Blood trail with monolithic bullets

**aimpoint** · 07-05-2024, 09:40

Greetings fellow hunters!

I had the privilege of hunting in the Kalahari on foot this past week. Hard, extremely hot hunting, but very rewarding!

My setup: 300 WSM, shooting a 165gr Viper Plains Supreme at 3000fps (pure copper turned bullets)

First springbok, bladskoot at 170m, dropped in his tracks.

Second springbok, bladskoot at 160m, went about 60m after shot, left a very easy blood spoor to follow.

Big gemsbok bull, carcass weight 113kg, bladskoot 180m, both lungs hit, missed heart. He did not leave a single drop of blood. He went a good 800m after the shot, he was lying down after about 200m but i was concentrating on his spoor and therefore bumped him and he took off. I was extremely lucky that they had rain a week before so the sand was crusty and i could easily follow his tracks. I have to add that follow up was right after the shot, sun was setting and i could not smoke the proverbial cigarette and give him time to stiffen up!

All three shots showed clearly that the bullet opened up good. Even on the springbok with no bones hit. So i was happy with bullet performance. However, the lack of blood spoor for follow up was extremely worrying! I am headed to the bushveld next with Zebra, Kudu and Gnu on the menu. No easy spoor to follow in that bush!

Was i just unlucky? Can one attribute it to a monolithic? Did i follow up to quick? Opinions will be appreciated. Waidmannsdank !

**MyLani** · 07-05-2024, 10:35

As a PH, I like a Bullet that fully penetrates an animal.
You get very little blood from an entrance wound, which makes tracking difficult.
I used Barnes TTSX in my 375 for quite a few years and never really had a problem. But since changing the SBC bullets, things are easier. The it makes a large Entrance wound that doesn't close up, giving a good blood spoor to follow.

I am now happily using them in my 458 Lott, 375, 300WM and 308

**aimpoint** · 07-05-2024, 10:57

Makes sense, however i had a large exit hole on gemsbok. Farmer recons that it takes time for the larger animals cavity to fill up before “leaking” blood ??

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**Pirate** · 07-05-2024, 11:15

Did the bullet gemsbok exit? Not a WM or monos, but I shot two BWB cows with 150gr Interbonds from my 308W. Both were right om the blad, both one-shot kills, neither bullet exited and on both the entrance wound closed up completely.

This was in open country and we even struggled to find the 1st one, on account of her looking like an ysterklip

I replayed the scenario in the bush and decided I had enough ammunition to convince my wife I need a bigger gun!

Anyways, I have a theory that on heavy-shouldered animals like BWB and gemsbok the shoulder muscles are strong enough to close again around an entrance wound that is not sufficiently big enough...

ETA:delay in posting, I see you did have an exit wound

**Dinat** · 07-05-2024, 11:53

I had same experience on BWB Bull, frontal shot. Bullet did not exit.
Found 2 drops blood. We tracked animal and he managed to get 800m away from us. Clipped some arteries etc.

300 WIN Mag Barnes 180GR TTSX. Around 160m.

Same setup, on Kudu cow, shot broadside around 100m. Bullet exited but minimal blood. Hit lungs. We found her around 40m away but very little blood trail.

**DaavG** · 07-05-2024, 14:24

I have found high lung shots on large bodied animals don't give alot of blood.

Same with frontal shots - I avoid these now particularly late afternoon - always a stressful moment trying to track the animal.

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**Adoons** · 07-05-2024, 19:13

When teaching my son about about hunting (on Impala rams with 30-06 and Hornady Interbonds that always fully penetrate Impala broadside) I always had him to find me the exact spot the animal was and then the blood. After about the 8 th or so ram he concluded the same as me: "A blood spoor as an indication of a killing shot is a myth." If only the lungs are hit they bleed out in the lungs/chest cavity and the shot up lungs act as a "sponge" and there is not enough blood pressure or blood left to exit the exit wound every time.

Hunters that insist it was a miss because they don't find any blood is "missing" something, and that something is not the animal they shot at...

I will not be stressed. If you are confident of a good hit in the bush but canot find the spoor or blood, be sure to be still and listen for the fall and sweep the bush in arcs going wider everytime and probably you will find your biltong.

**Dinat** · 08-05-2024, 06:20

Originally Posted by Adoons

When teaching my son about about hunting (on Impala rams with 30-06 and Hornady Interbonds that always fully penetrate Impala broadside) I always had him to find me the exact spot the animal was and then the blood. After about the 8 th or so ram he concluded the same as me: "A blood spoor as an indication of a killing shot is a myth." If only the lungs are hit they bleed out in the lungs/chest cavity and the shot up lungs act as a "sponge" and there is not enough blood pressure or blood left to exit the exit wound every time.

Hunters that insist it was a miss because they don't find any blood is "missing" something, and that something is not the animal they shot at...

I will not be stressed. If you are confident of a good hit in the bush but canot find the spoor or blood, be sure to be still and listen for the fall and sweep the bush in arcs going wider everytime and probably you will find your biltong.

Thx you. Good post and explanation

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**aimpoint** · 08-05-2024, 10:27

Originally Posted by Adoons

When teaching my son about about hunting (on Impala rams with 30-06 and Hornady Interbonds that always fully penetrate Impala broadside) I always had him to find me the exact spot the animal was and then the blood. After about the 8 th or so ram he concluded the same as me: "A blood spoor as an indication of a killing shot is a myth." If only the lungs are hit they bleed out in the lungs/chest cavity and the shot up lungs act as a "sponge" and there is not enough blood pressure or blood left to exit the exit wound every time.

Hunters that insist it was a miss because they don't find any blood is "missing" something, and that something is not the animal they shot at...

I will not be stressed. If you are confident of a good hit in the bush but canot find the spoor or blood, be sure to be still and listen for the fall and sweep the bush in arcs going wider everytime and probably you will find your biltong.

Thank you Adoons, i believe that’s exactly what happened in this case. In my mind he was quartering away a little and i aimed too far back. Afterwards i saw the shot went through perpendicular. So i just managed to hit both lungs.

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**Messor** · 09-05-2024, 11:10

It’s a circulatory system, keep that in mind when trying to examine the evidence.

I’ve said it before but here goes again, there are organs that bleed out a lot quicker than the lungs, shoot through both lungs and it takes time.
Destroy the heart and you stop the pump, take a tank of water and shoot a hole in it, it takes a lot of time to drain, but if you have a pressure pump on the tank the water just shoots out, same tank different result.
You wound an animal it immediately releases endorphins, causing blood vessels to constrict, causing the body to operate on minimum oxygen, aka they run a fair amount of distance, dead on their feet sometimes.

You want a good blood trail regardless of bullet choice, top of the heart, try and figure out why…….