The Worcestershire Theory (blood trailing)

[highPlains]

Cabin fever topic here...

This is NOT meant to start a broadhead debate. Just wondering if anybody else has noticed the same thing?

This summer I met a "seasoned" bowhunter who shared his theory on two blade broadhead blood trails. He said that if the broadhead enters the animal vertically then you will have a large bloodtrail. And if the broadhead enters horizontally then you will have a very sparse bloodtrail.

He compared it to a worcestershire bottle which has a slot to poor the sauce out of. He said that if you hold the slot veritcally the sauce will come out easier than horizontal.

To be honest it seemed like just another guy's theory and I didn't think much of it...until I shot a deer this year with NO bloodtrail. You can see from the pictures that my shot should have produced an ample amount of blood. But other than where the deer died I found very little blood.

What do you think? Does the old man's theory hold any water? In this particular instance he was right on.

Entrance hole...it is the gray tuft of hair sticking up straight above the elbow.
 

Nice low exit hole, perfect for bloodtrails. So I thought.
 

What do you guys think? Both holes were perfectly horizontal. Shot with a Grizzly broadhead. Deer died after a 50 yard sprint. There was blood...just very, very little. I have been on lots of two blade bloodtrails and never seen this before.

[crotch horn]

Interesting theory. Never heard that before. I shot a small buck with my compound years ago before I saw the light. Shot it perfectly with a double lung hit low. The BH was a Berrie Snyper (now it is called the Rage) but 2 blade. Deer only went 20 yards and the wound looked just like yours. Very little blood with that deer also.

[flatlander37]

Looks like a perfect hit to me.  Maybe just a freak accident that most of the blood stayed in the deer?  Mark

[Richie Nell]

Maybe a vertically impacting broadhead cuts more horizontal veins and arteries.  A horizontal broadhead may miss more horizontal vessels and arteries causing less efficient cuts.

???????

[widow sax]

I think that when you enter vertically you are cutting cross the grain on the muscle and the natual tension in the muscle pulls the hole open. Entering horizontal cuts with the grain and the muscle does not pull apart and stays a slit instead of becoming a hole.  Widow

[TxAg]

Here's my take on it. Take it for what it's worth....free     The worcestershire bottle pours easier in a vertical position because the air is allowed to "escape" so to speak. It's a "smooth" pour versus the "chug-a-lug" you get when air gulps its way in and out. Same concept with pouring a soda out of a 2 liter bottle....you hold it tilted so that the air escapes and you get a smooth pour rather than the chug-a-lug pour you'd get if you held the soda bottle completely upside down.

I'm no coroner, but I don't think the veins in the human body work quite the same way considering the heart does the pumping. However, I could see the logic in this with a non pass through lung hit. With only one hole, the lungs fill with blood and begin to overfill thus causing a blood trail. The same 2 liter bottle or worcestershire principle applies...so a vertical hit might be better. With a pass through, you've got two holes allowing a flow of air so it probably doesn't matter.

Like I said, I'm no forensics expert, but I've seen your exact scenario happen on a deer two years ago. Weird that they don't bleed like crazy.

[mjdglobal]

same thing happened to me this fall with a wheelbow harvest, with a 3-blade head!  the doe ran 60 yards and gave off maybe 2 drops of blood.  the hit was perfect as well.  after the shot i watched a different deer run in one direction thinking it was the one i shot, meanwhile, the doe i did shoot ran off a different way.  i tried trailing the wrong deer finding nothing, so i got my dad to help with the trail.  anyway, we got on the right does trail and there she was 60 yards away (i was kinda embarrased for asking his help on a deer that ended up so close).  i said "i can't believe she did'nt bleed out more than that."  my dad just laughed and said, "she died too quick to bleed".  i guess i didn't offer anything about the 2-blade head position theory, but i think every harvest has it's unique characteristics.

