Help!!!! Elk Advice needed

[Rip'N'Lips]

So, yesterday my brother filled his cow tag. That's the good news, here is the not so good news. Due to snow conditions, it took us almost 8 hours before we coudl get it gutted, and then another couple hours before we got it skinned.

It was in 2 ft of snow and seemed to have cooled a lot. However rigor mortis had set in, and it is hard as a rock.

My questions???

1) With the long time before we could get it gutted is the meat ok?
2) How long does it need to hang before the meat will soften up?

Thanks greatly for any advice...

Rip'N'Lips

[mcknerkneykak]

Fall 2002 I ran into a friend out in the hills whose wife had a grizzly unit tag. They hadn't seen any elk so I told them where a herd had been hanging out with several bulls . Told them how to hunt that ridge and forgot about it until he called me with a report about a month later.---They worked the ridge like I told them and she ended up shooting a decent 5/5 the next evening just before dark. Couldn,t find it until shortly after daylight the following morning (They tried hard after the shot with flashlights). It had not frozen that night. Gutted it,skinned it and packed it. Took it into the meat cutter and he said it was no good.---My recomendations---take to a meat cutter. They are paid to know the difference between good meat and bad, and have far more experience than most of us. I bone and wrap my own meat but this might be an exception. One thing you have going for you is that it may have cooled faster. This Grizzly hunt was earlier in the year. Luck to you-**it happens.

[Small Fry]

I would say if it that cold out side it should be fine. Busure to clean all blood shoot meat out and an inch or so all the way around.

[MasterCaster]

keep it hung and cool for a few days and if its bad you should know. Did you quarter it up? Even if the ribcage and that area are bad most likely the hind quarters and such are still ok. We have had to leave the skin on a couple elk over night before in the snow and they turned out just fine. However they were gutted within 30 mins of being killed.

Hope it turns out ok for you guys.

If you are worried about it much then I would agree with mcknerkneykak and take it into a professional to look at it.

Jon :smile: :grin: :smile:

[ 01-04-2004, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: MasterCaster ]

[Mello-Yello]

I'm gonna try and go easy here, but how can snow conditions prevent the animals from getting gutted ASAP? If it had been gutted promptly, there would be no questioning whether the meat would be good.

Edit: In light of new information, overly opinionated comments have been removed from this post. M-Y

[ 01-04-2004, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Mello-Yello ]

[Boatdog]

If you don't mind me asking, why the eight hour delay in gutting the animal? Tracking? Just curious.

Thanks,

Boatdog

[Rip'N'Lips]

Everyone, I appreciate the advice and concern.

Here is the story. We shot the elk on the top of the ridge, it took off through waste deep snow down the bottom of the hill. There was a road below it, and we took off in the truck to get to it. About half-way down we got stuck in 2-3 feet of snow after throwing a chain. We were trying to get back down the road we had come in on and were now about 3 miles above the elk, and 2-3 miles back out to the road where. We dug for 2-3 hours to get the truck unstuck and get the chain fixed only to get stuck bad a little ways later. Had some friends come up from town with an extra set of chains, and they got stuck getting to us. I went down for the chains and my hunting partner went down after the elk. In the storm it took him a couple hours to get down, then find the animal in deep and I mean deep snow. The concern was how much were we risking in taking off cross county in 2-3 feet of snow. Once there he gutted it and let it cool. Everything seems fine, the meat was mostly cool to the touch, and he hit lungs so no guts were damaged. Several hours later we got the truck out and got the elk out. It was 25 degrees at the most, and the elk had 3 inches of snow on most of it.

I think we are fine from spoilage, my real question was how long does it take for the meat to get soft again after rigor mortis sets in?

Thanks,

Rip'N'Lips

Someone should have walked down to the elk to make sure it was dead and to tag and gut it.

[Rip'N'Lips]

Keta-

Thanks...

Rip'N'Lips

R&L,
Hind sight is always 20/20. I am real big on getting the animal killed and gutted ASAP. In cold or wet weather the hide can stay on to protect the meat until you get to camp or home. I don't like to hang game meat any longer than I have too.

I am glad things did work out for you.

[Boatdog]

Thanks for "the rest of the story".
Sorry to hear of your snow problems.
It should be (no guarantees)fine. I personally would bone it ASAP, vaccuum seal it, and freeze it. Use your nose. It's one of the best tools God gave man to check for food spoilage.
If in doubt, do what they said above, and seek advice [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img] from a professional meat cutter.

