Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Adrenaline

Gonna go shoot some today.

See you boys next semester.

Practice hard...Dinks are smaller targets...

Ingwe

There are tons of peer reviewed research papers on this topic for both domestic as well as wild game animals. Here is some info from one of many studies that covered the effects of stress and injury on the quality of wild game meat:

Ray A. Field, Emeritus Professor of Meat Science, and Warrie J. Means, Associate Professor of Meat Science, both with the Department of Animal Science at The University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station, conducted extensive study and wrote a paper on big game meat handling. They made it very clear that the meat from big game animals that were stressed from running long distances or from being wounded and trailed several hours prior to the kill would quickly go sour because energy sources that are normally converted to lactic acid in the muscle are used up during stress. Spoilage bacteria grows at a much faster rate if the level of lactic acid in the muscle is low. Therefore, meat from stressed game animals will often sour. In addition, meat sours even more rapidly if gunshot areas are extensive as the Ph of blood is optimal for bacterial growth, and extensive gunshot areas have greater bacterial contamination.

These facts have been known and extensively studied since discovered and documented in the 1800s. I look at all this like smoking. If you smoke, it does not guarantee that you will die from lung cancer, but it is a factor that goes against you. You will definitely have a leg up if you do not smoke. If you run a big game animal for great distances, especially if it is wounded, it will be a factor that goes against you and you will have your hands full at salvaging the meat before it sours. You will definitely have a leg up if you cleanly kill a big game animal while healthy, relaxed, and stress free.

Best:)

I agree that a wounded animal that is not recovered in time will spoil.

GaryVA; That makes some sense to me...thanks for that input. Butttt..I was under the impression that lactic acid in the muscle goes UP when stressed, instead of DOWN...am I confused? ( Wouldnt be the first time... )

Ingwe

But that's not 100% by a long shot. The 2 toughest animals I've shot, an elk and a moose, were both taken in snow, died VERY quickly without running, and were skinned and cooled immediately.

I think there's a difference between toughness (but good flavor) and rank flavor from a stressed animal. The worst elk I ever tasted, flavor-wise was a young cow that was wounded and ran close to a mile. It was cut up within hours and put on ice. Only a sample of one, but one I'll never forget.

I've heard it spoken both ways, but when you look at the underlying scientific facts behind the process, it is pretty clear that it is the chemical process of the sugars converting to lactic acid post mortem that holds the spread of meat souring bacteria at bay. Bacteria spreads like wildfire above 40 degrees and having a healthy, rested, and unstressed game animal will have a higher amount of the sugars in the muscle to convert. Burn up the sugars just prior to death, and you have less to convert which in turn will probably promote a higher bacteria spread which is very difficult to combat when in the field as the bacteria keeps on spreading until everything goes under 40 degrees. Add to this the PH of blood, and you then have a great mix for some less than ideal meat. Perfect for bacteria, but not so good for us.

I'm sure there are cases where the hunter did everything under their control to make a clean kill and to properly handle the meat but still ended with poor results. But those situations are more than likely the exception and not the rule. As a rule, we will always be better served when the actions we take are less likely to promote the spread of bacteria when killing game and handling game meat afield.

Best:)

OK...dat makes perfect sense.....thanks for that input..Knowing what I know about chasing stressed out suspects with a K9 your description of what goes on in the muscles is spot on, and explains alot as to the quality of some of the meat in the game we shoot...

Thanks!

Ingwe

You can have excellent fresh meat and ruin everything by making the wrong cuts when butchering. There is science behind this as well as you can improperly cut the fibers short and cause the most tender piece of meat to turn into a tough drawn up chunk of meat that will make your jaw sore trying to chew and swallow. This quite often is a mistake with the knife having nothing to do with bacteria.

If you end up in this situation, make sure your marinade includes some form of acid to help break down the fibers.

Best:)

I discovered through trial and error that marinating "less than prime" meat in coca-cola and chopped onion masks/improves the taste....at least to me.

While we're on that subject, the best marinade I've found is 1 cup canola, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup soy sauce, and around a tablespoon each of garlic powder, black pepper, and celery seed (optional).

Doesn't sound like much, but it's good.