The Most Overlooked Factor in Field Care of Meat

[cohunter]

I know I've read dozens of forum posts on this subject, but I want to start a discussion from a slightly different angle. In you opinion what SINGLE factor is most often overlooked when caring for meat in the field. Don't write a list or recipe for taking care of game meat. Choose ONE factor that you feel is most often overlooked, then explain what you're thinking. Is it the amount of time taken? Storage? A significant portion of excellent meat that gets left behind on many carcasses? Aging? What one thing do you think is missing from most meat-care routines?

[Roosiebull]

a good first shot starts you off on the right foot on getting your meat out of the woods in good shape

[Swede]

There are several things I have seen over the years that could be discussed, but cooling down the meat is the biggest problem I have seen. An elk will sour overnight if not taken care of properly. You can pack out your elk the next day. But even if you are alone get the guts out, and the hide off right away. If you are going gutless, get the hide off and get the meat hung up to cool. Deer I often see transported with the hide on and left hanging that way for days. Yuck. This is how you get "gamey" flavored meat.
Keeping the meat clean is a close second. Urine, feces, gastric juices, dirt and litter can all contaminate the meat. Let your meat marinate in these things and it will effect the flavor. Again yuck.

[olympushunt]

I was going to reply to that "Meat Management in warm weather" thread but this can apply for both.... Get that bone out if it is warm. Heartwood is dead on. Bone retains heat LONG after the animal is dead so don't just hang quarters in the shade or lay the quarters on cold rocks and pray for the best. BONE IT OUT! Outside meat can actually insulate the bone heat (and the meat next to it) preventing through and through cooling. Cooling meat quickly is the best bet for good eats. This is also true for fish as well. Keeping the meat from filth (guts, elk waste) is a no brainer...right? I hope that isn't often overlooked.

[WapitiTalk1]

one factor that is huge, and over looked is shot placement, it seems like the longer it takes for game to die, the shorter the window is for getting your meat out without spoilage. I know sepsis can be one cause, but I think they get fevers on different shots....good first shots are a great way to start the process of getting meat out of the woods in good shape for many reasons...

Yep... very important! A first, lethal shot goes a loooooong way in salvaging the maximum meat possible (for many factors). Next, get the meat off the bone (as mentioned) and get it to cooling. Cooling can be something as little as moving the meat bags to shade, cradling it across a blow down pine (in the shade), hanging the meat bags from tree branches (in the shade), laying it across two lodgpoles over a stream (money), or as some folks have mentioned putting the game bags in contractor grade bags and dunking it in a cool stream (money X2). Of course, getting the meat off the mountain (particularly during hot weather) to a meat locker or processor for cooling is paramount. Good thread!

[Swede]

Here is what I have observed as far as cooling of elk is concerned. Even at night, when the temperatures go down into the 30s, an elk will begin to sour within 12 hours if it is not gutted and skinned. A friend said he left his out with the hide on, in the snow during rifle season, and it soured over night. That hide is a great insulator and the guts hold a lot of heat.
As far as boning out is concerned, I have observed you have more time to deal with that. I have boned very few elk before they went to the meat locker. Sometimes it is late morning or early afternoon the next day before they get into a meat locker. If you are not going to get your meat into a cold storage locker the next day, I would certainly slice the hams in two. At that time you might as well bone them out. They are thick and can hold heat.
In the cold storage there are whole quarters hung along with whole elk, etc. In the locker they hang bone in until butchered, sometimes weeks later. The point is if you are keeping your meat out for days and things are marginal at best, then do everything to cool it. If that is the situation, bone it out. For me, keeping the meat clean is usually more critical than boning it out right away. Hunting by yourself can make a big difference in what you do including how you butcher.

[saddlesore]

Failure to plan and educate one's self about how to take care of the meat and get it out of the field before you even go hunting is most often over looked IMHO.

Definitely getting the meat cool is the top priority.I don't know that it is so much not done or over looked ,but usually done poorly.
Keeping it clean as Swede mentioned is another priority.Taking along a $2 painters plastic drop cloth that is about 10 ft x 10 ft will solve that problem. It probably weighs about 2 ounce. ,Can be found at Walmart in the paint supplies.

