How many lbs of elk meat have you gotten?

[hirshey]

I got 30 lbs. off of my cow this year...

First elk, first animal with a muzzleloader, and I made a heck of a shot. I'm sure I will spend the rest of my life trying to equal that shot: 100ish yards, the animal stepped and I shot right behind the shoulder, out the other side, double lunged her and she dropped right there.

That's when the bad news started: I could see her hip bones pretty well when we got up to her, and I was shocked when I started to field dress her and 80% of the blood in her body came out in a congealed brick! The heart had some odd gelatanous clear goo surrounding it, and when we tried to load her on the game cart, patches of hair pulled out. Case and point, she was really sick. We figured out why pretty quickly when we started to pull the hide: a significant archery wound on her back hadn't killed her initially, but had fevered and ruined the meat. Initially we thought we were only going to lose an entire side of loins, but the rest of the meat never really set up right and smelled awful.

If you're wondering why I didn't just call the game wardens and get a replacement tag for a mercy kill, I tried... we got a heck of a guy that ended up telling us: "If everyone didn't like the taste of their meat we'd be handing out tags left and right. Just because you have a tag doesn't gaurantee you an animal! Eat what you have and be happy."

Its not that we simply didn't like the taste.. its that the meat was spoiled.

Pretty disappointing end to the hunting season, but overall it was a good year.

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Sorry to hear that. Not getting the meat on a cow is a double crapper as you have no set of antlers to help ease the pain.

I shot a spike elk in Oregon several years back that had an 18 inch long by 2 inch diameter stick inside it's chest cavity when I gutted it out. It must have been pierced during a mad dash through the woods. It was terribly infected and the stick was white as bone when I pulled it out. Covered with white blood cells.

I did that elk a favor by killing it. I lost all the meat from the brisket forward including the front of both shoulders. It most likley would have ended up like your cow.

[hirshey]

Yeah, the best thing about that situation is the animal no longer has to suffer.. and for a first muzzleloader kill, an excellent shot eased her pain as quick as could be. Its amazing what those animals endure; just provides me with that much more respect for them, and the desire to continue working on my shooting skills to ensure the most ethical and quick kill possible.

Sorry to hear that. Not getting the meat on a cow is a double crapper as you have no set of antlers to help ease the pain.

I shot a spike elk in Oregon several years back that had an 18 inch long by 2 inch diameter stick inside it's chest cavity when I gutted it out. It must have been pierced during a mad dash through the woods. It was terribly infected and the stick was white as bone when I pulled it out. Covered with white blood cells.

I did that elk a favor by killing it. I lost all the meat from the brisket forward including the front of both shoulders. It most likley would have ended up like your cow.