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Never met an elk I didn’t like.

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Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 12 04, 2019 •  [Post 1]

Or more aptly worded, I’ve never met a bad tasting elk ;). Over my fewyears in the elk hunting business, I’ve occasionally heard hunters say they had a bad tasting or tough as shoe leather elk. I honestly don’t recall experiencing either. Proper processing once big snotty is down, cooling, transport, and the final trimming (fat, silver skin, sinew) of elk meat before packaging/freezing is HUGE to ensure those various cuts taste great to include the burger. Have any of you cats actually harvested an elk that didn’t taste good, or, was tough as gnawing on an old leather boot?
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby Swede » 12 04, 2019 •  [Post 2]

I got a very large cow several years ago. She was the fattest elk I have ever killed, and she was taken good care of in the field, and on the trip to the butcher shop. I expected her to be tender and juicy. She was tough. I don't think she was quite as tough as one of my boots would be, but I have never eaten a boot to make the comparison. Either I was fooled about that fat cow, or got a different one back from the butcher. I have been given the wrong meat from two different butcher shops that I know of over the years. I have always wondered about that one. I suppose it is possible that it was butchered and frozen too soon. I just don't know.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby wawhitey » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 3]

Thats the thing swede, you never know what youre really getting from a butcher shop. Plus, they charge by the pound, so all kinds of stuff you would trim and chuck, theyre leaving in your meat, grinding into your burger. This is why i do my own butchering. Its a pain, but i know exactly what im eating and how it was handled. Ive eaten several rutted up bucks in the 8.5 - 11.5 yr old range and all were every bit as good as a 2.5 yr old. And ive eaten big mature bulls that were just as good as can be. Just the other night talking to my dad he did say that years ago, like maybe 30 years, he got an elk from the sage brush country that was just flat out inedible. Now at that time i dont believe he was doing his own butchering, so whether the problem was that it came from sage country, or the problem was on the butchers end i dont know.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby Indian Summer » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 4]

I’ve definitely had variations in toughness. And it had nothing to do with the age or sex of the elk. I’ve always believed that a QUICK clean kill was better than having to track an elk who was full of adrenaline and lactic acid.

I know one thing for sure... none of my elk meat ever had a label that said may contain growth hormones, antibiotics, artificial coloring or ecoli bacteria and although I enjoy beef too I’ve never eaten any while dreaming about the day I snuck up on it on a fall day atop a beautiful mountain top!
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby >>>---WW----> » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 5]

I have had verying degrees of toughness in elk. But none really all that bad. I had a calf elk that was almost like eating cotton candy, it was soooo tender.

I think the worse wild meat I ever had was a mule deer I shot off of a sage brush flat years ago.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby Tigger » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 6]

Funny, I was talking to someone about this yesterday! Of the hundreds of big game animals I have been a part of, exactly 1 was tough. None tasted different. The tough one was a bull elk that dropped within a couple of feet of where he was hit. No clue why. Taste was fine, the steaks were really tough. Every other animal, from antelope to elk to moose to whitetails have all been great with no discernable difference. Big, little, old, young, it doesn't matter.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby saddlesore » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 7]

I have always processed my own meat . I have done my own beef for years and when I put an elk on the ground,it gets the same consideration. So I know it is not how I take care of the meat. Taste wise,I can only remember one that was really bad. It fell where I shot it, but I think it had been feeding on willows as that was where it was at. Two days later, my buddy shot another one less than100 yards away. Next year ,I directed an archer to the spot and he killed a bull. All three of those tasted bad.

As for toughness, I have had several.1st being a cow my boy shot down in NM. Then another big bull in NW CO in a special trophy area. It took me 5 years to chew that bull up.Then in 2009 I shot an old cow moose, she was as tough as that bull and I ended up either crock potting her or grinding the meat.None of these were killed after running or being full of adrenaline. I am presently working on a bull I killed in 2018. Not real tough,but definitely chewy. I can get by with it using meat tenderizer, letting it marinate for 6-8 hours

For about10 years I have been doing the no gut processing. Definitely removing the back straps from the spine before rigor mortis has relaxed , makes those the toughest meat of the elk. Even aging two weeks in a walk in cooler you can still tell the difference from the meat that was not boned out.

Some of these older elk are just plain tough and I think killing one after the bulls go thru rut doesn't help much either.I have had more tough chewing bulls than I have had cows.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby Lefty » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 8]

over The past 30 years about 35 deer elk and antelope have been fed out of our kitchen and freezer,
One bull elk was learner and a bit more fibery in texture if that is such a term but was tender and tasty.

I shot an old huge black tail buck that was down right nasty I gave that whole deer to the men’s shelter in Vancouver

Mule deer, well they all tasted like mule deer .

I have had some small game waterfowl and furbearers that smelled or were extremely tough to skin, clean or butcher


Years back I opened up a beaver all the meat and tissue was way off color. Everypart of the beaver I could. See as if it was rotting while alive
While doing depredation trapping I had 3 fox , something was wrong With them The fish and game took the carcasses

All the elk have been just tasty
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby elkstalker » 12 05, 2019 •  [Post 9]

I have definitely experienced tough elk, the flavor has always been good, however. The most tender was a cow I shot that had been feeding in a nearby hayfield, the toughest was a 4 year old bull I killed two years ago. People usually look at me funny when I say it, but my favorite big game meats are antelope and deer. Mostly because I don't think I've ever had a tough deer or antelope.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby saddlesore » 12 06, 2019 •  [Post 10]

Probably the best tasting/tender big game meat I eat is eastern Colorado Pronghorn that feed on winter wheat or sorghum hay.Next best thing was a Bighorn sheep I killed on Pikes Peak. Worst was Wyoming Pronghorn
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby Swede » 12 06, 2019 •  [Post 11]

I have had good and bad bear meat. I too have had good and bad Pronghorn. I have never shot either. The way I know the difference without opening the meat package is; if a casual acquaintance offers you some of their bear/antelope; it is bad. If family or a close friend offers to share, it is good.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby >>>---WW----> » 12 06, 2019 •  [Post 12]

Some of the very best wild meat I have had in a long time came from the mule deer buck in my avatar to the right on this post.

But to be perfectly honest, My wife can take just about any deer or elk meat and put it in the crock pot and make the best Swiss Steak you ever sunk you teeth into.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby Swede » 12 06, 2019 •  [Post 13]

WW's post reminds me that you are probably in for a bad tasting bear when you can't stand to be in the kitchen when it is being cooked. Just turn off the cooking range and go out for dinner. The dog will not want the bear meat either. Some idiots, will shoot a bear at the garbage dump because they are easy to get, or they will shoot one along the river that has been feeding or rotten salmon for weeks. All I can say is that they should have to eat their trophy.
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Re: Never met an elk I didn’t like.

Postby lamrith » 12 13, 2019 •  [Post 14]

I have tasted a couple elk over the years, only one do I recall being "bad" tasting. It was a rutted up bull my Step-dad shot. It ran a ways off so they waited a while (not long enough) when they tracked they bumped it and then it really ran, and ran, and ran. That one had a very strong flavor to it, somewhat metallic. All the other elk I have had have tasted great, a subtle difference in flavor from beef.

My elk this year tastes just like a beef cow other than it has ZERO fat in it. Texture is different too, he is a hair on the tough side, but the few people I have had taste it did not know it was not beef. Damn good eating!
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