Avoiding spoilage

[FirstTimer]

If I don't explode with excitement first, I'm headed out to chase my first elk during CO first rifle in a couple weeks. I've never hunted big game and it'll be my first time ever breaking down anything bigger than a duck if I'm lucky enough to get one, so you can imagine I'm apprehensive about that part.

I heard Randy Newberg saying you could lose some meat in hot weather within a couple hours, but it also seems like guys usually wait a good long time to approach an elk they hit in order to avoid it running off if it's still alive. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what's going on in videos and whatnot, but as far as I can tell, people leave them for half a day or more sometimes. So what if I shot one and it died immediately, but I waited half the day just in case? Would I lose meat?

More directly: what's the SOP for approaching an elk you've just shot? TIA

 

[ridgefire]

Talking from archery experience but I have waited anywhere from 5 minutes and up to an hour if I know I had a good shot. Questionable shot or gut shot and you may wait up to 12 hours. Once broken down I have hung my elk for over a week in elk camp if the temps are getting down into the 20s or low 30 at night with zero meat loss. Base it on your shot and then the temps imo. If rain or snow is forecasted it throws a big kink in the plan. That's how I approach it anyways.

 

[Sportsman]

I think there is a big difference in archery and rifle. You're probably going to have a better blood trail with rifle to give you an indication.

If you've never even skinned a deer, I would watch the videos over and over. I've not tried the gutless method. I will one day. I heard Corey Jacobson say that if you are an Elk 101 subscriber that you can download his video on processing an elk so you have it offline as a reference.

Sharp knife - many are going to replaceable blades. I'll never go back.

Bone saw. Game bags. 550 cord.

Hunting with a buddy or alone?

 

[Sportsman]

Hot weather is also usually September. Listen to the recent Elk Talk podcast on processing Elk in hot weather from Randy and Corey.

 

[wapitibob]

It's pretty hard to ruin Elk meat and I'll say that there is no way on planet earth you'll ruin Elk meat in a cpl hours unless you just stand there and look at the thing laying there in the hot sun and do nothing, and even then I doubt 2 hours would do anything. I never wait when rifle hunting, I go immediately. Find it, work it up, and you'll be fine.
I shot this years Elk mid morning. It took me 2 hours to work it up and get everything layed out over logs and such. Temps were 80 ish when I was done. The wind will cool it and crust it over pretty well as you're working on other pieces. I then bagged everything up and moved all of it to an easy spot to load for packing. I packed it out in 3 trips, tossing it into the back seat floor of the truck; probably 90 inside the cab. It was a short pack and when done, maybe 2 hours later I headed to town and grabbed some bags of ice. I tossed it all into coolers with the ice and left it. Next day I moved stuff around and added more ice, then went Antelope hunting. The third day I cut up the backstraps and some roasts and vacuum sealed them, then put those back onto ice in a clean cooler. I trimmed up all the rest for burger and put that on ice as well. A few days later it was all processed and frozen.

 

[LostArra]

Shot location can make for some tough decisions. A shot that penetrates the gut/intestines will spoil (sour the adjacent meat) quicker than a shot in the thoracic cavity. The problem is most will wait longer to track on a gut shot and the animal might be dead fairly quickly. If the weather is warm things could get nasty in a hurry.

 

[FirstTimer]

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm watching tons of videos and learning as much as I can. @Sportsman the podcast you just mentioned is exactly what raised my question lol but it was really helpful overall. Made me realize I hadn't done much thinking on the initial approach after a hit. My father-in-law's coming with me and he's an experienced hunter. He just hasn't done big game in a while and he's getting older so I wanna be as sharp as possible. Appreciate all the replies here. I know way more about this now than I did yesterday.

 

[Smithb9841]

Look up YouTube videos on gutless method there’s good videos of this. If you’ve never broken down a big game animal I would watch as many as u can and even watch the good ones a
Second time.

