Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Which bullet = least meat damage?

There have been a few times that I have managed to come away from a hunt with venison ribs. I consider myself serious barbequer, and I have never gotten a good meal out of them. As a result, I never consider the loss of rib meat in the equation.

A shot that takes out both lungs and the heart will do just fine. I do not shoot .243 WIN-- been more of a .30 and .35 kind of guy. However, I did nail a deer with a 25-06 this year. Honestly, they all seem to do a good job. Depending on what gets hit on the way in and the way out, you may have up to a fist-sized hole in the off-side of the deer, but actual meat loss is going to be minimal.

Shoulders? Although effective, I think it ruins too much usable meat. I agree that a shoulder roast is a bit much work, but if you drop one in a slow cooker for half a day, the meat falls off the bone. An easy recipe is one shoulder roast, one bottle of Russian dressing, and 6 hours in the slow cooker.

I guess you can count my bewhilderment at this question, in with the guys that shake their heads at those of us that pursue that last 50fps of velocity in our handloads, but do people really fret over the kiddie meal hamburger worth of meat that one bullet might destroy over another?

Evidently they do.

It's like half think deer are armor plated and need big calibers and high dollar bullets, and the other half are on a quest to see just how small a cartridge they can use and still kill them efficiently.

I once had a guy tell me he wanted to buy a 300 Wby Mag, and when I asked why, he said his 257 Wby didn't have the power to kill a deer

Whatever; deer aren't hard to kill.

WRONG! Min caliber 338 WM, 340 Bee is even better. Use the best bullet you can find.................

In my opinion you save meat by lower velocity as much as bullet weight, style or manufacturer. I would shoot a hornady 100 about 2200 fps or so.

Truth of the matter is I'm used to the pedestrian velocity of the 6.5X55 which allows eating up to the hole and very minimal bloodshot meat. I realize the difference in speed and am looking to minimize the damage I have seen here on the campfire when velocity is high. Okiebowhunter, I seems like your information and the info I got from another member of the campfire via P.M. make the most sense. Thanks for the many opinions and information.

! Thats pretty funny

Shoot a barnes copper bullet so you don't frag out lead every where in the meat. Just because its not bloodshot, doesn't mean it doesn't have lead fragments in it.

Before you flame me, go to the MN DNR website and search for the lead in venison reports. It will make you think twice that eating up to the hole has a little more lead flakes than you want.

Ive shot them with Hornady Custom 100g interlock BTSP (whitetail is the same bullet) and damage to meat was minimal.

9 1/8 in the Rem....I think Sharpnel was joking with you.