Never met an elk I didn’t like.

[WapitiTalk1]

Or more aptly worded, I’ve never met a bad tasting elk  .  Over my few years in the elk hunting business, I’ve occasionally heard hunters say they had a bad tasting or tough as shoe leather elk. I honestly don’t recall experiencing either.  Proper processing once big snotty is down, cooling, transport, and the final trimming (fat, silver skin, sinew) of elk meat before packaging/freezing is HUGE to ensure those various cuts taste great to include the burger. Have any of you cats actually harvested an elk that didn’t taste good, or, was tough as gnawing on an old leather boot?

[Karl Blanchard]

Or more aptly worded, I’ve never met a bad tasting elk  .  Over my few years in the elk hunting business, I’ve occasionally heard hunters say they had a bad tasting or tough as shoe leather elk. I honestly don’t recall experiencing either.  Proper processing once big snotty is down, cooling, transport, and the final trimming (fat, silver skin, sinew) of elk meat before packaging/freezing is HUGE to ensure those various cuts taste great to include the burger. Have any of you cats actually harvested an elk that didn’t taste good, or, was tough as gnawing on an old leather boot?

we live solely on wild game. 4-6 deer and an elk annually for the last 20 years, and critters from low sage country to high alpine and everything in between.  Never had a bad one.  I'm with you 100% in that if you've got off tasting wild game, then you are doing something wrong at some point. Hide off and bones out asap and it's as good as it gets. I've seen the deer and elk with hair on hanging for days in sept/oct. Not good.

I've had one critter that had some really tough cuts.  My 2016 bull.  Flavor was fine but some pieces I had to get creative with.

[Shoofly09]

Luckily, never had a bad elk.   However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible.    Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad.   

[Karl Blanchard]

Luckily, never had a bad elk.   However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible.    Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad.

  🤮🤮🤮 blacktail?  I've heard of fish and game issuing new tags in instances of an animal not being edible due to those kinds of issues.

[Buckjunkie]

I have had a couple elk that were tough as a boot, but the taste wasn’t bad. Older bulls, even the ones shot in Late September can be tough.

[Magnum_Willys]

Never had a bad elk yet.   Was raised on western blacktail deer but a lot of does and youngins.  Now after enjoying years of washington elk and preferably Idaho Elk, Idaho and Montana Muledeer, Iowa whitetail, Washington and Canadian Moose,  I just can't enjoy western rut blacktail as much anymore. 

[Shoofly09]

Mule deer

[dvolmer]

I had a whitetail doe tag this year and ended up shooting a small one.  I  always do a gutless butchering of my deer, elk, and antelope and then instantly de-bone the quarters in the field and come out with the head and two or more bags of boned out meat.  With the small whitetail doe I decided to not bone out the front shoulders and bring them home whole and get creative on the Treager.  Smoked them for three hours and then wrapped them in foil and sprayed with apple juice and cooked them for another 1.5 hours at 350 and they were absolutely wonderful.  My 6 daughters and 1 son have been raised on nothing but deer and elk and now my 10 young grand kids are living on it too.  Like Karl, we usually have 6 or so animals a year to eat and that is all we have along with a little chicken and fish.

[fowl smacker]

When i went to Montana this year I decided to buy and OTC whitetail doe tag to go along with my buck tag.  After tagging out on my buck I shot a small whitetail doe.  I  always do a gutless butchering of my deer, elk, and antelope and then instantly de-bone the quarters in the field and come out with the head and two or more bags of boned out meat.  With the small whitetail doe I decided to not bone out the front shoulders and bring them home whole and get creative on the Treager.  Smoked them for three hours and then wrapped them in foil and sprayed with apple juice and cooked them for another 1.5 hours at 350 and they were absolutely wonderful.  My 6 daughters and 1 son have been raised on nothing but deer and elk and now my 10 young grand kids are living on it too.  Like Karl, we usually have 6 or so animals a year to eat and that is all we have along with a little chicken and fish.

