Does a Slow death affect meat?

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

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


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Wasn’t an option unfortunately, deboned partially frozen right after I packed it out. That might of helped but think the big factor was it freezing so quick.

 

[Team4LongGun]

My unofficial guess and experience screams definitely yes. I can't tell you why.

 

[Billy Goat]

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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I remember at one point reading about antelope, and how their body will breakdown their own muscle for energy to run. Humans will eventually do the same thing, but no info out there about eating us.


But apparently you don't want to eat an antelope that has been running for a while.

Maybe it was an article based on fudd lore, don't know.


Animal condition can definitely play a roll in meat quality, if a few hours of stress reduces quality I don't know, but a few days can.

 

[Reburn]

I remember at one point reading about antelope, and how their body will breakdown their own muscle for energy to run. Humans will eventually do the same thing, but no info out there about eating us.


But apparently you don't want to eat an antelope that has been running for a while.

Maybe it was an article based on fudd lore, don't know.


Animal condition can definitely play a roll in meat quality, if a few hours of stress reduces quality I don't know, but a few days can.

Some antelope just taste rank. I have found its seems to be related to local and probably diet.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

The worst antelope and the worst Elk I've eaten both had tough deaths that took a while. Deer one of the best I've had was a gutshot doe that we didn't recover til noon the following day sitting out in the sun in West Texas. Most people would've scrapped that one, she stunk, but I quartered her out sans the tenders and she was legitimately an eater and one of the best I've had.
The Elk had random super tough chewy meat and some minesweeper gamey bombs, you'd be eating a steak and first few bites were great then wham hyper stinky bite gets spit out. The antelope all the ground was inedible it was so bad, but steak and roasts you could flavor heavily and choke them down but it wasn't enjoyable in any way.

 

[MallardSX2]

My archery moose was a sure enough rodeo…and the meat was terrible.

 

[Stache Attack]

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.

I had a big bull I shot died within 4 seconds. He was very tough and I had boned him out coolers in an hour. Meat was great but just tough straps. They went into jerky and roasts

 

[Stache Attack]

Yes. I process all of my animals.

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Probably the best meat I get, bummer yours wasn’t great. I hate when antelope gets a bad wrap. It is inherent to get meat off the bone and on ice quick. I’m sure you did!

 

[Billy Goat]

Some antelope just taste rank. I have found its seems to be related to local and probably diet.

Local (I assume location) include a lot of road hunters running them to next square?

 

[grfox92]

Probably the best meat I get, bummer yours wasn’t great. I hate when antelope gets a bad wrap. It is inherent it gets off the bone and on ice quick. I’m sure you did!

Yea, I usually shoot one every year. That was the only bad one I've had.

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[Pharmseller]

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.

It is my understanding that, unless it’s a CNS hit, the animal dies from blood loss. When the heart stops so does the bleeding. Fluid gets locked up in the tissues. Sure, hang them upside down and you’ll get some drips from distal vessels but the overwhelming amount of blood loss is already completed.

How do you bleed a dead animal?

When I catch a salmon I bonk it on the head to stun it (not kill it) then I cut a gill and put it upside down in a bucket full of saltwater. The heart continues to beat until it runs out of blood. No heartbeat, no bleeding.




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[NRA4LIFE]

Probably the best meat I get, bummer yours wasn’t great. I hate when antelope gets a bad wrap. It is inherent to get meat off the bone and on ice quick. I’m sure you did!

If taken care of quickly, some of the best game meat. Get the stinky, sagey hide off them and quickly into the cooler as most hunts can be warm. I've hunted them in 85 and 20.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I have heard when the animal is stressed from being shot, but does not die real soon there after it can cause the meat to have a strange taste to it. I would not know this from first hand experience because all the animals I have taken die within seconds of impact. I have taken a few deer with archery that did not die immediately, but I can't say they had an off taste.

 

[Koda_]

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?

Yes. Stress affects meat toughness, tenderness.

From an actual meat scientist:

Ep. 227: Red Cutter | MeatEater Podcasts

Steven Rinella talks with meat scientist Dr. Chris Calkins, Spencer Neuharth, Corinne Schneider, and Phil Taylor.Topics discussed: debunking meat myths; how stress affects the flavor of meat; myoglobin and hemoglobin; why you shouldn't cut into an animal before rigor mortis is complete; muscle is...

www.themeateater.com

 

[huntcookwrite]

It is my understanding that, unless it’s a CNS hit, the animal dies from blood loss. When the heart stops so does the bleeding. Fluid gets locked up in the tissues. Sure, hang them upside down and you’ll get some drips from distal vessels but the overwhelming amount of blood loss is already completed.

How do you bleed a dead animal?

When I catch a salmon I bonk it on the head to stun it (not kill it) then I cut a gill and put it upside down in a bucket full of saltwater. The heart continues to beat until it runs out of blood. No heartbeat, no bleeding.




P

I think you’re right re: blood loss.

You might be interested to checkout the ike jime method for your salmon. Very similar, except you use a sharp, thin point to pierce the brain, shutting down the CNS, then a long, thin wire to clear the spinal fluid (where a lot of the stress hormones wind up). Then you cut the gills to clear the blood and place it in an ice slurry.

 

[WRO]

Wasn’t an option unfortunately, deboned partially frozen right after I packed it out. That might of helped but think the big factor was it freezing so quick.

It’s a big factor if they freeze not on the bone prior to rigor, they’ll get tough as heck.

I’ve killed a few when it’s been super cold. Luckily we were able to get out whole and just let them freeze whole, then quartered with sawzalls. No issues with the meat, just seemed to take them for ever to thaw in the walk in.

 

[5MilesBack]

The absolute worst elk I've had died from an arrow within seconds of being shot. That bull was the cleanest and fastest breakdown I've had on an elk. But he was tough, he smelled, and I ground most of it into the toughest burger I've ever had. So who knows. But that bull also had an attitude. And when he was caped out he had a big abscess on his forehead, I'm pretty sure from fighting.

 

[adamm88]

I think so, my first buck ran almost a mile, It was VERY gamey tasting, you could smell the difference when cooking it too, I didnt process it myself but it was bad.

 

[Beendare]

Yes. Stress affects meat toughness, tenderness.

From an actual meat scientist:

Ep. 227: Red Cutter | MeatEater Podcasts

Steven Rinella talks with meat scientist Dr. Chris Calkins, Spencer Neuharth, Corinne Schneider, and Phil Taylor.Topics discussed: debunking meat myths; how stress affects the flavor of meat; myoglobin and hemoglobin; why you shouldn't cut into an animal before rigor mortis is complete; muscle is...

www.themeateater.com

So much folklore and anecdotal info on this....thanks for that link @Koda_

I expect this to be the second best podcast I've heard
[After Palmer Luckey on Shawn Ryan]

I would love to see the cattle science study on this if anyone has it

 

[Pharmseller]

I think you’re right re: blood loss.

You might be interested to checkout the ike jime method for your salmon. Very similar, except you use a sharp, thin point to pierce the brain, shutting down the CNS, then a long, thin wire to clear the spinal fluid (where a lot of the stress hormones wind up). Then you cut the gills to clear the blood and place it in an ice slurry.

Ike jime is great for tuna but I don’t think it adds much to salmon. I don’t like salmon sushi.

Bonk, bleed, gut, ice.




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