This one wasn't fat, but not thin either. Just a regular carcass of a younger animal. I'll have a chat with the butcher.



Horror stories: at one particular butchery in a town nearby, a friend handed in a 150kg carcass and got back 43kg. At the same butchery, an acquaintance handed in a headshot kudu and got back a bag of bloodshot wildebees pieces. They closed down shortly after.

I would have expected 22 - 24 kg of meat if it was deboned properly and no dirty meat. A clean carcass should lose 30 something % to bone rest meat.
I have had a good 8 % more loss to fat Impala - Blesbuck may be even more fat kind of animal.

Interesting lesson on a few different levels.

Thank you.

I ripped the case head off a case in the sizing die.

The case body was in the die, and without the case head there was no way to use traditional methods to get it out.

I took a second case that could press fit inside the first, coated it with superglue, and inserted into the stuck case body.

I let it set for 2 hours, then I slowly pulled on it, and the case body came out attached to the second case.

What led to this was an annoying lapse in quality control from Redding - the sizing die had a sharp edge where it sized the case neck, causing a small amount of brass to accumulate at the neck / shoulder junction, making a tiny ridge, and preventing chambering. I put fine valve grinding paste on a piece of paper wrapped on the end of a dowel, and was checking to see how the smoothing was progressing, using brass from the scrap pile. This particular piece had clear signs on it of pending case head separation, which is why it was in the scrap, and I used it anyway. It just came apart.

Baie dankie, nee, dit was n kopskoot. Ek sal by die slagter hoor.

Volgens die tabel behoort jy sekerlik so 20kg kan verwag. Vet is nie swaar nie en dit hang af hoe deeglik die karkas ontbeen is. Was daar dalk baie bloedvleis?

Ek gee n blesbok in van 38kg en kry 18kg se wors en maalvleis uit, nadat vet bygesit is?

Klink dit korrek?

I recently witnessed a blesbok shot in a the jaw,(missed head shot, found out later) where it jumped and dropped.It looked like the animal went down,no one seen it get up or run, but when they went to the spot to look for it, it wasn't there.The conditions on the ground made it difficult to track due to all the rain that was received in the area. It was found with its herd, but there weren't any opportunities to shoot it at the time, later that afternoon it was shot and recovered. Not sure if the kudu you found was in a similar situation. It was a lesson for the shooter and to all those present. The suffering to the animal is terrible as it could suffer for days if not found, unable to eat and getting weaker with each passing day.

From friends who have a farm, every season they have to deal with recovering wounded animals. The hunter pays in full for wounded animals. New inexperienced hunters, bad shot placement,rifles not sighted in, hunters taking chances, the reasons are many.

In our area I mostly drive alone in deserted areas, hence the need to check for stray bullets etc is much smaller than elsewehere.

I am very much relieved to hear about this law - it makes things a lot easier. Thanks!

It is necessary to state that one does not often encounter such cases, but having experienced it I am very glad to have been able to cull the animal. All in all, I am even more wary of shot placement.