Why concern ourselves with meat damage?

[DrMike]

Not much meat damage with that head shot! Great story and some good information. Thanks, 1Shot.

 

[FOTIS]

Anything to take them down and anchor them!!!!!!!

 

[35 Whelen]

I shoot alot of animals high up and JUST under the spinal column, to get those spectacular devistating kills . But I have lost all interest in worrying about how much meat I may loose; regardless of where I actually hit any animal. Here is my formula for meat damage...............
Flight to Winnipeg= $887 RT
All new hunting clothes from Cabelas and LL Bean $500
New Kimber rifle and Swarvoski Scope $3000
Canadian License $250
Couple cases of Moosehead Beer and 3 quarts of" Yukon Jack" at Kenora Liquor Store $200
Lodging for the week $800
Gas for the week $500
Tips for the girls down at the ..................... I wont even go there!
3 boxes of Nosler Custom Ammo shipped $150
My share of guides fees............... $400 plus $100 tip for putting me in the best spot!
Canadain trinkets to take home for everyone that is pissed cause I am hunting up in Canada $300
Bar bill in Airport to overcome depression I didnt get the biggest buck on the trip $75
Bar bill next airport as reality sets in I have to go back to work and the Visa bill will show up $75
Meat processing fees ............$200
Taxadermy fees $600
I have not added this up yet but you can ............... my point is if I shot the deer with a 22 magnum and lost zero meat or if I shoot it with a 50 caliber rifle and it takes out the whole mid section of the animal say 40 lbs of meat and cuts the deer compeatly in two pieces ........ deer meat avg value say around $3 per lb [more like $2 from nite hunters, having trouble moving it] so you now have lost $100 worth of meat on a ten thousand dollar investment.................. do you really think I am going to worry about a few pounds of deer meat? If I want venision I shoot a 500lb cow moose in the head with a 243 and dont waste ANYMEAT! just sayin.

 

[super-7]

Hahha oh Whelen, I can't add it up unless I figure how much you tipped the Dacin Girls.LOL I get your point though I can buy a beef from a neighbor for just under 3$ a pound cut wrapped and in my freezer, I have never penciled out what my deer or moose for that matter cost me. I really don't want to know and if "Yes Dear" ever figured out the cost per pound I'd be in the doghouse for sure.LOL

 

[DrMike]

Game costs plenty around this house. It matters not what I actually spend, my wife will use it as an excuse for a holiday back to the States and/or new furniture. And, Earl, I'm not even flying into exotic locations like Winnipeg!

 

[SJB358]

New Kimber rifle and Swarvoski Scope $3000

Man, you have it set in pretty deep as well! I can see this being a slippery slope before too long!

 

[35 Whelen]

Mike didnt you know you can always use new furniture , hey there isnt much markup in it and it holds its value worse than a Swarvoski scope!!!!

Scottie you are about to crash and burn with that old remmie........... I never realized you can see smoke from Va way up here in Northern Maine but you can!!!!!!!!![As they used to say in Kiwiland]
"its stickin out like dogs balls"................. your history.

Same way here with Ruffed Grouse guided hunts! ...................... my hunters claim that some of the birds are costing up to $400 per lb!!!!
Or then, there was the guy that was a Senior Regional Director for Bell Telephone that came to New Zealand to try his hand at the South Isle Brown Trout, and after me hollering at him for a couple of days from up on the bank , telling him cast more left , no further out, your not quite reaching him, etc as I could of course see the fish feeding and he couldnt.................. he couldnt take it any longer and came up and told me that he had never spent $500 a day before to be abused like that!!! He never did hook one.................... :roll:

 

[DrMike]

Yeah, $5000 dining room suites are worth $1500 about five seconds after they are delivered. :shock: At least, my winnies keep slightly better value, especially if I can carry a few targets they punched out. :grin:

 

[Coyote Hunter]

The 'best' way to lose a lot of meat is to lose the entire animal. I've been fortunate never to do that but I've seen it happen more than once. On one occasion two other guys chased a wounded elk all over the south face of Bears Ears one year and my buddy and I came across blood trails several times. We were surprised an animal could lose that much blood for so long and keep going. The two guys gave up the third morning and went elsewhere to hunt. Later that morning my buddy and I ran across a spot where it had bedded and it was still leaking a lot.

My preferred shot is tight behind the front leg on a broadside and I work hard to get them.

 

[DrMike]

The 'best' way to lose a lot of meat is to lose the entire animal.

+1

Truer words were never spoken. This brings us back down to earth.

 

[edge]

I aim for the heart from all directions and zero my rifle so that the bullet has a mid-range rise of 4 - 5 inches over line of sight.
This gives me a point blank shot well past 300 yards so there is no need for using a rangefinder out past a distance where I wouldn't be making a snap shot.
Anywhere between muzzle and max will end up as a heart shot rising to high shoulder and back down to heart.

edge.

 

[Guy Miner]

That is not a bad way of doing business. Not at all.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I use a +/- 2 inch cone of sighting for all my rifles. That gets me to 250 yards in cone, sighted in at about 200 yards, with no thought and not being more then 2 inches from POA at any time. Then the added conversion from 250 yards to 300 and finally 350 yards is greatly simplified into a couple groupings, depending on caliber and trajectory. I don't ever want to shoot deer more than 2 inches from POA. (plus whatever natural grouping variation is on top of that). To each his own.

 

[HTDUCK]

When I was about ten or twelve years old I read a magazine article on this very subject.
It said :
" Visualise whatever portion of a deers chest you can see is a basketball. In the very center of that basketball is a mosquito. Aim for the mosquito, you have maximum margin for error"

Been using this method for over 35 years now and it has never failed.

Does however get shot in the head or neck.
If I'm shooting does they are usually within 100 yards.
All of my hunting is done from elevated stands where I have a very solid rest both front and rear.

Longest head shot was this past November. 235 yards on a doe standing facing straight away from me. I held a bit below the junction of her neck/skull as my rifle was zeored 3 inched high at 100 and at 200 it was actually 4 inches high. Bullet hit her exactly where I was holding and she crumpled.
I still don't know and can't figure out how I hit her there. Maybe it was the change in temp.
Load was developed here in Tx in 100 plus degree weather and that evening it was in the 40s.

When I get through chasing ducks, geese and cranes in a couple of weeks I'm going to revist this zero issue before the summer gets here again.

 

[LD375]

Another advantage of the behind shoulder, midway up the body shot is that a modest ranges you really don't have to fuss over bullet placement. I have said that when I shoot an animal at a modest distance, I am not conscious of trigger pull, nor given some thought particularly fussy about placement. When everything looks right and in the right area the rifle goes off and 99% of the time my hunt is over. I know that may sound a bit odd but the more I think about it the more that I believe that is the case. Out past 300 yards I take a lot more time for bullet placement but this side of 300 its more of a "yup thats good" boom.! I have also been shooting the same rifle for 41 years.

I think I have been around old goats like the Bill's of the world and don't overly think about meat damage really. I take the shot I have and put my bullet on course to do the most damage I can. I know I sound a little backward, but if I have a shot of anything less than broadside, I try to imagine the bullet striking the far leg bone. That is my compass for bullet placement. If I have a long shot I will think more about the placement, but like Bill says, when you have a shot, you oughta take it quick, cause it probably won't be there for too long. Scotty

+1...Lou

 

[Oldtrader3]

+1 to what Bill said.