Elk meat still good?

[Mr. Fishunt]

While a resident in Georgia, I gut shot a P & Y whitetail with my bow at about 10:00 AM. It was an 80 degree day. There was no blood trail and I backed out for four hours. I ended up bringing in a tracking dog (legal in Georgia) and we found the deer at 10:30 PM. There was some uncertainty if the meet was any good, as we did not know the time of death. The main indicator was lack of rigor mortis, smell and the eyes. The meat smelled and looked fine. The eyes were clear and it appeared the deer hadn't been dead long.
While self processing the meat, I determined the meat was fine.

See page 33 and 34 of the attached study regarding eyes of deer after death. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=nebgamestaff

Regards,
MR. Fishunt

 

[FerZam]

You should be good. If it doesn't have a bad smell.

 

[Bkmmq2]

As mentioned above, you need airflow to efficiently cool meat. If you throw big, warm hunks of meat on top of each other in the freezer, the middle will spoil well before it cools down. It’s amazing how effectively a breeze will cool down meat, even if the temperature isn’t super cold.

Great info. Thanks!