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Ok guys this is the story my friend and his group go hunting and the first night out my friend shoots a nice bull at 270 yards. So the moose is down and him and his dad do a not so good job of guting the moose. Meaning they left blood in it and maybe even some fecal matter. He gets to camp tells everyone to go and get it but they all say its cold enough (-2c or 30)for leaving it till morning.So they get the moose in the morn and it doesnt look that good, its liver has white streaks in it and the meat is soft to the knife. They get it to camp and hang the animal they do not rinse the inside, and do not put pepper in it before they cheese cloth it. So that day it starts to get hot like about 60-65 degrees the flies are on the cheese cloth like theyre on [bleep] and the animal starts to smell a bit,about 24hrs from time of kill. That night the temps stay warm like 45-55 degrees and the next morn they take the animal to the freezers but its smelling pretty bad now, so now after 36-40 hours this anomal smeels bad, they put in freezer for about 3 days and when leaving they go to pick it up, so here is where it gets fun!!! All the guides are saying an animal will not spoil in that time frame cause they have never seen it, so their conclusion was it must have been dead a few days before! And he collected a dead animal. So now part of the group heres this and they are all screaming at each other and calling the guy a liar and freak!!! So what do you guys think of this story? Is it possible for the animal to spoil so fast? Has anyone had an experience wher their animal spoils fast? thanks Elmer | ||
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never seen meat spoil that quick - even in the heat of africa | |||
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I wouldn't think that the meat would spoil that quickly. I would have taken the animal to the freeze ASAP and not hung it. They could have done a lot better care of the animal, but not likely the culprit either. He could have shot a sick animal or like the others think he claimed a dead animal. I have heard of large animals (bison and bears) going bad rather quickly due to their hair. It may apply to moose also "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit"--Aristotle (384BC-322BC) | |||
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I believe it could have spoiled that quick. The biggest thing to my mind is that they did "a not so good job of gut(t)ing the moose" The stomach and intestinal acids can start to break down meat pretty quickly. That can "spoil" an animal pretty quickly, even if it's not hot out. If it was hung in 60-65 degree air temp, and any part of it, or all of it was also in direct sunlight, that could pretty much finish the meat off fast. That's just too warm in my opinion. Was the hide left on also? I don't believe he claimed a dead moose. After hunting for many years in "hot" weather, I am automatically predisposed to getting the animal opened up as fast as possible and cleaned out. Pretty much as soon as it quits moving and dies. Then as soon as is humanly possible I skin it and wash the hairs off of and out of it. Then it gets the cheese cloth and hung in the shade, but only if the air temp stays around 50 degrees or lower. If it's warmer than that, or expected to get warmer than that, then we either quarter it and it goes in coolers, or it gets driven in to a meat cooler somewhere (or we pack up and go home-depending). Si tantum EGO eram dimidium ut bonus ut EGO memor | |||
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I've never killed a moose, but I can definitely see an animal spoiling that quickly. Especially a large animal like that. It would take a good long while at cold temps to completely chill a rear quarter that thick. So, I'll bet that the meat was never fully cooled before going into that freezer. As an aside, my german shepherd was hit by a car a few weeks ago. He didn't come when I called him for chow Wed. morning, as I'd left him out that night due to a lot of rain. A neighbor claims to have seen him that morning about 6:30 am. I found him Friday, just after lunch, and he was pretty rank already. He had crawled into an old shack of a neighbor's that should have been torn down years ago, and died. You could smell him 15 ft away. That was just over two days to go from alive to quite rank FWIW. I've also seen deer that have been shot one evening and recovered the next morning, and if they are actually dead for most of the night, and if it doesn't get really cold, the animal is usually no good. | |||
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Yes, indeed, the meat could have spoiled in that time frame. There's no doubt about that possibility. Bobby Μολὼν λαβέ The most important thing in life is not what we do but how and why we do it. - Nana Mouskouri | |||