[TxAg]

Originally posted by widow sax:
I think that when you enter vertically you are cutting cross the grain on the muscle and the natual tension in the muscle pulls the hole open. Entering horizontal cuts with the grain and the muscle does not pull apart and stays a slit instead of becoming a hole.  Widow

I think this makes good sense, although the muscles can run in different directions and can be layered so point of impact is crucial.

[Earthdog]

I'm with Widowsax on this,it just makes sence to my simple mind.
Good subject.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Broadheads often keep rotating through the body: Check your next complete penetration to compare the angles of entry and exit.

[raideranch]

Muscle fibers are shaped similar to an elongated cylinder that tapers at the ends with all the strands running in the same direction.  So any shot perpendicular to the fiber would be against the grain and any contraction of the fibers would leave a hole.  I think it has more to do with shot placement and hitting a major artery (most of the blood pressure is in arteries) that sprays the blood out.  Lung shots can kill quickly because of a lack of oxygen not necessarily from lose of blood.  

 

[jindydiver]

Interesting theory, but your sample is way too small to draw any conclusions from. Maybe over the next couple of years people could keep a record and you would have some data to work with. You would have to come up with a standard for blood trails so everyone would be talking the same thing.

[Possum2]

I think what happens when the arrow enters the body if the blade is horizontal the wound can close up and cause less blood to exit. When the blade enters the body vertically the wound due to gravity keeps the wound open longer. This is my theory and you can take it with a grain of salt. LOL

Possum

[T Folts]

Did you hit the heart and stop it from pumping blood?
This is the way I understand it.
When you hit just lung (double) the heart detects a loss in blood pressure and picks up pumping to ballance out the pressure that results in lots of blood on the ground, when you hit the heart it stops it from pumping instantly.
Terry

[Blackstick]

Some deer just don’t bleed. This passed hunting season, I shot a deer through the heart from a ground blind with a muzzleloader. It ran into a cornfield and we never found her until the corn got picked. Not one drop of blood in 8 hours of searching.

[bofish-IL]

The one thing that I have noticed is the healthier or more fat an animal has the less blood I have found.  

I have shot several that actually had a chunk of fat sticking out the entrance hole blocking any blood flow. One that comes to mind the arrow shaft was covered with white fat even though it did get lungs. After finding this on the arrow I thought I had shot to low.

[Bill Carlsen]

I have shot deer with a similar exit hole (I use 3 and 4 blade heads) also with less blood than I would have expected. Here is my theory....at that point where the arrow exited there is a lot of loose skin. Assuming you got a pass thru that loose skin easily covers the wound in the underlying muscle tissue. This flap will keep blood from flowing freely to the outside until the body cavity actually fills up. I have found this to be most often occuring on quartering away shots...but not all quartering away shots. However, a hit like that with a sharp head I would expect the deer to go down in sight of at least give you a reasonably short bloodtrail in the first place. How far was the deer recovered from impact?

[Bear]

I've made a few kills with a bow, and many with guns. My two cents- You never know what a deer is going to do. A deer can run "not hit" with a 7 mag hole in his goodies, or drop dead with an arrow. I've seen both. Enjoy the question, but don't over-think it.    

[Orion]

Sharpness of the broadhead has a lot to do with how much blood is expelled externally regardless of the angle of the broadhead going in.

[bornagainbowhunter]

I have had almost the same thing happen twice.  Once with a 4bld Zwickey that was wicked sharp, complete pass thru, and one with a 3bld muzzy again super sharp.  I am not sure of the cause, but neither deer left a drop of blood.  The first, with the 4 bld, we found.  Only because we just circled around and stumbled upon her.  She only went about 60 yards but I was in a thicket and couldn't see her after the hit.
The second I never found.  The first and only deer that I have shot and not found.  Lord willing it will never happen again.  I had 3 other people help look for her for many hours and nobody ever found a drop of blood.  The shot was a pass thru.  I guess it just happens sometimes.