Spoiled Meat?

[Rydonn]

Hello All,

This is my first post to the forum. I harvested my first elk (cow), which was with a bow a few days ago. My hunting party and I found the animal the morning after I shot it - the shot was in the early afternoon the previous day. It took us all day to get all of the meat out, and it was finally put in on ice at about 6:30PM after all of the animal was retrieved (it was a long hike to the nearest road). I put double layers of ice on the quarter bags - one on top and one on bottom and the ice was holding well so I left it overnight in my truck after I got home from camp.

When I was cleaning and sorting the meat yesterday there was some green on it. I spoke with a buddy at work who happens to be a butcher and he said it was just e-coli, and to trim it all off and refrigerate the animal as soon as possible or else it would spread. He also said to let it sit for a week in the refrigerator and age, and that if it went bad that I would be able to tell. I'm following his advice - I cleaned the meat and placed it in a refrigerator yesterday - but I'm beginning to worry that the quarters are going to go bad. Does anyone have any suggestions to avoid the meat going bad or warning signs to look for? Thanks

[boneaddict]

I assume the ice wasn't in waterproof bags...in other owrds you got the meat wet?   That will enhance the bacterial growth.  Dry is better in regards to avoiding bacterial issue.   You'll be able to smell it.  If it was left on the bone, you  may also experience some bone sour. 

[Bigshooter]

I think the easiest way to tell if its spoiled is to smell the meat and the bones. If it smells like good meat its fine if it smells rotten its spoiled.

[Rydonn]

You are correct - the meat was not in waterproof bags, and the bones were in as well. So, should I now butcher the meat to get the good stuff out before it all goes bad?

[Moose-head]

cook and try a bite of it.  wait 10-15 minutes and take another.  if it is bad your body will know and stop you from eating it.

[wapiti hunter2]

If it was mine, I would cut it and wrap it right away.  Today.  If in doubt, do it NOW.  It is to valuable go gamble with.

[BOWHUNTER45]

How did you pack it out ? Did you put it in a back pack where the meat does not have a chance to breathe ? Did you skin the quaters before packing it ? Lot of factors when it is this warm ...Best thing to do is hang the meat so it get air ...even when you place it in the refrig try to hang it or have it standing up so its not laying flat on the racks ....its best to skin the elk and hang the quaters from a tree while you are quatering up the remander of the animal ...then when your ready to head out it should be fine ...

[boneaddict]

I would also take care of it and stop the spread of the bacteria and salvage the good before the flavor is tainted

[bobcat]

I am surprised any of it is still good, after being killed in "early afternoon" and not found until the following morning.

I would be taking care of it ASAP.

[boneaddict]

Cleaned it up so there is one topic......don't be offended if some material was deleted.

[JLS]

I am betting the green color was along the femur and around the hip socket?  If so, it's bone sour and you should trim that out and throw it away.  If it's dark brown, that's normal discoloration if exposed to water and air.  It should smell fine.  If it smells sour pitch it.  I'd be cutting and wrapping as we speak.

[boneaddict]

I'd be really surprised if it wasn't smelling real sour.   

[Rydonn]

Will do. I'd better get to work. Thank all of you for your help.

[JLS]

Also, Dr. Ray Field at the University of Wyoming did some research on aging.  If you age meat for three days at 60 degrees, which is probably pretty close to what you did, you're pretty well maximizing the proteolytic enzymes that make the meat more tender.  As long as you had the meat at a warm temperature I think you'd be playing with fire to try and age it longer in the fridge, for very little additional gain in tenderness.

Move your fingers quicker than the knife blade, happy cutting.

[h20hunter]

Some good advice. Glad i saw the edited thread. Filing it away fir future knowledge.

[whackemstackem]

If it helps, I was in a similar situation for the opener.  Got my deer in eastern Washington early in the morning.  Drug it out whole to the nearest road and went to get my truck. Battery was left on  and it was dead. Ran back and gutted the deer and cleaned the inside cavity with dry washclothes put it in the shade skin on.  The shade temp was 68 and it stayed there all day hung on a tree in the shade. Didn't get the truck running until after dark and skinned it the next day.  It is the best tasting meat I have ever had.  Could be that I just got lucky but leaving the skin on seemed to prevent the hard crust from forming on the outside.

[sirmissalot]

I killed a bear I was worried about last year. It smelled funny to me, but I was told its just because bears stink. The bear I killed before that didn't stink like that though. Not sure, maybe it was just the diet but it ate fine and the people at the meat shop even smelled it, didn't say it smelled bad 

Good luck hope its all still good

[BowHunterZ7]

any animal left over night with the guts in it will be spoiled, even if in the snow, i worked at a butcher shop for 5 years and we took in high volumes of game and i only saw a few where we salvaged the front shoulders, never leave an animal in the field overnight with the guts in it, in the future if u have an animal in the woods overnight get it to a fridge or meat cooler asap and hope for the best u should cut it up within 2 days of being cooled