‘One of the shoulders was a bit shot up’ - my most common feedback from venison customers. Sometimes followed by a request for a discount.

muddy42

Well-Known Member
To which I say, spot on. I always aim to shoot deer in at least one shoulder on ethical grounds. Heart shots cause deer to run and head/neck shots are too small a target and risk wounding, there is bugger all useable meat in the shoulder anyway.

Anything else? How can I educate my customers more. I practically give away deer and often drop deer off at their house on my travels. Ive given informal skinning and butchery tutorials.

But I get this feedback so often it is beginning to annoy me a bit.
 
Trouble is, you can't really see the extent of the damage until the skin is off. Hence why game dealers pay so little for carcasses.
If, on skinning it, the customer finds the damage to be excessive then, unless the carcass was given to them FOC (or very cheap - eg, game dealer price) then some refund should be given imo.
Personally, I'm not really happy to sell a carcass in-skin unless it was head shot. And then I charge £4/kg for them.

(Incidentally, diced shoulder is one of the best sellers, so it's not right to say that there's "bugger all usable meat on the shoulder anyway").
 
To which I say, spot on. I always aim to shoot deer in at least one shoulder on ethical grounds. Heart shots cause deer to run and head/neck shots are too small a target and risk wounding, there is bugger all useable meat in the shoulder anyway.

Anything else? How can I educate my customers more. I practically give away deer and often drop deer off at their house on my travels. Ive given informal skinning and butchery tutorials.

But I get this feedback so often it is beginning to annoy me a bit.
You might try educating yourself.
Damage to the shoulder is rarely limited to just that joint and boned and rolled or boned and minced there’s useful meat there.
What you’re getting is called “ customer feedback “ if you continue to ignore it, don’t expect many return customers.
You’ll be telling us next that you use lead ammunition and that consuming it has never done you any harm so just suck it up, you’ll be grand.
That nonsense won’t fly nowadays, I expect to be able to use every ounce of the carcass I’ve paid for.
I suspect that if a whole quarter of your Christmas turkey was thrashed and inedible, you’d be bringing it back or looking for a refund too.
 
Its all down to customer expectation and price
If its a few quid then im expecting saddle and hind quarters and have mentally wrtten off the front

If its a higher end price then expectations are different

I guess…what are you charging them and what are they expecting for that?
 
To which I say, spot on. I always aim to shoot deer in at least one shoulder on ethical grounds. Heart shots cause deer to run and head/neck shots are too small a target and risk wounding, there is bugger all useable meat in the shoulder anyway.

Anything else? How can I educate my customers more. I practically give away deer and often drop deer off at their house on my travels. Ive given informal skinning and butchery tutorials.

But I get this feedback so often it is beginning to annoy me a bit.
Change your point of aim then!

Heart lung shots lead to runners but if they’ve got no heart they won’t run far.

If you want to pin through the shoulders to avoid a track then be prepared to forfeit some of carcass value.
 
Change your point of aim then!

Heart lung shots lead to runners but if they’ve got no heart they won’t run far.

If you want to pin through the shoulders to avoid a track then be prepared to forfeit some of carcass value.
Just watched this….
🦊🦊
 
To which I say, spot on. I always aim to shoot deer in at least one shoulder on ethical grounds. Heart shots cause deer to run and head/neck shots are too small a target and risk wounding, there is bugger all useable meat in the shoulder anyway.

Anything else? How can I educate my customers more. I practically give away deer and often drop deer off at their house on my travels. Ive given informal skinning and butchery tutorials.

But I get this feedback so often it is beginning to annoy me a
You might try educating yourself.
Damage to the shoulder is rarely limited to just that joint and boned and rolled or boned and minced there’s useful meat there.
What you’re getting is called “ customer feedback “ if you continue to ignore it, don’t expect many return customers.
You’ll be telling us next that you use lead ammunition and that consuming it has never done you any harm so just suck it up, you’ll be grand.
That nonsense won’t fly nowadays, I expect to be able to use every ounce of the carcass I’ve paid for.
I suspect that if a whole quarter of your Christmas turkey was thrashed and inedible, you’d be bringing it back or looking for a refund too.
I don't understand what your recommendation is? He stated that he is not comfortable taking head shots which is the only way of eliminating meat damage…
Perfect heart shots will still cause meat damage. And then the point of lead ammunition I also don't understand what it has to do with the conversation? He is shooting deer ethically and within his comfortable abilities, the public also needs to understand this and I think there are a lot of stalkers that will relate to this.
 
Perfect heart shots will still cause meat damage. And then the point of lead ammunition I also don't understand what it has to do with the conversation? He is shooting deer ethically and within his comfortable abilities, the public also needs to understand this and I think there are a lot of stalkers that will relate to this.
A top of the heart, bottom of the lungs shot will cause far less meat damage than smashing a shoulder, especially the near side shoulder.
 
