Taking Care of Game

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elks

New member
Looking through the photos latley, I am surprised at lack of what I would consider appropriate game care. This is just my opion, but I am seeing pics of animals that are not taken care of properly.

For example, there are a few goats that have been taken. They have been transported to the ranch etc. and still have not been gutted or skinned for what seems like a significant time. One post has 2 goats that were taken seemingly hours apart(atleast one before dinner and one after) and the first had yet to be skinned out.

For my animals, I shoot em, take a quick pic or 2 and get to work. My antelope was shot at 5:30 on saturady, I had her gutted and skinned out by 6:00. The biggest problem with bad meat seems to be heat, so it would make sense to get the animals cooled out asap. Especially in the earlier seasons.

What do you all do?
 
Ever wonder why they say they "don't like deer meat" or "don't like the gamey taste"?

Work a check station or place that processes game sometime. You would be amazed at some of what you see. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I guess it is possible that they had been hanging in some type of cold storage before an after the pictures were taken? A couple of the pronghorns look like maybe they were gutted, but not split up the chest?

I usually gut my deer where they fall, and have them quartered in an ice chest before too much time has passed. I then keep it on ice in an ice chest for about 3 days, draining off the blood/water in the process. Those that don't drain the blood off of their meat are the ones who say "it tastes like liver".
 
It all depends on the weather, if the temps are higher and the meat will not cool down at all then the sooner I will skin and cut them up. If it is colder and the meat can cool nice and slow on its own before cutting it and putting it in the freezer, the better it is. It is not good to just shoot something and throw it in a freezer right away. Meat needs cool down slowly. A few hours will not hurt anything at all. Some people even give meat time to age which takes days, this in turn lets the muscle fibers break down and makes the meat more tender. I myself do not let it hang for more than a day, and that is only if it gets cold enough. This is just my practices, and they have worked so far.
 
i killed a doe last night at 505 pm and by 700pm she was gutted tagged skinned and washed out and dripped dry. by 930 she was in our cooler and tommorow ill process her.
 
I don't skin my animals till I get back to the house, but all animals are gutted before they are put into my truck. It is best to leave the hide on around here cause of the roads, there isn't any payment for 30 miles around our ranch. Your meat would be a giant dirt ball if you did skin them. I guess you could wrap it up but that would be more stuff to drag into the field, and besides you would be basically putting another hide back on him. I don't know why in the world you wouldn't gut your animal out right away.
 
I totally agree elks, with getting the hide off and letting the body heat escape. If the weather is cold, and the animal is small like a deer, I will take it back to the house for skinning. I prefer the animal to hang in temps just above freezing for a few days before cutting up and freezing.

One of the things that still surprises me is the number of hunters who still think cutting the throat of a freshly killed animal is necessary. Removing scent glands right after the kill is another. I see people quartering up elk with the hide still on(hair covered mess)and then tying it to the side of hot sweaty horses.

The poor care of wild game after the shot is why people complain about the "gamey" taste. I asked a butcher about why some people don't like wild game and this is what he said, "I can take the finest grain-fed steer and lead it two miles back into the hills, shoot it, wait several hours before gutting it, wait several more hours before skinning and roll it in the dirt and pine needles and it would taste gamey too"

Skin'em, quarter'em and put'em into clean meat bags and your table fare will improve immensely.
 
i gut them keep them in the shade off the ground till i can take them in to baggs for prossesing!! it's only a matter of a couple of hours and they cool down pretty fast!1 boone said if you skin them for any amount of time there is just more dried meat that he has to trim!! plus it keeps the flys off more of the meat. if i am in my state i gut , skin and cover in a mesh bag. if the weather is warm during the day i hang them at night and cover them with a sleeping bag during the day!! they will keep for a few days or intill i can butcher them!! if taken care of they will taste great but you are right about how they taste if not!!
 
I gut the deer where it drops, after that I get it hung up as soon as i can and proped open to cool off. I don't skin it untill its time to butcher, I have read many articles that say leave it hang for a couple of days( if weather permits), if them temp outside is around 40 I leave it hang in the shed for about a day before I cut it up.
 
Shoot it, gut it, skin it, hang it immediately. Ice for transport, cool out then cut wrap & freeze. We have also had many try our game meat with great hesitation from past memories. We have seen deer & elk hide on being hauled atop vehicles in very warm weather. We know guys who have hauled them hide on wrapped in tarps or blankets from neighboring states. One person had an elk hide on hanging outdoor in cool weather for a week. I asked why, he said it gives flavor. Theses are the guys that wait about 2-3 years then try giving the meat away. No Thanks. I also put equal or greater importance to get the wind pipe out along with glands.
 
Take another clue from the domestic meat packing industry. Yes, they do hang beef to age, but NOT with the skin on.

Like Elks said about the antelope, get the guts out and the hide off immediately. If the weather is cool and you can keep it clean, you can age it but aging with the hide on is not good for any game.

Game hides with their winter coats have excellent insulation properties. A hide left on will keep the meat warm longer than it should be allowed to.

You can kill an elk, gut it and open it stem to stern with the legs propped up to allow air ciculation, leave it lying on the ground overnight on a cold night and the next morning the meat will still be warm in the hind quarters and fron shoulders!

Here's a sad one for you, my son in law just dropped his elk meat off at the processor last night (monday) about 5PM. The guy ahead of him brought in an elk that had been killed on Sat morning and had not been gutted or skinned!!!
 
