Whats the longest youve left an Elk in the field

[trphyhntr]

on an early hunt, with their guts in and clothes on. was the meat still legitimately good? basically how long can they last

[lancetkenyon]

Not long. Even in cold temps. Maybe 6 hours? Not overnight.

 

I had a good buddy that left a bull overnight during an archery hunt a few years ago. Shot it at last light, and let it sit for an hour. Started tracking, and couldn't find it, and called me to come help. I was up by first light the next morning, and we found it about 2 hours later. Meat was no good. About 12-14 hours.

 

2years ago, a friend of a friend shot a bull last light during the late rifle hunt. Temps were in the low teens overnight. Found it within an hour of sunup the next morning. Cut it up and dropped it at the processor. They called him and told him it was all bone sour. Lost the whole thing.

[GreyGhost85]

Elk sour quick, no matter how cold it is if the guts are left inside. Seen bulls turn over night on cold late hunts a few times when not gutted. I left my biggest bull over night, but gutted him first and he was fine. The whole "leave it and come back in the morning" thing is bogus when it comes to elk. I would think 4-6 hours on an early hunt would spoil one

[firstcoueswas80]

I shot my bull, double.lung and he made it 110 yards. We waited 1 hour on the dot. Took us about 5-10 minutes to find him. By then he was already leaking some nasty gas. No guts were hit.

[missedagain]

I remember a post Jim Mullins made about this and he was saying in his experience that late season elk are more likely to spoil if left over night despite the cold. Their winter coat comes in and even if it is below freezing they can't cool with that thick of hair.

[AzNative63]

what lancetkenyon said... my buddy was in 6A a few years back, first time elk hunting with black powder. He shot a cow elk at 100 yards or so...she ran off where there were lots of elk tracks and very little blood trail. It took 4 or so hours on a warm opening day to find her. All seemed okay so he field dressed her, got her back to camp and hung her in the shade. As he sat in camp he realized he made a BIG mistake by not getting her to a meat locker ASAP. the edge of the cut where he opened her up was started to turn green and that was the beginning of the end...He brought the elk to the mobile meat locker located near the unit and was told to go dispose of it....Sad, but a good lesson ...get it cool, quick!

[standman]

I just laugh out loud every time I watch a hunting show and they smoke an elk in the evening and then not look for it till morning. Most if not all will be spoiled especially the side on the ground.

 

I shot a bull right before dark one evening. Arrow through one lung. Searched till midnight couldn't find him. Came back first light in the morning found him twenty yards from where I quit the night before. Died behind a deadfall and couldn't see him at night. Meat was toast. Really sucks when it happens.

 

Brian

[AzDiamondHeat]

Longest mine has sat is a few hours. Had a friend lose one in almost that same amount of time though. I think where they fall (shade, sun) and time of day/temp has a lot to do with it as well.

 

This one sat a little too long. We erred on the side of caution and left the meat.

 

[stanley]

+100 to the previous responses! I would never leave them with guts and clothes at all for ANY length of time if at all possible. Per the previous stories, it of course cannot be avoided in some cases.

 

Here is the only way to leave one, IMO. (Also sometimes leave a 16 year old to keep watch.... )

 

[208muley]

You gotta break em down as quick as possible regardless of season.

[eagle#eyes]

I shot my bull first light last year in the archery hunt, watched him die and started gutting and skinning him out right away in the field. Got back to our cabin and deboned him, it was about 5 pm and I was surprised how warm that meat was still next to the bone. They can turn quick.

[Flatlander]

This is what scares the crap out of me when archery hunting. So many things can go wrong.

[TOBY]

Hide off meat hanging asap. Whether gutless or traditional. Meat has to be cooling down. September hunts if high altitude you can hang overnight if the temps will dip to low 40s or better.99 degree meat needs to cool. Hide on overnight bye bye, same with guts in for a long time. As an ex processor I have turned away lots stinky elk and deer.

[bonecollector]

I shot my bull in 2014 at 7:20am, lost blood trail after a couple hundred yards. Searched for hours then headed back to camp for more water and to regroup. We ended up finding my bull around 5pm I believe, the neck meat was bad but that was it. Not sure how long it took him to actually die, so cant say how long it laid there.

[Tac]

The elk I got last year was the best I have ever had. I skinned and deboned where it lay about 1-hour after I shot it. It was in october so the temps were still warm got it on ice in coolers in about 4-hours, and processed it 2 weeks later after we finished the other hunts we had. It spent that time in my freezer at the highest tempo the freezer would maintainze o.

Two years prior we had a late december hunt and it was blizzard like conditions we shot one elk at 1pm in the afternoon and just gutted and loaded in the back of the truck on the way out we saw a few more elk and decided to pursue them and got a second one about 4 pm had her gutted and in the truck by 5 pm took about three hours to get back to camp hung them in the tree and skinned them till midnight. They froze overnight with the bones in took them to the processor the next day thought we had done it right. The meat was ok but had a odd flavor and wont even hold a candle to the one that was gutted and boned out. I left the proof sex on the one last year and sent it home and my wife says the flavor in the elk from a few years prior was the same as the smell of the hide around the sex organ of the one I sent home last year. My rule of thumb is hide and debone as soon as they are down.