Meat Spoiling?

[snake]

What are some ways to get your meat out without spoiling?  Say, 2 guys 5-10 miles in on foot. Just bone it out and go like hell? Any differences in how you would approach the situation with a deer vs. elk?  I would love to do some backcountry hunting but I do not want to have an animal spoil on me.

[snake]

Archery, in September.

[Ridgeratt]

First question is just how fast are you with a knife?
Second is you hope it doesn't make a run for the border.

[snake]

I am decent with a knife.  Lets say a good clean kill. Not chasing a wounded animal all over hell for a day or 2.

[northwesthunter84]

Get the hide off, bone it out and get as much airflow as possible. Keep meat out of the sun, if available use a creek bottom or drainage as air temps will be cooler. Good game bags allow airflow and help keep the meat clean. Elk, I would take as much as possible and go. Come back for camp as that will free up more room for meat. Have a plan at the other end, IE coolers, freezer or meat locker. Deer split between two guys is definitely a one trip deal for me but it's all about how much weight you can handle.  A good pack makes a huge difference.

[snake]

Say you get an elk down just before dark.  Do you quarter and hang over night then pack out at daylight? or do you bone it and hike out in the dark?  I know every situation is different but just looking for everyones opinion or experiences. Thanks!

[Remnar]

 

Get the hide off, bone it out and get as much airflow as possible. Keep meat out of the sun, if available use a creek bottom or drainage as air temps will be cooler. Good game bags allow airflow and help keep the meat clean. Elk, I would take as much as possible and go. Come back for camp as that will free up more room for meat. Have a plan at the other end, IE coolers, freezer or meat locker. Deer split between two guys is definitely a one trip deal for me but it's all about how much weight you can handle.  A good pack makes a huge difference.

... Also helps to have some friends with stock , and or that REALLY owe you 

[High Climber]

Say you get an elk down just before dark.  Do you quarter and hang over night then pack out at daylight? or do you bone it and hike out in the dark?  I know every situation is different but just looking for everyones opinion or experiences. Thanks!

If it's warm out I'm packing until it's out.  Really the only way I would wait until morning is if it's in a really nasty spot that would be dangerous at night.

[SilkOnTheDrySide]

Last year we killed an elk 7/8 miles from the trailhead. Overnight temps in the mid 30s, daytime temps up to lower 60s.

Shot right before dark.

First night quartered and hung next day boned out and started packing.

Always left it in the shade.

Between getting sidetracked chasing bugles, that meat finally made it to the truck Monday morning.

Didn't lose an ounce.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trophyhunt]

Packing meat out in the dark where we hunt is not a good idea, last year I shot my bull about 4 miles from the trail head.  It was exactly noon when he hit the dirt, I always carry my meat bags with me in my day pack.  By myself I got to work, it was rifle season but it was warm last year, too warm.  I gutted and quartered right away, as fast as you can by yourself.  And was lucky enough to have a small creek right beside me, hung 3 quarters in the shade above the creek in my bags and deboned the body. All the meat was hanging for the night until the next morning ready to go for my friends and I.  I did pack out the head and one hind end that day, not any fun!  That creek in the shade was perfect, this was also in serious wolf country.  We have had to leave a few over night in wolf country, never have had the meat messed with. Piss around the site and leave a shirt or something that has your sent, should work for bears too.  And don't be too comfortable with your meat just because it's back at camp, if you have deboned meat in a bag, during the day you should lay it out in the cool morning separating it from being a big ball of meat.  Rinse the game bag to get the blood out and let dry.  As soon as the bag is dry and the temps start to rise get the meat back in the bag and hang in a cool dark place.  Meat lockers for us are about 2 hours away and its a nasty place that you wouldn't want to hang your meat in.  Skin off and debone like everyone has said is the short version, just thought I'd throw a couple other ideas out to you. 

[nwwanderer]

It s a matter of temperature, humidity, contamination and time.  Each one is such a variable that allowable times can vary beyond reason.  As cool as possible and as fast as possible would be the best.  Small clean pieces cool faster.  Flies can destroy the best laid plan.  Bears and all the rest will ruin a good situation.