I am glad to see that others do what is right. The antelope my buddies wife shot last saturday sat for about 25 minutes in about 40 minutes and it began to bloat. I have seen all sorts of Crap. Last year a late season Cow was taken in last week of November, it was about 25 degrees the hunter let it sit for about 45 minutes. She was stiff and bloated depited cold as all get out.
 
The innards come out of my big game within minutes of falling. I had access to a walk-in cooler that was kept at just above freezing. At that time I left the hides on so as to not dry out the meat. When I didn't have access to the cooler I skinned as soon as I got the animal out of the field or at home if it was cool enough and the drive wasn't too long. I always leave the meat in a refrigerator set at 36/38 degrees for a week to 10 days before cutting, wrapping and freezing.
 
Dont know if you guys ever heard of this. We've been doing this for years and people who dont like venison have eaten it and not even known it was elk or deer!
What i've been taught is once the animal is down the first thing that comes off is the tarsel glands, I cut completely around them not missing anything. This gland I was told, will put a gamie taste in your meat especially when the animal is not killed quickly and adrenaline is pumped into the animal. Then the animal is usually gutted and quartered. A lot of the area we hunt is rough and there's limited access so most of the time we cannot get the meat out in one day.
Therefore, the meat is put into meat bags and hung or place in the shade on a series of small logs or branches getting it off the ground and allowing it to cool! We usually leave our under shirt by the meat and spread our scent(if you know what I mean) around to ward off any animals.(Havent lost one yet)
Once we get the meat down to the house the meat is washed very good the it's placed in large rubber barrels usually three for an elk two for a deer! the meat is soaked for 24 hours in a mixture of white vinegar,salt and water. This process sucks out all the blood and gamie taste and tenderizes the meat at the same time.The meat is then hung for about 4 days at just above feezing.After that the meat is cut and wrapped.
Try this it works great!You wont even know your eating venison. You wont believe all the blood that the solution sucks out of your meat and no it does not leave a vinegar smell or taste in the meat.You actually use very little. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif If anyone would like the mixture Pm me!
 
I have never skinned any of my animals the first day they were killed. I always field dress them immediately, and put them in the truck. Often times, they hang for as many as three days with the hide on (if the temps are cool). If the temps are warm, I take them to a processor, who cuts them up on the spot. I have never had any of the meat go bad. I guess that is the way I was taught to do it. There might be a better way, but nobody skins their animals in the field here in Wyoming. Not that I have noticed.
 
Quote:
What i've been taught is once the animal is down the first thing that comes off is the tarsel glands, I cut completely around them not missing anything. This gland I was told, will put a gamie taste in your meat especially when the animal is not killed quickly and adrenaline is pumped into the animal.



This is a myth. The tarsal glands in no way effect the taste of the meat, unless you cut them off and soak them with the meat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The foul smell of the tarsals if from them urinating on themselves.

Quote:
nobody skins their animals in the field here in Wyoming. Not that I have noticed.



I don't think anyone was talking about skinning them in the field. I think a lot of people skin them when the get back to camp or home.

Maybe they don't have ice chests out west. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

There is a difference in skinning them in the field and riding them around in the back of the truck all day.
 
Actually on my lopes we always skin right there in the field, deer and elk are usually taken later in the year and at a cooler temp so skinning happens at he house. Ground skinning is easily done. Then we wrap the lope in a light cotton sheet or plastic around them and pack frozen bottles of water in with them. Some lope we have taken on 80 degree days and we still hurry and do it this way. The hand full of hunters I know in WY all ground skin the lope. Infact, most skin debone or quarter and pack into a cooler. I see tons of lope laying around that were done this way. Skinned, quartered, and the ribs, spine and head are all left. One guy we know found an 83-84 inche buck that was left that way, meat was gone, but the bones and head and hide were there.

How much effect does adrenaline have on game taste? Does a wounded animal really wound up tasting worse than one shot in its bed? Do elk which are rand for miles taste different?
 
Yellowhammer,
Your probably right about that being a myth. I think someone way back when probably started that after they touched the gland and got the musk all over their hands then touched the meat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Usually for the early hunts it's so warm you pretty much have to skin and bone out your animal in the field otherwise you lose a lot of meat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gifIt turns pretty green when the temps hit 75 at 10 in the am!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
The last three years I took animals in to my butcher and he was actually really surprised because I didn't lose any meat. He said that of about 50 animals brought in during the sept 1-20 bow hunt just about every one lost atleast 30-50% of there meat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif It was warm during that time! But like you said these guys would get the meat to their trucks and never use coolers,just throw it in the back and drive into the valley where it was around 90. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
elks,
We pretty much do the same thing! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gifBut the ribs,hide and head
are always taken also.The only thing left is the spine and gut pile. The frozen water bottles work great too! You know a couple years ago and I may have mentioned this in one of my previous posts, while at work I saw an entire black bear on the roof of a vehicle and it was probably in the 90's that day.That'll get the peta folks screaming huh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif Unless the guy got it in someones trash can the closest mountains were about 2-2 1/2 hours away.
 
elks,

I don't think the adrenaline has much of an effect on the taste. What it can affect how tender the meat is. An animal that is not properly field dressed will more likely than not have a poorer taste than one that was done properly, making sure the inside is completely washed out, and the meat kept cool.
 
you guys have got this one covered.the field dressing and cooling down is the trick to good eating.i will add one thing.you do not wash them down with water.water will stop the chemical break down that the meat has to go through and will also cause unwanted bacteric.if you have to .do it after the cooling down stage.also if you have to cool them down in coolers like i do.dont let the water from ice get on them.i always put my block ice in heavy duty trash bags.water bottles work great for this also.
 
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