Funny tasting elk...spoiled?

[Fastass350]

The bull I shot this year was gutted and quartered right away and hung in the shop in about three hours from the time of kill. It hung at upper 30s at night to low 40s even high 40s during the day for 8 days. I never noticed anything when cuttin and wrapping but the last two packages I have cooked has that sour smell and bite to it. I'm contemplating just having it all made into summer sausage but I'm not sure that will mask the taste. Anyone ever had experience in doing this?

Thanks
Chris

[jrebel]

The temps it hung in would not scare me.  I don't quite know why you would have hung it for 8 days though  .  Hard to tell unless I could taste it.....  Spoiled game is almost unbearable as far as the smell goes and the taste is not far behind. 

[Goldeneye]

  If your meat did sour the first to go would be the hams, where most of your round steak/roasts etc come from.  That's the thickest meat and most susceptible to spoilage.  I would try some shoulder steak and back strap to see if the taste is there as well.

  I agree at this point there really much you can do to mask the taste of spoiled meat.  Hopefully some of it is OK.

[kckrawler]

You pop the piss sack and not get it cleaned out??? I've heard that will spoil the meat...

[washelkhunter]

Looks like you wont need dog food for awhile.   

[kentrek]

did you lump it all in the freezer at once after wrapping ??

[Sitka_Blacktail]

  If your meat did sour the first to go would be the hams, where most of your round steak/roasts etc come from.  That's the thickest meat and most susceptible to spoilage.  I would try some shoulder steak and back strap to see if the taste is there as well.

  I agree at this point there really much you can do to mask the taste of spoiled meat.  Hopefully some of it is OK.

Any chance your freezer lost power recently or the door got left ajar?

[JLS]

When you cut and wrapped it, did you spread it out evenly in the freezer or did you stack it in there?  Meat takes a while to freeze if you don't leave room around it for good air circulation.  When I am putting mine in after butchering I like to single layer as much as I can, then after it's frozen I'll sort it into boxes in the freezer.  When I do burger i don't stack the freezer bags more than two or three deep.

Edit:  I guess a short answer to your question is yes it can spoil in the freezer.

[turkeyfeather]

I agree I would maybe try another cut. Did you just recently start eating some of it? When did you shoot it?

[rtspring]

You got a bad one!!

In all my years of elk hunting I have had one elk that we could not eat. It was a spike shot on the eastside. I have a father who is anal about cleaning game. it was cold out and everything was perfect in the cleaning. got it back from the butcher and we threw it all away....  only one Ive ever had that was horrible tasting....

[turkeyfeather]

You got a bad one!!

In all my years of elk hunting I have had one elk that we could not eat. It was a spike shot on the eastside. I have a father who is anal about cleaning game. it was cold out and everything was perfect in the cleaning. got it back from the butcher and we threw it all away....  only one Ive ever had that was horrible tasting....

That was the other thing that I was thinking. Would something like hoof rot cause this?

[bobcat]

You got a bad one!!

In all my years of elk hunting I have had one elk that we could not eat. It was a spike shot on the eastside. I have a father who is anal about cleaning game. it was cold out and everything was perfect in the cleaning. got it back from the butcher and we threw it all away....  only one Ive ever had that was horrible tasting....

In this case, you really don't know the bad meat came from the elk you brought in.

Or, if it was the same elk, maybe it hung too long at the butcher shop before they butchered it.

[kentrek]

You got a bad one!!

In all my years of elk hunting I have had one elk that we could not eat. It was a spike shot on the eastside. I have a father who is anal about cleaning game. it was cold out and everything was perfect in the cleaning. got it back from the butcher and we threw it all away....  only one Ive ever had that was horrible tasting....

That was the other thing that I was thinking. Would something like hoof rot cause this?

ive heard yes and no..

a guy brought over an elk with a old broken leg (years old) and that quarter actually stunk..we tossed some of it but the guy took an ate alot of the "smelly" meat..he said it tasted just fine...btw the rest of the elk smelled fine

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Read the OP again. He butchered it himself, didn't take it to a shop so he definitely got his own meat. Said he didn't notice anything when cutting and wrapping.

[turkeyfeather]

I'm almost thinking you just got a sick animal. That sucks!