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.

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