10 kg bloodshot meat - what happened?

@T @treeman 3 years ago

I have never seen this before, not even on the internet.
Cody and I hunted an Impala ram, got the animal just before dark - the animal was 35 kg head feet skin off, clean carcass.
Here's the story.

The animal was at exactly 220 m and the 7mm 08 launched an 154 gr Hornady InterLock at 2640 fps. The animal was hit on the shoulder, but behind bones, the bullet did not hit one bone. On being hit the animals legs collapsed about a third downwards before recovering and springing off out off clearing out of sight.
When we got there the dog was straining and all go go mode and we concluded she was onto the animal. The dog ran 20 ft into bush and the animal wa found.
Dead. We did the bleeding and gutting and went on our way further.
When we went home, this is what met us upon skinning, never seen this before, not even on the net.

This bullet passed through not hitting bone at all, was traveling a pedestrian 2640 fps at the barrel ant only got to animal at 220 m - check this out, from under the ear to behind last rib destroyed. Look at exit wound ?

What the ****** happened here, total destruction.
IMG-20231215-WA0036 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

Note front of neck
20231216_104244 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

20231216_104248 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

20231216_144223 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

Click on the video and wait a mo to load
20231216_104204 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

from under ear to almost at back legs.
20231216_143012 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

The meat was ruined everywhere, and when going between hind legs even there. What happened - how ? bullet exited, no massive exit, lungs heart torn, not blown apart just the usual damage, but every muscle blood shor moertoe.

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Replies 30

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[deleted]

Well done on finding animals, even though it wasn't One-Horn.

I have had a similar scenario where I lost a quarter of a kudu. I also had similar damage to a blue wildebeest, and I shoot a 308 with 180gr Sierra ProHunters @ 2440fps. The only explanation up until now is that the blood moved into all possible cavities.

My guess would be that the animal didn't bleed much when it was gutted? Most of the blood was into the meat and other cavities.

@T @treeman OP

Most of the animal is being dumped.

[deleted]

Most of the animal is being dumped.

Dog food?

@T @treeman OP

Most of the animal is being dumped.

Dog food?

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It becomes a problem, space, cooking, prepping, and then the actual defrosting and using it - every time its a big problem and two years later its still in freezer kinda thing.

[deleted]

Most of the animal is being dumped.

Dog food?

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It becomes a problem, space, cooking, prepping, and then the actual defrosting and using it - every time its a big problem and two years later its still in freezer kinda thing.

Throw all the bloodshot meat in a container and freeze it whole. Once frozen, saw the whole into meal size pieces. The dog gets thawed raw meat.

@T @treeman OP

Dog food?

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It becomes a problem, space, cooking, prepping, and then the actual defrosting and using it - every time its a big problem and two years later its still in freezer kinda thing.

Throw all the bloodshot meat in a container and freeze it whole. Once frozen, saw the whole into meal size pieces. The dog gets thawed raw meat.

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Now that I had not thought of ? Good idea.
Now the raw meat farts in my living space, what we do about that ?

@T @treeman OP

Guys, this is a post I really want to know about, how does the whole animal become bloodshot meat ?
This is maybe one of the most interesting, confusing things I have ever seen hunting.

@T @tripodmvr

Is there a possibility that a branch could have been hit before the bullet struck the animal?

@T @treeman OP

None at all total clean along farm road shot.

@T @treeman OP

This was not bullet damage -0 the bullet caused something to happen yes, but this was not caused by bullet material - rule that out. Hit was at 200 m +.
Clean enter and exit - heart damaged on top, lungs damaged but barely destroyed - no real pulpy mess - clean nice wound channel.

[deleted]

Guys, this is a post I really want to know about, how does the whole animal become bloodshot meat ?
This is maybe one of the most interesting, confusing things I have ever seen hunting.

The animal was hit in the heart, which means it bled profusely whilst still alive. Why could that not explain a lot of blood in the meat. I had two similar experiences before, both with heartshot animals.

@T @treeman OP

Guys, this is a post I really want to know about, how does the whole animal become bloodshot meat ?
This is maybe one of the most interesting, confusing things I have ever seen hunting.

The animal was hit in the heart, which means it bled profusely whilst still alive. Why could that not explain a lot of blood in the meat. I had two similar experiences before, both with heartshot animals.

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I am thinking the heart was absolutely full perhaps just starting to contract. Thbullet passed over or next to the heart close enough to tear it but first the pressure wave crushed the heart in a fraction of a second like a coke bottle full of water and you clap hands on its sides - it squirts water out neck, this heart was squashed in some way like that and 200 mills of blood moved at 2000 fps out the way, forced out the heart. The blood vessels and veins withstood the pressure spike but the little capillaries just popped, the pressure died out just before hind legs.

@T @treeman OP

20231215_185224 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

This where the animal stood when shot.

@T @treeman OP

One other strange thing that happened with this shot, the wind was pumping from behind us - properly. The shot was very muted, less bang more "schuuuup" so much so that I told cody to check barrel was clear before we even stood up. I already knew it was the wind behind us that silenced the shot so much, did not hear the hit at all, the wind was blow sound away hard.

But it has nagged my mind, the bloodshot meat and same shot was a funny sound.

@J @jamesnotbond

Gees Tree! Thats bad, looks almost like a lightning struck body.

@T @tripodmvr

Is the 154gr Interlock your normal hunting bullet?

@T @treeman OP

Is the 154gr Interlock your normal hunting bullet?