[Swede]

Saddlesore's post just reminded me of something. I used to get free pillow cases from a local motel. I still have plenty. When they get a stain or even a little tear, they are thrown out. I got them laundered and folded for free. The pillow cases are great for loins and backstraps. They are good for shoulders and all boned out meat too. The sheet I used like the painter's tarps Saddlesore mentioned.
Again they were free, and I suppose anyone could get them very cheap or free, as the stained bed sheets or pillow cases can't go back on a bed.

[saddlesore]

Make sure the pillow cases are not thread worn. I dropped a back strap in one ,one day and it went right out the bottom. I use my home made game bags out of sheets and pillow cases many times.They may be stained,but I soak them in bleach when I take them off for a few days and then run them thru the washer.That kills anything that may be attached to them

[Elkhunttoo]

For me it's flies and hornets... using game bags and sheets really help, but mainly I just hate flies and hornets

[Beendare]

There are several things I have seen over the years that could be discussed, but cooling down the meat is the biggest problem I have seen. ...

I would agree with Swede.

I want the cleanest best meat I can get....heck, i'm eating it! [had some backstraps last night as a matter of fact- yum]

i take the boned out meat and put it right in a meat bag- clean, no flys. I pack those bags loose so the meat isn't all balled up with the center staying warm. When its loose, you can rotate the meat too. the slight moisture has an evaporative cooling effect.

last year we had to literally go the extra mile in Montana. We backpacked into a spot 6 miles [on the GPS, so it was probably 8] then killed a bull another mile past that. We couldn't get him out right away so we boned and bagged [loose] then built a criss cross log rack over a big cool [literally!] boulder in the full shade...then piled some boughs lightly over the top, pictured.

elk meat 800pix.jpg (126.21 KiB) Viewed 27446 times

With a little air circulation......that meat felt like it had been refrigerated the next morning. I'm sure it would have kept like that for many days if needed.

[Fridaythe13th]

I was going to reply to that "Meat Management in warm weather" thread but this can apply for both.... Get that bone out if it is warm. Heartwood is dead on. Bone retains heat LONG after the animal is dead so don't just hang quarters in the shade or lay the quarters on cold rocks and pray for the best. BONE IT OUT! Outside meat can actually insulate the bone heat (and the meat next to it) preventing through and through cooling. Cooling meat quickly is the best bet for good eats. This is also true for fish as well. Keeping the meat from filth (guts, elk waste) is a no brainer...right? I hope that isn't often overlooked.

Ok, lets say I couldn't bone out the meat on a hot September day (no time, somebody got hurt or whatever may have happened) and all I brought is pillow cases. Would it work to cut slits in the meet down to the bone to cool faster and then put in my pillow case.

[Indian Summer]

Roosiebull .... man that is very good advice. I was going to say the same thing but since you beat me to it I'll go in a different direction. One you'd think is really obvious but I'll say it anyway. Keep your meat clean!!!! I'm not talking about dirt I'm talking about always pulling your knife upward from inside the hide to avoid cutting any hair at all. Hair, second only to elk pee will taint the hell out of your meat. Yuk!

As far as deboning.... I never do that. It exposes more surfaces to dirt, bacteria etc. I just get things quartered out as fast as I can, get the hide off, and get it off of the ground and OUT OF THE SUN.

Regardless of what you do adding some of that Alpine Touch seasoning is sure to make things even better! Love that stuff.

[Swede]

Since Indian Summer agreed with Roosiebull, I am scratching my head on this sepsis statement. How does anyone diagnose sepsis as the cause of tainted meat. I am wondering is sepsis causing tainted meat, or is it the leakage of bile, gastric juices, etc. onto the meat? Is it the excessive time (spoilage) taken to recover a dead animal? Since sepsis in this case is bacteria in the blood stream, does it develop to a sufficient level in the time it takes for the animal to die from a poor shot to cause the meat to taste bad?

[Beendare]

Ok, lets say I couldn't bone out the meat on a hot September day (no time, somebody got hurt or whatever may have happened) and all I brought is pillow cases. Would it work to cut slits in the meet down to the bone to cool faster and then put in my pillow case.

FYI, if you go the pillow case route...pop them on a sewing machine with Guterman Mara to reinforce the seams....

