Gross Moose Meat?
- Thread starter saskboy
- Start date
huntingfish
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Quebec City
Our butcher told us a few things, amongst other things is that the trick to have meat that doesn't taste 'gamey' is to remove the membrane that envelops the muscles. Takes a lot of time (took us the 6 of us 6h30 to butcher our moose) , but it makes so amazing tasting steaks. That's what smells.
Fish
Some of the meat may spoil but you can still salvage most of it.
Depends on temperature.
Moose hunt in Late Season in -20. 2 hours with guts in will hurt nothing.
Early season Elk with above+20 temps. Then you are looking at some spoilage.
The biggest thing with the 2 hours is it makes it even MORE imperative to get it gutted, skinned, quartered, and cooled immediately.
We had a similar situation 2 years ago. Moose arrowed.(not a perfect shot(liver) and no passthrough.
Pretty sure Moose was down, but left him for at least 1 hour, then had trouble finding him because no blood trail. It ended up he died within 100 yards of being shot. From the time he died till the guts were out was probably 3 hours.
We ended up losing approx. 50-60 pounds.(mostly from the shoulder that was lying on the ground). The rest of the Moose was fine, and it was a 4.5-5.5 year old Bull.
P.S
The best way to prevent spoilage if the animal did sit too long is to debone it right away...the bones will sour the meat from the inside out. Especially the back bone.
Did a butcher cut the meat up?
I take great pride in keeping my meat clean and cooled.
Shot a little moose in 2008 and took it to a butcher in town. Got the meat back and everything was fine or so I thought.
Steaks and roasts were fine and then I started cooking a pack of ground meat.
HOLY #### did it stink. Fired it out the door it was so bad.
Found out about 1 out of 4-5 packages had this smell when cooking.
Talking to a few buddies of mine who knew one of the guys working at the butcher shop he said their SOP was to cut up a few moose at a time and then "combine" all the trim, grind and divide.Phoned the butcher up and asked him if this is what they had done. He confirmed this and didn't think anything was wrong. Huh?
Great!!! So some dickhead lets his moose half rot and I get to eat some of his crappy meat and he gets to eat some of mine?
I shot a big rutty moose this year. Cut it up, cleaned it and let it hang for 8 days. Took it to a new butcher (part time) in town who I know really well and had him cut it up. He only works on one animal at a time.
Moose turned out delicious and all the ground meat tastes like moose. Go figure?
Fast forward to October. My father comes up to hunt caribou.
Now anyone who has hunted barren ground caribou knows they can be a little rutty. So we tag a couple of bulls on the trip.
Back in Whitehorse I find out my butcher friend is sick and can't debone the two caribou which are slated for smokies and salami.
Back to the original guy who I don't have a whole lot of faith in. Only game in town at this point.
13.......yes THIRTEEN days later I get all the meat back frozen in bags.
This is after specifying that the caribou had been shot two days prior and they were going to be made into sausages.
4 phone calls to try to speed up the process. Finally after losing my temper and calling the guy a few choice names I miraculously get the call that the meat is done.
Being the good son that I am I bring it to the #1 meat shop in town. He doesn't cut up wild game anymore. I figure I'll get 50 lbs of salami made up for my dad as I'm headed to SK for the annual deer hunting trip.
Almost $200 for the salami to be made. $120 to debone the caribou.
Fast forward to the end of November. 6000 km of driving to deliver meat and antlers and I get a phone call from my father.
Seems the salami is inedible. A few guys at his work tried it but no go.
So I ask my father to pull out one of the bags of trim and let it thaw.
Meat had gone green on the edges.
Now I'm pissed.
I phone the butcher and I ask him WTF? I deliver 2 day old quartered, cleaned, and frozen caribou to him and the meat has somehow turned green in the bags?
He doesn't have an answer for me and hangs up.
Talking to a few hunting buddies of mine apparently this has been an ongoing problem. Phone my buddy up who knows one of the guys who works there and he tells me because they have such a small cooler/freezer they typically would shuffle meat in and out of the cooler to free up space.
Makes me wonder how many times my meat was thawed and frozen?
I phoned the Health Board on him and made a formal complaint. Still waiting for an answer.
Remember if you find a good butcher, be nice to him.
I take great pride in keeping my meat clean and cooled.
Shot a little moose in 2008 and took it to a butcher in town. Got the meat back and everything was fine or so I thought.
Steaks and roasts were fine and then I started cooking a pack of ground meat.
HOLY #### did it stink.
Fired it out the door it was so bad.Found out about 1 out of 4-5 packages had this smell when cooking.