[Noah II]

as Boatdog said
"Use your nose. It's one of the best tools God gave man to check for food spoilage."

Excellant advise
If you can hang your meat in 30 to 40 degree temp.
for three or four days, it only helps the meat in my opinion.

Rigor Mortis ? Sure it wasn't frozen?

It should be fine.
Jim

[biederboat]

R&L, I think you can cut that thing up just about anytime and it will be just fine. See my commment down below on this post
http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....;f=14;t=002517 If that link doesn't work then go to "Who cuts their own big game?". Also, I've not gotten to elk for easily that long and not had any problems.

Okay, now for what I'd like to know. Any chance that was a NE Trask cow tag? My son has one. I know this area well, but have been chaining up all four on my AED Aerostar for 4 days and we are hardly seeing any tracks. I am getting pretty high up but maybe not high enough? If you have some tips and don't mind sharing, send me a private message please. I will share my knowledge of this area as well if you need it.

Thanks,
Biederboat

[Noah II]

as Boatdog said
"Use your nose. It's one of the best tools God gave man to check for food spoilage."

Excellant advise
If you can hang your meat in 30 to 40 degree temp.
for three or four days, it only helps the meat in my opinion.

Rigor Mortis ? Sure it wasn't frozen?

It should be fine.
Jim

[ORoutdoorsman]

I think that there are some people that need to lighten up. While there is always an optimal way to do things, it does not always turn out that way. People make decisions and things happen that are beyond ones control. And as Keta said, hind sight is 20/20. All of us have and will make mistakes. And it sounds like the fact it would take them that long was unforseen. Nothing truly neglegent was done with this animal, whether the animal was even effected remains to be seen. And if there is some spoilage, which I doubt, it is not the result of being careless, just having events happen that were not expected. Everyone makes mistakes, and makes decisions that they would have made differently had they known how things would unfold. Most people out there are guilty of shooting an animal in the rump, or the guts, or the hind legs, which more than likely ruined more meat than not gutting an animal immediately in sub freezing temperatures. So its not fair to jump all over someone asking for advice. Just remember all the stupid things you did as a kid or young adult, being hunting or not, before you rip someone a new A****** for a mistake.

My first post could be taken as me being a DH but it wasn't what I was trying to do. You will know when I am getting down on someone.

[ORoutdoorsman]

Keta-I wasnt refering to you....accept when I mentioned hindsight being 20/20

OR,
I was addressing my post to R&E in case he misunderstood the tone of what I posted. Learning from ones mistakes is always a good thing. And they get to eat fresh elk :smile:

[Rip'N'Lips]

Biederboat-

This was actually the Upper Nehalem up in the hills off of 26 near the road to Jewell. We probably saw 60-70 elk although most of them were in places that were impossible to get to.

I do appreciate the comments. I am first to admit there were mistakes made, however sometimes it happens. We were in less than ideal conditions and in retrospect shouldn't of even been up there with that much snow. If it weren't for cell coverage where we were, it would of been a major pain. But we did have chains on, and blankets/food so I think we were pretty well prepared.

Another tid bit, we had traveled at least 20-30 miles on loggin roads in deeep snow snow by truck with chains on and didn't have the slightest hint of a problem. It seemed perfectly normal to assume that rather than breaking a trail through blown down timber and deep snow to the animal, we could just drive around to the bottom and come up after it...

We have begun cutting and everything looks fine. I appreciate all the advice and was ready to take a little heck for the thread, but figured there were those out there with more experience who could give their input.

Thanks,

Rip'N'Lips

[Mello-Yello]

Well, in reviewing the latest information, it appears I'm probably the one that ORoutdoorsman was referring as "needing to lighten up". He's probably right, as I made some assumptions that I shouldn't have based on what little information I had. My apologies Rip'n'Lips.

I'm glad everyone (including the elk) got out ok.

[James in Idaho]

In September it might have spoiled, but it should be just fine with a lung shot. Heck, last cow I shot it took me over 1 1/2 just to start gutting her due to where she fell, belly deep snow, steep a$$ hill (Salmon river country), and being wedged in trees. I was alone, my partner didn't hear me shoot. I had to cut two or three trees down, rope her off to keep her from sliding even more. Shot her at the top of the hill, I think the worst sight was her last kick turning her into a big elk tobbogan!!! They slide downhill really well in 3 feet of snow!! That was the second time I learned "shoot them UPHILL from the road".