A further lesson on carcass care

[Buchan]

Shot a nice 48 kg fat as butter young stag, maybe 2 yo. Bit caudal with shot placement - 8th rib, so trimmed the rumen and essential a liver/caudal lung shot. He went down quite quickly. Gralloch not too messy as full of very fibrous material an acorns. I gave it a good clean with salt water, then wiped the interior with dilute Milton. I also trimmed back obvious contamination including the exit wound area, but, made the mistake of ignoring the entry. I'd seen a bit of material and foolishly ignored it. Now the contamination isn't bad, and as it's my own, anything questionable is binned, but I've lost a reasonable bit of mince.
Lessons a) need to check my zero b) next one the this like that I'll skin first to full assess the wounds as I think I'll lose less to drying than to contamination.

Skinning - are fat blighters harder to do? This one was ridiculously hard work.

 

[VSS]

Skinning - are fat blighters harder to do? This one was ridiculously hard work.

Yes.

 

[Freeforester]

Try a few moose if you think skinning a staggie is hard work - it shouldn’t be, but it can be, depending on how you go about it.

 

[SikaSeeker]

If I shoot the grass bag, it’s cleaned up as quick as possible. It’s not left for more then 12 hrs on the hook then. All processed the same day if can.

 

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

Skinny when warm I’ve found fatty bucks fairly easy the last Buck was heaving in fat and after a week in the chiller was a real sod to skin. An inch of set fat over the back made removing the loins seriously hard work.

 

[lochty]

Skinned a fallow pricket yesterday . I think the skin was held on with epoxy or gorilla glue.

 

[75]

I had a bad run of this last year and lots of self doubt over zero / shot placement etc. I think I had a thread on it and lots of folk responded and various PMs too...

I do wonder if time of day has an impact. Well not so much time of day but time of eating! Our reds are pretty nocturnal around here and they are often out all night grazing. I tend to shoot a lot at first light as they are heading back to cover and I do wonder if deer bloated with a full belly of fresh grass (or acorns?) are more prone to this as the rumen is even more enlarged (forwards)?

Perhaps it also varies between species? I used to shoot lots of roe and fallow and the old keeper who taught me to stalk was very keen to "keep the shot back from the shoulder" as he didn't want to lose meat. I used to get a right bollocking if I shot them through the shoulder and I don't recall ever having green slopping around in there. But I have to be quite careful with reds as it's really easy to do and have now pulled my POA forward. I'd rather lose some shoulder than the whole carcass.

And yes, the fat ones always seem to be hardest to skin!

 

[Buchan]

I had a bad run of this last year and lots of self doubt over zero / shot placement etc. I think I had a thread on it and lots of folk responded and various PMs too...

I do wonder if time of day has an impact. Well not so much time of day but time of eating! Our reds are pretty nocturnal around here and they are often out all night grazing. I tend to shoot a lot at first light as they are heading back to cover and I do wonder if deer bloated with a full belly of fresh grass (or acorns?) are more prone to this as the rumen is even more enlarged (forwards)?

Perhaps it also varies between species? I used to shoot lots of roe and fallow and the old keeper who taught me to stalk was very keen to "keep the shot back from the shoulder" as he didn't want to lose meat. I used to get a right bollocking if I shot them through the shoulder and I don't recall ever having green slopping around in there. But I have to be quite careful with reds as it's really easy to do and have now pulled my POA forward. I'd rather lose some shoulder than the whole carcass.

And yes, the fat ones always seem to be hardest to skin!

Kind of you to offer a suggestion, but I've checked today and it was in at 8th and out at 7/8. thankful hit liver and caudal lung otherwise I'd have been feeling very bad. The damage was worse than I thought, but not quite as bad as my fears once I started work. I'll be doing as sikaseeker said and processing earlier - should it happen again. I also wonder if I have a small twitch. Anatomically I'm looking at the hilarious region, perhaps initial Level 1 drags me back. Bit like my golf swing - I want it to go NNE and it sets off NNW!

 

[Freeforester]

Easy to determine whether or not you have a flinch or twitch. Get someone to hand you the rifle at the range, not
knowing whether they’ve loaded it or not. What happens over the following five to seven shots will clear the matter up.

 

[wytonpjs]

I had a bad run of this last year and lots of self doubt over zero / shot placement etc. I think I had a thread on it and lots of folk responded and various PMs too...

I do wonder if time of day has an impact. Well not so much time of day but time of eating! Our reds are pretty nocturnal around here and they are often out all night grazing. I tend to shoot a lot at first light as they are heading back to cover and I do wonder if deer bloated with a full belly of fresh grass (or acorns?) are more prone to this as the rumen is even more enlarged (forwards)?

Perhaps it also varies between species? I used to shoot lots of roe and fallow and the old keeper who taught me to stalk was very keen to "keep the shot back from the shoulder" as he didn't want to lose meat. I used to get a right bollocking if I shot them through the shoulder and I don't recall ever having green slopping around in there. But I have to be quite careful with reds as it's really easy to do and have now pulled my POA forward. I'd rather lose some shoulder than the whole carcass.

And yes, the fat ones always seem to be hardest to skin!

I found Peter Green’s slides very revealing, especially that the diaphragm was dommed.

 

[VSS]

wonder if I have a small twitch. Anatomically I'm looking at the hilarious region, perhaps initial Level 1 drags me back. Bit like my golf swing - I want it to go NNE and it sets off NNW!

I think there's something in what you say there.
Sometimes it can take a strong conscious effort to shift your point of aim away from the comfort zone of centre mass.

 

[Heym SR20]

Depends on which side you shoot them.

If the deer is facing left the rumen comes a lot further forward than if its facing to the right hand. Quite easy to clip if it’s quartering away slightly.

Think about it / take a look when you next gralloch a beast. You lay the facing left so that the rumen (grass bag) is on top of the liver etc and much easier to remove cleanly.

 

[75]

Anatomically I'm looking at the hilarious region, perhaps initial Level 1 drags me back.

From now on I will know this shot placement as the hilarious shot Got to love auto correct...

Agreed with your comment (and @VSS below), it does take a very conscious effort to not drift back into that centre of mass / DSC 1 shot placement - which I think is very marginal. I also found Peter Green's slides really informative; particularly the point that back of heart is touching front of rumen!

 

[VSS]

From now on I will know this shot placement as the hilarious shot

Me too!

 

[Nimrod1960]

Thanks for posting, I had not considered salt water and diluted milton, interesting could you expand a little ?
I might be discarding more than I need to when occasionally (honest!) shot placement is less than perfect.
Every day is a school day on SD.

 

[sauer]

What's these " Peter green slides " please ?

Paul

 

[Buchan]

From now on I will know this shot placement as the hilarious shot Got to love auto

Excellent, hadn’t seen that!!

 

[Buchan]

Thanks for posting, I had not considered salt water and diluted milton, interesting could you expand a little ?
I might be discarding more than I need to when occasionally (honest!) shot placement is less than perfect.
Every day is a school day on SD.

Dilute Milton was suggested by a very wise experienced stalker.
Salt water is every vets go to cleaner as it avoids osmosis - the movement of water towards a higher salt concentration. So wash with water and some will enter tissues, creating damage. 0.9% saline is the same as the body (9g/litre but teaspoon to a pint will do) and won’t cause damage

 

[Buchan]

What's these " Peter green slides " please ?

Paul

Look back on the shot placement thread

 

[75]

What's these " Peter green slides " please ?

Paul

See the link in post #10 of this thread.