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If "not so good a job of gutting" means they left the guts in, then it could have spoiled. If they removed guts and lungs, left a little blood, and it really got down to 30 degrees, I don't think the meat would stink for several days. The gut pile would smell to high heaven after a day in the sun. Perhaps he found a good bull dead, and tagged it? Might never know for sure. Steve "He wins the most, who honour saves. Success is not the test." Ryan "Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything." Stalin Tanzania 06 Argentina08 Argentina Australia06 Argentina 07 Namibia Arnhemland10 Belize2011 Moz04 Moz 09 | |||
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Without question the meat can and will spoil that quickly. Just by leaving it overnight with the hide on and not spliting the neck, I would expect it to spoil. Same with elk, but not as quick. The neck holds a tremendous amount of heat and is the first place to go. "There are worse memorials to a life well-lived than a pair of elephant tusks." Robert Ruark | |||
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It would easily spoil that fast if left ungutted overnight, especially on a warm night. Moose hide is thick and the hair is made for one purpose... insulation. Compound that with the bull dead on the ground, which insulates the bottom more and any heat that can disipate must go up through the rest of the body. Moose also have a high core temp to begin with. The guts, if punctured by the shot would also create gases which could spread bacteria throughout the animal. If I shot a moose and left it over night under the described circumstances then I would expect it to be spoiled by the next day. I would also expect someone to kick me square in the butt for not having taken care of the animal properly. | |||
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I have been entering the moose hunt lottery in NH and in Maine for 15 years now with no succes-yet. I am amazed that someone could be so lucky and be able to take part in a hunt that, for most of us would be the hunt of a lifetime, and then be so careless in the execution and planning. Remember, the real work takes place after the kill. There is no doubt that the meat can and will spoil under such circumstances. I would suspect that someone who is so care free about such an important task would probably also not take the time and practice to make a good shot so the likelihood of a gut-shot is also high. This has slob hunter written all over it. Good thing for him that antlers don't go bad. To let such a magnificent animal go to waste is surely a sin. -+-+- "If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." - The Dalai Lama | |||
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I agree the problem was probably started by not skinning the Moose out. The Hide holds the heat in real well which starts the rotting process. You can do the same thing with a Deer, a Hog, a Bear or even an old Chicken and see the same thing. Sounds like some totally worthless scum-of-the-earth But, the responsibility lies with the Trigger Yanker. He never should have pulled the trigger if he didn't intend to clean it properly and get it into a cooler with some ice. Once it was down he should have stayed with the cleaning task if it took all night. Huuummm, I can see me bringing quarters in one at a time and "accidentally" waking everyone up who refused to help. But then, I don't hunt with people that worthless. | |||
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Best thing to do on Moose is skin it right away or quarter it right after its shot.Yes they spoil that fast. | |||
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Exactly what MC said! Here we have a report of more retarded hunters who have no business being issued a hunting license and should be confined to Cabelas hunting games from this point forward. | |||
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Mis-handling that moose caused it to go bad. You absolutely have to skin them out, remove the entrails and cut it into pieces in that kind of weather. Then, if you hang it, it has to be protected from heat/direct sunlight as much as possible. We had rather hot temps this last moose season and hanging wouldn't cool them off enough. Since we use boats to get into our camps, even putting the meat in the bottom of the boat wasn't cool enough. We made 2 separate trips out with meat to get 'em into freezers so they wouldn't spoil. We had no problems with spoilage at all. Also, while we may not skin the animal at the kill site, we will do it once it's in camp hanging. In my opinion, the animal needs to be skinned, gutted, and cut into 7 pieces ASAP. The pieces are 2 front quarters, 2 rear quarters, 2 rib cages (use a chain saw along the back bone & sternum) and the neck. While not the best situation, we have shot moose in a slough and not been able to get to them until the next morning. In this case, temps were cool enough so the cold water cooled the meat sufficiently to keep it from going bad. Not the best situation but.... Yes!!! This is a clear caser of ineptitude & not knowing what you're doing. Sad, sad, sad. Bear in Fairbanks Unless you're the lead dog, the scenery never changes. I never thought that I'd live to see a President worse than Jimmy Carter. Well, I have. Gun control means using two hands. | |||
