Waiting till next morning?

[highcountryhays]

Fortunately, I have never had to wait until the next morning to find an elk I shot. But I hear stories all the time about backing out and waiting until the next morning. I wonder what kind of condition the meat is in, even if in cold temperatures. I would think the meat would be pretty bad.

 

[desertpointbrian]

The few years I helped a local butcher out. We seen more elk then anything spoil and alot of them from having to wait a day to retrieve. We even had cases in November when it was extremely cold outside

 

[cmbbulldog]

If you wait till the morning, the meat will be bad.

 

[DW]

Guys will be on to tell u they do it all the time without a problem. I did it once in Minnesota with a doe in late December 10 degrees was as high as it got. Turned out I double lunged her and she was dead in less than a minute. That time a year 12 hours from dusk till dawn. I tried three steaks and couldn't take a bite. Fed the rest to the barn cats. Decomposition begins the minute the heart stops. I'll never leave another overnight, a couple hours maybe, but never overnight.

 

[BUGLEnmIN]

As the post above stated , it's all a matter of how long it takes for the animal to die. Obviously if he dies early chances of meat being good aren't great.

 

[desertpointbrian]

Elk with their thick skin and high fat contents tend to spoil alot quicker then deer

 

[alsatian]

We have left our meat out overnight in cold weather, but we field dressed the elk first. That definitely improves your odds.

I would prefer to skin and cut up the elk into quarters promptly rather than leave it -- even though field dressed -- overnight.

 

[deerslayer88]

Do not leave it over night, you will not be able to eat it if you do.

?If men were angels, no government would be
necessary.? John Adams

 

[HiMtnHntr]

The only cases where leaving game overnight in my opinion is if the shot is marginal and/or the animal can't be located. If it's a good hit, wait the standard time and go retrieve it. With elk I recommend quartering and hanging if you can't pack it out at night. Carry a reliable headlamp. ...the ground side and often the neck and loins will be spoiled, and this can happen in cold weather.

 

[3blade]

I've had to leave 2 out over night in August, in nevada. I lost a little on one, outside layer in some places, but the rest was fine.

 

[Sallaberry]

I shot my bull 11/9/13 it was pretty cold during the day and in the 30s at night shot my bull at 3:00 gutted him walked out when the sun set. I didn't remove the wind pipe and the neck meat was worthless. The rest of the meat was great packed him out the next day.

 

[tallpine13]

In 2014 i shot a good bull in the rain right before sundown. knowing my dad was out hunting and we only had one quad i knew it was a kill shot but left him over night came back the next morning found him cut him up and the Fiancee at the time but wife now never knew it wasn't beef. she was curious to where i found such lean meat. she did ask why it had a little bit of a smell when we cooked it after i told her it was elk. best damn chicken friend elk steaks I've ever had...... in 2015 we shot a young bull.... never fails right before dark.... quartered him and took out what we could that night(4 mile pack out to the truck) came back the next morning and hauled the rest out..... best elk I've every eaten..... this year my wife stuck a good bull in the afternoon we tracked him until dark. came back the next morning and couldn't find him.... we won't be eating that bull if anyone comes across him

 

[mozey]

I haven't left a whole elk overnight yet, but have wondered what would happen to the meat if I ever do (especially during archery season). Looks like it's generally a bad idea--thanks for all of your insights.

 

[Zeke]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-19-16 AT 10:40PM (MST)[p]An elk is just as fine on the mountain as it is in the back of your truck at camp. Actually it's even better if you have it skinned, quartered and hung in a tree. I've done this countless times since it's hard to do all the work AND pack it out in one night. Sometimes it takes me a couple days to get one out and I've never lost an ounce of meat.
In cool shady conditions the meat will last a week or more but in warm weather a guy is best to get it skinned, cooled, hung and then pack it out and get it to a cooler quickly.
I don't want to leave one whole over night and never want to leave the guts in it. (I think that's what the OP was asking)
Zeke

 

[desertpointbrian]

Yes I think the o.p was asking the worst case scenario of not being able to find the elk that night. Thus all that hot heat of the animals guts can and will spoil meat very quick. Even in very cold weather

 

[highcountryhays]

I think some misunderstood me. I have often gutted and propped open a deer and left it overnight in cold weather to pack out the next day. I have quartered elk, hung the quarters and left them overnight
to pack out later, without losing any meat.