[Karl Blanchard]

Th most important step in the whole process is the initial cooling of the meat.  Once the meat is cool or cold, it will stay that way for a very long time.  I bone everything, regardless of distance (packing bones is dumb ).  So deer go out in one trip, elk are a bit more.  Once meat is cool, I will put in garbage bags and submerge in a creek.  If no creek is available, a shady geothermal pocket will do.  Get it up off the ground.  If you do quarter and hang, seperate a few muscles down to the leg bone to help release heat. 

Meat isn't as fragile as some will make it out to be.  Get it to at least air temp before stuffing it in a bag and you will be good.

If I shoot one at dark, I'd debone, hang, and pack come daylight.

[buglebrush]

As has been mentioned don't leave until meat is boned and in a cool spot.  Let boned pieces cool before putting in a game bag.   I always carry a piece of plastic that i cover with alder branches and toss the meat on there to cool.  If you are not prepared to completely break down an animal on the spot don't shoot one.   

[kellama2001]

Does anyone have experience using citric acid to keep the meat longer in the back country?

[fireweed]

Done it many times. 
Carry meat sacks, good knife, parachute cord, and good head lamp.  Get the hide off, and quartered out. I use gutless method.  Let chunks and boned out meat cool on meat sacks while working on quarters. Find a cool spot, like a creek draw in the shade, a bit away from guts.  Hang in meat sacks that still have good air flow but keep flies out.  Keep it off the ground with airflow all around. hang overnight and pack out tenderloins/bs that night. If it's going to stay hot, start packing out early the next morning if possible.  No need to pack quarters out in the dark--let it cool overnight. Leave some "human scent" around the scene when you leave.  If you have found a cool spot it can stay a day or so, especially if it gets cold overnight.  No problems.  With an elk and no horses, bring friends for long hauls, and bone out to lighten the load.

[snake]

Thanks for the advice.  I have taken a few elk with a bow but none of them more than 1.5 miles from my camp or vehicle.  Things can go bad fast in the early hunt if its a hot year.

[northwesthunter84]

Citric acid helps a little with flies and yellow jackets, not as effective as pepper but easier to get off the meat, I treat my bags with it and take a small kit that carribou game bags has. You can buy it cheap in the canning section. I apply liberally tobthe game prior to bagging and let it dry a little as the meat cools.

[ridgefire]

We have hung elk for a week in Sept and never lost a ounce. Get the meat cool as soon as you can and then hang in the shade over a creek.

[Branden]

I don't think it's that hard to keep it from spoiling. A deer is one trip to the truck. No big deal. An elk a little more prep like making sure you hang it in the shade etc. Around a creek in the shade even better. A lot of elk die in dark timber during archery cause that's where they stay cool. Makes it pretty easy to find a good place to hang the meat.

Regards, Branden

[jmscon]

Shot a cow on the St. Helens monument (master hunter tag) a few years back. 2.5 miles, as the crow flies, from my truck and by myself (bad, bad idea!) I got done quartering it and bagging it at dusk. Two days and five crossings of the Toutle river later I got the meat out. It was cooler, the end of October early November, but the meat was great!

[JDHasty]

It s a matter of temperature, humidity, contamination and time.  Each one is such a variable that allowable times can vary beyond reason.  As cool as possible and as fast as possible would be the best.  Small clean pieces cool faster.  Flies can destroy the best laid plan.  Bears and all the rest will ruin a good situation.

Humidity is the killer. 

[Magnum_Willys]

was glad I packed a Spray bottle of vinegar and water to mist moose carcass when quartering in upper 70 degree weather.  100's of horseflys and bees but they stayed off the meat. 

[JDHasty]

Th most important step in the whole process is the initial cooling of the meat.  Once the meat is cool or cold, it will stay that way for a very long time.  I bone everything, regardless of distance (packing bones is dumb ).  So deer go out in one trip, elk are a bit more.  Once meat is cool, I will put in garbage bags and submerge in a creek.  If no creek is available, a shady geothermal pocket will do.  Get it up off the ground.  If you do quarter and hang, seperate a few muscles down to the leg bone to help release heat. 

