Blood trailing in thick brush is impossible
- Thread starter Mark
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Shortie_
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- Sep 14, 2025
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When you are in really thick brush, tracking can turn into a total guessing game pretty quickly. I started making sure I marked the last spot I saw blood then I would slow right down instead of just pushing ahead. That approach helped me find a lot more than just trying to force my way through ever did.
444Marlin
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- Apr 9, 2026
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13 or 14 years ago I started shooting cast AND lowering velocity at deer. I use a bubba-ed 1898 Spring Armory in 30-40 Krag with 173gr Ranch Dog going 1924fps. I have shot from 20 to 140ish yards and every time the deer is Dead Right There (DRT). Most of my shots are around 30 - 40 yards in heavy brush. Usually I go behind the shoulder, about a 1/3 of the way up. Depending on the angle of the shot, it is either thru the lungs and/or heart. Also the boolit is thru and thru for the deer.
In the 13 or 14 years, the rifles I have used 35/30-30, 9.3x57, 444 Marlin, 45-70 and 500 Linebaugh. In pistol I have used 44 Special and 44 Rem Mag in cast boolits too. All the boolits pass thru the deer and the deer is either a DRT or it will jog about 20 - 30 yards and then fall over.
For example, I was using my TC Encore with a 23" MGM barrel in 444 Marlin with 280gr WFNGC and Reloder 7 going 1937fps. I shot a big doe around 30 yards. The shot was behind the shoulder, 1/3 of the way up. When I looked thru scope there was a big patch of blood and it was running everywhere. She jogged about 20ish yards, stood still, went around in a circle and fell over. I went to spot that I first shot the doe and spot was streaked red on the ground and brush. I followed it about 20 yards and all I could see is blood. When I got up to doe, the patch of blood was about 6 or 7". In the middle of the bloody patch, there was a .432" hole. On the other side, it was a 3/4"+/- exit wound. On the inside, the boolits put about 2" hole (1" was a hole, the other 1"+/- was damaged) thru the lungs.
Ever since I started using cast boolits there is blood trail IF you need it. I can only remember only one or two that were shot with jacketed bullets that got away (no blood, I use scuffed leaves and stuff). One deer I shot went about 320ish yards. The doe was shot at about 30ish yards with a 243 Winchester and 85gr Barnes X HP bullet and I think IMR4831?. Thank the 4" of snow, because without that, I couldn't find the deer. Every 50 yards or so, I would find a pin drop of the red stuff. There was no sign, on the green leaves (mountain laurel) or the ground, other than the doe tracks. When I gutted it, I found a pencil-sized hole thru the lungs of the doe. I didn't notice the entry or the exit wound until I skinned the doe. It was a pencil sized hole too. When I shot it, it was sometime in the early 1990s and the X bullet wouldn't expand about 40% of the time. I am told that the "premium" bullets (Barnes TSX, Hornady Cooper bullet and the like) are good, but I don't like them ever since the 1990s. Cup and core jacketed bullets and cast boolits fer me!!! The only plastic tip cup-n-core are the 140gr Hornady SST going 2750 - 2800fps in 270 Winchester. I used to use Nosler BT, but I am not paying for 50 bullets instead of 100 bullets, like they used too. I am a cheap bustard!!!
In the 13 or 14 years, the rifles I have used 35/30-30, 9.3x57, 444 Marlin, 45-70 and 500 Linebaugh. In pistol I have used 44 Special and 44 Rem Mag in cast boolits too. All the boolits pass thru the deer and the deer is either a DRT or it will jog about 20 - 30 yards and then fall over.
For example, I was using my TC Encore with a 23" MGM barrel in 444 Marlin with 280gr WFNGC and Reloder 7 going 1937fps. I shot a big doe around 30 yards. The shot was behind the shoulder, 1/3 of the way up. When I looked thru scope there was a big patch of blood and it was running everywhere. She jogged about 20ish yards, stood still, went around in a circle and fell over. I went to spot that I first shot the doe and spot was streaked red on the ground and brush. I followed it about 20 yards and all I could see is blood. When I got up to doe, the patch of blood was about 6 or 7". In the middle of the bloody patch, there was a .432" hole. On the other side, it was a 3/4"+/- exit wound. On the inside, the boolits put about 2" hole (1" was a hole, the other 1"+/- was damaged) thru the lungs.
Ever since I started using cast boolits there is blood trail IF you need it. I can only remember only one or two that were shot with jacketed bullets that got away (no blood, I use scuffed leaves and stuff). One deer I shot went about 320ish yards. The doe was shot at about 30ish yards with a 243 Winchester and 85gr Barnes X HP bullet and I think IMR4831?. Thank the 4" of snow, because without that, I couldn't find the deer. Every 50 yards or so, I would find a pin drop of the red stuff. There was no sign, on the green leaves (mountain laurel) or the ground, other than the doe tracks. When I gutted it, I found a pencil-sized hole thru the lungs of the doe. I didn't notice the entry or the exit wound until I skinned the doe. It was a pencil sized hole too. When I shot it, it was sometime in the early 1990s and the X bullet wouldn't expand about 40% of the time. I am told that the "premium" bullets (Barnes TSX, Hornady Cooper bullet and the like) are good, but I don't like them ever since the 1990s. Cup and core jacketed bullets and cast boolits fer me!!! The only plastic tip cup-n-core are the 140gr Hornady SST going 2750 - 2800fps in 270 Winchester. I used to use Nosler BT, but I am not paying for 50 bullets instead of 100 bullets, like they used too. I am a cheap bustard!!!
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