Argument against small caliber? Blood trail/exit wounds?

[K9kodi]

Sure, bad shots happen. And they happen more often with a big cartridge that is less enjoyable to shoot and practice with. Less is sometimes more.

Well that’s all relative. I said that was my opinion and what worked for me. I enjoy the large calibers, I also enjoy shooting them. Large I mean 300wm and 338 win mag would be the larger ones. I don’t think I’d specify my 30-30s , 35 or 270 large. Not even sure I’d classify the 308 as one.

 

[Choupique]

already having a preconceived notion of the outcome

Based on using the same bullet in smaller calibers. Preconceived notions are also important and meaningful when they have the proper basis.

I also plan to cut a couple in halfand see if the construction varies any with caliber. Some bullets get more heavy duty as you go up in caliber. I believe sierra game kings are or were made that way.

 

[Jordan Smith]

Well that’s all relative. I said that was my opinion and what worked for me. I enjoy the large calibers, I also enjoy shooting them. Large I mean 300wm and 338 win mag would be the larger ones. I don’t think I’d specify my 30-30s , 35 or 270 large. Not even sure I’d classify the 308 as one.

It certainly is relative, with rifles and loads landing somewhere on the spectrum of recoil/noise/cost/etc.

Perhaps a good quantitative way to make the point is with round count. Higher reps tend to lead to better shot placement. How many rounds do you put through your big boomers each year compared to your small rifles?

 

[Formidilosus]

I agree, but I’ll take carnage over a loss of game or making suffering longer than it should be.

Heck ya. I want wounds like these when I make a bad shot- only big guns will do this.

 

[alexnelon]

Heck ya. I want wounds like these when I make a bad shot- only big guns will do this.

View attachment 1016263


View attachment 1016264


View attachment 1016265

View attachment 1016267


View attachment 1016268


View attachment 1016269

View attachment 1016270

How anyone can look at this and pretzel their mind to argue against it is beyond me.

 

[Ringbill27]

@huntsd Ok I’m a little late to this thread and I haven’t taken the time to go through the 3 pages of comments. But I have questions.

You had a pass through with no or little blood trail. My question that comes from experience is how high was the entrance and exit hole on the animal?

I’ve had to track many whitetail with were shot high lung that left little blood. Most of these went farther then 50 yard. The ones that died quickly had chest cavities full of blood. I’ve alway figured they can leave a blood trail until they fill up enough to come out. High shots take time.

 

[huntsd]

@huntsd Ok I’m a little late to this thread and I haven’t taken the time to go through the 3 pages of comments. But I have questions.

You had a pass through with no or little blood trail. My question that comes from experience is how high was the entrance and exit hole on the animal?

I’ve had to track many whitetail with were shot high lung that left little blood. Most of these went farther then 50 yard. The ones that died quickly had chest cavities full of blood. I’ve alway figured they can leave a blood trail until they fill up enough to come out. High shots take time.

Bullet didn’t pass through. From what I remember the shot was pretty perfect horizontally and vertically (maybe a smidge higher than I would have liked but not much). I should have took better pictures/notes. You can see the 3rd picture with blue circle on it in my original post. That had to be entrance wound as there was no exit

 

[S.Clancy]

Methinks most of this site could greatly benefit from spending a few seasons bowhunting. But then I suppose such understanding would make half the threads here unnecessary lol.

No shit. The number of dogshit blood trails on good shots in archery is wild. I had to grid up a cow I shot at 12 yards and I could hear her crash because there was no blood and so much blowdown.

Rifle is a freaking joy in comparison.

 

[fatlander]

The vast majority big game animals I’ve killed with a firearm didn’t bleed well. I’ve killed at-least 100 critters with my bow and at-least 50 with a firearm. The inside of animals is more often than not turned to jelly with a firearm, but they just don’t bleed. With archery equipment, the overwhelming majority of stuff I’ve killed bleeds great.

The issue that I think many forget is firearms do most their killing through transfer of energy which translates to internal trauma, and archery equipment does its killing by cutting and blood loss that leads to asphyxiation. The smallest cut on contact broadhead is going to cut significantly more than even a mushroomed out 50 caliber bullets. Bullets just don’t do much cutting so you don’t get much blood.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ringbill27]

Bullet didn’t pass through. From what I remember the shot was pretty perfect horizontally and vertically (maybe a smidge higher than I would have liked but not much). I should have took better pictures/notes. You can see the 3rd picture with blue circle on it in my original post. That had to be entrance wound as there was no exit

Ope I apologize I misread your post. What I’ve previously said is still an observation/reasoning I’ve had on a high shot animal with two holes.

Now my next thought on your situation and something I’ve theorized but can’t prove with my limit first hand experience.

A small entrance with no exit hole probably isn’t big enough to let blood out and air in at the same time. Kinda like how a gas jug with a closed vent barely flows but as soon as the vent is opened does it flow well.

Again it’s an idea I’ve had. In my limited experience one hole doesn’t bleed much and two holes do, as long as they aren’t two high.

So I pick a bullet that’ll drop them quickly and/or one that’ll produce two holes.

 

[K9kodi]

I think I do well w making a good blood trail, but then again, 90% of my shots are from 16 feet up a tree or higher and within 50 yards. For sure the will be lower. I havnt had a bullet not exit within those distances from the 270 or 300wm

 

[MT762]

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?

I love hammers but that little shank exiting often doesn't leave much blood on the ground. It's the only downside of an excellent bullet.

If you'd shot that cow with a 300 WSM and common bullet (barnes, accubond, heavy ELDM or ELDX)...good chance you would have gotten a blood trail. Not sure the animal would have died any faster but the holes would have been bigger.

There is definitely a culture here of always use the smallest caliber possible. Cynically...it's possible that this culture is a result of those calibers being extremely easy to shoot well. But the fact is that given identical bullet construction and impact speeds, bigger bullets do more damage. Higher impact speeds also do more damage.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Over the last 30+ years of rifle hunting with various people using both big and small calibers, I've made a few observations:

1. Blood trails are overrated.
2. Almost everyone struggles with tracking blood trails effectively without snow.
3. If you don't locate the animal within 150 yards, there is a 90% chance you won't find it at all.

 

[Jordan Smith]

Over the last 30+ years of rifle hunting with various people using both big and small calibers, I've made a few observations:

1. Blood trails are overrated.
2. Almost everyone struggles with tracking blood trails effectively without snow.
3. If you don't locate the animal within 150 yards, there is a 90% chance you won't find it at all.

To add to that, another observation after nearly 30 years of watching people shoot game as a hunter, as well as a professional and casual guide:

- Wound channels are far more correlated with bullet selection than caliber, to the point that caliber differences, other than extreme cases, often get lost in the noise.