There are many tricks to keeping meat cool even on warm days. Its harder to cool quarters......thus i like boning. just about anywhere you kill an elk in Sept...the temp will drop below refer temps at night. So shade, then air circulation, then nightime temps all help. Build my little frame over a small creek and that really cools the meat fast...or use dry bags/contractor bags and put it right in the stream [keeping the water off the meat of course]

[Roosiebull]

Since Indian Summer agreed with Roosiebull, I am scratching my head on this sepsis statement. How does anyone diagnose sepsis as the cause of tainted meat. I am wondering is sepsis causing tainted meat, or is it the leakage of bile, gastric juices, etc. onto the meat? Is it the excessive time (spoilage) taken to recover a dead animal? Since sepsis in this case is bacteria in the blood stream, does it develop to a sufficient level in the time it takes for the animal to die from a poor shot to cause the meat to taste bad?

I have never dealt with the sepsis, but a story is fresh in my mind about it, shot a bull early afternoon, hit it back...long story short, they found it the next morning, still alive but sick. finished the bull off with another arrow, and had a nice 5pt roosey, they got it quartered and out of the mountains, and straight to the butcher...butcher called them later and said the whole bull was spoiled, and started asking questions about how long it took them to get the bull out of the woods...after the butcher heard the story, he said it was sepsis, and he had seen it before.....that was the second very similar story I have heard from reliable sources, and experienced elk hunters.

I have help track 2 different bulls that took a long time to die, not gut shot, one was frontal, with no penetration hardly, the other was quartering away, high and forward, both had to be finished later...both ended up being fairly easy packs out, and were in the cooler faster than most....there was substantial bone sour on both. I was told by a friend wiser than I, they get feverish, and go downhill quick...those are the ones that need to be boned out ASAP and cooling. regardless of the biology that takes place and makes them spoil easily I don't know, but they sure as heck do.

there should have been no meat loss at all on those 2.....

the other very obvious fact of good shots, is you don't need to let them sit in the summer heat for 8 or 10 hours before tracking, if you have to leave one over night, you are starting off on the wrong foot for meat care.

[Swede]

Roosie, I think we are going beyond what we know or can know. I showed this thread, re: the sepsis claims to my cook who is also a microbiologist and lab technician. She has done a lot of cultures checking for sepsis. It is unlikely that the butcher can determine sepsis by looking at or smelling meat. Sepsis in an animal might have a different meaning to the butcher rather than what it means in a human. The hit in the brisket and the quartering away shot do not serve to help determine sepsis either.
What we can say, is that wounded animals left for hours, may develop a bad taste. That has been known for years, and I have no question about that. As far as determining sepsis in a human, It takes blood agar, petri dishes and a blood sample, cultured for 8-10 hours in a lab, for someone to verify sepsis.
I can also say that wounded animals, left for hours on hot days and killed when they are too weak to get up, do not necessarily taste bad when butchered. Why? I don't know.

[cohunter]

A couple of interesting articles on these websites about gut shots and septicemia http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/artic ... son-spoils and http://mobile.bowsite.com/forums/thread ... 39&forum=4

I was surprised... my gut reaction was that sepsis would take much longer to set in and affect meat and that the sour meat in this case was more likely a result of gastric juices, but maybe not!

[cohunter]

And now... Swede agrees with my original hunch (we must have been posting at the same time). I'm inclined to agree that sepsis is probably not the cause of much (if any) meat spoilage encountered in the elk woods unless that elk has been wandering around for a couple days. I know in cows, sepsis is always accompanied by hemorraging, lesions and swelling. I think the poor flavor is probably more a result of general uncleanliness and/or the stressed, fevered activity of a wounded animal.

I've gut shot two bulls in recent history. One was a misguided attempt at a follow-up shot on a bull with a rifle. The elk was down in sight and during butchering smelled horrendous. But the meat tasted great.

The other adventure was recounted here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8004 That elk died within about 20 mins of heavy bleeding into the body cavity but he died in the sun on an 80 degree day. He wasn't recovered until almost 4 hours after the shot (I thought he would live a lot longer than 20 minutes) and then we faced a long pack out... still tastes great!

