Something I've always wondered is whether rigor mortise ever affects the meat when you have to quarter or debone an animal shortly after death, as often happens in a back country hunt. Having only hunted deer and bears where I could get them out whole minus the guts, I've always been taught that you should let an animal hang ideally 24 hours, or at least about 12, before you start removing muscle from bone so the muscles can go through rigor and relax, and you're not cutting muscle fibers in a contracted state, leading to tough meat.
In a lot of situations, be it hot weather or a huge animal way in the back country, waiting that long is not an option. I'm curious as to whether quartering, or possibly even worse, boning an animal out, shortly after it dies affects the tenderness of the meat. I imagine that quartering but leaving it on the bone would be far better than boning since the muscles still are connected to the bones to relax against, but then what about the backstraps, neck, etc? What are your experiences and opinions? I'm wondering if the conditions in which the animal was deboned or quartered are really to blame for the "randomly tough animal" people seem to encounter occasionally.
In a lot of situations, be it hot weather or a huge animal way in the back country, waiting that long is not an option. I'm curious as to whether quartering, or possibly even worse, boning an animal out, shortly after it dies affects the tenderness of the meat. I imagine that quartering but leaving it on the bone would be far better than boning since the muscles still are connected to the bones to relax against, but then what about the backstraps, neck, etc? What are your experiences and opinions? I'm wondering if the conditions in which the animal was deboned or quartered are really to blame for the "randomly tough animal" people seem to encounter occasionally.