Shot this bull with about 2” of fresh snow. Stopped snowing 10 min before I shot him. Two bulls bedded together this one stuck around long enough for an offhand 100 yard frontal shot. After the shot walked up to his bed and followed fresh tracks for 100 yards through an open park, not one drop of blood??? Was convinced I missed, long story short I beat myself up for the next hour or so but could replay the shot in my mind and knew my crosshairs were centered up on him when the trigger broke. Followed the tracks another 30 yards and found one spot of blood the size of a nickel. 50 yards later I heard him bust from his bed and caught up to him within another 50 and was able to put him down. Not a single drop of blood in his bed or in the short steep downhill distance before I caught up to him. You can see the initial shot center of his chest in the picture probably a little high, he was at the same elevation as me. I have blood trailed a lot of elk and am surprised by the lack of blood on this one. Any thoughts?? Definitely a good reminder to follow up a trail farther than you think it should take, had I not had that visual in my mind of where my crosshairs were it would have been easy to walk away thinking it was a miss. I put a couple more in him to put him down and broke him down gutless so didn’t get to see what happened internally.
Thoughts on no blood trail?
- Thread starter Jonesy125
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Spedray
Well-known member
Sometimes if the bullet doesnt exit you won't have a blood trail if the entrance is in a fatty area that can seal the entrance hole. Shot a cow a few weeks ago that bled good for 1/4 mile than nothing. Followed the tracks for a bit and restarted bleeding again after another 1/4 mile. I think the same type of thing happened.
S-3 Ranch
Well-known member
Best reason to not shoot a smallish caliber & eld-x ,
accubond, partitions, A frame , ttsx, usually punch out some holes
accubond, partitions, A frame , ttsx, usually punch out some holes
steveshuntn1
Well-known member
I know elk are big animals and the gutless method seems to be the way to go, but I’d have to know what that first shot did. Curiosity would’ve had me opening up his chest cavity. Nice elk and congratulations on the kill!
Because I timber hunt for bull elk during rifle season. I have killed my last 3 bulls off hand @ 55/70/100 yards. Roll of the terrain did not allow a kneeling shot. I also practice a lot of off hand and hunting situation shots year round.
300 win mag. 180gr hammer hunters. I haven’t had a lot of experience with the hammers but im not thinking lack of bullet performance
MTLabrador
Well-known member
I have no explanation for the lack of blood other than bullets do weird things sometimes. That is a damn nice bull.
Congrats!
I had the exact same experience with a frontal shot. All that muscle basically seals up the entrance hole and doesn’t work it’s way out much. All the major blood loss happened inside the chest like it was supposed to though. Mine was with a 7mm hole and barely a drop of blood. Good job!
I had the exact same experience with a frontal shot. All that muscle basically seals up the entrance hole and doesn’t work it’s way out much. All the major blood loss happened inside the chest like it was supposed to though. Mine was with a 7mm hole and barely a drop of blood. Good job!
Farmerj
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Did the same thing with a white tail and a .308 Winchester. Dropped it like a ton of bricks. Bullet followed the skin around the front leg and up the rib cage to lodge in the back strap. Core separated from the jacket even. Found the wound track when we skinned it later that weekend.
No blood anywhere.
No blood anywhere.
kiwi hunter
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Nice tops there
elkduds
Well-known member
I shot a cow in the same frontal placement as OP's bull. Heard her pile up after 100 yards dash through downed aspens. Walked to her by the sound. She left no blood trail, we backtracked her after breaking her down. My 175 gr Corelokt from 7 rem mag entered the same as OP's, no blood around the entry wound. Top of heart and one lung were shot, liver, never found bullet in guts. Used finger to find entrance wound. It was in vertical muscles of the neck, the muscle fibers pulled together and closed the entrance wound as the cow ran.
Or the sound killed her.
I interpreted that experience as another reason to resist frontal shots.
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Or the sound killed her.
I interpreted that experience as another reason to resist frontal shots.
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CowboyLeroy
Well-known member
Yeen find no blood cuz yeen have an exit hole. Next time you have to take a frontal shot just shoot him in the throat where itll break his neck.
Salmonchaser
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You are commended for following up, even a 300 doesn't always put them down. That is a nice bull. I've killed 40 some elk in 55 years of hunting them, enough of them showed no evidence of being hit initially, blood or otherwise, one must always follow up. Add in the four or five guys who have always been in camp, that's a bunch more tags filled and a lot of tracking.
I wonder how many more dead elk pictures we would see if people honestly followed up?
I wonder how many more dead elk pictures we would see if people honestly followed up?
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Addicting
Well-known member
You may want to read more about the hammers. Almost the same velocity as what I was using and had similar results where one did it’s job and the next didn’t. No consistency on what the bullets did entering a animal.
Ditch them now before you loose one like I did.
Thats interesting, when I first went with the Hammers I researched them and what i found was pretty positive. It is the first animal I have shot with them though.
I understand fat/muscle closing up around the wound and along with the long neck hair absorbing some blood. I guess I was just surprised that in 100 yards or at the place he was standing when I shot there was no evidence at all of a hit. I didn't just half ass walk his tracks out I was going slow and looking hard, a pin prick on my finger would have left visible blood in the conditions I was in. I guess more than anything it's just a good reminder to follow up a shot regardless of what the evidence shows. I have shot close to 20 bulls with both archery and rifle so I am not inexperienced, but it would have been easy to assume and have a different outcome. I will do some off season testing with the Hammers and come to a conclusion about the performance of them. I try not to jump to conclusions and blame equipment/manufacturer at least until i have enough real-world experience with them.
Addicting
Well-known member
I shot three elk and one deer with the 181 HH plus did a bunch of testing. There’s a lot of it posted on here in different spots. What my conclusion was is that they have a inconsistent opening time and depth. At those speeds it can make the difference of 12” or so.
Almost all the necropsy I did showed mixed results. At the end of the day if a bullet can’t perform the same near a 100% of the time I’m not risking it. 50/50 nagging me in my head if it’s it’s going to work or not when I shoot is not a fun hunting experience.
S-3 Ranch
Well-known member
Yep, hammers seem brittle and lose their pedals, then pencil , or don’t expand correctly , just my 2ct
nosler AB , partitions, have never let me down
Addicting
Well-known member
If you go out on the hammer forum, Steve talked about why they went with the hollow point size they did.
They tested and had inconsistent results and kept making the hollow point bigger until they felt it had a consistent result.
In my opinion, I think there is a reason all the other manufacturers copper products use a polymer tip to initiate expansion.
Different batches of copper may have ever so slightly different molecular structure. When your shear testing it there has to be a +\- on the force it needs to sheer.
Relying on the animal to provide consistent force to make it open is a fatal flaw. Putting a tip on it increased the likelihood of it opening on impact.
They tested and had inconsistent results and kept making the hollow point bigger until they felt it had a consistent result.
In my opinion, I think there is a reason all the other manufacturers copper products use a polymer tip to initiate expansion.
Different batches of copper may have ever so slightly different molecular structure. When your shear testing it there has to be a +\- on the force it needs to sheer.
Relying on the animal to provide consistent force to make it open is a fatal flaw. Putting a tip on it increased the likelihood of it opening on impact.
