I have killed a couple 4 to 6 year-old bulls of note - one on Sept 29, and the last on Nov 1. Both were - shall we say - untasty - due to rut chemicals in their meat. This flavor is carried in the blood, and of course is all through the meat. Probably a combination of adrenaline, testosterone, piss, and who knows what else- definitely has an unpleasant urine plus taste to it. Never did find a way to alleviate it completely, tho making burger out of it and several water rinses of the ground meat reduced it somewhat. Cooking in butter also seemed to help a bit, so maybe a milk or lactose marinade/soak would work. A strong spaghetti sauce made it almost reasonably palatable, tho the wife won't touch it. I believe the Nov.1 kill was out of rut or nearly so, but the rut flavor wasn't quite out of him yet. He was with an enormous adult cow, a yearling cow most likely her offspring, and a smaller bull.
The dog didn't seem to care about the flavor... even raw. Which was mostly the disposal of all that meat. His farts stunk tho....
The other 20 or so that I have killed were taken before Sept 25, and two of those were young 2 or 3 year old bulls that also were slightly rutty tasting- both taken in mid September. Individual animals differ. My theory is that these two were adolescent moose going into their first serious hormonal changes and their timing was all screwed up yet. Other bulls killed of similar age and kill dates were excellent eating.
One large bull that I killed on September 11 was in full rut mode, even tho he was early about it. Swollen neck, pink tongue, nothing in his stomach, came in to raking very aggressively grunting and thrashing to my raking. He also had one side of his antlers that wasn't right - or symmetrical with the other side. For one thing, his brows on that side was just a big, 4 inch diameter, 6 inch long drop tine lump, and his points were almost non-existant, unlike the better side that had typical brows and reasonable points on that palm. I'd last seen him 4 years before, at which time he had moderate palm and tines on one side, but just a single 18 inch long spike on the other, making him legal, but I saw that too late, as he turned and went into the brush.
He was excellent eating! But he hadn't been fighting and getting infected poke holes in him yet either.
A bit of a crap shoot, it would seem.
If you want eating moose, kill one before Sept 25, or after Nov 10, and the odds of good meat go way up. Cows, of course, are good anytime. Killing a bull near or in rut, the odds of good eating (emphasize on "good"!) go way down, in my experience. I'd go (if you do) the Sept 10-19 slot. They will be in pre-rut, and should come to raking and possibly bull grunts - checking out the competition. That's real prime time in my opinion, tho they won't be as responsive to either competition or cow calls as they would be later, during rut.
The local Eskimos (or at least a couple) here in Kotzebue claim that hanging a rutty bull for 10 days or so will eliminate the rutty taste, but I don't think I'm buying it. But maybe - I not having tried it. And I won't.
I will now kill my moose meat well away from rut. Unless I can take a cow.
Last edited by las; 01/22/18.
