243 and blood trail mentioned in the same sentence. Imagine that.....
IMO a 243 or any other cartridge will do the job if used properly and everything goes right. But Im not taking the chance if I have a choice.

I have never been a fan of the .243 Win for a deer rifle. Years ago when we traveled across South Texas with a blood trailing dog, found that most of the deer we were following were shot with that caliber. Actually, I should be a huge fan of it because it made us a lot of spending money...
Adios,
Gary

Some sage advice worth paying attention to.

Same thing has been said about the 7Mag.

Agreed.

That completes the picture.

Field & Stream shooting editor Richard Mann recently wrote "when it comes to common big-game cartridges, the differences are easier to see on paper than anywhere else. Ninety percent of a cartridge’s ability to kill hinges on a good bullet being put in the right spot."

He's right.

Become proficient with your rifle and whether you're using a .243, .308 or 7MM Mag for Texas whitetails, it doesn't matter.

No telling how many tens of thousands of deer are ethically killed with .243 Remi CoreLokt or Winchester PowerPoints each year.

I used to hunt deer over a large wheat field in north Texas back in the 1980s and used a .243 Win with 100 grain Core Lokt factory loads. Some off the deer I shot were quite large, and I never lost a deer, with most shoots ranging from 100-300 yards. I never lost a deer because most of them would run 25-75 yards after being shot. Since they were all shot out in the wheat field I could easily watch them run after the shot and then see exactly where they dropped. Blood trails were never an issue because I walked right up to them. I then started hunting in east Texas in the 1990s, with most of the stands located along narrow trails and shooting lanes with thick woods on both sides. Most deer where lung shots behind the shoulder, but this time the deer bolted into thick cover. The lack of a blood trail made locating those deer very difficult. After almost giving up on finding a really nice buck I decided to start shooting a .270 Win. Since then I have always gotten great blood trails with full pass through shots. My .243 Win only gave pass through shots about 50% of the time.

Depending upon where you hunt and the type of terrain you encounter, the .243 can be a great round for deer. I would
recommend a heavy well constructed bullet in the 95-100 grain range, preferably a bonded type bullet like the Federal Fusion round. If anybody knows of someone using a .243 with a bonded bullet other than the FederaL Fusion, please post that bullet and manufacturer you use.

This. Core-lokts or Hornady Whitetail. Son has shot more than a dozen deer in the last few years and only one problem tracking and that was sons fault.

My last seven deer were taken with handloaded Hornady 90gr ELD-X.

Four from 100yds and three from 225 yds. Half those fell when shot the rest didn't make it more than 10 yds.

Granted, I'm shooting from a bench rest in a sheltered stand across a pond that sits down in a bowl where the wind doesn't usually factor. Deviations to point of impact being largely human error.

270 for max knock down power (me)
7mm-08 for knock down power --reduced recoil option (wife)

have you tried a Barnes bullet in .243?

Only deer I ever lost was a 7-08

This is a 100 grain Core-lokt from. .243 after going through both shoulders and a spine. Pretty mangled but all still there. I love Core-lokts.

I use 100 grain Winchester power points in my 243. Never had a problem with blood trailing the deer shot with the power points.

Been using core-lokts for the last 20 or so years and they fell pretty close. This last season I shot one with federal (100gr powershock) and I had to track the deer for 250-
300 yds. It was fortunate that it was mid afternoon as the blood trail was poor.

Dont believe shot placement was poor but also hard to blame the round with a sample size of 1.

That's where I aim. They drop like a rock or you missed.

Blaming the caliber is just a poor excuse for bad shot placement, in most cases by someone that shouldn't be using a .243 so they need a shoulder canon instead.

This ^^^^^

yep, friend of mine has a game ranch south of Sonora, he has banned .243's, to many wounded animals

No offense to anyone, but I find this argument laughable at best. I've watched out landowner's son kill several big bodied, mature mule deer with his .243 and 95gr ballistic tips. One shot, in the right place, done deal. These sandhills bucks are way bigger than any whitetail in TX will ever be.

The 243 generally kills well but often does not leave much blood to trail if the deer does run 75 yards. If the brush is thick usually the part of the deer you see the most of is the neck or the upper chest area. At ranges under 100 yards a good shooting rifle will let you make high shoulder or in front of the shoulder neck shots pretty easy. As for bullets there are lots of good ones to choose from. This year from my 6 Grendel I am thinking 85 gr. Sierra BTHP going somewhere around 2800 fps at the muzzle. Might be a little faster still have to find out what speeds I can get. Might even use the 90 gr. Accubond.

80 gr ttsx 100-120 yards

wow, that's a good hole

no one is blaming the caliber or making excuses, the post asked for help with a bullet that would leave a little better blood trail, it also stated that I've never lost a deer with bad shot placement with this rifle, I've only used it a couple of season and was asking for a little advise from those that have used it for years for better blood trial. I work law enforcement and was inquired in a fight and now have shoulder issues and need a lower recoil rifle, my dad had a 243 and i shot it and loved it and bought me one.

if you want better blood trails, go hot and solid as that is a higher percentage for a pass through.

also lower vital area hits also give better blood trails then higher hits