Rutting moose taste

[rooster440]

Never hunted moose in rut, just curious if the bulls taste tainted during rut? Would they taste “different” before and after? Thanks.


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[Larry Bartlett]

taste like piss if you shoot one full on rut-style, but edible if your freezer is otherwise empty.

But it's bad enough to make me search for little ones to eat.

 

[VernAK]

Bad stuff!

 

[VernAK]

Bull moose drink a lot of cow urine.

It's my opinion that the uric acid ruins their liver also. I once gutted a bull that had a liver that would slowly flow like oatmeal when cut open. Probably why their life span is half of cow's.

 

[AKDoc]

Full-blown rutting bulls are turbo stink machines. Fortunately, the hunting season mostly ends before or right around the beginning of full on rut...but not always. For early rut bulls the meat in the first 6" of the neck (+/-), just below the head, is where the rut stink is noticeable. The rest is just fine...at least that's been my experience.

A rutting bull caribou smells way, way worse...at least to me!

 

[Larry Bartlett]

AKDoc, I can't resist a science fact about the 6" of neck meat smelling the worst, generally.

I agree about the neck hair being crazy piss-soaked, especially the first 6-18" of the hide from the head. But, physiologically the urine they drink is what causes the meat to actually taste like "rut." Once they start smelling of urine, which is usually their own from wallows and scrapes, they also begin trailing cows and consume copious volumes of cow urine before she actually begins estrous. By the time she's ready, the bulls have taste tested her essence to ID the hormonal flux that triggers mating...besides her willingness.

At the end of the day, whether a bull's meat taste like rut is a factor determined by the volume of urine that has been consumed. Once the liver and kidneys fail to process the ingested urine, those enzymes back up into the bloodstream and filter throughout the body. Therefore, the taste gets distributed throughout the body and builds up in muscles with most blood circulation and physical use (neck and hind legs especially).

Just some additional thoughts.

lb, out

 

[rooster440]

AKDoc, I can't resist a science fact about the 6" of neck meat smelling the worst, generally.

I agree about the neck hair being crazy piss-soaked, especially the first 6-18" of the hide from the head. But, physiologically the urine they drink is what causes the meat to actually taste like "rut." Once they start smelling of urine, which is usually their own from wallows and scrapes, they also begin trailing cows and consume copious volumes of cow urine before she actually begins estrous. By the time she's ready, the bulls have taste tested her essence to ID the hormonal flux that triggers mating...besides her willingness.

At the end of the day, whether a bull's meat taste like rut is a factor determined by the volume of urine that has been consumed. Once the liver and kidneys fail to process the ingested urine, those enzymes back up into the bloodstream and filter throughout the body. Therefore, the taste gets distributed throughout the body and builds up in muscles with most blood circulation and physical use (neck and hind legs especially).

Just some additional thoughts.

lb, out

Thank you!




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[AKDoc]

Hey Larry...I always enjoy and appreciate hearing your voice...sincerely said sir!

I can see where my quick comment was confusing and invited clarification. Here is what I was trying to say...

I was trying to make a distinction between a bull that has been in full on rut for a sustained period of time vs a bull in early rut. For bulls that are early in rut, I've not noticed that nasty rut funk diffused throughout the body (all the meat), but I have noticed it particularly apparent to the smell of the meat in that first top part of the neck. I'm not schooled on the physiology of the bull moose, so I'm not sure the explanation of what I have noticed, and perhaps my observations of early rut bulls are not shared by others. It's what I have noticed numerous times.

I'm not talking about bulls that have been in full on rut for awhile. I'm in alignment with your comment about the liver eventually tapping out and unable to effectively do its job against the high volume ingestion of cow urine. I'm also with you that under those circumstances smaller bulls are way better looking to me as well when full on rut has been in the air for awhile...spike/fork bulls are very tasty.

Every moose season, I'm always hoping that I'm out there just before or right at the beginning of rut. Unfortunately, I only have control of one variable of many in that formula...when I go. Mother nature controls the rest of those cards!