I'm going to have to try that

[zwickeyman]

dvolmer

That looks fantastic


The only one Ive ever had was a Muledeer buck my son shot on November 11th in Swakane. Buck was probably 10 or 11 years old and rutted up hard. Weather was cold and dry and meat taken care of perfectly as always. When my wife was cooking it I could tell if it was my buck or my sons. his was strong to the nose and taste but we ate it all

[Skyvalhunter]

Was that this year?

[huntnnw]

the elk my wife took this year is the toughest elk I have eaten. It taste good, but even the backstraps are not very tender, I have marinaded them and no help. Bull couldnt of been killed any faster with a .300 to the neck at 40 yards, elk was quartered, de-boned and at camp in 2 hours in 20 deg temps. Then hung overnight in 20 deg temps and into a cooler on way home. My old muley buck this year steaks are far better.

[zwickeyman]

Skyvalley

If you were referring to me. Not this year, I think it was 2007 or 2008

[Skyvalhunter]

 

[grundy53]

I was hunting in Idaho a few years ago and came across a severely wounded young buck. He had been shot at the bottom of his brisket and his lung was coming out of the hole. It looked like a red balloon. He couldn't hardly move. I wasn't going to let him suffer. Nor was I going to waste the meat. Normally whitetail is my favorite meat. This buck definitely had an off flavor.  You knew when you were cooking meat from that buck. My wife couldn't even eat it. It was terrible.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Skyvalhunter]

Well you did the honorable thing of not letting him continue to suffer

[Jpmiller]

I had a grouse that I felt we did everything right with but was tougher than tough and hard to eat flavor wise too. I was given half of a deer once that ended up going all into the grinder it tasted so bad. I watched them butcher a deer the next year and realized why. They split the thing up with a sawzall before skinning it and made an absolute mess of keeping the meat clean. Don't hunt with those guys anymore or accept any of the meat they offer.

[lewy]

We pretty much live on wild game as well and I will say some deer/elk are better than others

[trophyhunt]

the elk my wife took this year is the toughest elk I have eaten. It taste good, but even the backstraps are not very tender, I have marinaded them and no help. Bull couldnt of been killed any faster with a .300 to the neck at 40 yards, elk was quartered, de-boned and at camp in 2 hours in 20 deg temps. Then hung overnight in 20 deg temps and into a cooler on way home. My old muley buck this year steaks are far better.

My wife's bull that she shot in sept a couple years ago was terrible, tough as heck, even the back straps like your wife's.  My bull moose this year is also pretty chewy, not impressed, can't wait to put a better elk in the freezer.

[huntnnw]

I will say I have taken 4 mature whitetails in early Sept that were feeding on falfa fields and these deer were by far the best wild game I have ever eaten.

[huntnnw]

the elk my wife took this year is the toughest elk I have eaten. It taste good, but even the backstraps are not very tender, I have marinaded them and no help. Bull couldnt of been killed any faster with a .300 to the neck at 40 yards, elk was quartered, de-boned and at camp in 2 hours in 20 deg temps. Then hung overnight in 20 deg temps and into a cooler on way home. My old muley buck this year steaks are far better.

My wife's bull that she shot in sept a couple years ago was terrible, tough as heck, even the back straps like your wife's.  My bull moose this year is also pretty chewy, not impressed, can't wait to put a better elk in the freezer.

moose are spotty from what I have gathered, I have heard its either tough or tender. My bull moose was unreal. I test cooked alot of cuts before packaging and I steaked as much as I could as everything was tender. My buddy shot a young bull and that was the toughest meat I have ever tried.

[hunterofelk]

Back in the eighties we got a cow elk north of Yellowstone during a late season that was older than the jaw chart the game check station used.  We were butchering her and at noon decided to have tender loin for lunch.  Tough and chewy meat, so we ground all the meat and made salami.  A mature bull I got years later didn't smell appetizing unless I grilled or boiled the meat.

[kball4]

I think alot of the toughness comes from not hanging meat for 3-4 days at 40 degrees.  If its below freezing the whole time protein and the fibers never get a chance to break down.  Same situation for processing the animal right away regard less of temp.  Essentially controlled decomposition.

