Argument against small caliber? Blood trail/exit wounds?

[huntsd]

Used my 6.5 cm over the weekend to take a cow elk. Shooting 112 hammer hunter tipped with MV of 3154 and impact velo of 2270 fps. The bullet had what seems like great internal damage results and put her down within 50-60 yards or so. My complaint is blood trail (lack there of) and exit wound (none). Here is what happened. Spotted cow in the red circle on picture. It feed out to blue x. I shot and it ran downhill (long black arrow line) into thickness. I get over to about where I had shot her with about 40 min left of day light. Luckily there were a few patches of snow on the ground and I found a few tiny spots of blood where I had initially hit her, then maybe 20 yards down the hill a few more tiny specs of blood. About 5 min left before darkness I give up on finding more blood and head the direction I think she went into the thick brush. There she was piled up (light had faded so much I wasn’t sure if it was her or a log at first).

If she had ran further into the thick stuff, this story may have ended differently. My question is would use of a magnum rifle given me a better chance at an exit wound/better blood trial? Bullet problem?

 

[SDHNTR]

Maybe, maybe not. What you experienced looks like excellent performance. When Hammers exit, it’s usually just the shank and they don’t leave much blood trail anyway.

Below is an exit from a 180 gr .308 hammer hunter shot from a .300wsm. Bull went 40 - 50 yards. The inside was destroyed.

 

[BreechFace]

It’s a give and take for rapid expansion / shedding VS mushroom expansion and exit hole

Once a bullet starts rapid expansion/shedding weight it’s momentum decreases and limits penetration and chances of an exit wound

 

[huntsd]

Maybe, maybe not. What you experienced looks like excellent performance. When Hammers exit, it’s usually just the shank and they don’t leave much blood trail anyway.

Below is an exit from a 180 gr .308 hammer hunter shot from a .300wsm. Bull went 40 - 50 yards. The inside was destroyed.

No question on performance. I bring the scenario up because finding the animal seems like it could have been a problem

 

[chicoredneck]

This isn’t an argument against caliber, but rather bullet selection and shot placement. It was a good shot and lethal, but hammer hunters leave a very small exit wound due to the shank being the only part the exits. The difference between a .264 sized exit hole and a .3” sized exit hole is negligible. The .036” difference in exit hole size would not have produced more blood. If you want an increased chance of a blood trail, you want to focus on punching through the heart/lung area, in the bottom 1/3 of the animal with a bullet that leaves a very large entry or exit wound (like golf ball sized) and positioned in such a manner that allows blood to pour out of the body cavity rather than fill up the chest area.

If you hit the heart or the main arteries right next to the heart, your chances of a good blood trailer go way up. If you shoot the rear of the lungs, especially high rear lung, a blood trail may be light.

 

[MuleyFever]

I think your concern is valid in scenarios where a blood trail make a difference, like last light.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

The concern is valid, but this is a bullet and shot placement issue, not a caliber issue.

Edit - and that’s not a criticism of your shooting, your rifle, the range, etc. I often don’t get good blood trails with high lung shots, even with large exit wounds from good bullets. Hitting in the lower third of the vitals always gives me better results.

Edit #2 - for all that, you put that elk down in 50-60 yards, right? That’s not something about which I would complain. This deer left a beautiful blood trail, but his death sprint was about 90-100 yards. And he then tumbled, slid, and rolled another 50 yards down a hill into a ravine.

 

[hibernation]

I've had some pretty nonexistent blood trails off winter cow hunts, the thick winter coat makes it a much different scenario than shooting one in the usual fall hunting seasons. It can really cover up and absorb blood.

Plus, I think you get the aspect of it dying quickly. I've seen a lot of blood trails be sparse for the first few seconds of running, but then they open up once the animal's gone ~50 yards. I've always assumed it has to do with filling up the chest cavity before starting to really bleed externally. Especially with level shots higher in the chest cavity.

All that being said, yeah, the monos I've used do seem to leave pretty narrow exit wounds. I've only used the TTSX / LRX though, not the hammers.

 

[mtnbound]

Used my 6.5 cm over the weekend to take a cow elk. Shooting 112 hammer hunter tipped with MV of 3154 and impact velo of 2270 fps. The bullet had what seems like great internal damage results and put her down within 50-60 yards or so. My complaint is blood trail (lack there of) and exit wound (none). Here is what happened. Spotted cow in the red circle on picture. It feed out to blue x. I shot and it ran downhill (long black arrow line) into thickness. I get over to about where I had shot her with about 40 min left of day light. Luckily there were a few patches of snow on the ground and I found a few tiny spots of blood where I had initially hit her, then maybe 20 yards down the hill a few more tiny specs of blood. About 5 min left before darkness I give up on finding more blood and head the direction I think she went into the thick brush. There she was piled up (light had faded so much I wasn’t sure if it was her or a log at first).

If she had ran further into the thick stuff, this story may have ended differently. My question is would use of a magnum rifle given me a better chance at an exit wound/better blood trial? Bullet problem?

No the use of a magnum cartridge does not guarantee every time there will be an exit or quicker kill. A tougher bullet is more likely to give exits but an exit also does not guarantee a good blood trail.
It was a lethal shot that caused her to die within 60yards, good job.
If you are worried about tracking an animal then change your point of aim to a high shoulder shot.

 

[SDHNTR]

Maybe, maybe not. What you experienced looks like excellent performance. When Hammers exit, it’s usually just the shank and they don’t leave much blood trail anyway.

Below is an exit from a 180 gr .308 hammer hunter shot from a .300. Bull went 40 yards.

No question on performance. I bring the scenario up because finding the animal seems like it could have been a problem

The only way to ensure of a DRT scenario is to disrupt CNS. And that’s regardless of cartridge/caliber used.

 

[West2East]

It looks like typical small caliber performance. Devastating inside but no blood trail to speak of.
I don't know how you fix it other than getting a bullet that will expand less but exit or shooting low in the heart/bottom of the lungs.
I had a bull this year that did the same as the OPs cow. Took the hit, ran 25-40yds then tumbled down into a thicket. I got worried when the blood trail stopped but I could see the torn up ground where the bull stumbled and fell. I followed all of that into a small reprod where he was piled up.
Perfect blood trails aren't guaranteed so all of the other aspects of tracking come into play.

I will add that many of my elk and other members of my party's shot with 30-06 and above suffer from the same sorts of blood trails. I think there's an attribute of this where people think "If I shot that in the same spot with a 300WM it would've had a faucet out the side". I don't know if that's true...

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