[Roosiebull]

Roosie, I think we are going beyond what we know or can know. I showed this thread, re: the sepsis claims to my cook who is also a microbiologist and lab technician. She has done a lot of cultures checking for sepsis. It is unlikely that the butcher can determine sepsis by looking at or smelling meat. Sepsis in an animal might have a different meaning to the butcher rather than what it means in a human. The hit in the brisket and the quartering away shot do not serve to help determine sepsis either.
What we can say, is that wounded animals left for hours, may develop a bad taste. That has been known for years, and I have no question about that. As far as determining sepsis in a human, It takes blood agar, petri dishes and a blood sample, cultured for 8-10 hours in a lab, for someone to verify sepsis.
I can also say that wounded animals, left for hours on hot days and killed when they are too weak to get up, do not necessarily taste bad when butchered. Why? I don't know.

fixed my first reply in this thread for ya i stand by that

[Swede]

My cook does not understand what we are trying to prove here. Sepsis is a blood condition. Bad tasting/smelling meat is a breakdown of the tissues and/or blood in the tissues. It is a matter of decay. This happens when animals are left too long in the field or a steak is left too long out on the kitchen counter. She thinks we are in over our heads. I know I am.

Cohunter your first link appears to be totally irrelevant. It deals with dead animals only. I am not sure how to assess the second, but it shed little light on how sepsis effects meat flavor.


Note: Below is my edit.
Rosie, I just read your edited first post and the post immediately above. I agree 100% Thanks.

[cohunter]

Swede... I realize the original topic of both links is not directly related - just scroll down a bit and you'll find some interesting info on sepsis on poorly shot animals. I guess they just got a bit off-piste. A bit like this thread

[Swede]

Sometimes we believe things related to elk hunting and I would guess about everything else. In the case of elk hunting all our beliefs are based on limited information. We all have limited experience, and we read things that others have said based on their limited information.
What I want to say here is that I appreciate Roosiebull's take on meat care. He was honest in stating what he saw as the #1 overlooked factor in field care of meat. I am not sure he was wrong either. What he said about sepsis just did not fit my understanding of things, so it put a big question mark in my mind, and I started probing. I got an explanation on sepsis yesterday that was so far over my head that I became lost. I guess it doesn't matter what I know about that subject as I got the reminder from Roosiebull to be careful about shot placement as poor shots can lead to meat spoilage, or at least deterioration of quality steaks.
So, you might be thinking now "Swede, what is your point?" Well, it is that we believe things, and even relate our experiences to these preconceived ideas, that may or may not be true. Occasionally I believe it is good to question our beliefs or even allow someone else to. We will always advance our learning by being open and challenging our beliefs.
The reason this forum is a great place to learn is that we do not have a master guru that everyone has to handle with care. We have no last word authority that must go unchallenged.
I recognize there is no greater reference for information on calling elk here than Elknut. Still if he says something that goes against what I have observed, I will say so. By doing that we can all gain a better perspective and relate to the discussion and determine what or why things work for us or don't work.
I don't at all consider myself the last word in tree stand hunting. I am just more experienced than most on that subject matter. If you know something that differs in what I say, please feel free to explain what you observed. Just be sure to give an explanation rather than being just contrary. That way we can all learn together. Sometime we will also have the opportunity to help the one that doesn't agree to come to a better understanding.
My thanks to Roosiebull for sharing and being gracious in this discussion. Thanks to Cohunter too for your help.

Edit Note: This is what I understand. Sepsis is the presence of toxins or organisms in the tissue or bloodstream and requires lab study. It would seem that no one could detect sepsis by just a walk-by look. When doctors suspect the presence of sepsis, they request a culture.

[Roosiebull]

well said Swede, I sometimes struggle with the concept "things aren't always as they seem"

sometimes we hear a story, or have an experience, and give it a reason out of our own head, or listen to someone else's reason as fact....sometimes it is, sometimes it's not, but having an open mind will allow us all to further learning.

[saddlesore]

Myself,I only relate what my experiences have been. I see no sense on posting something from pure conjecture.I might at times post something with the qualifier that "I heard".

True to all unsolicted advice or not paid for, everyone needs to take in all the information,throw out the chaff and do what works for you. Realize that what works in one local, might not be suitable in another.

