So I got my whitetail doe back from the butcher today. They tell me I lost a front shoulder due to bloodshot.

My question is how on earth did it bloodshot? I hit the deer in the kidney area with a 180 MRX bullet so it sure as hell didnt happen from the shot. The only thing is that I had to drag the deer about 1/2 mile minimum on snow to the truck.

The deer went down at the shot and I gutted it about 30 minutes later.

Any ideas?

I never have seen bloodshot meat from dragging an I have dragged and cut up hundreds of deer. Once they are dead I don't see how you could get any blood shot meat.

You didn't hit in on a angle and hit the shoulder.

Cut it up yourself. Common rip off here 2 newbies. I have never,ever let somebody else butcher my deer. It ain't that hard 2 do. Besides, if you mess up, u still have the meat. One 'processor' around here used to get all his venison from screwing people. Trust yourself.

no it was perfectly broadside and hit pretty far back. Right dead center of the tenderloins. Exit hole had a big chunk of the lard sticking out of it.

Previously shot? It is possible that someone took a shot at the deer. Hit the shoulder and bullet failed. Deer can go a long long way and live even with a broke shoulder. If the shoulder was not broke as long as infection does not take hold the deer will live. In your case the deer would of had to been hit fairly recently for there to still be bloodshot.

This year my dad shot a very large nubbin buck bigger than most does. Anyways he hit him perfectly broadside. A little back but liquefied the liver. We butcher all our own deer. When we skinned it he found a exit hole in the offside hindquarter. Thought it was odd as there was no way the bullet went that way. We cut up the hindquarter. We find a entrance hole on the inside of the leg. The bullet hit the inside of the leg bone just above the knee went down followed the bone and exited out the back edge of the leg. When the deer was shot there was no blood on the leg and the deer definitely showed no sign of a bone hit as he did not even stumble. The bullet would of had to enter hit the liver take a 90 degree turn exit the paunch take another 90 degree turn enter and then enter the leg perfectly square. We are certain the deer was shot previously. My dad shot it with a muzzleloader shooting a barnes x bullet. No bone was hit the bullet was somewhere in the guts. Of all things we found the plastic tip of the bullet in the guts. Without hitting bone I see no way the bullet could of deflected and hit the leg. Plus you hit a deer with about 1800 pounds of energy and the bullet hits bone it should drop the deer if not kill it.

A little long winded but my point is this. If I did not butcher the deer and was told by the processor that about a 1/5 of the hindquarter was crap I would say he was full of shit.

As for the processor filling his freezer. Well it happens. But if they were skimming they either would not say anything or they would say one of the good cuts was shit. Don't see them giving you some bs to get a front shoulder.

A previous wound or other trauma [hit by a car } would do it but not dragging.
Recently they nailed a 'butcher' here in NY who had the habit of taking a percentage of the deer he cut up .

Around here when you take your deer to the processor, you really dont know who's deer you're getting back.

The bottom line is that dead meat does not (can not) bruise.

I started to wonder if maybe the deer might have been shot before myself.

When I got the deer I had heard shots from the direction the deer came from and over the hill came the doe with 3 bucks behind her. She didnt look hit but as soon as she got about 250 yards from me I flattened her right there. So for all I know she may have been hit previously. I didnt see any signs of her being hit except for my shot which was easy to see.

This was only my second animal I have had proccessed for me so I was already suspicious about having it done. I have shot a few critters with Barnes X bullets and have never lost an ounce of meat to bloodshot with them even after hitting both shoulders or a femur.

I cut up a deer on the side of a mountain this year. The backhams were the first things cut off. The artery leading to one, covered both skinned hams in blood. I got them back to camp and the meat was stained. The stain never came off and they were completely red (really red). Looking at them you would think they were blood shot, but eating them, you couldn’t tell. Nothing wrong with them.

I would suggest you learn to "cut and wrap" yourself. It really isn't hard or time-consuming and by doing so you have the benefit of *knowing* that the little white packages in your freezer are the animal you brought down in the field, cut up exactly the way you want them.
In my family we process hundreds of pounds of game each year. I started my kids out on it when they were each about four. Just give them a nice sharp paring knife and a scrap of meat and tell them to cut off "anything white or bleeding." By the time they were seven or so they didn't even need band-aids.
The best way to do it is to make a bit of a party out of it: you and your hunting psrtners sit around with cutting boards, knives and a bottle of brandy. There are plenty of books and videos that show you how to cut your anumal up.

But in answer to your original question, bloodshot from dragging a dead animal is impossible. You were lied to.

I do almost all my own meat. This deer and an elk I shot in Colorado in 1997 were the only two animals I have ever had butchered for me.

I get so nervous with my kids and knives. I taught my sons how to fillet salmon a couple years ago when they were 7 and 8. Still dont think I could just hand them a knife and let them cut on their own, at least not yet.

I think from now on the only animals I wont do myself will be any I donate.

After the frist few cuts kids learn not to do that any more

I guess with the number of scars on my hands took me a while.

I carried some type of knife as long as I can remember age 5 or so.

7 and 8 year old are old enough to be told this is the sharp side don't cut your self.

Had my kids help process deer from a young age on. I just told them this is the sharp side it hurts. I few minor cuts over the years. They learn fast.

I was seriously wood carving at 7 , learning to cut [not myself] and sharpen [don't forget that].
supervision and repeated instruction about safety. If he cuts himself you can always withhold priviledge for a while.

I remember getting my first 6" rapala fillet knife when I was 10. I must have started gutting trout with it about age 11. I learned to fillet salmon at age 14 and it took 2 or 3 summers to get good at it.

My boys are 11 and 10 now so I do think that next year will be a great time to start them on the game cutting.

I am going to start my oldest in archery so he can bowhunt next season so he better learn about which ends are sharp .