Anyone ever ate a nasty elk?

I've had elk meat several times and it's always been good

Just cooked up a pound of ground meat from my Colorado bull and it smells and tastes like it smelled when it walked up to it


Is this normal? I always thought elk was some of the better eating stuff out there

Had a Colorado mule deer that was that way and had to trash it, killed some elk but never had any rut smell or bad meat. Had he been running before the kill, stressed animals can taste gamey.

I agree. I’ve got an elk in the freezer that I’m not pleased with. Hamburger meat is great. Steaks and roasts are gamey and tougher than boot leather. Nearly unedible. Ive always thought elk was better than deer. Not this one.

Shot this elk at dark.

Went and gutted it and left it there. Bone head mistake but I did forget to prop the cavity open

It got down to 18 degrees that night.

Went the next morning and started work on him ....steam was still comming out between the hindquarters

Got him skinned and quartered and deboned and put the meat on ice

I ate some ham steaks the other day. It was ok. Jerky and salami is delicious.

This ground meat is pretty rough

My grandfather was a butcher all his life and carried a metal spoon with him. When people brought in the game for processing, hogs whatever. He would cut a piece of fat off carcass, use his lighter to melt fat in the spoon, if it stunk entire animal went to cold cuts, salami, dry sausage something you didn't have to heat and eat. That's what gives off the stink is when you heat it. This was a long time ago , today you'd swear he was a crack addict, with his spoon! You could take all your meat and have it turned into jerky salami ect and it shouldn't smell. Just don't heat it. I follow his tricks with all the hogs and deer I kill. If the fat stinks there's no amount of apples in cold water tricks, or marinade that is going to take out the stink. Maybe if you use enough cream cheese and jalapenos with lots of ketchup!!!!

I have never heard of the "heating the fat trick". I will try that sometime.

I heat a bit of fat off hogs. If it stinks, I make sure and trim really tight. If it smells nice, I will toss it in grinder pile.

I have had a mule deer and an elk from the sage flats, both were nasty.

The cow I shot was great. The bull was okay. There wasn’t anything wrong with the meat, it just wasn’t nearly as good as the cow. I also had better access to the cow and was able to get her quartered and on ice quicker, although the bull was handled well. I bet it’s a combination of a nasty old bull and how it was handled.

When I take 2 deer to the processor I’ve never had them separate and package separately. Maybe I should in case I get a funky deer?

Ground elk, to me, always smells like a gut shot when being cooked. My brother gave me all of his ground elk from his last one because be can't stomach it. Tastes fine, just smells when cooking.

Don't know never killed elk but deer are sometimes different if I can soak the blood out in some ice water for couple days seems to make it really mild.

Don't know if you saw the pic but he wasn't a young bull


In hindsight I should have skinned him but it was late and we were 6 miles from camp and I assumed due to the freezing temps he would be ok gutted and hide on.

This smells and Tastes like they ground up the hock and threw it in with the meat

Yes, I remember seeing him. I would expect him to taste less than great, but not bad.

They can be left with the hide on in cooler temps, but it’s best if you can at least quarter and hang for circulation. I would not have expecting to have steam coming out of the carcass in your situation. I guess that goes to show just how well insulated they are. Now we know. Experience is the greatest teacher.

Processor probably didn’t trim the meat well before he ground it.
I had a mule deer last year that was the same.

I’m no elk expert but the ones I know have always said they need to be broken down ASAP, no matter the temps. I kinda always took that with a grain of salt if the temps were down well below freezing. Guess they are right though.

Had a sage brush Texas Mule Deer like that. When I cooked it, it smelled like a rutting buck. I gave it all away.

So interesting development....


took 3 ham steaks out of the freezer, put them in a bowl of greek dressing for 20 min, salt and peppered them and threw them on the grill, one rare, two medium rare.



steaks came out tender and delicious, you can tell its not beef but as far as it being gamey not in the slightest. No foul odor either.



I'm scratching my head at this one. Maybe huntwest is right and the guy didn't trim it good when he ground it.

^^Agreed

I've never had bad elk meat. Myself, Tony, and Bill all have killed, skinned, and placed on ice immediately. Personally I will always ice meat down, and drain for 7-10 days before it goes to the processor.

I agree that this is the best way, and in the future will take measures to ensure it at least gets better air circulation. the part that was steaming was the pelvis and ham area where I got the steaks from, this is the area I expected to be the rankest. I assumed the overnight temps would have cooled him regardless but laying on his side he kind of closed up so to speak....this is why I think he was still steaming



this is a back country hunt and getting them skinned and on ice immediately isn't always possible. I could have skinned this one in the dark but as far as on ice no way, I didn't want to skin him because I was worried about coyotes and bears.

I've skinned via head lamp, and two buds quartering via head lamp. Then we had to haul quarters, loins, and neck meat out via back pack. It is THE hardest work I've ever put forth on a hunt! We left one shoulder, a ham, head and cape haning in a tree, because we just couldn't carry it. But they were skinned and in game bags. I think Sneaky is right, they are well insulated.

My thinking is, skin and cool immediately. Then ice down, and drain for a week, minimum.

My opinion is, warm animals are easier to skin, anyways.

I could have gotten his hide off without much trouble.

