Does bleeding out virsus just gutting have anything to do with meat quality?

[Big Lew]

I've taken neck shots on game animals, but when doing so, have always immediately
cut the throat to enhance 'bleeding out'. On heart and lung shots I don't bother because
there's always extensive bleeding. For those that have taken head or neck shots resulting
in very little bleeding, do you cut the throat right away, or just gut the animal? I ask because
I wonder how much blood actually leaves the meat once the heart stops pumping, especially
if there are no open veins and arteries. My experience with cutting the throat on neck shots
has been the release of high quantities of blood. I've also found that meat not bled out is
quite strong and gamey tasting. Thoughts and experiences?

[DarekG]

I don't know if there is any truth to this because I am a relatively new hunter, but from what I've heard if it's not an instant death the animal releases adrenaline into the bloodstream and other things into the muscles that can "enhance" the gamey taste to kick it into survival mode. I can see some truth to that, but maybe its BS.

Personally I always try to end it as quickly as I can.

[moosecaller]

It's kind of hard to bleed out without the heart beating?? It's just a bit of a old wife's' tale! Some guys do it really has no bearing on taste.

[rocksteady]

Once it's dead.. it's dead.. won't bleed out if it's dead

[eric]

Like others have said, the heart still has to be beating for the animal to bleed out..
If it's dead, whats the point.
If the animal has been lung shot, it will bleed out inside..

[Dannybuoy]

While I don't know the effects on the taste of bleeding an animal versus not , I will say that I always cut the jugular and get the head pointed downhill . It has been that way in slaughter houses to get the blood out , every animal that I have done has had pints if not quarts of blood drain this way ..... blood will drain out as it is liquid

[srupp]

Hmm interesting g question Dave....I've never seen the point..i don't. .just punch th tag..gut, clean, wipe, bag.
Can't remember a single animal in 30 plus years ..cool.it down get that hide off.
Cheers Buddy
Steven

[Dannybuoy]

Does anyone know the reason why domestic animals are bled out ? If blood isn't detrimental to the cuts if meat why not leave it in ?

[Big Lew]

As I said, I really don't know the answer. Like many my age, I was taught to cut the throat
immediately, but I know it's pointless if the animal was hit in the lungs, heart, or liver because
it bleeds out inside the cavity right way. I also know that when dispatching cattle by shooting
them in the head, cutting the throat produces huge quantities of blood. I also know that an animal
shot in the neck and has it's jugular slit produces little or no blood when gutting it. Never tried
to gut an animal shot in the neck without cutting it's throat to see if there's a lot of blood produced
during the gutting process.

[Onesock]

Animal are bled in a slaughter house because that's how they are killed. Bleeding a head shot deer is pointless if it's heart is not beating. Blood can't be pumped into the meat if the heart is not beating. If you wound an animal and cut its throat to kill it it will bleed out as if it was in a slaughter house.

[RiverOtter]

Some interesting thoughts here.

https://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=35405.0

[Dannybuoy]

Animal are bled in a slaughter house because that's how they are killed. Bleeding a head shot deer is pointless if it's heart is not beating. Blood can't be pumped into the meat if the heart is not beating. If you wound an animal and cut its throat to kill it it will bleed out as if it was in a slaughter house.
Not sure about now but cows used to be shot , goats and calves knocked on the head with a sledge , pigs and lambs are the only livestock I,ve seen slaughtered by cutting the jugular and I doubt it's done like that anymore.
And yes I know as brains are considered tablefare they quit using lead bullets .

[Dannybuoy]

Some interesting thoughts here.

https://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=35405.0
Thanks , I thought it might have had something to do with the blood not keeping as well as the muscle or meat as well as possibly possibly adding gamey flavour ....

[Onesock]

Knocked on the head and then bled out. The knock on the head didn't stop the heart.

[Dannybuoy]

Knocked on the head and then bled out. The knock on the head didn't stop the heart.
Point is blood continues to flow for long after the heart stops beating ..... basically as long as it's in the liquid form and has an exit point .....

[walks with deer]

Um shoot and clean quickly..

