Poor Blood Trail

[imhntn]

I shot this buck on Sunday with my Black Widow using a Magnus 2 blade 125 gr head.  Made a good double lung shot w/ the deer quartering away slightly.  You can see the entry hole in the first picture and I could only tell the exit hole by where the hair was cut but the arrow exited through the lower shoulder muscle.  The deer only went 125 yrds but hardly bled at all.  Small flecks of blood from the entry hole and nothing from the exit.  I lost the blood after about 50 yrds and was able to continue the trail by the hoof prints and found the deer in a cut corn field across the road from where I was hunting.  Is a poor blood trail a common occurance with 2 blade heads?  I have only shot one other deer with this head and it exited between 2 ribs and I had a great blood trail.  I am thinking I should go to a 3 blade head or 2 blades with bleeders?  
 
 

[bowhunterfrompast]

Congrats  

[Looper]

You made a good shot on him, but with the entrance wound high like that and the exit wound through a muscle, the chest cavity will fill up with blood first.

Most really good blood trails are a result of the exit wound being lower on the rib cage.  There is a lot of tissue in a shoulder that will keep blood from gushing out.

[jrstegner]

Sometimes when shooting two-blade double bevel heads the broadhead will only cut with the grain, as the arrow ceases to rotate on contact. That will result in an almost non-existant blood trail. I had that happen two me a couple times. I switched to a 3-blade. If you shoot a single bevel head like the grizzly, the arrow will continue to rotate on contact, creating an L-shaped wound channel resulting in what should be a good blood trail. That is provided you use right wing feathers with a right bevel head, or left wing with a left bevel head. Otherwise you loose the single bevel advantage.

[dave19113]

I agree with both above.... I use Grizzlys and love em.... I also use magnus and love em too.... when you field dressed her did it have alot of blood in the cavity?....With a high hit that did not hit the artery across the top will give you those results....

My gf hit a buck last year with a magnus 2 blade in the upper artery and it was like a crime scene.......

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Well-done!

[Bonebuster]

Some of my best blood trails have been with two edge heads.

I have full confidence that two edge heads are going to put the animal down asap. Confidence is as important as any part of your equipment.

Whitetail ribs offer little resistance to penetration. A two edge is not necessary to achieve adequate penetration. I prefer a two edge head because deer react much less when hit with one, versus a multi blade.

Nice buck, and a great shot.  

[BRONZ]

I had a similar experience with 2-blades.  I prefer a low profile 3 blade.  My favorite is the Magnus Snuffer SS.  Great penetration and blood trails.  Have also considered giving the WW a try.  Good luck!

[The Great Jashu]

Its more where the arrow hits and what is transected that determines the blood trail. Two edge heads will produce just as much blood as three when major arteries are severed. I have seen this poor blood trail you speak of with both types of heads. I have seen two blade hits that stevie wonder could have followed, yet been on my hands and knees with three blade heads. It all goes back to where the arrow hit and what was cut.

[Panzer II]

Thats why I'm shooting 160gr Snuffers this year. Congratulations

[imhntn]

The chest cavity was full of blood and both lungs were hit but the muscle on the lower exit wound just blocked the hole.  I am just glad the deer stayed on a straight line from where the blood quit and fell in an open area and was hard to see.  He was actually only 50 yrds from my truck when he died.

[Sharpster]

Please don't take this as criticism... it's not. The amount of blood left on the ground is primarily influenced by 3 factors:

1) shot placement
2) pass through penetration
3) the level of BHD sharpness

Since you made a good double lung shot   , and achieved a full pass through   , that only leaves one of the major variables in question...

I'm not trying to sell sharpeners. I don't care how hunters go about getting their BHDs sharp but the difference in bloodtrails from a pretty sharp BHD vs. a just crazy sharp head will almost always be night and day regardless of the BHD size, blade count or bevel configuration. Very few things in bowhunting are set in stone but in my experience, this comes very close.

Excellent shot. Congratulations on the buck and especially the recovery.

Ron

[ChristopherO]

That happens with the best lethal hit at times.  6 or 7 years ago I shot completely through a very large buck with a 4 blade head, very sharp.   I could only find 3 drops of blood about 25 yards from the shot location.  That was all the blood he left and I am convinced that was only coming from his nose as he ran.  Good thing was that I heard him run a "J" pattern through the woods and then 2 HUFFS (never had heard that before).  When we found him 90 steps away from where he was shot at there wasn't any blood trail to him but all the trees around him up to 4' high was completely covered with blood due to the HUFFING he did just before he fell over.  It blew all the blood in his chest cavity out of the holes in his sides.  
They don't always go as expected but here's to many more definete blood trails that make tracking so much fun.

[Friend]

Nice harvest.

[OkKeith]

2, 3 or 4 blade... result would have been similar. High chest hit makes for tough tracking.

There really is something to what Sharpster has said as well. Poking a hole won't cause as much bleeding as cutting a hole. No vascular constriction with a cut.

You did a great job!

OkKeith

[stickbowmaniac]

Yep.High shots can make for a hard tracking job with any broadhead.

Sometimes on a high hit there are a minimum of blood vessels hit besides the fact that the cavity will fill with blood first.  I would not declare your broadheads were anything but sharp.  I have had high hits with El Grande Grizzlys that were easily shaving sharp and had the same, a deer down in less than 110 yards and little blood. On the other side I had a 244 pound buck slide to his death in 50 yards,spraying blood every where, with a high hit with a file sharpened Zwickee Delta.  All depends on what the broadhead catches on its way through sometimes.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

Originally posted by looper:
You made a good shot on him, but with the entrance wound high like that and the exit wound through a muscle, the chest cavity will fill up with blood first.

Most really good blood trails are a result of the exit wound being lower on the rib cage.  There is a lot of tissue in a shoulder that will keep blood from gushing out.

This is absolutly right.  It doesn't matter if you're using a shotgun a high shot won't bleed until the chest cavity fills up.  That doesn't mean it's a bad shot because it was actualy quite a good shot, just a high entry and unfortunatly exited through a muscle.  

Congrats!  

[Bowmania]

Just thining of the comment on the double bevel vs single bevel.  I would think a straight double bevel hole will bleed much better.  Gravity is pulling blood straight out the hole.  With a circular wound channel the blood has to go in a circle to get out.

Bowmania

[straitera]

Good deer & shot. Trail is luck of the draw. My bad luck w/3-blades doesn't mean yours. Never a prob w/2-blade blood trails for 33 years.