[Buck Rub Jr]

Did the same with a front shoulder from a blacktail this year. Injected with a brisket injection to keep it juicy and wrapped at 165 internal until it was between 200-205. Turned out great.

[nwwanderer]

It was mentioned but will elaborate.  Every critter should be taste tested before processing to determine best options.  You will find exceptions to every situation, sometimes unexpected.

[The Marquis]

It was mentioned but will elaborate.  Every critter should be taste tested before processing to determine best options.  You will find exceptions to every situation, sometimes unexpected.

Yep, straight up.  Nothing special to it.  Just eat it to figure out what you SHOULD be doing with it.  There is only one way to find out... taste it straight.

[Karl Blanchard]

Half the fun of processing your own meat is taste testing the cast iron and hot butter is as important as a knife, cutting board and whetstone 🤤

I will say though that fresh off the critter meat can be a lot more tough than stuff that has been in the freezer for a bit. I don't even eat the tenderloins fresh. Wrap em and freeze em. For me personally I'd rather let stuff age in the freezer rather than lose meat due to trimming crust off a deer that's hung. All my stuff gets processed ASAP.

[WSU]

I had one bull that smelled strong when cooking. Very strong. The taste was normal though, so not sure what was up.

My dad killed a big old muley buck that was tough as nails. I ended up thawing everything including backstraps and grinding them into burger. The flavor was normal though.

[Bigshooter]

I'm not a believer that all wild game is so great tasting as most on this thread believe.  I have ate tons of deer and elk.  And lot's of times eating it with friends and family they will say "this is the best I've ever had".  While i'm sitting there trying not to puke because I think it tastes horrible. 

[Timberstalker]

Interesting.  I can't say I have ever had game meat make me want to puke.

Hell, my bear from this year is absolutely amazing.  Some of the best meat I have had.

[sjhgraysage]

2 bull elk both 6x6's, and a cow all killed in late october to near the 1st of November.  Taste was good , steaks were chewy on all three. To warm to let the meat hang for a week, so we cut em up and put them in the freezers.

[blackveltbowhunter]

The only truly bad I have ever eaten was Montana deer a friend had processed at a shop over there. He normally does all his own. It was so bad he ended up feeding it to his dogs. Unknown if it was the animal or the processing plant, but it was cut with a bandsaw and I have heard that's not generally favorable to game meat.

  However its certainly been a sliding scale and some are better than others. Meat care is priority number one and the only truly controllable factor IMO.  I hang game unless circumstances prevent it. And think a few days in a cooler definitely helps. I also vacuum pack in roast form and cut steak when ready. Good meat prep from freezer to pan is almost as important as the field to freezer care.

 Aside from that I think its kind of a crap shoot.

 If I had to nail down preferred table fare options it would probably look like this. Velvet spike elk, any deer killed in September, if close to agriculture even better. Females are more stable across the board, though not always the very best. If killing in rut... Elk, Whitetail, Blacktail, Mule deer.

[Stein]

I may be proven wrong, but I still think that 95% or more of the problems comes from meat care. Everyone thinks they do a great job and sometimes the conditions just make that impossible.  During cold weather, if the meat freezes within 24 hours it will be very tough.

I have had meat with a ton of taste to it but never something I shot that tasted bad or was incredibly tough.  The last antelope I shot was an old dude, the taxidermist even commented he hasn't seen one of that vintage in a while and it ate just fine.

For the meat processed, it's not a fair discussion because you don't know whose animal you are eating.

[Bullkllr]

I have had a couple elk that were tough as a boot, but the taste wasn’t bad. Older bulls, even the ones shot in Late September can be tough.

 A couple rutted-out bulls from early October stand out, IME.

[dilleytech]

I have never eaten any wild game from any critter that was “bad” I could rank my favorites but nothing was not worth eating. It bothers me when someone said they ate the tender loin right away when the meat is absolutely as chewy as it’s going to be and they burger the whole animal. I can’t recall ever eating something the day it was killed and not had it be very tough.