Talking to a few buddies of mine who knew one of the guys working at the butcher shop he said their SOP was to cut up a few moose at a time and then "combine" all the trim, grind and divide.Phoned the butcher up and asked him if this is what they had done. He confirmed this and didn't think anything was wrong. Huh?
Great!!! So some dickhead lets his moose half rot and I get to eat some of his crappy meat and he gets to eat some of mine?
I shot a big rutty moose this year. Cut it up, cleaned it and let it hang for 8 days. Took it to a new butcher (part time) in town who I know really well and had him cut it up. He only works on one animal at a time.
Moose turned out delicious and all the ground meat tastes like moose. Go figure?
Fast forward to October. My father comes up to hunt caribou.
Now anyone who has hunted barren ground caribou knows they can be a little rutty. So we tag a couple of bulls on the trip.
Back in Whitehorse I find out my butcher friend is sick and can't debone the two caribou which are slated for smokies and salami.
Back to the original guy who I don't have a whole lot of faith in. Only game in town at this point.
13.......yes THIRTEEN days later I get all the meat back frozen in bags.
This is after specifying that the caribou had been shot two days prior and they were going to be made into sausages.
4 phone calls to try to speed up the process. Finally after losing my temper and calling the guy a few choice names I miraculously get the call that the meat is done.
Being the good son that I am I bring it to the #1 meat shop in town. He doesn't cut up wild game anymore. I figure I'll get 50 lbs of salami made up for my dad as I'm headed to SK for the annual deer hunting trip.
Almost $200 for the salami to be made. $120 to debone the caribou.
Fast forward to the end of November. 6000 km of driving to deliver meat and antlers and I get a phone call from my father.
Seems the salami is inedible. A few guys at his work tried it but no go.
So I ask my father to pull out one of the bags of trim and let it thaw.
Meat had gone green on the edges.
Now I'm pissed.
I phone the butcher and I ask him WTF? I deliver 2 day old quartered, cleaned, and frozen caribou to him and the meat has somehow turned green in the bags?
He doesn't have an answer for me and hangs up.
Talking to a few hunting buddies of mine apparently this has been an ongoing problem. Phone my buddy up who knows one of the guys who works there and he tells me because they have such a small cooler/freezer they typically would shuffle meat in and out of the cooler to free up space.
Makes me wonder how many times my meat was thawed and frozen?
I phoned the Health Board on him and made a formal complaint. Still waiting for an answer.
Remember if you find a good butcher, be nice to him.
I have a great book written by a professional butcher/lifetime hunter from Quebec that stresses the need to cool meat off FAST over and over again. Translated the title is "Big Game After the Shot" I don't know if it was translated into english but it would make a great stocking stuffer for your friend.
Here is how my early posting on this thread started out.---
"I vote for not cooling properly after shooting. Cooling is very important and a heavy moose hide holds the body heat in like a down parka."
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Did a butcher cut the meat up?
I take great pride in keeping my meat clean and cooled.
Shot a little moose in 2008 and took it to a butcher in town. Got the meat back and everything was fine or so I thought.
Steaks and roasts were fine and then I started cooking a pack of ground meat.
HOLY s**t did it stink.
Found out about 1 out of 4-5 packages had this smell when cooking.
Talking to a few buddies of mine who knew one of the guys working at the butcher shop he said their SOP was to cut up a few moose at a time and then "combine" all the trim, grind and divide.Phoned the butcher up and asked him if this is what they had done. He confirmed this and didn't think anything was wrong. Huh?
Great!!! So some dickhead lets his moose half rot and I get to eat some of his crappy meat and he gets to eat some of mine?
I shot a big rutty moose this year. Cut it up, cleaned it and let it hang for 8 days. Took it to a new butcher (part time) in town who I know really well and had him cut it up. He only works on one animal at a time.
Moose turned out delicious and all the ground meat tastes like moose. Go figure?
Fast forward to October. My father comes up to hunt caribou.
Now anyone who has hunted barren ground caribou knows they can be a little rutty. So we tag a couple of bulls on the trip.
Back in Whitehorse I find out my butcher friend is sick and can't debone the two caribou which are slated for smokies and salami.
Back to the original guy who I don't have a whole lot of faith in. Only game in town at this point.
13.......yes THIRTEEN days later I get all the meat back frozen in bags.
This is after specifying that the caribou had been shot two days prior and they were going to be made into sausages.
4 phone calls to try to speed up the process. Finally after losing my temper and calling the guy a few choice names I miraculously get the call that the meat is done.
Being the good son that I am I bring it to the #1 meat shop in town. He doesn't cut up wild game anymore. I figure I'll get 50 lbs of salami made up for my dad as I'm headed to SK for the annual deer hunting trip.
