Butchered Quail smelling rotten

[bachunt]

I had some good success with the quail season today, but after butchering the quails and placing them in a ziploc, there is a really strong iron/ammonia smell. Is the meat salvageable? Does quail just smell?

 

[canyonhunter47]

Quail guts smell pretty bad but the meat smells fine once clean. I doubt the meat would go bad in a day. Did you wash the meat?

 

[bachunt]

Quail guts smell pretty bad but the meat smells fine once clean. I doubt the meat would go bad in a day. Did you wash the meat?

Just gave it another rinse. Hopefully good in the morning. A couple of them were gut shot pretty bad sadly

 

[aaronoto]

Agreed on quail guts smelling horrible... Unfortunately as small as they are, if the innards gets destroyed it's likely on the meat as well. I've personally still ate that meat, but I'm sure some would argue it's riskier....

 

[dtrkyman]

Quail definitely stank, I would not put them in plastic until they are colled off completely!

 

[MJB]

Soak in cold water

 

[Blockcaver]

Congrats on a successful quail hunt! Must be a decent year!

Pull the guts out immediately upon recovery but leave the birds fully feathered. Back at the truck I'll dewing, head, leg them plus skin 'em. Don't put them into plastic bags until you can refrigerate or put them on ice cool. If gut shot try to cut out the contaminated stuff...might be a write-off if if too badly mangled. Carry vinyl gloves for the field gutting,...which is as simple as "cracking" them open at the butt with your thumbs, them pulling out the innards.

Also, maybe open up your choke choice to skeet as well if using a tighter choke Or use larger shot in the future? I always liked skeet and IC with 7/8 oz 7.5's in a 20 ga. Tight chokes and small shot (8 or 9) will usually leave more damaged meat plus more shot in the bird. Or don't shoot them too close as that certainly concentrates the shot charge.

 

[MtnDunn]

Quail guts stink. Wash throughly and you should be fine. If need be, brine in salt water over night. Or, before cooking, marinade in buttermilk with salt. Makes for dang good tasting quail. Congrats on the success!

 

[PoorMansWrangler]

Soak them in salt water over night, helps pull the blood/feather/stank out of them