[olympushunt]

Sometimes threads come off the tracks from the original question and it isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think we as a group can advance the overall knowledge base. Nobody knows it all. Some great threads come from this and I am glad Cohunter brought this one along. Roosiebull brought up an interesting take. I too have always been under the belief that a quick kill will lend to the best eats. This is certainly true for the best grades of tuna meat. The less stressed, the better grades of meat are in hand. But, my buddy killed a Rosie bull 2 years ago. He shot it just before dark and hit a little further back than he would have liked. He got to look a bit before dark but decided to wait until morning. He stressed over it because it was raining (weird that it was raining on the coast lol) thus washing any blood trail away but he knew better than to push this elk that likely would go and bed down. It was cool enough.....so he opted to wait for light to go after it. They found it later the next morning and it was still alive. It was "sick" or "hurting" enough it wasn't getting up out of its bed well. He finished it off as quick as possible and butchered it. It was still perfect. He was thankful the animal's circulatory system was still up and allowing for no spoilage. So...was it the cool weather that helped, or that it wasn't left out all night expired? Combination? Who knows. My only concern is that somebody new potentially reading into something suggesting that an animal that is wounded over a number of hours is going to be getting suboptimal meat or a spoiled animal and that they would stop looking for it and resume hunting. I know that is certainly not what was suggested but I thought of that possiblity??? Winter time sure lends to some stir crazy moments on my part. Come on summer!

[Swede]

Good point Oly. I think what can happen is gastric juices or bile or feces can contaminate the meat if they are left for a long time in the chest cavity. We know the stomach and intestines are full of billions of bacteria. Bacteria doubles every 20 minutes in a body.
You remember the deer you and your friend helped me with at Spike a 2 1/2 years back. It was wounded several hours before you and your friend arrived at camp. When it was located shortly after that it too was alive, but sick. I finished it off. There was no bad flavor at all in the meat. I did not hit the paunch, intestines or gall bladder. What does this prove. Only that sometimes wounded critters can survive for hours and the meat is still fine. What would the deer have tasted like if the intestines or stomach had been opened up to contaminate the chest cavity? I don't know.

[cohunter]

Swede, Roosiebull, Oly etc... I wasn't upset about getting off the thread's original intent - that's the great thing about this place. I agree with Swede and others that this is probably out of our depth =)

I think Swede's also right about cleanliness. We lived in Kenya for a few years and quit buying beef there. It just tasted too much like the wrong end of a cow. It was hung for a few days at ambient temperature (65-70 degrees) and I'm sure that didn't help but I'm convinced the root cause of the problem was that fecal matter or urine or gastric juices was often on the meat. Blech...

Here's another question about meat flavor - I had a friend who was cutting firewood near a controlled burn. He heard a noise behind him and a small 6x6 ran up just a few yards away and keeled over and died. He called the DOW and asked if he could salvage the meat and they agreed as long as he brought the antlers to them. They assumed cause of death was smoke inhalation. He butchered the bull and took the meat home - ended up throwing it all away. What was bad? Stressed animal? Not getting the blood out of the meat? Was smoke really the cause of death? I don't know... thoughts?

[Swede]

Here is what I observed about slash burns while working. Deer and elk pay no attention to controlled fire and smoke. When people are in the area, of coarse they shy away, but they come back. The Blacktail deer that are local residents don't go far. The elk will pass through burn area when there are no people around. On wild fires we have seen elk in meadows filled with smoke.
Dad killed a nice buck on a log landing years ago while burning slash. The meat was as good as any other. I have observed nice bucks bedded in fresh burns. I would highly doubt the elk succumbed to smoke inhalation. Even if it had inhaled a lot of smoke, I doubt it would effect the meat. We can't autopsy the elk in question, but I would suspect another cause. Maybe 308 cal. lead poisoning in the guts.

[NorthIDTLH]

Smoke induced sepsis! Sounds like a good head start on making jerky...

[jmez]

Cooling is the number one factor. That said, cooling and contamination go hand in hand. You need to get the meat below 40 degrees as quickly as possible. Below 40 is the critical temperature that significantly slows bacterial growth.

Bacterial growth and depending on the type of bacteria, toxin production, is what causes meat to spoil. If you take a piece of meat that is sterile, 0 bacteria present, it won't spoil no matter the temp. Problem is there are bacteria virtually everywhere. Most bacteria multiply exponentially at warmer temperatures.