A top of the heart, bottom of the lungs shot will cause far less meat damage than smashing a shoulder, especially the near side shoulder.
To any non hunter it will still be seen as damage. And can you honestly say that every deer you shoot is perfect top of heart, double lung at perfect broadside??
 
To any non hunter it will still be seen as damage. And can you honestly say that every deer you shoot is perfect top of heart, double lung at perfect broadside??
058DBDFF-8DF9-4423-A9F2-E649FD368818.jpeg
FD1281F5-78E0-46B9-BCAB-2F8102FFF3F7.jpeg

Which would the untrained, non-hunter say was damaged?? (Aware the top is a double lung shot but you get the point)

And no, I can’t say all my shots go perfectly, but I’m not the one on here complaining that people want money off of shoulder shot deer…..
 
Can he really run full speed on only the oxygen that is in his muscles?

But yes they can run 200 yards, that’s not that far.
It would not be the first sika I've returned back to the truck to get the dog, Is it hit? I open my hand with sika heart still quivering .270 hiting hard enough to remove it. The 100m of tangled windblown trees that can only be crawled through following the dog seems as close as the moon sometimes. Then trying to pull it back with the hairy fairy in tow, just doesn't help
 
The carcass is only worth what someone will pay for it.

Ultimately you have a choice:

1) Knock some off the price for the customers to keep them happy and give you a steady way to get rid of them.

2) change your shot placement - head/high neck shots always give an immaculate result if done properly - this may require more marksmanship practice on your behalf

3) tell the customers it’s how it is, then expect them to not return for more if they’re that dissatisfied.

I personally shoot larger calibres to limit run distance, but I also head/neck >50% of my deer. My game dealer knows me for very clean, well handled carcasses and so doesn’t complain if the odd one mullers the front half - it’s all about that professional relationship. Souring those relationships over an unwillingness to listen seems daft to me but hey, your choice at the end of the day!

Ben
 
To which I say, spot on. I always aim to shoot deer in at least one shoulder on ethical grounds. Heart shots cause deer to run and head/neck shots are too small a target and risk wounding, there is bugger all useable meat in the shoulder anyway.

Anything else? How can I educate my customers more. I practically give away deer and often drop deer off at their house on my travels. Ive given informal skinning and butchery tutorials.

But I get this feedback so often it is beginning to annoy me a bit.
It’s always struck me that the obvious solution to this problem is to actually charge per kg of usable meat, rather than per kg of whole carcass.

I imagine this is really what game dealers do: they must have an expectation of the average proportion of usable meat from a chest or shoulder shot carcass, and adjust their whole carcass price accordingly.

I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to ask for a discount for a damaged carcass. They’re not going to be able to use the damaged meat, so can’t be expected to pay for it. They’re also more or less doing you a favour by taking the carcass - when else does a disposal service pay you to take away things you don’t want?
 
Just state that you have used a solid copper bullet which will have retained all its mass so minimal contamination of the meat and they use pretty much all the meat. Perhaps cut away a little around the actual hole, but thats it.
 
It would not be the first sika I've returned back to the truck to get the dog, Is it hit? I open my hand with sika heart still quivering .270 hiting hard enough to remove it. The 100m of tangled windblown trees that can only be crawled through following the dog seems as close as the moon sometimes. Then trying to pull it back with the hairy fairy in tow, just doesn't help
So, as my first post above, break both shoulders to avoid having to track and accept some reduction in carcass price…..
 
Last edited:
It’s always struck me that the obvious solution to this problem is to actually charge per kg of usable meat, rather than per kg of whole carcass.

I imagine this is really what game dealers do: they must have an expectation of the average proportion of usable meat from a chest or shoulder shot carcass, and adjust their whole carcass price accordingly.

I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to ask for a discount for a damaged carcass. They’re not going to be able to use the damaged meat, so can’t be expected to pay for it. They’re also more or less doing you a favour by taking the carcass - when else does a disposal service pay you to take away things you don’t want?
That’s a bit hard if you’re selling in the skin, which is what the OP appears to be doing.
 
To which I say, spot on. I always aim to shoot deer in at least one shoulder on ethical grounds. Heart shots cause deer to run and head/neck shots are too small a target and risk wounding, there is bugger all useable meat in the shoulder anyway.

Anything else? How can I educate my customers more. I practically give away deer and often drop deer off at their house on my travels. Ive given informal skinning and butchery tutorials.

But I get this feedback so often it is beginning to annoy me a bit.
It's hard to reply with out knowing what you charge. If you are charging 50p per kilo skinned your customers are being harsh and if you are charging £6 per kilo their comments are fare enough.
 
Back
Top