My son shot a spike last Friday afternoon. The deer was about 95 yards and standing broadside. Double lung shot. The deer ran about 60 yards. The little 08 put a whipping on him. The trail the deer went down was about 18" from this pine tree. If I've got to trail one, I like this sort of blood trail. 140 grain Hornady Whitetail.

I love blood trail pics.

All you have to do! Shoot behind the shoulder, not in the shoulder. That's the same caliber and load I shoot as well.

Same thing I shoot as well. The gun shot 3 bucks this season between my and my fianc� and all were dropped right there. Two big bucks one of them on the run and it made him do a couple front flips

I could probably find that one without my dog!

My son has finally grown into a full size rifle and I am going to buy him his own rifle over the summer. It's going to have to be a left handed bolt action. I am leaning hard towards the 7-08. I want to get him a 308 because I have 3 already and we would shoot the same round in all guns. But I really like the 7-08. Guess I'm gonna have to flip a coin to decide.

Bad little bullets, I won a Ruger American in 7mm-08 a couple years ago at the NWTF dinner and finally put a scope on it this year and killed 3 with it and all dropped in there tracks.

Hornady American Whitetail?

If so, there is more blood in that single photo than all of the deer my boys have killed combined.

We're in the process of changing bullets as I type.

Edit: I see you mentioned the Whitetail there at the end. Glad you're results have been good. Accuracy is top notch but terminal performance has been disappointing for us.

Yes, its the Hornady AW. We killed 4 deer with it. Only one dropped in his tracks. The other 3 required tracking, but 2 of the 3 had good blood trails. The other was hit too far back but didn't run but about 50 yards.

I will likely work up a good hand load before next season. I tried Fusion ammo in the gun and it wasn't as accurate as I wanted it to be.

This is a left handed Remington 700 SPS. I'm LH and my son is left eye dominant so I started him shooting left handed at 4 years old with his BB gun. This is a great little rifle.

We shoot em square in the shoulder blade.

I shot this buck with the same bullet, but with a 270....It's the only one I shot behind the shoulder all year, and from the looks of it you would think it was DRT....of course that's the exit wound. I guess the bullet went to pieces. You can see in the hide where there is more than one exit hole. He only ran right at about 100 yards, and you'd also think there was just tons and tons of blood to follow, but there wasn't. Just a small blood trail, drop by drop. Now every other deer I shot this year, with the same gun and same bullets, I shot square in the shoulder. Non of them ran more than a few yards without falling over dead. Both shot placements kill deer dead... I guess it's just a matter of opinion on which is better. I prefer shooting straight in the shoulder blade.
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My wife shoots 7-08 also but shoots the Winchester supreme ballistic silver tips! Always puts a big hole in them!

I love my 7-08s with 140 Accubonds.
Matt Brock wasn't impressed with the Hornady American Whitetail in .308.

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1409056&page=1

7-08 with hornady sst. Doa

I will likely work up a good hand load before next season. I tried Fusion ammo in the gun and it wasn't as accurate as I wanted it to be. [/quote]
I shoot the federal fusions in mine and my wife's rifles. They shoot better than any other round I've tried. Never had one run out of sight after hit.

I shoot a 7-08 with good old Core-Lokt's with zero complaints

X 2

TSX has given the best blood trails for me.

Got to try Fusion 140 on a deer a couple of weeks ago. GF shot a 90# doe at about 60 yards broadside. Was a complete pass thru with a small exit. It did not leave a drop of blood but it was piled up about 40 yards into the woodline.

X3 on the CL's