Hunting Washington Forum

It could go either way. You owe it to the animal to at least start skinning and check it. Hopefully you're pleasantly surprised.

@dreadi can you share what you heard or PM me?  I am still waiting on communications back at this point.  Thanks for the update, grace is warranted forsure just need to be involved to give some grace..

Nope. I won't share what I was told.


Black Hammer Arms
www.blackhammerarms.com
The Guy On HuntWA Selling Suppressors
@blackhammerarms

It may well be too late, but as others have said, your nose will be the biggest indicator.

Also, how the animal was laying may benefit as well, say if it was on its right side, gravity will send all the fluids & blood in that direction to settle & pool leaving the left or upper side somewhat drained and possibly fine, so definitely worth the time to do some investigating.

As an additional level of caution, consider when cooking any that you salvage, cooking it to well done if steaks or just grind it all into burger/sausage so it gets completely cooked all the way through.

Good luck, let us know what you decide and how it turns out!


 

It's very likely spoiled.  With the hide on outside temps matter less and less.  They have an internal body temperature of 104 with very robust insulation.  Look at the meat,  as said it'll have an off color and off smell.  Bone sour happens even when skinned right away especially in the neck areas and hind quarters.  Another indicator is the soft tissue it will often begin to decay. I've salvaged a lot of animals and have never saved an elk after two days.  Best of luck and I would teach out to the local enforcement and give them a full rundown.   

Have to investigate with knife and nose, quite a bit might be ok. Contact with guts or wound might need careful inspection. 40's is borderline, so you might have plenty to process.