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Yes, for all the slower calibers - 7mm 08, 308, 303 I use interlocks, kills are good and meat damage usually limited. I tried mono bullets, but kills on light - thin skinned game was disappointingly slow.
I have come full circle with bullets, returning to lead again.

[deleted]

Guys, this is a post I really want to know about, how does the whole animal become bloodshot meat ?
This is maybe one of the most interesting, confusing things I have ever seen hunting.

The animal was hit in the heart, which means it bled profusely whilst still alive. Why could that not explain a lot of blood in the meat. I had two similar experiences before, both with heartshot animals.

***************************
I am thinking the heart was absolutely full perhaps just starting to contract. Thbullet passed over or next to the heart close enough to tear it but first the pressure wave crushed the heart in a fraction of a second like a coke bottle full of water and you clap hands on its sides - it squirts water out neck, this heart was squashed in some way like that and 200 mills of blood moved at 2000 fps out the way, forced out the heart. The blood vessels and veins withstood the pressure spike but the little capillaries just popped, the pressure died out just before hind legs.

You once mentioned a bang-flop theory. Could this be it? The bullet hits when the heart is full, causing a massive spike and passing a lot of extra blood through the veins.

@T @treeman OP

You once mentioned a bang-flop theory. Could this be it? The bullet hits when the heart is full, causing a massive spike and passing a lot of extra blood through the veins.

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Yes this is same kind of thing but on a mega scale. I believe that when an animal is hit in the body and it falls like a CNS shot its because a blood pressure spike caused a brain aneurism - in affect a head shot.

@J @janfred

Does not quite make sense. The lungs are much more fragile than the muscles lower in the body and is also almost directly connected to the heart. If your theory held true, the lungs should be a mass of jelly and the liver destroyed. Are they?

@T @treeman OP

Does not quite make sense. The lungs are much more fragile than the muscles lower in the body and is also almost directly connected to the heart. If your theory held true, the lungs should be a mass of jelly and the liver destroyed. Are they?

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Thank you for pointing this out - very valid. No the lungs were SURPRISINGLY NOT damaged, I recall actually seeing Cody pull one lung out and it was still whitish pink.
I phoned Cody now while typing just to confirm " lungs not so bad tear across top of heart.

So ! Now what ? - Both sides of the animal.

@J @janfred

How did you recover the animal? Was it carried or dragged a distance?
Maybe something that could have caused bad bruising?

@T @treeman OP

dragged 10 ft - dead things do not bruise.

@A @againstthegrains

Can you describe the blood shot. Is it:

A. blood in the meat/muscle tissue. i.e. the meat appears dark red when you cut into it? (usually only found around the bullet hole or when bone has been shattered.
B. thick gooey blood is distributed between the layers of the meat. i.e. in the fascia between the muscle tissue?

@T @treeman OP

Massive bubbly bloody pulp, a mess.

[deleted]

Can you describe the blood shot. Is it:

A. blood in the meat/muscle tissue. i.e. the meat appears dark red when you cut into it? (usually only found around the bullet hole or when bone has been shattered.
B. thick gooey blood is distributed between the layers of the meat. i.e. in the fascia between the muscle tissue?

Rather B in the cases I experienced. I had the same bubbly slime on the areas between the skin and the meat, and a gooey blood in the meat and in the layers between the muscles.

@T @treeman OP

Rather B in the cases I experienced. I had the same bubbly slime on the areas between the skin and the meat, and a gooey blood in the meat and in the layers between the muscles.

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To put it plainly, it was all just ruined, in some areas like the neck - all of it everywhere through and through.

I have a tall tail to tell which comes close to this.
I once shot a springbuck which was standing high up a mountain side looking straight down at me. I went for a shot between the eyes and the animal dropped dead. When we retrieved the animal, we could not find a hole anywhere, but it was definitely dead.
The staffe skinned and gutted the animals and called me when mine was gutted to show me the massive damage already visible, like from front to back. When the skin came off, the entire rug string was shot to pieces like the buck I got recently, from front shoulders to rear end all along the back.
Much closer inspection revealed that my head shot which left no hole had in fact traveled over the head between the horns and run through the hair along spine removing hair and in some spots causing just enough skin to be removed that the white was showing. The skin was not broken anywhere - hence the no hole found.
The spine was all "popped" and could be "clicked" about and the entire back a mass of blood shot meat.
If you go to the GS Custom site you will see the letter I wrote in on that matter.

I have not thought of this in 15 - 16 years, only came to mind today when the young girl I was teaching to shoot knocked the .22 box target over without hitting it.
20231221_191710 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

@A @againstthegrains

Reason I asked, is that if the animal takes too long to die, and the exit hole does not "vent" properly. The running/breathing animal that is bleeding profusely into the chest cavity, starts to pump this blood into the fascia, infiltrating all the layers around the shoulder, ribs, neck and back.

I mate of mine whacked his meat with a high pressure washer to rid of the red bubbly gloop.

@T @treeman OP

Reason I asked, is that if the animal takes too long to die, and the exit hole does not "vent" properly. The running/breathing animal that is bleeding profusely into the chest cavity, starts to pump this blood into the fascia, infiltrating all the layers around the shoulder, ribs, neck and back.

I mate of mine whacked his meat with a high pressure washer to rid of the red bubbly gloop.

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Second time today I am hearing of using a HP Washer or one of those jet power claim car washing attachments and a floor scrubbing brush to clean up surface bruising meat.
The animal mentioned in OP was through and through, between muscles, against bone, truly throthed.

@A @againstthegrains

Ya, it doesn't come out easily from those layers.