Muzzleloaders and blood trails

[NWPA22]

Last year I finally broke down and purchased an inline muzzleloader. A CVA Accura V2 in 50 cal, side note I love this gun, it is surprisingly accurate and shoulders and shoots well. I got the gun dialed in that summer and was ready to go. PA has a week long inline Doe only season, usually around the middle of October, that runs during archery deer season. I went afield tags in hand ready for an evening hunt. I was going to sit near a lone apple tree that is near the tip of a finger extending out into a standing corn field. I was walking to my spot in a 5 ft wide strip of knee high grass between the corn and the timber line. I was hugging the edge of the corn when I spotted movement in the woods up ahead. I stopped and watched as a Doe and fawn started walking out of the woods about 60 yds away into the standing corn. She stopped in the grass and looked down towards me, I already had the gun up and the crosshair on her shoulder. I shot and watched as they both bounded off and back into the woods. I felt really good about the shot but when I got to where they were standing I did not see any blood or hair. I started second guessing my shot. Were they closer than I thought did I shoot over her back? I kept walking to where they ran in and there she was piled up just inside the tree line. The shot was a touch back from the shoulder but still got both lungs. I had heard before that sometimes muzzleloader deer do not bleed good because the projectile does not exit the animal. I am still baffled that there was not even a speck of blood between where she stood and where she fell. I shoot a 245 grain powerbelt aerotip bullet that grouped really well in my gun

Has anyone else had this happen where you found the deer but no blood? Did you try anything different? Do different projectiles do a better job of opening them up?

 

[Gator]

Has anyone else had this happen where you found the deer but no blood? Did you try anything different? Do different projectiles do a better job of opening them up?

Oh yeah all the time. MLs are notorious for this. I'm guessing there were specs of blood at the scene but seeing them in tall grass is difficult. Even if you had an exit, shooting from ground creates an entry and exit on the same plane which doesn't help anything from a blood trail standpoint. Only solution I know of is to shoot the shoulder and drop 'em in their tracks. I've heard of lots of solutions but haven't seen them for myself.

 

[Nutterbuster]

I had the same issue with a nice 8 i shot with a 20 gauge. Put 2 fosters in him. He died inside of 50 yards, but he barely bleed a drop, and I was getting mighty anxious after about 30 minutes of crawling along on my hands and knees and finding NOTHING. I found hair before I found blood. Both slugs could be felt under his far side, but didn't penetrate.

 

[patriotoutlaw]

I've killed lots of deer with a muzzleloader. I have yet to see an exit wound. A high shoulder hit will drop em, but other than that, be prepared to follow a sparse blood trail. Fortunately, after a good hit it, you should have a short tracking job to a dead deer.

 

[fbwguy]

I have a lot of buddies that have experienced that, but for me personally I have not. I am using 240 gr Hornady SSTs in front of 100 gr of 777. I have had pass thru shots on all my ML deer from 40 yards to my furthest of 160 yards. Maybe I have just been fortunate, but I have never opted to try any other set up, because it works.

Edit: I need to correct this, I did recover one sabot from the opposite shoulder of one doe a few years back, but she dropped where she stood, so no tracking required. I hate getting old and being forgetful.

 

[NWPA22]

Oh yeah all the time. MLs are notorious for this. I'm guessing there were specs of blood at the scene but seeing them in tall grass is difficult. Even if you had an exit, shooting from ground creates an entry and exit on the same plane which doesn't help anything from a blood trail standpoint. Only solution I know of is to shoot the shoulder and drop 'em in their tracks. I've heard of lots of solutions but haven't seen them for myself.

I had never thought about the shot angle from the ground affecting blood loss, good point

 

[NWPA22]

I had the same issue with a nice 8 i shot with a 20 gauge. Put 2 fosters in him. He died inside of 50 yards, but he barely bleed a drop, and I was getting mighty anxious after about 30 minutes of crawling along on my hands and knees and finding NOTHING. I found hair before I found blood. Both slugs could be felt under his far side, but didn't penetrate.

That is part of my worry, I hunt some really thick stuff up here too and if she got to running I would have a heck of a time crawling around looking under blow downs and in briar thickets. They always seem to run into the nastiest stuff to lay down when they get hit.

 

[Nutterbuster]

That is part of my worry, I hunt some really thick stuff up here too and if she got to running I would have a heck of a time crawling around looking under blow downs and in briar thickets. They always seem to run into the nastiest stuff to lay down when they get hit.

That hunt was part of the reason I upgraded to a 12 gauge, and will be looking at finding some nastier rounds for it. Sometimes 50 yards is a long way. Marshes and cypress swamps can be impossible to follow a blood trail through if they're wet enough.

 

[EricS]

I’ve been unimpressed with muzzleloaders. They are extremely effective on game but I have had the same problem with blood trails.
The first one I lost the deer and found it a couple weeks later. That was a 195 grain powerbelt bullet. The second was a 300 grain sst. The shot was through the ribs and somewhat high. Deer usually don’t bleed well when hit high so I am going to give the sst another try. The first deer I found a couple drops of blood at impact spot. The second deer I found a good bit of blood and bone blown out the exit and that was it. After about an hour found the buck in some bushes about 75 yards away from the shot. This year I’m going to try to hit a shoulder and see if that improves performance. It really is a good week to be in the woods. But I’m often out of town for the one last trip with my wife before the rut action starts the weekend we bare open for primitive weapons. Happening this year again. We get one week a year for muzzleloaders and I bought my first muzzleloader about 15 years ago. I think I may have actually hunted with one six of those weekends.

