Meat color and smell is wrong.

[highcountrymuley]

The pale color looks like it sat in water. Maybe you received elk meat that u did not shoot. Not uncommon for processors.

As for the smell, I have noticed how much hair can contaminate meat with terrible flavor/smell. The last 4 or 5 deer and elk I have been a part of we have done gutless method. Zero contact with guts if u do all 4 quarters and straps, then reach in afterwards for tenderloins and then into the pile for the heart. Its damn hard to keep all hair off though. I noticed a hair on a frozen and thawed pack of steak and smelled it. That single hair smelled like piss and poo together.

I have become convinced a lot of gaminess or bad flavors are due to hair. I butcher my own after a bad experience on my first and only personal experience using a processor. I will not eat anything from a processor anymore bc of so many bad stories and a virtual guarantee that u are eating everyone's animals mixed. Also they cannot clean all surfaces and tools enough to eliminate cwd - and the number of animals that go through virtually guarantee u are eating cwd -infected meat.

Sorry your meat is nasty. Invest in some butchering gear and realize it takes alot of time and effort to optimize your table fare. And be hyper vigilant about hair contact in field. Change gloves after skinning back a side, get quarters off with new gloves.

 

[HOGSJL]

Any chance it wasn't completely frozen fast enough. If it is stacked, the ones in the middle can take awhile to freeze, maybe it soured before it could freeze up.

Just rotated about 100 lbs of chicken we got. The ones in the middle were almost warm while the ones on the outside were frozen.

 

[257_roberts]

The pale color looks like it sat in water. Maybe you received elk meat that u did not shoot. Not uncommon for processors.

As for the smell, I have noticed how much hair can contaminate meat with terrible flavor/smell. The last 4 or 5 deer and elk I have been a part of we have done gutless method. Zero contact with guts if u do all 4 quarters and straps, then reach in afterwards for tenderloins and then into the pile for the heart. Its damn hard to keep all hair off though. I noticed a hair on a frozen and thawed pack of steak and smelled it. That single hair smelled like piss and poo together.

I have become convinced a lot of gaminess or bad flavors are due to hair. I butcher my own after a bad experience on my first and only personal experience using a processor. I will not eat anything from a processor anymore bc of so many bad stories and a virtual guarantee that u are eating everyone's animals mixed. Also they cannot clean all surfaces and tools enough to eliminate cwd - and the number of animals that go through virtually guarantee u are eating cwd -infected meat.

Sorry your meat is nasty. Invest in some butchering gear and realize it takes alot of time and effort to optimize your table fare. And be hyper vigilant about hair contact in field. Change gloves after skinning back a side, get quarters off with new gloves.

Well yeah. Many cervids roll around in their piss and shit during the rut and otherwise. The hide (and hair) is generally awful. I do my best to skin from the inside to lessen hair, then pick pick pick. And pick some more!

Putting love into your butchering is key to having good meat.