Meat Spoiling?

[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.