 

[Nutterbuster]

This year I’m going to try to hit a shoulder and see if that improves performance. It really is a good week to be in the woods. But I’m

Hard to go through the woods and thickets on rear wheel drive.

 

[fbwguy]

I’ve been unimpressed with muzzleloaders. They are extremely effective on game but I have had the same problem with blood trails.
The first one I lost the deer and found it a couple weeks later. That was a 195 grain powerbelt bullet. The second was a 300 grain sst. The shot was through the ribs and somewhat high. Deer usually don’t bleed well when hit high so I am going to give the sst another try. The first deer I found a couple drops of blood at impact spot. The second deer I found a good bit of blood and bone blown out the exit and that was it. After about an hour found the buck in some bushes about 75 yards away from the shot. This year I’m going to try to hit a shoulder and see if that improves performance. It really is a good week to be in the woods. But I’m often out of town for the one last trip with my wife before the rut action starts the weekend we bare open for primitive weapons. Happening this year again. We get one week a year for muzzleloaders and I bought my first muzzleloader about 15 years ago. I think I may have actually hunted with one six of those weekends.

SST is the way to go. I know too many people that have issues with Powerbelts.

 

[EricS]

Hard to go through the woods and thickets on rear wheel drive.

I try to go everywhere in rear wheel drive but I’m doing a wheelie and they will be pushing a sled. Unlike some people if it’s morning or afternoon I generally want to preserve that little bit of meat on the shoulders. If it’s thick, raining, or close to dark I want to see them fold up like they got struck by lightning. I can’t stand a long blood trail in the dark and I hate losing deer. I just can’t get them to stand still in open fields in the middle of the day. So I kill them in dark, wet, thick areas that make you question your sanity.

 

[Silvio]

Last year I finally broke down and purchased an inline muzzleloader. A CVA Accura V2 in 50 cal, side note I love this gun, it is surprisingly accurate and shoulders and shoots well. I got the gun dialed in that summer and was ready to go. PA has a week long inline Doe only season, usually around the middle of October, that runs during archery deer season. I went afield tags in hand ready for an evening hunt. I was going to sit near a lone apple tree that is near the tip of a finger extending out into a standing corn field. I was walking to my spot in a 5 ft wide strip of knee high grass between the corn and the timber line. I was hugging the edge of the corn when I spotted movement in the woods up ahead. I stopped and watched as a Doe and fawn started walking out of the woods about 60 yds away into the standing corn. She stopped in the grass and looked down towards me, I already had the gun up and the crosshair on her shoulder. I shot and watched as they both bounded off and back into the woods. I felt really good about the shot but when I got to where they were standing I did not see any blood or hair. I started second guessing my shot. Were they closer than I thought did I shoot over her back? I kept walking to where they ran in and there she was piled up just inside the tree line. The shot was a touch back from the shoulder but still got both lungs. I had heard before that sometimes muzzleloader deer do not bleed good because the projectile does not exit the animal. I am still baffled that there was not even a speck of blood between where she stood and where she fell. I shoot a 245 grain powerbelt aerotip bullet that grouped really well in my gun

Has anyone else had this happen where you found the deer but no blood? Did you try anything different? Do different projectiles do a better job of opening them up?

These bullets will give you the performance your looking for. I've been using them for 15+years..
https://www.prbullet.com/
Check them out

 

[Sipsey]

That hunt was part of the reason I upgraded to a 12 gauge, and will be looking at finding some nastier rounds for it. Sometimes 50 yards is a long way. Marshes and cypress swamps can be impossible to follow a blood trail through if they're wet enough.

My cousin and I switched to Barnes bullet slugs in our Savage 20 ga. last year. I had shot deer with a Remington accutip with pass through but little blood. The Barnes makes a bigger wound channel with good trailing blood.( and they are very accurate)

 

[ztrumble]

SST is the way to go. I know too many people that have issues with Powerbelts.

+1

They market the heck out of Powerbelts

Spent a lot of time on muzzleloader forums and its pretty unanimous. Shoot something else.

I have an Optima, similar gun, I like Hornady bullets.

 

[Mr Price]

Only blood trial I've ever gotten with mine was when I used cva power belts (hollow point). But tbh, they wasn't near as accurate as the TC sabot slugs I use now.

 

[kbetts]

Same here on poor blood trails. Best to be a little forward and break down the running gear.

 

[Crazy4bucks]

Barnes is the way to go. Always expand and pass through for me. Shot SST’s before with inconsistent results. More then once I’ve seen them not expand and a double lung deer go over 100yds with little blood. Never heard to much good about Powerbelts.

 

[Mike32]

I had same issues with the power belt's, butive been shooting the Hornady sst's with good success. I've also heard great things about the barns bullets, I might give them a try this year also. But over all can't go wrong with the sst's

 

[Scoob]

I have a lot of buddies that have experienced that, but for me personally I have not. I am using 240 gr Hornady SSTs in front of 100 gr of 777. I have had pass thru shots on all my ML deer from 40 yards to my furthest of 160 yards. Maybe I have just been fortunate, but I have never opted to try any other set up, because it works.

Edit: I need to correct this, I did recover one sabot from the opposite shoulder of one doe a few years back, but she dropped where she stood, so no tracking required. I hate getting old and being forgetful.

I shoot the exact same powder and sabot as you and shoot double lung and it has always went through with a okay blood trail.