[Drillbit]

My first deer.

Nice mulie buck running straight away. Shot it right in the back of the skull cap, bullet came out between the eyes. Antlers were barely hanging on.

Gutted it right there (not much blood), and hauled it to the neighbour with the meat cooler. Hung it with the tractor, and skinned it, and it was in the cooler within 40 minutes of getting shot.

After hanging for a few days in the cooler, the entire hind quarters were turning black. We thought from blood in the meat, but that was our only guess. Coyote bait.

I've shot/gutted/skinned hundreds of animals since then and have never seen that happen again. No head shots, and no throat cuts, but all body shots that bled lots.

[BRrooster]

I agree with Dannybuoy, as long as the blood has not coagulated it will "run". Our animals are usually heart lung shots ,gutted right away, then skinned when we
get home . Don't shoot many animals in the early season , so I don't worry too much about cooling the carcass by skinning right away as the weather is cool enough.
There usually is a fair bit of blood dripping as we hang and skin the animal at home 2 or 3 hours later. Never had an animal that spoiled in any way.
Never thought of using a torch to clean hair off the meat though. Thanks for the trick from the member who posted, "4 point whitetail down", we will try that
this fall.

[chris]

I have never tried to bleed an animal. Once it's dead you have to gut it as quickly as possible so that it can start cooling from the inside. I usually leave the hide on until back at camp. If I'm far away from the truck I go gutless method but still skin it as quick as I can. Hide comes off better when it's warm anyway. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I consider cooling the meat to be the only crucial step.

[Stresd]

After I have gutted the animal I always pump the legs a few times. Amazing the amount of blood that comes out of each quarter and can then be drained/wiped out of the cavity.
Think the main and only reason to cut throat was to insure the sucker was dead.

[RiverOtter]

Drillbit: I've seen bruising react like that, though obviously that trauma was caused premortem. Seems really odd for the hinds to have a reaction from excess blood when the fronts are the low point. Leads me to believe your issue had nothing to do with excess blood.

[finaddict]

If the animal is heart lung shot and there is significant damage to the heart muscle, then bleeding out by slitting the throat and gravity only will not be very successful. Animals that are not heart lung shot and are "dead" (either throat or head shot) will likely still have a partially functioning heart for some time. Cardiac muscle is completely different from all other muscles in the body and controlled by the Medulla Oblongata in the brain. This is in the very core of the central nervous system. So while the animal may be physically immobile and for all appearances dead, the process of death is never instantaneous. Rather, death is a series of regressive actions of function with the final action being the complete cessation of cardiac function within the central nervous system.

So out of all this blah blah blah above.... the heart can still assist in draining blood from the arteries and veins even after the animal is "dead". Would I bother to bleed a heart lung shot animal? Probably not going to be too productive, but it wont hurt either.

[blackhawk19]

the sooner you get the animal cooled down and cleaned ,the better the meat.

[Jelvis]

If you like eating or drinking blood so be it, I shoot deer with a shot to drain, heart shot, BANGO!
I don't like the taste of blood and was taught in church as a Christian, " Do not eat blood, drain the blood to the earth." God don't like people eating blood, period.
No pun intended. haha
-- ahh take a heart shot, BOOM! Zee buck will kick it's back legs out like a horse kicks back and takes off runnin for the hills, then as he runzzz tthe blood iz pumping out of his heart and as he gets lower and lower blood he drops. Now, make sure the buck iz dead, look to ssee if it's breathing or blinking, if not touch eye ball with stick, if no blinky, start to thinky, what next?
-- turn buck on back legs spread, now don't touch scent pads, then cut around anus.
and carry on my way ward son.
Summary: take heart shot, and use gravity to drain excess blood from animule. Hang chang ching a ling, one more thing, don't cut yer hand or finger.
P.S. I knew a butcher at a slaughter house that caught the blood from a dying hanging pig let in a cup and wood drink it. Hot as it gushed out. A real Bloody Mary. :lol:

[AgSilver]

At a minimum, I would expect that draining blood would expedite cooling of the meat as you then have less warm mass present. Seems to me that anything that gets any blood out will help, no?