Meat isn't as fragile as some will make it out to be.  Get it to at least air temp before stuffing it in a bag and you will be good.

If I shoot one at dark, I'd debone, hang, and pack come daylight.

In a plastic  bag and into a creek is the gold standard.  Bone is not only bad news because it is heavy to pack out though.  From what I have heard old timers used to say bones cause spoilage, but me thinks that it wasn't the bones per say but getting the meat out of it's hair coat and off the bone enhanced heat transfer and cooling.   

[dreamunelk]

Has anyone sprayed vinegar or other on their meat bags?  Would think that would help with insects?  Thoughts?
Have always boned and not lost any meat.  Always looking for a better plan.........

[Karl Blanchard]

Th most important step in the whole process is the initial cooling of the meat.  Once the meat is cool or cold, it will stay that way for a very long time.  I bone everything, regardless of distance (packing bones is dumb ).  So deer go out in one trip, elk are a bit more.  Once meat is cool, I will put in garbage bags and submerge in a creek.  If no creek is available, a shady geothermal pocket will do.  Get it up off the ground.  If you do quarter and hang, seperate a few muscles down to the leg bone to help release heat. 

Meat isn't as fragile as some will make it out to be.  Get it to at least air temp before stuffing it in a bag and you will be good.

If I shoot one at dark, I'd debone, hang, and pack come daylight.

In a plastic  bag and into a creek is the gold standard.  Bone is not only bad news because it is heavy to pack out though.  From what I have heard old timers used to say bones cause spoilage, but me thinks that it wasn't the bones per say but getting the meat out of it's hair coat and off the bone enhanced heat transfer and cooling.

  It's referred to as bone sour.  Bones hold heat for a very long time, and will cause the meat to spoil from the inside.  Just ask any butcher how much meat he has thrown away because someone thought that simply skinning and hanging an elk was adequate, when the temps seemed cool. 

My buddy killed a bull in Colorado a few years ago on our November deer hunt.  Temps were into the single digits at night.  It was a bad 6 miles out and required multiple trips.  We figured it was plenty cold, so to keep the meat from freezing we left the hide on but gutted and propped himopen, then skinned as we boned out.  The next day on our second trip, we rolled him over to bone out the other side and that ground side had bone sour started in the hind quarter.  Lesson learned.  It's never cold enough

[kentrek]

When using the horses we've left the bone in over night on lots of elk, if it's in the 30s there's no issues with the bone being left in.....but with that said you definitely can never leave a hot elk on the ground with the hide on, like BLRman said...it's never cold enough for that..that ground contact kills the cooling process

[Jonathan_S]

Has anyone sprayed vinegar or other on their meat bags?  Would think that would help with insects?  Thoughts?
Have always boned and not lost any meat.  Always looking for a better plan.........

Maybe not the best solution for backcountry hunting but PAM spray works great.  Spray it on your game bags after the meat is hanging and bugs will not land on it.  They'll buzz around until the cows come home but they don't land.

[Jonathan_S]

When using the horses we've left the bone in over night on lots of elk, if it's in the 30s there's no issues with the bone being left in.....but with that said you definitely can never leave a hot elk on the ground with the hide on, like BLRman said...it's never cold enough for that..that ground contact kills the cooling process

I've heard a pretty fascinating story from a member on here.  A bull was shot in the September afternoon and recovered the next day.  The bull had bedded down with it's legs underneath him and died like that.  Minimal ground contact and zero spoilage. 

Of course that can't be counted on happening, 99.99% of the time, they are going to flop on their side and 50% of that animal is on the ground.

[kentrek]

When using the horses we've left the bone in over night on lots of elk, if it's in the 30s there's no issues with the bone being left in.....but with that said you definitely can never leave a hot elk on the ground with the hide on, like BLRman said...it's never cold enough for that..that ground contact kills the cooling process

I've heard a pretty fascinating story from a member on here.  A bull was shot in the September afternoon and recovered the next day.  The bull had bedded down with it's legs underneath him and died like that.  Minimal ground contact and zero spoilage. 

