Free: Contests & Raffles.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: huntnnw on December 05, 2019, 05:38:54 AMthe 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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Shoofly09 on December 04, 2019, 09:17:35 PMLuckily, 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.
Quote from: Karl Blanchard on December 04, 2019, 09:22:52 PMQuote from: Shoofly09 on December 04, 2019, 09:17:35 PMLuckily, 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!!
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: buggy on December 06, 2019, 06:44:19 PMA 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.