There are all sorts of factors that play into the whole equation and it can get pretty complicated. Basically, as soon as an animal dies, bacteria that are normally contained within the various organs, gi tract, respiratory tract, genitourinary, etc. will begin to trans-locate out of their normal location. All areas within the body have mechanisms that keep these bacteria contained where they belong. As soon as death occurs these defenses, or barriers, fail. The bacteria begin to migrate. Before you even touch the animal you have body defenses that have failed and you also have at least one hole in the animal that has led to unconstrained internal contamination. If that hole happens to involve any of the GI tract then it's game on.

As you dress the animal, you introduce contamination with every thing that you and your knife touches. You are introducing bacteria every step of the way. Every piece of hair is loaded with bacteria so every hair that touches the meat introduces bacteria. Every leaf, stick, blade of grass etc. The game bags that you place it in will have resident populations of bacteria on them. This is the argument against the gutless method, and it is a sound argument. The less cuts you make in the field the less you contaminate the meat. The counter argument is also valid, The more pieces you have and the smaller they are the quicker the meat cools decreasing the bacterial growth.

Cooling is simply surface area and volume dependent. A boned quarter is going to cool much faster than a bone in quarter. The reason meat sours quickest near the bone is because that is the last and slowest area to cool on a carcass. You have thick, dense muscle that is encasing bone. The bone is the last part to cool and holds heat as it is insulated so the warmest part of the carcass is always going to be around the femur on the hind limb. If you leave the hide on you also have an insulating layer on the outside as well. Bacterial contamination is also surface area dependent. The more muscle you and your knife touch the more bacteria you introduce into the meat. It is really kind of a catch 22.

You then have other factors that come into play. I don't know if it has actually been studied in wild game but has in meat processing. Salmonella, present in the gi tract of pretty much every living thing, is a very dangerous pathogen. In normal animals it is held in balance. In times of stress it can and will multiply rapidly. At slaughterhouses, the stresses on the animals can lead to exponential overgrowth of Salmonella in short periods of time. You could assume shooting a wild animal could do the same. You could compound that by making a bad shot in where the animal takes many hours to expire. When you make a bad shot you also introduce bacteria into the bloodstream that will then get dispersed throughout the body over the next several hours or however long it takes for them to die. You have basically seeded the entire carcass with bacteria, very problematic with gut shots.

Unless you hit a major vessel virtually all gut shot animals are going to die of septicemia. There aren't a lot of great vessels in the GI tract that are going to cause death by hemorrhage. That is why it takes gut shot animals so long to die. They will start getting sick very fast. You introduce a massive number of pathogenic organisms into the systemic circulation that leads to a massive systemic inflammatory response along with toxin production by the micro organisms. This leads to all sorts of physiologic events that end up in death.

[cohunter]

jmez! Thanks for the edumacated reply! I was hoping somebody who knew something was going to respond. This makes a lot of sense physiologically and also ties together much of the discussion on meat quality nicely and scientifically. Bravo!

[snowbank]

kill quick, quarter it, pack it out, skin it, wash it with hot water and soda, dry it with towels, wrap the quarters with sheets, store in a dark cool place, cut or freeze within 24 hrs. We have stored quarters for a week by opening up the room at night when it gets into the 20s at night. If possible cut, wrap and freeze as soon as the core of the meat is cold.

[Luckyman]

Anyone here mist their meat with citric acid solution to inhibit bacterial growth? I've read about the benefits of it and interested in any personal experiences using it.

[Roosiebull]

Anyone here mist their meat with citric acid solution to inhibit bacterial growth? I've read about the benefits of it and interested in any personal experiences using it.

I have tried it, but in the environment I have dealt with elk, I didn't really see any benefit....not to say in certain scenarios it wouldn't help, and i'm sure it does with it's popularity.

my program the past few years has been trying to take the urgency out of getting the elk cut and wrapped ASAP by necessity. I bought a full insulated tote, put the meat in contractor bags still in game bags when I get home, and put 3-400lbs of ice in there...that gets the core temp down quick, and keeps it there, so I can rest a day or 2 if I feel like it before processing. always steak back straps and tenderloins, and trim up all of the scrap meat from the carcass the next day....but the quarters are fine for a couple days...I like having the issue of cold hands while processing meat in september

next step is to build a walk in cooler in my under utilized shop....but for now, I have means of cooling the meat down quick, compared to my old style of making it a race to get it in the freezer....that makes for a long few days if the pack out is tough.