The only tough meat I have eaten was a really old bear and a cougar. But like others meat care is crucial. If I’m getting an animal out whole I except to get the hide off in a matter of hours. Also I don’t age meat hanging because I don’t have a walk in cooler or think paying for the use of one worth the benefit. If I want crazy tender aged meat I use wet aging. I have done this technique up to 6 weeks and it does wonders to any cut.

[Eric M]

Ive seen that many people who complain of gamey meat or "funny" tastes get their animals done at a butcher shop. My brother in law and his family have the Mennonites butcher their animals. Although hes never had any issues, i have a hard time believing that with 200 deer hanging in the barns he is getting back the same animal.

[cavemann]

Luckily, never had a bad elk.   However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible.    Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad.

  🤮🤮🤮 blacktail?  I've heard of fish and game issuing new tags in instances of an animal not being edible due to those kinds of issues.

Come on Karl, we've discussed this.  Blacktails sip soy lattes and the finest organic browse.  they are tender, marinated and aged on the hoof.  you don't know what you are missing!!

[Karl Blanchard]

Luckily, never had a bad elk.   However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible.    Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad.

  🤮🤮🤮 blacktail?  I've heard of fish and game issuing new tags in instances of an animal not being edible due to those kinds of issues.

Come on Karl, we've discussed this.  Blacktails sip soy lattes and the finest organic browse.  they are tender, marinated and aged on the hoof.  you don't know what you are missing!!

  that's a good point. Plus they don't put any nutrients into antler growth so that probably helps too 

[cavemann]

hey, hey, hey...  mass vs length, same difference.  at least thats what I tell myself.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I have had 2 pronghorn of about 60 that had a strong, unpleasant flavor.  An old Wyoming Range mule deer doe my ex shot smelled terrible while cooking but was ok to eat (I labeled every package "Methusela").  The biggest headscratcher was a raghorn bull elk my best friend at the time shot - mid-September, cold and clear, that bull had no clue anyone was around and went from feeding to DRT after Scott shot it in the heart.  Skinned, quartered, hung to chill ... that elk was so tough we ate the entire thing out of a crock pot.  No explanation for that one. 

My favorite game is probably alfalfa whitetail, least favorite Wyoming mountain mule deer that winter on big sagebrush.  However, nonmigratory mule deer that live in silver sage year round are excellent.  East Cascades mule deer are excellent. 

[NOCK NOCK]

One big factor to toughness I haven’t seen mentioned yet..... How the meat is actually cut. 
If whoever is doing the butchering doesn’t Make Cut in the proper places  you will end up with a steak that chews more like jerky.
Always steak by cutting cross grain.
I have killed, processed, and ate well over 100 big game animals. None have tasted bad and only one was tough, the moose.

[dilleytech]

I have had 2 pronghorn of about 60 that had a strong, unpleasant flavor.  An old Wyoming Range mule deer doe my ex shot smelled terrible while cooking but was ok to eat (I labeled every package "Methusela").  The biggest headscratcher was a raghorn bull elk my best friend at the time shot - mid-September, cold and clear, that bull had no clue anyone was around and went from feeding to DRT after Scott shot it in the heart.  Skinned, quartered, hung to chill ... that elk was so tough we ate the entire thing out of a crock pot.  No explanation for that one. 

My favorite game is probably alfalfa whitetail, least favorite Wyoming mountain mule deer that winter on big sagebrush.  However, nonmigratory mule deer that live in silver sage year round are excellent.  East Cascades mule deer are excellent.

My Wyoming butcher friend has Said the reason people have bad experience with pronghorns is because they didn’t cool the meat fast enough. It’s absolutely critical with them that you skin them and get the meat down in temp right away. Antelope would be top of my list for flavor and quality.

How fast or how stressful the death of an animal is doesn’t seem to matter for meat quality in my experience.

On blacktails the two I have eaten in my location both had tons of worms under the skin below the knees but have been absolutely great eating.

