How long before gutting?

[Sakko300wsm]

Do you guys that gut using the gutless method harvest the heart and liver?

Or more importantly, the tenderloins!

 

Yeah. A quick slit and pop them out.  I'll admit the Tenderloins can be tricky to get the first time.  I try to use my fingers to break free and then cut the ends.

Exactly!! Actually quite easy

[Curly]

I don't take the liver but I would not be allowed to come home if I left the heart. It's not hard to get the heart or tenderloins......

[deerhunter_98520]

In my opinion there is no such thing as "gamey" meat. It's a myth. I've had tough meat from old animals but never "gamey." Just the word gamey is a word that should never be used, because it implies that the meat of wild game animals tastes bad.

Get your meat cooled ASAP. But I'm not sure you'll notice any difference between getting it done in 5 minutes versus one hour. I don't even guy animals very often anymore. I really like the gutless method. You have to do all that when you get home or back to camp anyway, so IMO you might as well do it before moving the animal and save yourself a lot of work.

 

"Gamey" comes from two sources:

1.  A taste other than beef.  People don't expect pork to taste like beef, but all wild game should.  Funny thing is if you don't eat beef for a year and then try it, it will be gamey.
2.  Poor meat handling skills.  I gut and skin immediately unless I can drag it to a hanging spot quickly and then I just gut.  Even if it is 80 below and dark, guts come out and skin comes off.

Wrong!!! 

I have shot several bucks during the rut that were taken care of quickly and properly and they still had a stronger "gamey" flavor than other deer, even ones that were not found until the next day or skinned and butchered for a few days in 50 degree weather.

I've only had one taste bad and it was for this reason..he was a big bodied, swelled up stinky mess and he was chasing does and full of adrenaline

[dpfarrar84]

Sorry, I am just getting back to this. Took advantage of the kids being out of school. Thank you all for the advice. I definitely feel like I have a better handle on things now. Now off to YouTube!


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[razzanof]

Field dressing aside, I think the biggest obstacle to those not familiar with wild game is that it is...wild game.  Preconceived notions do all sorts of weird things to one's taste buds.  Growing up in PA, we would always add some pork fat when grinding deer meat to balance the flavor as well as to make it easier to prepare.  For a roast, soak it in a subtle marinade (i.e. Worcestershire) several hours prior to cooking.   

[DaveMonti]

Hey razzanof,
Where in PA are you from?  I grew up outside Philly, about 30 miles north.  Been here 8 years.
Dave

[birddogdad]

There is absolutely  gammie meat .......getting  meat cooled quick helps for sure , bone sawing meat , and leaving fat and seniw can affect taste. What the deer or elk feed on makes a difference  , alfalfa  fed are much better than sage deer imo. Sometimes  I will drag a animal aways before gutting to keep it clean but typically  once dead and photos are shot guts out or deboned.

for sure animals taste different based on environment. what they feed on ect.. the "strong" flavors can be dialed back by proper care in processing but game is exactly that.. game... some will not ever like the flavor and it will never taste like a beef steak in your butchers window.. seniw, fat and silverskin (IMO) contribute the most toward dominating flavors of the big game.. remove as much as you can to try and dial back this effect.. if she still turns her nose up, you can add beef or pork fat to grind. masking with spice may be your last resort, if all else fails,  try a different critter, ie muley to blacktail or whitetail, they all have a unique flavor...... 

[theleo]

I get to field dressing the animal as fast as I can. Gut it, skin it, quarter it, make a cut down to the bone through large muscle groups and get it to cooling as soon as I can. The best tasting game I have taken was an Oregon antelope, it was in a cooler on ice within 30 minutes of being shot. I've been told by lots of people that antelope are some of the worst game meat there is. I shared some of that animal with guys that were dead set on that opinion with out telling them what the meat was. After I told them it was antelope their responses were all the same, "man you must have got that on ice quick!".

Treat the meat like you would high end piece of beef, get it somewhere cool as fast as you can. Would you want a T-bone if it had been sitting in heat and blood for hours, letting the bacteria decompose and break the meat down?

[elkboy]

This fall I took a mature whitetail buck during the rut (it was the Sunday before Thanksgiving).  Looking down at him, all I could think was, "This is going to be one gamey critter, but at least the antlers will hang up nicely!".  But I gutted immediately, skinned and quartered in the field, rinsed the quarters with a hose and dried them with old towels, and hung him for a week in a 35 degree F garage before butchering.  We did a careful job of trimming fat, tendon, and silverskin.  And he was as tender and flavorful as any of the does we have taken out here (Palouse region).  I think most of the variability is in how you treat the animal after shooting.  There is some variability due to how well fed the animal is- our farm country deer seem to always have deep red meat. 

And if you do have gamey meat... marinades, stews, pepperoni, etc...   

[REHJWA]

My kids did not eat beaf at all growing up, then in their teens when they started going to friends houses for dinner they thought there was something wrong with the meat...

Also shot a mule deer and every meal had a distinct sage flavor.

[sakoshooter]

Best is to gut ASAP. Prop cavity open to assist cooling. Skinning soon is smart IMHO.