I enjoy some of the hunting shows and videos on Utube. But it I see it too much and it bothers me every time I hear them say we are just going to back out of here tonight and come back at first light to find the animal. It might be ok with deer, but not with elk, I think you are sacrificing the meat to be sure you get the horns. Seems to me, if you are going to take that shot right at dark, it better be a perfect one, or don't take it. Wait the appropriate time then do every thing in you power to find that animal and save the meat, even in the dark...

 

[DW]

Couldn't agree more hch!

 

[elks96]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-20-16 AT 10:21AM (MST)[p]>Fortunately, I have never had to
>wait until the next morning
>to find an elk I
>shot. But I hear stories
>all the time about backing
>out and waiting until the
>next morning. I wonder what
>kind of condition the meat
>is in, even if in
>cold temperatures. I would think
>the meat would be pretty
>bad.

My biggest typical archery bull was shot at 2:00pm in the afternoon in a rain storm at a couple feet. Sadly I hit a corner of liver and nothing else. we watched the bull until dark that night with no real way to approach and near by private land he might have moved onto. At dark we left him bedded and first light we returned. It was September and night time temp only in the 40 and day highs were in the 80s.

That next morning we found him about an hour after light dead. A couple pics cleaned him out and packed him out to a cooler asap. I am not sure how long he was dead for, stomach was bloated and he was stiff as all get out. We did out usually prep.

I left a little meat from the neck that was looking/smelling a little funky. The packer we use is very good and I told him to not pack it if it was not good. In the end we lost about 3 pounds of neck meat and a little bit like a pound of meat around each hip socket.


Not sure if I was lucky, or what but I know the animal was not dead at dark and the nights in September are shorter.

In my case I definitely felkt like I had the right shot and I also had hours of dayl ight. My biggest concern was a piece of private ground was only a 1/4 mile away and the elk had already turned that direction, and the herd he was with went onto the private as well.

I might have been able to sneak in for another shot but the risk was too great.

 

[Deerlove]

That neck meat goes quick, I lost some with temps in the 20s a couple of years ago.

 

[Vanilla]

I have only ever been a part of 1 hunt where we left an animal over night, and it was only because we thought it might be the only way we would find it.

My brother shot an elk, but not very good. We tracked blood until dark, and just couldn't really follow the trail anymore. There wasn't enough blood to do it via headlamp. So we marked the last blood and left for the night, called a buddy with a blood tracking drahthaar, and went back at it in the morning.
(Side note: Let me say, those dogs are freaking amazing!) We found the bull the next morning, still alive, and my brother finished it off. So no worry of meat spoilage on that one...luckily.

I spoke to a well-known wild game butcher on the Wasatch Front about meat spoilage after killing elk. I had a cow tag I killed in mid-December when the temps where I was hunting were below zero, and the temps back on the Front were highs in the teens.

He told me if I can't get the gutted elk to him within 2-3 hours, I better skin it or the meat will start going bad. And he recommended skinning it anyway even if we could get it to him within 2 hours, even in those cold conditions, because you need to get meat cooled ASAP for the best results, and the hide simply will not allow the meat to cool.

So I think with a dead animal overnight, even in cold weather, the meat is probably toast. Which makes me never want to leave an animal overnight unless I absolutely had no other choice, like with my brother's bull a few years ago. We didn't really have another option under the circumstances.

 

[huntin50]

A friend shot a bull with a muzzle loader right before dark. Didn't have a good camera. It was so cold we could see our breath. We left the bull, went back the next morning at daylight. Broke the ice in puddles it was so cold. Took pictures, started to bone out the elk. Most of it was bad. Lesson learned. You need to gut it out ASAP. Get the heat out when possible. I know on marginal shots it's a judgment call.

 

[nontypical]

Just remember this one thing: As soon as death occurs, bacteria growth begins...