[Stein]

I have had two variety of antelope and it was the biggest animal to animal change in taste I have had.  Antelope 1 was a doe I shot as she stepped foot off the alfalfa field.  Antelope 2 was the old buck in sageville WY.  If I didn't know better I would have bet a paycheck it wasn't the same species.

There is difference in all animals, but for those two the difference was remarkable.  The doe was the most mild tasting meat I can imagine, borderline too bland.  The buck, well I ate about 40% of it before I started to appreciate the taste.  The family never did come around to that one but I ended up enjoying it and would like to shoot another one next year.

[Buckjunkie]

I have had two variety of antelope and it was the biggest animal to animal change in taste I have had.  Antelope 1 was a doe I shot as she stepped foot off the alfalfa field.  Antelope 2 was the old buck in sageville WY.  If I didn't know better I would have bet a paycheck it wasn't the same species.

There is difference in all animals, but for those two the difference was remarkable.  The doe was the most mild tasting meat I can imagine, borderline too bland.  The buck, well I ate about 40% of it before I started to appreciate the taste.  The family never did come around to that one but I ended up enjoying it and would like to shoot another one next year.

I only have three buck antelope to compare, but a friend told me to get the hide off quick and carry a cooler with ice. Throw the quarters in and get them cool as fast as possible.

The first two were shot, gutted and thrown in the bed of the truck to go hunt some more. They were terrible. The last on we got it on ice within 45 minutes and it was very good eating.

[Stein]

Yeah, I have an ice maker in the garage so I always carry 40-100# in the truck when hunting.  The buck was hanging off a hitch hoist within the hour and on ice a few minutes later.  It wasn't "gamy" or bad smelling, it just had an antelope taste that was unique.  A fairly strong antelope taste.

It's kind of like how salmon tastes very different than tuna, that one was just different compared to the doe.  A strong different, but not unpleasant once I got used to it.

[buggy]

A few years back I shot a healthy bt buck miday. Boned on site, packed out, and brought it home and processed it immediately. Maybe 3 hours from the shot til I started cutting. It was mostly cooled but some of the bigger chunks were warm inside. It is the only game meat that I did not enjoy. Taste was fine but was very tough. I did some reading and found out that you should not cut your meat "cross grain" until it has cooled completely. I have let my animals cool since then and haven't had any issues.

[Karl Blanchard]

Best deer in my opinion are sitka blacktail from kodiak. Second would be high country mule deer. With that said, I killed an Idaho September high country mule deer AND a Nevada buck at 10,000ft but it was PJ, mahogany sage country. When I got home, I cut the same steak from each buck and cooked medium rare with zero seasoning. Only difference I could tell was in tenderness. The Idaho buck was a bit more tender. It did however sit on ice for 6 days longer than the NV buck.

I hear people talk about nasty sage brush bucks but after eating dozens and dozens of them I've concluded that some people just arent the best cooks😂

[Buckjunkie]

A few years back I shot a healthy bt buck miday. Boned on site, packed out, and brought it home and processed it immediately. Maybe 3 hours from the shot til I started cutting. It was mostly cooled but some of the bigger chunks were warm inside. It is the only game meat that I did not enjoy. Taste was fine but was very tough. I did some reading and found out that you should not cut your meat "cross grain" until it has cooled completely. I have let my animals cool since then and haven't had any issues.

Thanks for sharing. That’s good info. I have been hearing guys say aging doesn’t matter with wild game, but apparent cooling does.

[Eric M]

A few years back I shot a healthy bt buck miday. Boned on site, packed out, and brought it home and processed it immediately. Maybe 3 hours from the shot til I started cutting. It was mostly cooled but some of the bigger chunks were warm inside. It is the only game meat that I did not enjoy. Taste was fine but was very tough. I did some reading and found out that you should not cut your meat "cross grain" until it has cooled completely. I have let my animals cool since then and haven't had any issues.

Thanks for sharing. That’s good info. I have been hearing guys say aging doesn’t matter with wild game, but apparent cooling does.

I think there is a difference between aging and hanging until rigor mortis has passed. Usually just hanging it overnight and it loosens back up. Just my ooinion but I think this makes a difference.