Does a Slow death affect meat?

[Beendare]

What's the science on this? Is there a fight or flight hormone like adrenaline that gets released?

Does a prolonged death, like recovering a wounded animal the next day affect the quality of the meat?

I'm not talking souring from leaving them and the meat rots....I'm talking something like an animal you shot then have to finish off 4hrs, 6hrs or the next day.

I've only had one like that and it was a high country mule in NV. I don't eat those deer but feed them to my dog- so I don't have anything to judge it by. Thankfully, 95% of my critters literally die in sight from a pass through arrow.

 

[Marble]

I haven't noticed a difference. It seems to me post death care is the most important thing us hunters have control over.

Be interesting is there was some type of science based yes or no type of variable. Not the bro science answer...

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[WRO]

Typically ones that die bad are significantly more chewy in my experience.


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[EastHumboldt]

I’m sure there’s got to be an adrenaline and cortisol release when you get shot. How long does it hang around? I don’t know. Seems like it would be a tough thing to actually find any scientific data.

Anecdotally, I’ve had a couple muley bucks that were not DRT that I had to track down and finish off. I did not notice any difference in the meat. I live in NV and I’d be glad to take that meat off your hands next time! Save you the trouble and I’d buy you a couple bags of dog food.

 

[Skerhunter]

Yes - there is a lot of info on stressed cattle and the effect on muscles/meat quality. Probably not much for deer/elk/etc.

You will get dark firm dry meat and the flavor will change.

 

[HuntHarder]

I can't say with certainty what all affects meat taste/ quality. I've left a few overnight, tracked and found after a mile, DRT'd and there is no rhyme or reason to the taste/ quality of the meat. Young vs. Older age class animals, hasn't 100% been proven accurate either. I honestly think it's how you preserve the meat in the days following the kill. I started letting my meat "age" in coolers for close to a week before butchering/ grinding and the last 10 or so animals have all been less "gamey".

 

[Ferrulewax]

The japanese are very careful with sushi grade fish to kill the fish quickly to avoid lactic acid buildup. I don’t have enough experience with game to speak to it, but I would think animals would be the same. Granted fish are a much more primitive animal than mammals, and game animals aren’t thrown on ice still alive like many fish are.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

A while back there was a meat scientist on meateater podcast, he goes into the science part of it.
In my experience it’s more about what you do after it’s dead that affects the meat. Hanging it, not immediately deboning, how quickly you get it cooled down and when you freeze it. I had a bull that I jumped up a few times and from first shot to death was probably 5-6 hrs. He was delicious. I had a cow I neck shot and stoned that was inedible. Difference was I hung the bull for 2-3 days, then deboned and froze. The cow froze almost immediately (was -20).

 

[huntcookwrite]

As folks have said, an animal that is stressed is going to release cortisol and other stress hormones into its body. If it’s running and stressed, there will be a lactic acid build up. All of these things will affect the taste of the meat compared to an animal that was killed perfectly at rest and taken unaware. The better question, though, is will you notice a difference?

This is where the post-kill processing makes a difference. How quickly can you get it cooled, are you hanging it for long enough for rigor mortis to go away — these are all factors.

The Japanese Ike jime example is a good one — those buyers have such a sophisticated palate that they can tell a fish that was stoned and bled vs one that was based in the head and died of suffocation. There are hundreds of dollars per pound in value difference between those two.

 

[Cornhusker]

As mentioned earlier it does on cattle. University of Nebraska meat science lab did a pretty complete study that I read on it that I can't find now but it does with the slaughter of cattle.

 

[hereinaz]

Can’t remember the podcast, but a commercial hunter in the UK has a process to bleed and quickly refrigerate meat for quality control.

I am going to start bleeding mine.

I let mine age in coolers for a week or so. I also am careful about keeping the meat clean.

I don’t like gamey meat. My javelina tasted good. Most people don’t like it at all.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I haven’t noticed a difference and I’ve seen pretty much every scenario from DRT to multiple shots over hours. A couple scenarios that stand out that were pretty awful.

My theory is that people that have poor experiences with meat quality had a breakdown somewhere in the process after the animal was laying on the ground dead….poor field butchering, poor meat care and handling, poor butchering.

Antelope is a prime example, let it get warm and it’s all over. Get the hide off immediately and keep it cold from the field to the freezer and it’s the best meat you can find.

 

[grfox92]

The worst animal I ever ate was dead instantly and the meat couldn't have been cooled or cared for any better. It was an antelope and it was so rank we never actually ate it. It wound up being thrown to the dogs.

I've had gut shot whitetails that took 6+ hours to die taste phenomenal.



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[roadrunner]

A lot of it is the animal's diet. I shot a small buck one year that had been living in a Russian Olive grove that was thrown out.

 

[Traveler]

Taste much more to do with genetics and diet over the lifetime than the last few hours.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Had a rodeo with a lil meat buck. Hands down the nastiest animal I have ever put on a plate.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I killed a bull elk in 1968 that the bullet got deflected and it took me a couple three miles to catch him. The taste was fine if you had the strength to chew him. Never knew if it was the conditions or the bull but he took a while to consume.

 

[WRO]

A while back there was a meat scientist on meateater podcast, he goes into the science part of it.
In my experience it’s more about what you do after it’s dead that affects the meat. Hanging it, not immediately deboning, how quickly you get it cooled down and when you freeze it. I had a bull that I jumped up a few times and from first shot to death was probably 5-6 hrs. He was delicious. I had a cow I neck shot and stoned that was inedible. Difference was I hung the bull for 2-3 days, then deboned and froze. The cow froze almost immediately (was -20).

Did you leave the cow on the bone and slowly thaw it?


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[Ucsdryder]

The worst animal I ever ate was dead instantly and the meat couldn't have been cooled or cared for any better. It was an antelope and it was so rank we never actually ate it. It wound up being thrown to the dogs.

I've had gut shot whitetails that took 6+ hours to die taste phenomenal.



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Did you process the antelope yourself?

 

[grfox92]

Did you process the antelope yourself?

Yes. I process all of my animals.

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