When examining the influence of anatomical shooting location, the frequencies of animal shot in the abdomen
region were similar for all hunting days, and ranged from 34-54% (Table 2). Overall, 55 animals (44%) were shot in
abdomen, which was similar to another study1. That situation would have presumably led to higher TVC or EBC
levels on carcass meat. However, that was not the case, as no significant difference was found between shots in the
abdomen and elsewhere within the same hunting day and when comparing the levels of TVC or EBC (Table 2),
contrary to another study3. This leads to the conclusion that “poor shooting” did not account for the high level of
microbial contamination of carcass meat; even the animals shot in the right anatomical location had high levels of
microbial contamination. On the other hand, TVC and EBC on carcass meat were notably higher than those