Blood trails (or lack there of)

[chackworth3]

Anyone else shoot a single bevel two blade that had trouble with blood trails. The last two deer I killed was a text book double lung pass through with a blood soaked arrow. Found blood at impact site and about twenty yards down the trail found about five drops worth then nothing...for 80 yards, there are about 6-8 trails that intersect with each other riht here so we just start picking and following. Nothing. So we follow a little farther. Finally 80 yards down one we find a few spots of blood then...nothing. 20 yards away the trail splits again so we part and see who comes up with anything. About 15 yards down my trail there are puddles of blood everywhere and there is the doe lying another 15 yards ahead of me. So what is the deal with only a few drops here and there for the first hundred yards. I don't ever remember having this problem before with these types of broadheads...grizzly and tusker single bevels

[Limbwalker]

Not single bevel, but the lack of good blood was the reason I switched from 2 blade Magnus heads to the Wensel Woodsmans. I won't go back, even though I killed quite a few deer and hogs with those Magnus heads. Just not enough blood on the ground for my liking. Since using the Woodsman, I've had real good blood on the ground every time, and they fly great.

[tex4k]

I hate to say it but the only times I've had this problem, was when my broadheads weren't as sharp as they needed to be. Especially on the grizzlies, they would feel sharp but if you tried to shave or cut anything it was a no go, I eventually learned that I was rolling the edges. Don't have any experience with tuskers, but it was the same with all my broadheads.

[muddyfuzzy]

happened to me on two seperate occasions with a two-blade single bevel (RFA razor hawk). love the penetration and they fly great but they just don't make them bleed like a slick trick. both my animals were recovered the next day and good shot placement was confirmed.

[chackworth3]

I hate to say it but the only times I've had this problem, was when my broadheads weren't as sharp as they needed to be. Especially on the grizzlies, they would feel sharp but if you tried to shave or cut anything it was a no go, I eventually learned that I was rolling the edges. Don't have any experience with tuskers, but it was the same with all my broadheads.

Even with a pass through? I could shave arm hair off with both of them before taking them to the field but I might be rolling the edges like you said.

[Arrowflinger84]

Rage 2 blade makes a mess of them

[chackworth3]

Rage 2 blade makes a mess of them

Shooting a compound it does

[M.E.B.]

chackworth3

I noticed the problem when I went down south and switched from hunting from tree stands with 2 blades and started hunting from ground level.

From a tree stand your exit hole will be lower. From level ground the exit is higher. You will not start losing blood from the body cavitity until it fills with blood even with the lowest hole.

I switched to Muzzy Phathom 4 blades when I started hunting from ground level but have switched back to a 2 blade due to penetration problems. I think that there is not a PERFECT broadhead out there as no hit or hunting situtation is ever exactly the same. There are all kinds of factors involved and that is why there are so many broadheads out there and so many differenting opinions on them.

[tex4k]

You can get a passthru with a field point. But this has been my experience, there are a whole host of other reasons for sparse blood trails. My son and I have been running tracking dogs for about 12 yrs now, I could spend hours henpecking out different reasons. But my first thought was the sharpness, grizzlies are my preferred head and that was a major problem for me. Something else we've found that causes blood trails like you described are deer that are bounding (making long jumping leaps), we've measured close to 7 steps between tracks and blood. Whenever you shoot an animal and get it recovered, go back and study the trail, take in the terrain, normal trails the deer travel on coming and going and anything else you notice, you'll be surprised at what the animal does that will directly affect what kind of trail it leaves.

[M.E.B.]

You can get a passthru with a field point. But this has been my experience, there are a whole host of other reasons for sparse blood trails. My son and I have been running tracking dogs for about 12 yrs now, I could spend hours henpecking out different reasons. But my first thought was the sharpness, grizzlies are my preferred head and that was a major problem for me. Something else we've found that causes blood trails like you described are deer that are bounding (making long jumping leaps), we've measured close to 7 steps between tracks and blood. Whenever you shoot an animal and get it recovered, go back and study the trail, take in the terrain, normal trails the deer travel on coming and going and anything else you notice, you'll be surprised at what the animal does that will directly affect what kind of trail it leaves.

Thats a good recomendation. On deer that I have seen fall I will still study the blood trail hoping to learn something. I also always open up the body cavity to see what damage was done so I can use the info later.

I am also always amazed at how long/much I will bleed when I nick myself shaving and you run an arrow through a deer and how little you will sometimes find.

[chackworth3]

Thanks for the input yall. There were definently several factors that played a part in this one, terrain being the biggest I would say. I think we can all learn from scenarios like this one along with great input from different folks experiences. Thanks for the insight

[Bisch]

I shoot 2 blade German Kinetics, which are one of (if not THE) sharpest broadhead there is out of the package. I shot several deer in a row with the 1 1/8" wide head where I happened to make perfect shots and they resulted in poor blood trails. All three of these deer did not make it past 40yds from the shot and all were recovered. I almost quit shooting these heads because of this. I then switched to a 1 1/2" wide German Kinetic and, for the most part, the problem has been solved. I get much more consistent better blood trails with the wider head. I still use the narrower heads on really big pigs so I can get better penetration.

What I learnd from this experience was to use the widest head that you can consistenly get an entrance AND and exit hole with and your blood trails will be better.

Also, every once in a while they just don't bleed good. I shot a doe earlier this year with the 1 1/2" head that I centerpunched! There was a total of 5 or 6 drops of blood on the ground between where I shot her and where I found her about 50yds away. The broadhead was shaving sharp!

Entrance:



Exit:



Bisch

[M.E.B.]

Nice shot!

[oktx]

I also switched from Buzzcuts. Lost 2 hogs one with a very poor blood trail and the other was no blood at all with a pass thru. I also had a pass thru with a Swacker and no blood trail. I found the deer 100 yds away.

[chackworth3]

That's about where mine was today Bisch except just off the back of the shoulder. It also seemed like her coat soaked up most of the blood and just ran down her front leg to her elbow and was just dripping from there. Nice shot by the way