Originally Posted by
Hickok
I have been using a Rage 2 blade mechanical broadhead for the last several years in bow season. This head open up to cut a 2 inch slice in a deer. It opens immediately, cutting 2 inches all the way through a deer. Imagine driving a sword with a 2 inch wide blade completely through the animal, then you get the idea of what this arrow head does.
Still when shooting deer from a ground blind, with the arrow striking at a horizontal level, it will take between 30 to 40 yards to find the first drop of blood. (From a elevated position in a tree stand, the blood trail is immediate, because the arrow come out low in the body, and the blood immediately pours out.)
These Rage heads, as well as Grim Reaper heads I have used, cut monstrous wound channels through deer. Yet, on a horizontal pass-through, the blood trail usually takes 30-40 yards to show up, as the body cavity has to fill with blood, before it can spill out of the wound. At times, wounded deer will "blow" blood out of the mouth and nose, leaving a blood trail.
I have had the same results with cast boolits in .44 mag, and .45 Colt. Even using .308 Win. and 7mm mag with jacketed bullets, deer seldom drop on the spot, and the blood trail starts after 30-40 yards after impact.
Softer alloy will help, but an "immediate" blood trail does not always happen.