RedRiverHntr

You've killed your elk. You have processed it to whatever point you choose to.
You place in the shade or hang it up.

When do you start worrying about the temperature? When is warm weather too warm?

(EKM...No "process it right then and there so you don't have to worry" reply. What to do if you don't process on site? We already violating several interstate trucking laws with the amount and weight of what we bring up there!!!)

AlaskaMagnum

Meat care is very important, especially when temperatures rise. There are a few things to worry about


1) Dirt
2) Moisture
3) Heat

Generally speaking, at temperatures much above 45 degrees or so, you are going to have trouble if it stays there or above for extended periods of time. There are some things you can do to do help.

DO NOT BONE OUT YOUR MEAT!!! Every cut you make into theat meat introduces more bacteria. Keep the bone in as long as possible. This sucks if you are backpacking out your game, because it means useless weight that has to be moved, still, it's your responsibility to make sure your game = food. If it's hot, you gotta keep the bone it.

Hang your meat in the shade, a tarp over the top, and get it into the wind if you can. This will help keep it cool.

Keep your meat in game bags but NEVER plastic bags.

If things really get desperate, some guys up here will carry some heavy duty contractor bags and put their meat in these, and then put them in the river for quick cooling. Remember, once you get the core temperature of the meat down, it will take awhile to get it back up. So, if you can get it down about 35 degrees quickly, and get a good cold night under your belt, a 55 degree or so day should not be a problem if you keep your meet well ventilated and shaded.

ELKampMaster

I start worrying about temperature on two counts:

(1) Is it warm enough for the blow flies? Blow fly eggs can gestate from eggs to maggots (larvae) in 24 hours in continued warm/moist conditions. You have to get it cooled at some point (soon, perhaps night air) to cause the fly eggs to go dormant and and stop the "development clock". Fortunately the same warm weather that allows the flies to be abundant also cause the meat to "rind up" which acts as a natural barrier to maggots.

(2) Daytime high temperatures over 75 degrees (pretty easy in early seasons) which even after a cool night can lead to "green meat". Even in small patches this stuff is problematic. Once you smell it, it becomes difficult to discern the good meat from the bad.

So skin the quarters, bag them, get them into the shade (conifers are my favorite --- on a north slope even better but that depends on where you bagged your critter), when you hang them don't let them touch each other. Get them to camp ASAP, horses shine on this latter one, we hauled out 6 elk in one day from 4 to 5 miles back in.

If the weather was warmish and I was NOT butchering in camp, then I would be making the trip to town to the local processor and have him butcher it. Since we go for "gourmet elk" I wouldn't haul quarters long distance on the way home unless I could keep them cold and away from the windstream.

BTW, you can process in camp without freezers, just use coolers and dry ice. It will take 1 pound of dry ice to sharp freeze 2 pounds of packaged elk in warm weather. Note if overnight temperatures drop to 10 to 15 degrees it will sharp freeze over night just by "setting it out". At 19 to 22 degrees you are screwed, it is not enough, even though it is sub-freezing it will "slush" but not sharp freeze. If you have an empty pickup bed, then lay the packages (not touching) in the pickup bed and the steel will help transfer the cold of the night air to the meat.

EKM

djy

this web site has some pretty good information...

http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modac/65793001.html

ELKampMaster

That was a long one....

"40 degrees --- period" and "the sooner the better" is what I got out of it.

** We store it in the coolest natural cover, pending transport (same day or next).
Upon arriving at the main camp, we put the quarters straight into the freezers and monitor the temperature to keep it from dropping below freezing , shutting off the freezer if necessary (a large mass of elk meat hauled in from the field will overpower the freezing ability of a freezer for a while during which time it acts as a refrigerator).

** Once all the animals are in to camp, we start butchering ASAP. We strive to get our game in the first day (or two at most). If the harvest is going painfully slow, then we will have one group start butchering what we've got, another group packing, and then some still hunting.

** The spike camp "haul out" waits until after in camp butchering is done, so we can "get right into the butchering" plus we may have some folks still out stomping around for game (hopefully not many, nor for long).

** We have one large upright freezer and one medium chest freezer and keep a thermometer in each one. Once "wrapped" and coded the meat is laid out, not touching, in the large freezer and we wait for it to freeze solid. Once sharp frozen, we transfer it and "pile" it into the chest freezer until the butchering cycle ends. Regarding the first freezer, don't trust a freezer that is under a heavy "trying to get lots of stuff frozen" load --- it won't cool everywhere in its interior at the same rate. Hunt down and remove sharp frozen packages to the final freezer. Move "warmer/slow to freeze" packages within the intial freezer to the colder spots so your average cooling/freezing rate is somewhat even. Just from experience, watch out putting packages in the door --- the air can't circulate underneath and it is next to the door gasket.

** One related note, pick a campsite that has some major conifer stands close by. As you begin butchering you may have to "juggle" meat in the early stages and you may need to "evict" some quarters out of one or the other of the freezers (acting like refrigerators at that point, holding the meat waiting for you to butcher it) to the shade and cool of the heavy conifer stand temporarily until you can get around to cutting these hung quarters up (usually they are first in line once they are hung in the trees and may only be there for a few hours) -- this lets your first stage freezer take your initial batches of packaged meat and work on actually sharp freezing them since the rate at which you butcher and put butchered meat into the freezer is not as overwhelming as the rate you can pitch in elk quarters (thud-thud-thud 200 pounds with quarters). It is an interesting balancing act.

