Elk recovered next morning…spoilage?

[spike camp]

Yeah none of the meat looked like that. Zero green or dark brown and even the tenderloins didn’t smell off except for one lower portion . It was not gut shot either. My buddies even said as we were breaking it down and sniffing everything that “it smells like elk meat” and that was that. We deboned immediately after quartering as well.

You’d know immediately, I think you’re GTG!
Congrats on the elk.

 

[Helislacker]

When you gutted it, did it smell worse than elk you have taken before ( providing you have killed an elk before)? That along with the other posters said should give you a good idea.

Smelled pretty much the same as usual. Wife smelled and we trimmed a few pieces here and there but overall very little.

 

[Chris in TN]

The nose knows.

Watch areas like around the hip sockets, where large bones and large muscle mass retain heat.

I've also found the meat that had spoiled often had a more pinkish hue vs purple, was slightly slimy rather than tacky, and the blood in the hide over it was dried and dark in the vessels of the hide, rather than lighter and still simply visible under the surface of the hide, if that makes sense. None of which is absolute, but it can add to a whiff of yuck to say, probably spoiled.

That said, good job finding it and following up and congrats.

^^Incredibly good post.

I'll also second that if it smells good, it probably is. And getting the meat deboned ASAP helps. When my dad was a kid they'd butcher their own pigs and cure hams and they were always extra careful when cooling and salting meat, to open up the meat ASAP to get the area around the femur ball cooled off.

I shot a doe one time during late-summer bow season weather and didn't recover her until the following afternoon. She'd been in the shade. She ate fine. I certainly don't make a habit out of waiting to cool them, but proceed with caution and if nothing appears to be wrong, you're almost certainly OK.

 

[LostArra]

The final smell test is when thawing a frozen package before cooking.

 

[Helislacker]

The final smell test is when thawing a frozen package before cooking.

Very true. Would be a bummer to think it was good to go while vacuum sealing for freezer find its bad when thawed. Time will tell

 

[Ucsdryder]

The final smell test is when thawing a frozen package before cooking.

This…

I had a coworker tell me, every time he cooked some elk burger that his uncle killed it made the house smell rotten.

 

[huntsman22]

kinda like mutton.......

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

With the shot placement I figured he would have died within a few hours of being shot. But like you say….who knows. The weird part was there was zero blood as far as a trail and even at the spot we found him there was no blood on the ground.

ELDMs are known for a lack of blood trail in many cases.

Sometimes they exit and leave blood, or are devastating enough on the hit side to leak blood if enough pressure still exists. Other times they leave no trace and working on non blood trail tracking skill comes into play. The wounds from them can be quite devastating and wide, causing massive internal trauma.

If you destroyed the heart there isn’t anything there to pump blood out of the animal. Blood pressure goes to nothing other than some residual pressure from mean systemic pressure. If a heart or other vital supply lines are damaged from the wound channel (common) this gets eliminated very quickly.