No blood trail

[grry10]

Saturday morning I shot a whitetail buck that went about 135 pounds at 90-100 yards. He was standing broadside and I his him just above the heart. I was using a 338-06 AI with a 210 grain Nosler Partition and was very surprised to find no blood where he bolted into the brush. Lucky for me we had a bit of snow and I could track him. I found him about 80-85 yards into the brush. I was surprised first that there was no blood the entire length of the track and second that the Partition didn't create an exit.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow! You'd think a deer would have a hard time stopping one of those!

Of course, the only AB I've recovered was from a small caribou I shot at 80 yards... from the same load I blew one clear through a moose at 300.

 

[JD338]

Strange things can and do happen. What I find unusual is that the 338 210 gr PT didn't exit. That bullet is known for it's penetration.
Ironically, I shot a WT buck Saturday morning too. I used my trusty 338 RUM and a 250 gr PT. Solid lung shot, bullet behind the shoulders, in and out. The buck dropped in his tracks and blood was sprayed a couple feet beyond him.

JD338

 

[salmonchaser]

Interesting result, did you recover the bullet? Any chance you shot through a tree? Buddy of mine did that once with a 300 WM/180 Pt. Bullet just barely penetrated the heart after going through a juniper tree. Deer ran about 400 yards and fell over. We were lucky, open country, saw him tip over.


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[grry10]

No trees, brush or long grass to shoot through as I was slightly elevated above. All I recovered was the jacket. It looked like it totally fragmented inside the chest cavity.

 

[ShadeTree]

Very, very, strange. That's unexplainable to me. That bullet weight at 338-06 velocities in a Partition on a broadside shot at a whitetail, should've barely hiccupped on it's way through to the wild beyond.

I'm lost on that one. Be interesting to see you do some jug testing or whatever else you can come up with and see what you can figure out.

 

[Cleveland48]

That does seem pretty odd. Sometimes strange things just happen. Glad you were able to recover it, and check the performance.

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[Guy Miner]

Glad you got your deer!

Weird bullet performance.

 

[Blkram]

I have had similar experiences on moose and bears.
Sometimes, it is a fat animal shot a little high in the chest and the blood pools inside the chest and doesn't leak out, and the fat covers the wound.
Always a relief when you do find the animal!