Almost $200 for the salami to be made. $120 to debone the caribou.
Fast forward to the end of November. 6000 km of driving to deliver meat and antlers and I get a phone call from my father.
Seems the salami is inedible. A few guys at his work tried it but no go.
So I ask my father to pull out one of the bags of trim and let it thaw.
Meat had gone green on the edges.
Now I'm pissed.
I phone the butcher and I ask him WTF? I deliver 2 day old quartered, cleaned, and frozen caribou to him and the meat has somehow turned green in the bags?
He doesn't have an answer for me and hangs up.
Talking to a few hunting buddies of mine apparently this has been an ongoing problem. Phone my buddy up who knows one of the guys who works there and he tells me because they have such a small cooler/freezer they typically would shuffle meat in and out of the cooler to free up space.
Makes me wonder how many times my meat was thawed and frozen?
I phoned the Health Board on him and made a formal complaint. Still waiting for an answer.
Remember if you find a good butcher, be nice to him.
Best to check out the butcher before you drop off the animal, one shop i went to years ago had the hamburger ground up in a vat and the blood was actually dried and crusted on the vat! Lets just say my deer did not get dropped off at that shop.
Once again as a butcher I agree with Mr. "Snowshoe" Gut A.S.A.P can't emphasize that enough.....So I say it again GUT A.S.A.P .
Get the stomach cavity cleaned out with fresh water If it takes 2 cases of bottled water. Get the cavity cleaned out ...no poo , no pee , no big gnarly blood spots if possible. .
Cool the body... open the gut flaps up with a stick and get cool air going in .
Mr. "Snowshoe " I think would agree with this .Remove the friggin wind pipe A.S.A.P it is a bacteria haven area. Also opening up the neck also lets cool air in.
Too many people leave the wind pipe in and this can spoil a lot of meat that can go into mince meat or sausage.
Now here is one that not all people will agree with but it works and has saved lots of meat when the deer was shot in warm weather (Moose also but harder to do). If it is a very warm day bug's are out and cooling will take some time and you are near a crystal clear lake , leave the hide on and.......throw it in for a few hours. NOT A BEVER POND ....Not any brackish looking water.
Must be a clean clear lake or even a stream. Leave it in till the temp. starts dropping for the day and pull it out and hang by rear legs to drain.
It's 98 % water any way so good clean water won't hurt it.
Form your own opinion on this but I have done it , some old timers out there may have also.
Ive worked in a few slaughter houses and the first thing after the hide comes off is the water hose or pressure washer.
It is vital to get the heat out of the meat .......... I made a rhyme ha ha !
A hunters killing game it is your responsibility and duty to the critter you killed to make the most that you can of it , by doing the extra work involved to get as much edible meat home.
Cheers
Get the stomach cavity cleaned out with fresh water If it takes 2 cases of bottled water. Get the cavity cleaned out ...no poo , no pee , no big gnarly blood spots if possible. .
Cool the body... open the gut flaps up with a stick and get cool air going in .
Mr. "Snowshoe " I think would agree with this .Remove the friggin wind pipe A.S.A.P it is a bacteria haven area. Also opening up the neck also lets cool air in.
Too many people leave the wind pipe in and this can spoil a lot of meat that can go into mince meat or sausage.
Now here is one that not all people will agree with but it works and has saved lots of meat when the deer was shot in warm weather (Moose also but harder to do). If it is a very warm day bug's are out and cooling will take some time and you are near a crystal clear lake , leave the hide on and.......throw it in for a few hours. NOT A BEVER POND ....Not any brackish looking water.
Must be a clean clear lake or even a stream. Leave it in till the temp. starts dropping for the day and pull it out and hang by rear legs to drain.
It's 98 % water any way so good clean water won't hurt it.
Form your own opinion on this but I have done it , some old timers out there may have also.
Ive worked in a few slaughter houses and the first thing after the hide comes off is the water hose or pressure washer.
It is vital to get the heat out of the meat .......... I made a rhyme ha ha !
A hunters killing game it is your responsibility and duty to the critter you killed to make the most that you can of it , by doing the extra work involved to get as much edible meat home.
Cheers
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canadian hunter312
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County
your neighbor needs to learn how to take care of the critters he shoots. the only time you hear about cow moose tasting bad is when the hunter did something wrong.
the guts will old heat for a long time and the hide is like insulation keeping heat in. look at how long snow stays on critters without melting.
contamination and temperature are the likely culprits.
the guts will old heat for a long time and the hide is like insulation keeping heat in. look at how long snow stays on critters without melting.
contamination and temperature are the likely culprits.