[russm86]

My first deer.

Nice mulie buck running straight away. Shot it right in the back of the skull cap, bullet came out between the eyes. Antlers were barely hanging on.

Gutted it right there (not much blood), and hauled it to the neighbour with the meat cooler. Hung it with the tractor, and skinned it, and it was in the cooler within 40 minutes of getting shot.

After hanging for a few days in the cooler, the entire hind quarters were turning black. We thought from blood in the meat, but that was our only guess. Coyote bait.

I've shot/gutted/skinned hundreds of animals since then and have never seen that happen again. No head shots, and no throat cuts, but all body shots that bled lots.

The turning black is normal when aging meat but most butchers don't recommend aging game meat now a days anyways. They say there is no benefit, all you do is lose more meat as they trim the outside black layer off. A few days seems a little fast to age that much especially in a cooler, unless the cooler was too warm perhaps? Heat rises so perhaps that explains why only the top part was aging that quick the cold air wasn't circulating or there was a malfunction or something...

[rimfire]

It makes some sense. I know with fish that the quality of the flesh is much higher if you bleed out the fish so that may transfer over to other game too but that is all speculation on my part.

[Big Lew]

I've observed some hunters actually being quite squeamish about cutting an animal's
throat even though they were okay with the chore of gutting and skinning....maybe this
might explain why a few don't do it. Knock on wood...I've never had really gamey meat
other than when it was directly associated with what they were eating. Unless my shot
took out the lungs, heart, or liver, I'll continue to cut the jugular to assist in draining as
much blood out of the animal as possible.

[elch jager]

You really should be draining as much blood as possible out of the meat. Especially with game that is considered marginal table fare. Like the Grizzly Bear for example... and there is no better way than to cut the jugular while the heart is still beating.

[tomahawk]

Bingo!! If the heart has collapsed and quit beating nothing drains except the vein or artery you cut. Head/spine shots that result in stopping brain activity or body movement can still have heart pulsing for several mins and the animal can be bled out. Heart/lung shots create there own blood loss.


It's kind of hard to bleed out without the heart beating?? It's just a bit of a old wife's' tale! Some guys do it really has no bearing on taste.

[wideopenthrottle]

helped a friend in an abattoir once and cows were hit with the stun gun (a few wire rods that went into the head and scrambled the brains) the dead cow was then lifted by the back leg and the throat was then slit...when he did it, the old butcher was telling him about how important it was to simultaneously slice both jugulars to get the best and most complete draining of the blood (some gravity/syphon effect I guess)...not cutting them completely in one fell swoop was considered a rookie move...

[RiverOtter]

The bleeding I've seen done by butchers was never a slit throat, as that approach severs the wind pipe and allows stomach contents into the neck area. They ALWAYS inserted a knife in near the base of the neck/brisket and used kind of a twisting motion to cleanly cut both arteries. I stuck a pig or two under instruction and could actually feel a notch with the blade. At that point I was told to make a sort of 'V' cut with the tip of the knife. Definitely a cool experience, but not something I'd wanna do 100+ times per week like the guy who had that job on the kill floor. LOL.

[Jelvis]

=-/--> (If) you shoot a record size buck, you don't slice the throat, the cut will show on the cape.
learn how to cape an animule properly IF your going to mount it for the wall, first b4 you reck the hide.
Jelly Belly -- it's not hard to do -- just cut in different spot, so check web for proper cuts.

[Dannybuoy]

=-/--> (If) you shoot a record size buck, you don't slice the throat, the cut will show on the cape.
learn how to cape an animule properly IF your going to mount it for the wall, first b4 you reck the hide.
Jelly Belly -- it's not hard to do -- just cut in different spot, so check web for proper cuts.
Actually Jelly belly, either you can cut the jugular via a small cut or use a cape from the taxi... they keep some preemo ones on hand for just that occasion

[Jelvis]

Yah butt a person who shoots a 175 typ mule buck wants the hide from the original mule.
-- Eveything about that mule 175 is what he or she wants, not another bucks cape.
I shot some large bucks, mule and blacktail, and I wanted my own buck a toids, hide and hair, antler -- cuz it's only natural.
Jel -- I want all of the original mule --