I left it on thinking it would not be as much of a attraction for bears and other critters.

Called one of the guys who helped me quarter it and he said no way had it spoiled, but it was an older animal combined with the fact (per him)that elk meat smells when cooked

"When what you're doing isn't working, try something else."

But, I can agree, elk can smell odd while cooking. Oddly enough, my wife wants no paet of venison, but she likes elk meat. I said, "of course! You like the meat that is more expensive, and harder to come by"

I do not have any memory if an old bull, though. Mine was not a huge, old 7x7, and the other elk meat I've cooked and eaten was cow. There might be a factor in cooking an old bull here. That, combined with it remaining fairly warm for several hours.

I know you thought it would be alright, and had I been there, in the dark, holding a knife helping, I probably would have agreed. We all just need to learn something from this.

As for bears, a good way to keep them off of the good stuff is to get everything hanging and drag the rest of the carcass, especially the guts, a ways off from it. They’ll typically go for that, first.

I have been given some elk ground from NM that Kubys processed and it was the best meat in the world. Had some from another state and processed up there and it was not good in burger or tacos. It made decent chili though.

Never killed a elk late, always early morning and I was a youngster and the older guys said to get hide off asap, that they would hold heat even in 20 degree nights. Skinned and bagged them and hung in shade. Have heard that their hair is hollow for better insulation, but don't know if it is true

Find a brine you like and let your steak etc sit in it for a couple days before cooking. If you shoot an old bull like I did in 2016 make your cuts thin then use a tenderizing hammer before cooking. On old bull can be like boot leather and one that stays warm over night darn near inedible. Elk in the back country have to be broken down almost regardless of temp IMO. You can leave the hide on the quarters but you have to get the quarters to themselves either hanging in a tree or hide side down on ground. Breaking an elk down by your self in Grizz country at night is exciting, but the walk back in the dark smelling like a bleeding elk is another level.

If a bear finds your elk it does not matter what you have done they are going to eat their fill and you are going to loose meat.

This is what I do with mule deer bucks and they are very good to eat. Getting them skinned and on ice quickly along with aging on ice and allowing the blood to really drain completely out of the meat. I agree with huntwest on them probably grinding some of the fat into the meat. Never good on any type of deer species.

Have had a lot of elk meat over the years, you can tell a slightly different odor when cooking, but it isn't a soured smell IMO (or taste for that matter),.

When alone and leaving one as you did late evening (only when temps are cold as you had) I will always get him off the ground as best I can to facilitate cooling, I have even packed snow in a cavity if it was available.

I always keep the neck meat separate when I do break it down after overnight, that is one place that is harder to cool with all the thick skin and hair, similar but far lest thickness to a buffalo. The one time I recall a semi "rancid" taste/odor was from ground mixed with trimmings and neck meat. Old guide and almost step dad, told me that was probably what tainted the whole ground batch. This assumes you had a clean removal of the gut, bile track and bladder.

Several times while alone, I have had to work late into the night breaking one down due to temps that made me nervous.

For reference, I once helped a guy that had gut shot a bull, 3 shots total. I went to help him the following am and you could smell the "rank" from 15' away approaching. He didn't consider the gut fluids that had entered the esophagus and sat there overnight, dont want to see or smell that again.

Sounds like it did not cool fast enough.........Really need to get the hide off an Elk.

Western you are spot on regarding the esophagus, always always cut it out regardless of temp or shot placement.

As a New Mexican for my first four decades, I have killed or be in on the killing of dozens of elk. Field care is paramount. The animal should be broken down as quickly as possible. Imagine going out to a ranch and buying beef. The rancher walks out to the pasture and shoots a steer. He walks over and guts it, and then leaves it in the pasture saying that he will be back in the morning to get it. We would be pissed, yet people do that to their game animals and then wonder why they are gamey.

Second, I process my own. Elk tallow and fat should always be trimmed from the grindings. We mix in a fatty brisket to bring the fat content up. Add up both scenarios and you probably have the answer to your question.

If game meat is handled properly from the get-go, there is absolutely no need to soak it and remove its flavor. The best tasting game meat one can have is the field fresh meat of a just-killed animal - whether over an open fire, grill, or stove. What a lot of folks call a “gamey” taste is simply the real taste of wild meat - we are just used to the often flavorless cellophane wrapped variety.

99% of issues with game meat are due to some misstep along the way in handling.

It does often show up in ground meat because a little bad from one part “infects” all the rest.

Wife made a stew and used chunk elk meat....ran a little short and had a 1 lb. if ground thawed and against my better judgement let her throw it in there

Stew came out delicious.

Some bites of meat ( both ground and stew)had a gamier taste to it but most had a sweet mild flavor


I'm still scratching my head at this one



Btw she browned it all in a skillet on the stove and none of it stunk in the slightest

eat beef and leave the stinky elk to us

My son's cow elk from NM last year is some of the best meat we have ever eaten. My wife said she would be willing to finance another hunt when we run out, so that's a win win situation for me

I agree with others that you need to get the hide off ASAP because they are so well insulated and hold heat. But if this can't be done in a timely manner slit the hide down the back as well as opening up the rib cage to let the meat cool. This will only help if it is cold weather. I carry game bags with me so we can quarter and hang in a tree if it has to be packed out.