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I dont think it can spoil that fast if its not very contaminated from the guts. I know that a lot of guys never skin their moose until night just to keep them hot longer to speed up tendering process, even if they shoot it first light in the morning. We let them hang skinned for a while, the bloodshot meat usually smell a bit when we cut and freeze them. If its 50 f we let them hang for 4 to 8 days, if its 40 f it will be 10 - 20 days. If its even less we're not impressed since the meat is best well matured. | |||
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900 SS wrote:
I can assure you that in constant 50 degree weather, hanging an animal for 4-8 days will result in spoilage. Bobby Μολὼν λαβέ The most important thing in life is not what we do but how and why we do it. - Nana Mouskouri | |||
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You are wrong, I dont make this up. Just dare to try it and you'll see. We do this every year, this year seven moose. The rule is at least 40 daydegrees, I dont know how to translate it but its calculated from the 24 hour mean temperature. If its 10 degrees celsius = 50 f, we need at least 4 days. This year was cold, but last year the one that hung most got 76 daydegrees, thats 7,6 days in 50 f. We even have an electronic measuring device to monitor this for us. Great taste and very tender. | |||
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I was hunting in Colorado a few years back. A guy in the next camp killed a bull just before dark. He gutted it, then laid the elk on its back, in about a foot of snow,with a stick holding open the body cavity. He did not skin the elk. We got to the elk the next morning about 10a.m. to help pack out with horses. When we started to quarter the elk for packing, the meat was already starting to smell spoiled. My guess is that the snow insulated the elk and kept it from cooling. The temp at night was in the mid 20's. | |||
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I would have at least split the pelvis and made sure was on its back with legs spread and chest propped open.In 30 degrees,there would have been no spoilage. Here is the u of mn webpage on aging beef.They note a time for ageing in 60 degrees of 12 hours. http://www.extension.umn.edu/d...utrition/DJ5968.html ****************************************************************** SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM *********** | |||
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Easy case to solve there Sherlock......fecal contamination, not skinning it, and 60-65 degrees = spoilage in less than 24 hours! | |||
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I had a Caribou spoil even after Skinned, Quartered and hung in a meat storage in Quebec. Handled right just warm weather. A couple of warm days. Still had to fly it out. | |||
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Don't you know in times like that you need to add salt to your ammo.  | |||
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I'm a graduate wildlife mgt biologist who was told in wildlife mgt class to advise all hunters to skin all kills out in warm weather to cool the meat.I saw hunters in colorado leave unskinned elk on the unfrozen ground because where they were from that's what they did, but it was below zero in their home states during hunting season and it wasn't in colorado.I told them about my training but soon gave up giving advice because they ignored me so I figured spoiled meat is what they deserved. | |||
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All bullshit aside, to me there is absolutely no excuse for not doing a thorough job in gutting your kill. If you lack the tools or the know-how, then maybe you should either learn or take up a different hobby. Because really, the very first step necessary to getting the animal from field to table is to properly clean the cavity of any and all organs, blood, etc...I think that this critter was doomed from the get go, and everything else is collateral damage. If you don't have enough respect for the animal to know how to take care of it after it is shot, then you don't deserve the priviledge of hunting. Yes, priviledge, not the right. | |||
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I see elk spoil all the time here in Montana even in relatively cold weather simply from poor gutting and failure to skin the animal. Could go on and on about the animals with windpipes left in, pelvis area not split with all the eqpt in that area still intact, etc. Leaving the windpipe i and failing to skin the neck /chest hide back seems to alloow the neck to spoil quickly. FN in MT 'I'm tryin' to think, but nothin' happens"! Curly Howard Definitive Stooge | |||
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Your friend was lazy to not get the hide off nor gut it properly soon after the kill. I have never Moose hunted, but elk and deer can spoil faster than what you described easily. I don't care what kind of animal I kill, the hide comes off quickly even if it takes all night. I've pulled the hide off deer in the snow several times. I've even skinned them in sub zero temps soon after they were killed. It's a bummer he lost the meat, but he learned a valuable lesson. Reloader | |||
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