 

[Johnboy]

My buddy and I killed our first bull moose on 9/12/2016 up in the Brooks. We were excited about the prospect of hundreds of pounds of delicious, second-to-none, organic meat for the freezer. Unfortunately, most of it was relegated to sausage and taco meat. It was really bad. Surprisingly bad. Steaks on the grill were inedible. I knew about the funky caribou phenomenon, but I didn't know bull moose were susceptible to the same. Now I wonder if this bull had been overindulging.

 

[Grundy53]

My shiras bull tastes great. Killed him October 1st.

 

[rooster440]

Maybe a younger bull would taste better?


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[PMcGee]

I shot a bull last year in the middle of September and to me it doesn’t that good. I thought maybe I did something processing it but this thread tells me otherwise. Other people I’ve given it to say it taste great. To me it tastes like the bull smelled. (piss)


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[KJH]

The last moose I shot was near the Yukon river in western AK on September 15th. Absolutely amazing taste. I guess I've never shot a bad tasting moose so I can't say what one tastes like. I like to time the hunts for later in September...

 

[rooster440]

The last moose I shot was near the Yukon river in western AK on September 15th. Absolutely amazing taste. I guess I've never shot a bad tasting moose so I can't say what one tastes like. I like to time the hunts for later in September...

Is that still pre rut in your area?


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[Larry Bartlett]

Pre-rut and rut timing is largely temperature (and daylight) driven for the cows and therefore the bull's response. Sept 15th some years has the same two-week temperatures as mid-to late august or early october depending on the area...so timing the rut based on what we know is sketchy if we don't observe temperatures in their environment two weeks before we shoot 'em.

It's a gamble. I've shot moose and caribou that make me want to stop hunting they taste so bad...other years i recant that statement because of a pleasant experience.

Trophy pursuits aside, small moose taste better if they have fewer years experience with mating rituals, and then to pinpoint the cause of pissy meat comes down to specific conditions for that animal a couple weeks before we hammer down.

I think we have to agree that some harvests are losses for taste and other times we are rewarded fully for all our efforts. It's F'ing painful to donate 600-lbs of moose meat @ $800/lb if you ask me...but if you ask my kids or ex wife the money is irrelevant if it taste like shit.

Here's to fresh wild meat that has not been soaked in slutty drunken piss!

 

[Trial153]

I havent killed a bad eating moose yet however they all been late Sept or the first week of October. I have killed caribou as late as mid September and they have been excellent.
I arrowed a late season mule deer smelled so bad I would gag looking a package of its meat a year later.
Go figure

 

[PA Hunter]

Last three I shot were all awesome including a rut bull.

 

[bowshot2]

I have had a couple of bulls that I shot in late september or early october that tasted great but took forever to chew. Late season bulls are usually more tender. They stink during the rut, but if you take care not to spill a bladder full of moose piss all over the meat, it tastes great. Some people get overwhelmed by the size and start ripping away. I am by no means an expert but have been fortunate enough to fill the freezer a couple dozen times with moose. Every year before tags got harder to get. Now about every 3 years.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Far be it for me to argue in any way with the experiences and taste buds of others.

I will just say that every AK-YK moose I've killed was shot after September 15, and I recovered all of the meat from every bull. In every case the meat tasted excellent, as verified by my wife and I, plus other family members. We eat a lot of really good deer meat, and have agreed the meat from these bulls exceeded the taste qualities of our deer.

My hunting buddy has killed several mature bulls which were with harems of cows or at least locked down on one cow. He has always commented on the excellent taste of his moose meat.

The last bull I killed was shot on Sept 21. I watched him make a rut pit, then urinate in it, and then wallow in it. He was closely tending a cow when I killed him 30 minutes later. He stunk so bad I had to half-gag. We're still eating the meat and loving every bite.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Kevin, that's because you're an immortal ! Gods barely taste or say anything negative,,,)