Are You Getting Bad Blood Trails with the 6.5 Creedmoor? This Is Why
BY Herschel Smith
1 month, 2 weeks ago
For years now we’ve heard from rifle and ammo manufacturers that the 6.5 Creedmoor is their most popular cartridge. It’s an excellent round for open country, and it’s found its way into plenty of Midwestern and Eastern deer camps, too. But there’s one consideration that’s become a head scratcher. A whole bunch of deer hunters are reporting sub-par blood trails — even on well-hit deer — shot with their 6.5 Creeds.
Just ask full-time Wisconsin blood-tracker Dean Muthig. When I spoke with Muthig a few years back, he had put his Bavarian mountain scent hounds on 230 deer tracks so far that season. Many of his calls over the years have been from parents who need help recovering deer during the youth rifle season. Not because their kids are making poor shots, though. Muthig says younger hunters seem to shoot just as accurately as adults. Instead, it’s because they tend to use smaller calibers like a .243 — and the 6.5 Creedmoor. In other words, it’s not that these kids aren’t killing deer. They just can’t find them.
Consider the 9-year-old boy who shot a nice buck on a Wisconsin food plot. The 8-pointer fled into a stand of pines, which his family searched without finding a speck of blood. When Muthig arrived, his hound lead him directly to the buck. It had run 175 yards before piling up from the double-lung shot. The bullet had not exited, and there was no visible blood on the entire track.
Stop saying that a lung shot is a good shot on deer. It’s not. If you want to put the deer down in a immediate, ethical shot, aim for a high shoulder shot.
On December 8, 2025 at 2:12 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
Re: “Stop saying that a lung shot is a good shot on deer. It’s not. If you want to put the deer down in a immediate, ethical shot, aim for a high shoulder shot.”
Your reasoning is sound. Although lung shots are often fatal it is often surprising to people how long an animal – or human for that matter – so wounded, can continue to move well. Moreover, since there are two lungs, if only one is hit – even if it is destroyed – the animal will continue to breathe and exchange blood gases. There are records of lung-shot animals surviving for extended periods before dying, and some recover from their wounds enough to remain viable in the wild. It’s rare but it happens.
The shoulder shot is a “mobility kill,” as they say in armored warfare. Even if the shot which breaks its forelimbs doesn’t kill it outright, the wounded animal is immobilized or all but immobilized, and can be finished off properly, promptly and humanely.
The Scandinavians have been using the superb “Swedish Mauser” 6.5x55mm round for well over a century, typically with 160-grain round-nose bullets, to hunt medium and large game, including moose, reindeer, bear and other species. This cartridge is famous within hunting circles for punching above its weight, so to speak, i.e., being able to bring down animals larger and tougher than its specifications would suggest are possible.
Why? Excellent sectional density, good shot placement, and using a well-constructed, tough bullet capable of deep penetration and breaking bones.
Even today, many African safari guides recommend it or a rifle chambered in 30-06 as a good choice for African plains game.
On December 8, 2025 at 7:25 am, jrg said:
“Use Enough Gun” opined Robert Rourke. I see Elmer Keith behind him nodding vigoursly.
I confess to being a little on the fence here. I’ve shot nearly a dozen deer with a .250 Savage Remington Core-Lokt 100 grain and never lost an animal. Most were DRTs but at least two required minor trailing. Their were both entry – exit wounds (south Texas deer aren’t always Muy Grandes !) and I was happy with the performance. I don’t know the comparison between the 6.5 Creed and the .250 but I am imagining similar.
A shoulder or neck shot has a short trail in general.
On December 8, 2025 at 8:18 am, Latigo Morgan said:
I can honestly say I’ve never had to track a wounded animal. They’ve all dropped where they were hit. You get better tasting meat, too, because that adrenaline dump that wounded animals have doesn’t make the meat taste “gamey”, which so many people think is normal.
Just because a certain caliber is legal doesn’t mean it should be used on big game.
On December 8, 2025 at 3:49 pm, Paul B said:
50 Cal Muzzy or 350 Legends. Shoulder shots are the best. Anything else other than spine they will run some times forever it seems.
On December 8, 2025 at 9:22 pm, Ozark Redneck said:
I have killed whitetail deer for over 40 years, almost all with a 30-30, with a shoulder/heart shot, like Latigo Morgan said, I have never lost one, and never had to track one very long. The only one I had to shoot twice, was a doe I shot with a 41 magnum revolver, I have also use the 270 WIN with the same results. Just my experience. I don’t hunt out west or take long shots, so your mileage may vary.
On December 9, 2025 at 8:51 pm, X said:
A deer shot high shoulder will drop where it stands. A heart-shot or lung-shot deer may drop quickly, but it may also run 100 yards until it bleeds out to the point where the brain is deprived of oxygen and it passes out and dies.
And 100 yards can be a long way in the woods or in a swamp in the dark.
I have killed deer quite effectively with small calibers, I have killed five deer with a .223 and the Nosler bonded bullet or the Speer 70 grain. All one-shot kills. They are very effective but blood trails are not guaranteed. One of the bloodiest kills I ever made was a doe shot in the aorta with a .223, she ran 90 yards but spurted out a pint of blood with every leap. Just last week I killed a buck with a .223 and it decked him so hard he broke an antler off when he hit the ground. Double lung shot destroyed his lungs. He jumped up and ran but he only made it about 15 yards.
Bullet quality and performance is critical no matter what the caliber.
On December 10, 2025 at 12:03 pm, Don W Curton said:
Just like with bow hunting, one key is to not start chasing the deer immediately. That only makes a lung shot deer run further. In most cases there’ll be a short sprint and then they’ll feel pain, lay down, then expire. Mark the spot where you last saw the deer, the direction it was running, then wait 10-15 minutes before trying to track it down.
Also, 30-30 with a neck or shoulder shot, always drops on the spot. At least in my limited experience.
On December 18, 2025 at 2:11 am, Fishlaw said:
I always aim for the heart. I use a 30.06. Most deer collapse on the spot. One might have run 50 yards. A couple times the heart was obliterated–simply not there when field dressed.
On December 19, 2025 at 10:55 am, Ned said:
I never tracked a deer shot with a 30-06. I’ve tracked a deer shot with a .243 that wasn’t recovered.
Use the right gun/projectile combination for an exit wound.
On December 28, 2025 at 9:50 am, Jim said:
Ned’s insinuation that .243 isn’t enough gun for wt deer is just ridiculous, my boys and I have taken dozens of bucks and does over the years….all with .243,100 gr. SP. Never lost one. Use the gun that you shoot well.