the lungs. They can't function without either.
AlleninAlaska
Delta Firearms & Supplies
http://www.galleryofguns.com
aglore@gci.net0 -
Any standing still shot under 75 yds is a NECK shot. They never go anywhere with one in the neck. I have taken about 20 deer with that shot and will always try it if at all possible. I shoot a 280 Rem. 140 gr SP.
Good luck finding your deer. I hope you find it if you hit it.0 -
That is why I use highly frangible bullets (NBT's). They shred enough of whatever they hit and leave a blood trail (if the animal doesn't just drop) that Ray Charles could follow.
why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?0 -
Almost any deer shot with a 30-06 will leave blood right where it was shot.
When you fire, carefully make a mental note of where the deer stood. Pick out a tree, or unusual rock at that spot. Get out of your stand, and go to that spot. Mark this spot by hanging a couple pieces of toilet paper 5 feet from the ground in a bush. You carry a small roll of toilet paper in your day pack.
Then carefully start looking for blood. There will almost always be hoof impressions to show where the deer was standing, as he will vigorously jump when hit. Start looking in ever widening circles for blood. Lift your feet up and carefully set them down, do not drag your feet and disturb the leaves. Also, there will almost always be hair. Usually it is the white hair, look for that.
After 5 minutes, if you have not found blood, go back to the impact spot. If you have not marked this spot, you will probably not be able to find it.
Get down on your hands and knees and slowly crawl around the impact spot in ever widening circles. Cover every square inch of ground. If it is night, so much the better. Get your flashlight from your day pack. A spot of blood shines like a little red electric light under light from a flash light.
It is critical to locate the impact spot, and to get that initial track of the deer, because the deer will often run 20 yards, then turn a 180 and run another 80 yards in the opposite direction. When you find the blood trail, make more marks every ten feet or so with the toilet paper on bushes. Every so often you can take a break from tracking, and stand back, and you can see by looking at the paper, what travel direction the deer took. When the hunt is over, if you fail to retreive the paper, it will fall to ground in the next wind or rain, and turn into compost. Usually, after the initial zig zag, the deer will go straight until it falls. A run of 100 yards following a lung shot from a 30-06 is to be expected.
I have spent an hour and a half, in the dark, tracking a deer on my hands and knees, and finding no more than a speck the size of a BB every 5 feet. We got the deer, it went 120 yards.
If you give up on the deer, and you haven't spent a half hour on your hands and knees looking, you didn't really try.
Most deer hunters are pitiful when it comes to blood tracking.0 -
you probably didnt find the exact spot and remember that the blood will be 3 feet past the actual spot because the blood and tissue will blow out of the other side if at all - I have crawled around the impact site before and not seen any blood only to find a deer hair on my jeans and it turned out that the exit hole was small (using an 7MM rem mag) never assume anything - good shooting 0 -
I like to shoot em under the arm pit. They will run, but it is something you gotta see, every time the front leg moves it spurts blood, about 5 feet, and it wont run more than 50 yards..The leg covers up the hole and then when it goes forward it releases.. 0 -
I have shot 40 of them with the 30-06. The first twenty were lung shots, and I got real good at blood trailing for 100 yards or so. I recovered every one of those deer.
Then, I started taking the high shoulder shot. If you will follow this link you will see details of the deer anatomy. The high shoulder shot is the middle of the shoulder, 4 or 5 inches below the top of the deer's back. A shot here will hit the spine. It also will break one, or both shoulders, will take out the lungs, and a good chance the bullet or a piece of bone shrapnel will cut the big artery that comes from the heart.
The deer will drop in its tracks and be dead before you can get to it.
Not as big a target as the center of lungs shot. I want the deer at 70 yards or less to take this shot. Also, it will tear up 5 lbs or so of shoulder meat. Shoulder meat is the least desirable meat on the deer, not a bad price to pay to eliminate blood tracking.
http://whitetails.com/anatomy.html0 -
Doubt you got a good hit on your deer. I've been using a .308 on white tails for over 20 years and have never lost one, yet. Hit them at ranges from 10 feet to 300 yards. I try for a chest/shoulder shot and they have done everything from dropping on the spot to running 30 yards, no further, ever. A 30.06 is ballistically real close to the .308, a little more powerful so if you don't find hair, tissue and/or blood at the site of the shooting, you may have very well missed entirely. I have seen deer react in some odd ways when a bullet passed close by, you'd think they were hit. Sometimes a deer gets an adrenaline help/panic and they can run what seems like miles with a real large hole in them. They usually don't go far with smashed shoulders, blown out lungs or a shredded heart. I've seen deer killed with a .22 rim fire, depends a whole lot where they are hit, not specifically what they were shot with but it is true that you bleed out faster from a really big hole than a little one. 0 -
a little off topic, but cant you just shoot the deer in the brain stem or that part of the head, to kill it instantly? 0 -
DIDN'T SAY WHAT TYPE BULLET YOU WERE USING . NO BLOOD TRAIL USUALLY MEANS NO EXIT WOUND OR A SMALL ONE . COMMON CASE WHEN SHOOTING NOSLER BALLISTIC TIPS . RAPID EXPANSION [ FRAGMENTATION ]& VERY LITTLE WEIGHT RETENTION .
BUT THEN SOME BULLETS DON'T EXPAND WELL AT SHORT DISTANCES, [60 YARDS ]. MANY OF THEM DON'T EXPAND AS WELL ON CLOSE SHOTS BUT PERFORM GREAT ON LONGER SHOTS AT SLOWER VELOCITY .
WIN. FAIL SAFES EXPAND WELL ON SHOTS IN THE 150 YD.- 250 YD. RANGE ,BUT DIDN'T EXPAND WELL ON SHOTS OF 50-100YDS. I TOOK A NICE MULE DEER AT ABOUT 50-60 YD. RANGE USING A FAILSAFE AND IT DID MORE DAMAGE TO THE ROCK BEHIND THAN IT DID THE BUCK . THE BUCK LAID ABOUT A 150YDS. DOWN THE MTN. ,IT HAD PRODUCED A SMALL EXIT WOUND .
WHEN OFFERED A NECK SHOT INSIDE A 100YDS. I'LL TAKE IT , THEY HIT THE GROUND LIE A WET RAG " FLOP " .
TRIED TO FIND A BULLET THAT PERFORMS WELL AT VARIOUS RANGES , SO FAR
NOSLER'S PARTITION HAS BEEN THE BEST FOR ME . HORNADY HAS THE NEW ACCUBOND , SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT ONE FOR SHOTS OF ANY DISTANCE .
DEER HUNTING IS VERY UNPREDICTABLE , JUST ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS ABOUT IT [ IT'S ALOT LIKE GOLF ]WE RARELY GET THE SAME SHOT TWICE .
THINMAN0
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