[Gypsumreaper]

This is one thing I have overlooked with many of my clients and probably doesn't pertain to many of the guys here. But the most overlooked part of game meat care when it comes to elk mostly is having an idea of the size of the elk and weight of the meat before you hit the woods. Most guys their first reaction is I had no idea how truly big an elk is and it is a culture shock to many.

This is when guys get in way to deep in the woods get an elk down and suddenly they find out how far they will have to pack all that weight of meat to get it back to the truck or even camp. Have a plan and idea of what a quarter weighs bone in and bone out so it's not a surprise when that ham weighs triple what you thought it would.

[saddlesore]

next step is to build a walk in cooler in my under utilized shop....but for now, I have means of cooling the meat down quick, compared to my old style of making it a race to get it in the freezer....that makes for a long few days if the pack out is tough.

.
Look into a Cool Bot when you build your walk in

[Roosiebull]

saddlesore, thank you very much! that may speed up the process of getting one built, awesome.

[Swede]

As I was thinking about this thread, it occurred to me that there may be some that are not aware that it is not a good idea to make jerky from meat that was right next to the guts. There is a lot of bacteria there, and assuming a bullet or arrow broke through some part or the guts, the meat next to them should be cooked well before being eaten.

[scubohuntr]

The number one factor that most people overlook, in my opinion, is this: Once you take the shot, this is no longer a critter. It is food, and must be treated as such. Go to a high end meat market and buy a beef primal. You'll pay well over $100.00 for it. Take the cryovac off and throw it away. Now, how are you going to get it home? Throw it in the back of your truck, stop at the bar on the way home, and hang it up in the garage until you get around to subdividing it? Probably not. But people have no problem treating an elk or deer like that. Never, ever go out hunting without a complete plan for handling a kill. That means knowledge, equipment, and time. When I shot my first deer, nearly half a century ago, I had a book in my pocket and had it open on the ground next to me through the whole field dressing process. I had a sharp knife, a plastic bag for liver and tenderloins, and a drag rope. When you take a shot, you are committed for the next several hours at least. You'll either be tracking or butchering.

Back in 2000, I drew a once-in-a-lifetime elk tag in North Dakota. As usual, I was hunting solo. I hiked in about four miles and found an absolutely perfect spot that literally reeked of elk. The temperature was in the 90s, though, and although I had a huge (~60 c.f.) cooler full of ice back at the truck, I knew, because I am nobody's idea of an Ironman athlete and had never killed an elk, that there was no way I would ever get more than one quarter out before it spoiled. I packed up and hiked back out, and never saw an elk. Had the temperature been in the 40s, or if I had even one other person with me, I would have had no problem dropping an elk back in there. But because the plan was busted, I had to abandon the area rather than risk wasting several hundred pounds of meat. I went back during the late season (temperature -20) and there wasn't an elk track anywhere. C'est la vie.

(Actually, I'd never trust a store-bought beef primal as far as I would a properly handled game animal. I don't know where it's been, or how long it's been dead. But it makes a good benchmark. Don't do anything with your deer or elk that you wouldn't do with an unwrapped prime rib. Keep it clean, keep it cool, and don't waste time).

[Swede]

Welcome to the forum Scubohuntr. You are a wise hunter. I do not believe many hunters would back off in the situation you found yourself in. A four mile solo pack on an elk is more than I can handle in that situation.
Join in the conversations and share your insights or ask questions of the "critters" around the campfire here.

[saddlesore]

As I was thinking about this thread, it occurred to me that there may be some that are not aware that it is not a good idea to make jerky from meat that was right next to the guts. There is a lot of bacteria there, and assuming a bullet or arrow broke through some part or the guts, the meat next to them should be cooked well before being eaten.

That is why the no gut method is so great, unless you area gut shooter.

[cohunter]

While I am a little hesitant to admit to being a gut-shooter I have done it. The other beauty of the gutless method is that even a gut shot can be fairly well contained using the gutless method. Rather than cutting into the body cavity and having those contaminated juices run everywhere, you can work from the outside in, saving the dangerous areas for very last.