Are Neck Shots Preferred Than Broadside Shot To Prevent The Damage Of The Meat?

[CBeck]

I prefer a bit quartering where I can catch one shoulder on entry or exit to anchor the animal….in ribs out a shoulder…. or a base of the head neck shot….neck roast is good in the slow cooker.

 

[randallhebert]

I think the epitome of a head/neck shot would be on an ostrich, so as not to destroy the feathers for a trophy or the evenings ostrich roast? And, I'm sure some of the hunter/snipers on here could/would attempt it. LOL

Body shot. That head is constantly moving. You just shoot center mass. They die easy

 

[randallhebert]

After smelling the 2 my wife and I shot with JAMY TRAUT Safaris I'm not to hungry for ostrich

 

[Sika98k]

After smelling the 2 my wife and I shot with JAMY TRAUT Safaris I'm not to hungry for ostrich

Wild ostrich meat is black and revolting. No resemblance to the ostrich meat we would use domestically.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Wild ostrich meat is black and revolting. No resemblance to the ostrich meat we would use domestically.

That's interesting. I have never killed an ostrich and have only seen one in the wild as they weren't endemic to the parts of Zimbabwe where I have hunted. I have always enjoyed eating ostrich meat when I've had it in the US, but now that I know the wild birds are nasty, I never will shoot one.

 

[rookhawk]

I'm embarassed to admit this, but I honestly do not know how to butcher neck roasts. All this talk of shooting them in the neck sort of avoids that problem, but up here we do heart/lung shots leaving perfectly good necks until I ruin them with bad knife skills.

Saving the ribs is fine, although its a so-so cut. What's the real meat damage we're talking about avoiding with a classic broadside vs a neck shot anyway? We lose some spareribs, heart, and lung with one option, we lose a neck roast with another? Neither seem to damage shoulder roasts or the backstrap?

Help me understand what meat we're trying to save with these surgical shot placements?

 

[CBeck]

I'm embarassed to admit this, but I honestly do not know how to butcher neck roasts. All this talk of shooting them in the neck sort of avoids that problem, but up here we do heart/lung shots leaving perfectly good necks until I ruin them with bad knife skills.

Saving the ribs is fine, although its a so-so cut. What's the real meat damage we're talking about avoiding with a classic broadside vs a neck shot anyway? We lose some spareribs, heart, and lung with one option, we lose a neck roast with another? Neither seem to damage shoulder roasts or the backstrap?

Help me understand what meat we're trying to save with these surgical shot placements?

On our thin southern deer, I’ll sacrifice some leather tough and paper thin ribs any day over any other meat! If I’m being perfectly honest, I believe in being a good steward, however, we have so many deer that conserving every little scrap of meat is unnecessary!

 

[CoElkHunter]

Body shot. That head is constantly moving. You just shoot center mass. They die easy

I had a chance to shoot a large male with dark black feathers at about 100 yds. on my PG hunt in 2022. I passed cause I wanted to shoot another four legged critter. It was part of the either/or package deal. Anyway, towards the end of the hunt days, a couple of other hunters were looking for a good male ostrich and couldn't find one. Such is hunting.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I'm embarassed to admit this, but I honestly do not know how to butcher neck roasts. All this talk of shooting them in the neck sort of avoids that problem, but up here we do heart/lung shots leaving perfectly good necks until I ruin them with bad knife skills.

Saving the ribs is fine, although its a so-so cut. What's the real meat damage we're talking about avoiding with a classic broadside vs a neck shot anyway? We lose some spareribs, heart, and lung with one option, we lose a neck roast with another? Neither seem to damage shoulder roasts or the backstrap?

Help me understand what meat we're trying to save with these surgical shot placements?

Unlike Africa, we TRY to shoot BEHIND the shoulder on elk to save the front quarter meat. If you do hit the shoulder with especially a bullet containing lead, that front shoulder is toast. If you shoot one in the neck, that meat is gone, although there's not much there anyway. We just take what exterior neck and rib meat you can get and put in a game bag. We don't take the ribs out as it's too bulky to pack out on the horse(s) with everything else. We haven't saved any internal organs for many years because until we've had the head (brain) tested for CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) it's not safe to eat or at least I'M not eating it. Fortunately, we've never had an elk come back positive for CWD, but we do hunt in a mostly deer CWD potential area.

 

[Wahoo]

I’ve finally gotten the courage to post here- I admit I haven’t read the entire thread. I just keep seeing the title pop up and I’m confounded. Perhaps it’s the bow hunter in me although I have hunted a fair bit with rifle, shotgun slug, and muzzleloader as well.

I just don’t understand the concern of meat loss with a double lung/heart base shot just above the elbow with a firearm. Worst case I find a couple of broken ribs on each side with associated intercostal muscle loss. Assuming I don’t hit high and the fabled (read nonexistent) no man’s land which equals backstrap there’s minimal to zero meat loss.

Hit the neck/spine causing violent expansion of a bullet and fragmenting vertebrae every which way results in a bunch more lost meat ( neck roast, neck sausage, neck salami,neck ground, neck….)

I’ve heard this theory since I started hunting. I’m calling it a wives tale. Blasphemy I know but Im hiding in my old fashioned Behind my trusty iPhone safe from harm