Quick side note regarding freezers. The upright can only accept quarters that have the leg removed at the "knee". The chest 8 cu. ft. can accept quarters with the feet still on them BUT it is best to have them off. On the other hand, if you've got lots of elk down, then get them to the freezers ASAP hooves on or off --- a little quick camp work can quickly prune them down once things start getting crowded.

After researching it quite a bit, the upshot of what I found regarding aging elk meat was two points:

(1) The process of aging meat works mainly on the marbled fat and since wild game typically don't have much marbling in their muscle structure, the benefits if any are minor, if any.

(2) Unless you have a walk in temperature controlled cooler, the downsides of aging are numerous. Proper, temperature controlled aging may be viable if you are hunting close to home/town; however, if you are in a remote/away from home big game camp then the "aging" attempt is riskier still --- little to gain and much to lose. For most, "bolting" into town to the processor is the best way to satisfy the food scientists who know all to well the dangers of ignoring the thermometer for anymore than the shortest periods of time.

My $.02, of course there is someone out there that hangs them in the garage for 7-10 days at what every daytime/nighttime temperature comes along and calls it "just right". To each there own and good luck.

EKM

Elkcrazy8

[quote]ORIGINAL: AlaskaMagnum



"DO NOT BONE OUT YOUR MEAT!!! "

If the hind quarters and neck are not boned out in extreme temperatures. Bone sour will kick in. This is true for early archery season. Seperating the meat and popping the seams will disipate the heat and reduce the risk of meat loss. Almost all of our elk are killed at temps around 70-80 degrees. We haven't lost one yet. The meat goes into plastic bags after boning and is submerged in the creek. The meat is taken out and packed out in the coolness of the morning. The meat is put into coolers and is packed with ice for the ride home.

AlaskaMagnum

Elkcrazy,

If you are talking about extreme temperatures and getting the meat out in a day or so, then yes, bone sour is a concern, and probably the largest concern. However, if you have to keep your game for many days say three or more, the less bacteria you introduce into the meat the better, hence my recommendation to NOT bone out the meat.
Do NOT put more cuts into that meat. Also, of course the neck is almost always boned out, but I would not bone out the hind quarters.

Bone sour starts from the inside of the meat, other spoilage starts on the outside and works its way in. For me, I will take my chances and keep the meat on. Actually, in many places in Alaska, a bone-in requirement is in effect until late Sept.

As a side note, the plastic bag trick works very well. If you can get the core temperature of the meat down to 34 or 36 degrees, you can keep your meat pretty well. A suggestion. Use TWO plastic bags, and purchase contractor bags from a janitor supply store. Despite what Hefty claims, their bags are not all that strong. Also, do NOT keep the meat in the plastic bags for more than a few hours, and you MUST submerge it completely.

Elkcrazy8

Ditto on the strong sacks. We double the sacks and tie a goose neck on the bags. We are fortunate enough to have a glacier stream next to our camp. This is mother natures refrigerator. We take special care to make sure that the meat stays dry. I also agree that moisture is of big concern. The knives that we gut with are put aside and not used for boning the meat. I also like to carry a bottle of sanitizer with me. When my hands start getting a little freaky. I will hit them with some. Back in the days when I was a late season gun hunter. I never boned the meat. I would let the quarters hang in the shade after skinning and let the silverskin harden to form a layer(cooler weather). The flys would already be dormant. Now that I hunt the early bow hunts. The yellow jackets and the blowfly's are terrible. I have found it hard to keep the blow fly's out of full quarters even with good meat sacks. I hunt mainly elk and during the september rut, their body temperature can raise 8-10 degrees in temp. My first concern is to release the body heat. The only way for me to do that is to increase the surface area. I do agree with your point on additional cutting AM and the spread of bacteria. Under the circumstances that some are faced with, there may not be any other options. I have kept the meat submeged in the stream for 24 hours already and the meat was great. Of course the water was colder than heck. The bags are submerged completely the air is squeezed from them and rocks are put on top of them. I fugured I would throw in my 2 cents on this thread as I am used to dealing with the extreme heat and meat care. You need to work real fast. Hunting antelope in august is even more fun when the temp is at or above 100 degrees. At that point boning is a must, and a cooler of ice that is ready is more important than ever. You have made some good points AM, thanks for sharing.

AlaskaMagnum

ElkCrazy,

Up here they use super concentrate citric acid to keep the blowflies at bay. You can get it at Indian Valley Meats. The theory is, the acid burns them so they keep off of the meat. I think you can order it over the internet if interested.

ELKampMaster

Concentrated citric acid (an organic acid) in a spray bottle.... sounds more convenient that a large can of black pepper and confirmed by what I've read elsewhere as being much more effective against blow flys than black pepper. Another nice little nugget in my meat handling tool kit, thanks!

Good stuff, especially when you are hunting where there is NOT an ATV or tractor or pickup just minutes away and the in-town meat processor is NOT just an hour away.

EKM