In my opinion, the "gamey-ness" she may be tasting is often the result of running the game through a band saw, IE: having the game processed at a butcher shop. A band saw drags fat, bone chips and marrow over each side of every steak.

I have great results from boning out the meat, and cutting steaks after all fat, sinew are first trimmed from the meat sections.

Your questions are always welcome. That is what this whole site is about.... And; Welcome!

Agreed. I bone mine when I cut it myself otherwise I ask for a boned cut at the butcher shop. You pay a little more but it's definitely worth it in my opinion.

[pope]

I've only processed one deer, a young blacktail buck maybe 2 or 3 years old. Not huge, but not small either, and this was around November 20th. I had already made my mind up, based on lots of reading and where I was hunting, about how I would deal with my kill. After I shot him, I ate a snack, drank some water, climbed out of the stand and quickly found a trail that looked like a bad Halloween movie. Pretty easy track.

I tagged him and started cutting immediately, one side at a time via the gutless method, and definitely took the hide off. I drove home with the quarters in the back of my car, windows down (it was cold). That night and the next morning, I took all meat off the bone and discarded sinew and silver skin, put the meat in freezer bags and let it sit in a very cold fridge for almost one week.

The results were spectacular and made all the effort seem worth it. I don't know if it was the deer or the method I used, but the taste and texture are awesome. In retrospect, I wish I had not made so much burger (everything but back straps), but so many people had told me deer meat is not so wonderful, I was worried the family wouldn't like it.

[Tbob]

I use the gutless method as many others have described. I don't much enjoy the heart or liver, but I always get tenderloins. I can usually just pop them off the cavity with my hands and just nip the ends with my knife. I usually keep one of these fresh for some dinner. Tenderloin with some onions and garlic, yum!! I'm an archer 95% of the time, so I'm usually waiting at least 30-40 min to go looking.. Never really had anything taste "bad" but I've had one Blacktail taste very stong.. My texas antelope, one of the best I've ever eaten!

[jmscon]

I've always adhered to the gut and cool down ASAP, coolers full of ice (in the warmer days). I always felt that a dead animal left whole for a long time (more than a couple of hours) will start to taste more and more gamey. I've also always been told to not touch the glands on the legs of a buck, don't know if this would make the meat gamey or not.

If you butcher your own or have someone do it for you make sure it gets hung up in a cool dry place for a week. This will let the enzymes start to break down the meat so it's not so tough. Some of the best cuts of beef are aged 40 days!

Their diet has a lot to do with as well, I once asked my grandmother what her favorite cut of meat was. Answer? Deer that wasn't raised in the woods!

I've only gotten mulie does that are either grain or alfalfa fed gutted, skinned and in my truck in less than an hour from the shot. Some of the best meat 've ever had!

My opinion might change when I get my first buck!

Good luck!

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Gamey tasting meat can come from many sources, but it usually boils down to a couple things......... Cross contamination, and bacterial growth.

Cross contamination 

Stomach contents contacting meat................ This can come from cutting the bag during gutting, or an animal being gut shot. and contamination from a gut shot isn't limited to the stomach cavity. Once the bullet passes through the gut, it carries contamination wherever it travels. Any damage needs to be removed as soon as possible.

Urine or feces contacting meat..................... Either through a bad shot, or cutting the bladder or colon during gutting. Take your time and be careful. Also, bull elk will urinate on themselves during the rut. So if you grab the hide, then touch the raw meat, you are contaminating it.

Water ...................................................... Water can contain bacteria. It can enter through the bullet wound. one scenario would be if the animal falls in a lake or stream when it dies. Another would be through contacting the ground when the animal is skinned in the field.

Dirt, hair, leaves etc. ..................................  Not being careful during skinning and handling, especially if done in the field. KEEP YOUR MEAT CLEAN!

Glands...................................................... The different glands on a deer or elk produce oils that will affect the taste of your game.  There are the main glands on the hocks, but there are others including some on the face. These oils will be present on the hide so again, if you grab the hide, especially right on a gland, then touch the skinned meat, you are contaminating it.  When skinning an animal let the hide hang sort of inside out and you peel it down so fur is against fur. Don't grab the hide on the hair side to pull then touch the meat. Grab the inside /skin side of the hide to pull. This reduces the chances of cross contamination.

Flies....................................................... Flies are attracted to blood and meat. They can lay eggs before you know it and also cross contaminate from whatever they have touched before they land on your meat.

Blood ..................................................... Blood can sour very quickly and bacteria will start growing. Clean excess blood from the carcass ASAP

Personally, I gut deer with as small an opening as possible to still get the guts out in the field. I usually don't skin them until I get to camp as the hide protects the meat from contamination. The more pieces you cut an animal into in the field means more bacteria getting into your meat and the possibility of cross contamination.  getting a deer out whole is more work usually, but worth it in quality, I feel.

As for bacteria, here is the one of the best sources I've found about bacteria and wild meat quality.

http://www.pristineventures.com/our-blog/124-front-page/159-why-use-citric-acid-on-game-meat.html