It seems we are on a good side.

We (the hunters) can sell the meat direct to the consumer and get so between 3 and 6 Euro.

But back to the bloodmess.
The quick bullets are one main factor. Also the bullet.
But not all shots with low velocity do have no h�matome.
It seems that the situation of the game is also one factor.

My favourite meat gun for deer is my old 8x57IR with obout 700m/s (about 2100 fps) Softpoint and the result is good.

Best regards

Speed is the capital factor in bloodshot meat, secondary factors being bullet fragility and where you hit them. Last Sunday, I shot a Roedoe behind the shoulder at about 100 m. The load was a 165 Sierra GK travelling at 969 m" (3179 ft"), exit hole was about 5 cm and upon skinning I found no haematoma. This same load will demolish both shoulders and create a mess at shorter distance.

This is interesting, as it might explain some of the differences one does indeed observe with animals shot with either the same or equivalent calibers/bullets/distances, yet some are bloodshot, and some are not. The problem for most normal people, is that there are so many variants, that it is almost impossible to get an overview of what works and what does not, simply because we don't have the opportunity to witness enough animals killed. I know of a hunter/butcher in Switzerland who compiled similar information, but he was working with meat delivered to him by the hunters, so availability of data like Johan referred to above to was probably sketchy at best. His conclusion at the time: stay away from the small and fast calibers (for roe).
- mike

In reading this thread I was surprised to see that no one mentioned what Johan has written above. For me this is a major factor in how much blood damage there is and where it is situated on the carcass. Blood damage steming from the bullet tend to be situated within the meat itself while blood damage from the animal running after the shot tends to be situated between different muscle groups and between membranes. At least this has been my observations based on processing the roe deer and moose shot by me and my friends (I've butchered/helped butcher maybe 400 roe, about 30 moose and a few boars and deer, and have in most instances had accsess to a very happy hunter giving me all (!!!) details )
Cheers
K9

Johan,

I have never considered the distance an animal runs as being a factor in the amount of blood shot meat so thank you for bringing that up!

I will mention this to a couple of friends and we will see how it relates to our expireinces!

Mike,

I think you are correct in saying that the large number of variables make it difficult to draw hard and fast conclusions..I think that is what is so facinating about stalking; the longer you stalk the more you realise how little you in fact really know!

Regards,

Pete

Gentlemen, one thing I have noticed is that bonded core bullets tend to cause much less damaged meat than non bonded core bullets. They also do much less damage to smaller animals that you might want to mount lifesize.