[last light]

I shot a deer in the neck once, a fatal shot but not an instant death, it was a flesh wound only. In this scenario the animal was in convulsions on the ground with eyes rolling back so I wanted to dispatch it as quickly as possible without shooting it again. Took out the 119 and slit the throat and right then I knew where the expression "bled like a stuck pig" came from. That deer sprayed and pumped out blood like crazy but like others have mentioned only when the heart is still beating. Otherwise like others have said, most heart/lung shots the bleeding is internal and comes out during the gutting process.

[Gateholio]

a brain shot animal will be lights out dead, but the heart will continue to beat for some time. Sometimes a shockingly long time. I would absolutely bleed it if I got to it in time and the heart was still beating (assuming I didn't care about the cape)

I've killed lots of livestock and it's always a shot to the head, animal drops, stick the jugular and the blood pours out until the heart stops beating.

No need to bleed for lung/heart shots.

[TUGGER]

I had the great fortune to work with a farmer from the old country .We would get a beef from him every year only stipulation was that i had to help kill and skin mind you these were farmed raised beef he would put him in the barn and shoot them with a 22lr cut the jugular wait for a while till he quit moving then we would grab a front leg and pump the heart the animal would stir we would do this until no more movement always had great beef

[gcreek]

Does anyone know the reason why domestic animals are bled out ? If blood isn't detrimental to the cuts if meat why not leave it in ?

Domestic animals are bled out because the heart still beats for a time after a brain shot and you can bleed them out. Bleeding does enhance meat quality and saves having the quarters drip while hanging.

Much prefer to use a lung shot on any game I am involved with. They bleed out completely when this is done.

[brian]

Last year I butchered three of our lambs, the first I bled out properly and the other two I did not. One got a partial bleed as the bullet severed an artery on the way out and the third had no immediate bleed out. I couldn't tell any difference in the meat of any of them. My theory is so much blood comes out when gutting that there really isn't much left in there any ways. I don't know why it is standard practice among commercial abattoirs, I have a feeling that bleeding out is more about killing a stunned animal rather than it is about meat quality. But there was no more blood content in any of the animals carcasses, no spoilage, and no flavour difference.

[buckshot]

Does anyone know the reason why domestic animals are bled out ? If blood isn't detrimental to the cuts if meat why not leave it in ?
To make blood sausage silly!

[buckshot]

To make blood sausage silly!
And bouillon, soup, beef cubes etc.

[two-feet]

I know that when i have meat hanging in game bags, or if i have a roast sitting in the fridge several days, it is the blood that goes bad first. Maybe the blood is less stable?

That being said, the best eating moose i have ever got was head shot and not bled.

[Walking Buffalo]

Does anyone know the reason why domestic animals are bled out ? If blood isn't detrimental to the cuts if meat why not leave it in ?


One aspect is cultural. Many religions demand that animals be bled to be Kosher or Halal, etc...
This practice became a norm...

Today the practice is also a animal welfare concern. Bleeding is a sure way to ensure death is inevitable.

There is a food quality/safety issue to bleeding animals.

Blood will decompose before muscle tissue.
Bleeding allows extended handling times for commercial practices, both in processing and days on the sales counter.
Bled meat is less messy in the butchering process, decreasing contamination potentials.


However, for the hunter that is in control of the full process of butchering, storage and consumption, there is no necessity or tangible benefit to bleeding unless their religious/cultural beliefs dictate so.

[Jelvis]

We should realize from history that life is in the blood, life itself is in the blood.
In the Bible it says. " Spill the animals blood on the earth"
Why?
The life is in the blood, so if you eat blood dead or alive it contains life even in the ground.
The blood -- once the blood is gone out of any body it is done like dinner, then the spirit leaves when dead.
They say that any food when your starving will do, so I can't judge another.
I can only do what I can do. I drain the blood on the earth where I shot the animal.
Jello -- You can do what ever you choose, it's up to each person, to make their own decision.