Of course that can't be counted on happening, 99.99% of the time, they are going to flop on their side and 50% of that animal is on the ground.

That's a interesting story, I wonder how long the animal had actually been dead


I left a bull over night once and after way to much tracking we found him at 11am the next morning....wasn't even stiff yet ...zero spoil 

[Jonathan_S]

  it's a good question as to how long the animal has been dead.

[snake]

So many factors involved.  I mainly hunt early archery season.  Some years it has been 90 degrees. 

[Branden]

My buddy killed a bull in Colorado a few years ago on our November deer hunt.  Temps were into the single digits at night.  It was a bad 6 miles out and required multiple trips.  We figured it was plenty cold, so to keep the meat from freezing we left the hide on but gutted and propped himopen, then skinned as we boned out.  The next day on our second trip, we rolled him over to bone out the other side and that ground side had bone sour started in the hind quarter.  Lesson learned.  It's never cold enough

I had a different experience in almost the same situation. Colorado, November, freezing temps at night probably 40 or so during the day.

I was 7 miles in when I killed the bull. I came into this canyon from a different one and never had hunted it before. I knew a road was 3-4 miles away at the mouth to this canyon so I told my dad to wait for me there. I got both quarters off one side boned and in my game bags. It was starting to get dark, the area has lots of cliffs and since I had never been down this canyon before I loaded the front and hind quarter and headed out right before dark. Turned out to not be to bad of a pack. The next day my dad and I hunted our way into the canyon the same way as I did the day before and we finished cutting up that elk about mid morning. There was no spoilage on that bull. And it rested on the on side over night with the bone in.

It's funny how some people get spoilage and some don't.

We've also hung quarters overnight bone in and not had a problem in warmer temps. Maybe some bulls just have more bacteria in them or something?

[Oh Mah]

Just came across this thread and got me thinking,If you completely bone the animal out whether deer or elk how does one cleanly leave proof of sex attached?Is this considered processed and can be removed in the field when fully boning the animal?

[Karl Blanchard]

Just came across this thread and got me thinking,If you completely bone the animal out whether deer or elk how does one cleanly leave proof of sex attached?Is this considered processed and can be removed in the field when fully boning the animal?

  I just skin back the sack and leave the berries attached to the meat.  It's pretty easy.

[Bango skank]

Just came across this thread and got me thinking,If you completely bone the animal out whether deer or elk how does one cleanly leave proof of sex attached?Is this considered processed and can be removed in the field when fully boning the animal?

So thus is off topic, but your post just made me think about this.  Does anybody else find it unreasonable that evidence of sex must be left attached on hunts where either sex is legal?  Examples, bear, cougar, either sex archery deer/elk seasons.   

[kentrek]

Just came across this thread and got me thinking,If you completely bone the animal out whether deer or elk how does one cleanly leave proof of sex attached?Is this considered processed and can be removed in the field when fully boning the animal?

  I just skin back the sack and leave the berries attached to the meat.  It's pretty easy.

I prefer to skin back the twig and leave s small one inch piece of that...same idea tho

I could be wrong but I think he's wondering since it's deboned how can you prove it's from the same animal....which I can't answer

[Oh Mah]

  since it has to be attached to the largest portion and that portion needs to be so big.My other question was does this meet the processing part of the rule?If you completely debone and cut the meat up i would say yes,Then there's the transport part of the rule that makes it confusing.

[Karl Blanchard]

Processed is finished meat that has been packaged.  Simply boning an animal out is not processed.  I know a lot of guys take a quarter off and then fillet it off the bone in one big piece.  I don't like dealing with finding a place to lay a quarter, or removing the bone while the quarter is still attached, then having to wrangle a large chunk of boneless meat.  I just cut it off roast by roast, piece by piece.  Much simpler for me.

[Oh Mah]

  thanks for the clarification