shakai and others with some leopard/ cat hunting experience- (maybe this should be a seperate post?):

Have you noticed that if you skin a cat (lion/ leopard/ cheetah anyway), it seems that the perifiral damage/ bloodshot meat is less than expected on an animal of the same weight class that was shot at the same distance with a high velocity cartridge.

As an example, take a leopard for instance, it weiges roughly the same as an impala. If you shoot both with a .338 Win Mag and 225gr bullets from say 50 yards, the impala will have huge amounts of bloodshot meat/ spongy feeling underneath the skin, the leopard will have very little.
Why is that? Or am I seeing things?

(I am digging for such a photo, I know I have one of a lion shot with a .300 Win Mag and a leopad shot with a .30-06, but VERY close range.)