 

[Broadhead]

How long until you start tracking after a shot all comes down to experience and shot placement. Obviously, the sooner you can get the hide off and air circulating around the meat, the better. In rifle season this is a lot less of an issue than in archery season when it can be much hotter during the day and night. At the end of the day, the temperature is all that matters. The hide will hold a lot of heat, but if the temperatures are in the 40s-60s, I wouldn't imagine you would be losing any meat if it sat for half a day. If you shot it in the evening the cool night temperature would keep the meat fine until mid-day the next day.

 

[Remps17]

Cutting the Distance with Remi Warren had a good episode on hot weather meat care. I think its the second or third episode. This doesn't necessarily apply to OP because he wont be hunting in 90s or 80s most likely. But there is a good part of the podcast where he talks about how he loads his cooler with ice. Very interesting how he does it. Something to check out if you haven't already.

YouTube is your friend when it comes to dressing up an animal. if you can save some videos on your phone, I would do that.

Best of luck on the trip and let us know how you make out

 

[jspradley]

Guts are your biggest worry. Once you separate the guts from the meat, whether you gut it or you do the gutless method you gain WAY more time than if the two were together.

If it helps ease your mind, my buddies and I took at least 5 hours to get a 300lb nilgai from walking around to the cooler in 90 degree weather with zero shade and without skinning it. However it started bloating almost immediately so I got the guts out right away, the meat was delicious even after all that time in the heat.

 

[CMF]

killed my first elk last week in NM. As far as wait time, like others said depends on shot placement, blood, etc. If I can see a good shot and I hear em crash, I'm not waiting more then 5-10 minutes, if unsure would wait at least 30 minutes and way longer if bad shot. Temps were low 50's to mid 70's during the day. Shot it at 4pm, hiked down and drove to pick up wife. Hiked back, 4 miles and 1300' up, cleaned and deboned that night. Stashed the front shoulders/scraps/head in the shade with some limbs underneath to help with airflow and got the first load, hinds/bs/Tloins to truck by 530am next morning. Went back for second load at 1030am and got it down by 530pm. 25+ hours from shot to ice and no problems with the meat.
I'm thinking you'll have way cooler temps in CO in coming weeks.
Lessons learned:
should have taken something down on my first trip to get the wife
emergency(foil) blanket sucks as a drop cloth on steep terrain
It is very hard to keep the hair and dirt off vs skinning a hanging whitetail
gutless method for tenderloins was easier than expected
outdoor edge and havalon both worked great, but both dulled quickly, went through 3 to 5 blades for each. outdoor edge easier to change
The jaw bone is a mfer to get out, would like to see a video if there is a method to it

 

[Sportsman]

Don't cheap out on game bags. Several quality brands. Don't buy the cheese cloth type. Getting the meat hanging in the shade is key.

Also, cutting open the hind quarter to help cool that off.

 

[Indian Summer]

I think it would be a good idea for you to shoot and cut up a deer first. The experience would be very valuable when you go to tackle something so much bigger.

As far as approaching an animal after shooting it.... I circle and come from the rear of the animal. If it’s alive and wants to see what’s approaching it has to lift it’s head. Then stop about 20 feet from it and throw a few sticks or rocks at it. Big ones! If it doesn’t move it’s safe to get closer. Then look to see if there is any breathing at all which is easy to determine. If not you’re safe to get to work.

If the elk is on a hill the first thing you should do is tie paracord to both front legs and tie each one off to separate trees so the animal doesn’t work it’s way downhill every time you move it or flip it over. Good luck!

 

[rob86jeep]

You can lean anything from youtube. Download a couple of "how to" videos for elk to you phone to reference when you get one down. Learn as you go and don't let inexperience keep you from hunting.

As for the meat, my buddy shot an elk at last light in CO at around 9k feet in Sep. It was in the 80s during the day and probably only got down to 40 at night. We couldn't recover the elk until the following morning and only a very small part of the rear quarter that was under the elk (on the ground side) had spoiled. It was green and easy to see what part was bad. We just cut that part off and processed the rest without issues. We also only took one tenderloin and it ended up smelling pretty bad so we tossed it.

So, don't worry too much about it and just hunt. If it's warm out, get the meat off the animal and hanging in the shade as soon as you can but don't push the animal if you don't think it's dead yet. You'll be fine.