Meat taste

[Mudranger1]

Old guy here and JMHO, but how long had it been running before you put the hammer down?

Well I can't tell you that ..we had been trying to get on some does that he wasn't with. He surprised us at 50 yards ran about 200 yards after first shot then about 30 more after the second

 

[Mudranger1]

I've never eaten a nasty critter since the day I vowed to always do my own.

I guess I'll stop by your place next time then ...looks like you have a boil fest in the back yard maybe I can join in the fun

 

[npaden]

Growing up Antelope was my least favorite game meat. Often they were shot when running (sometimes for miles), always they were just gutted in the field and thrown in the truck, I don't remember how quickly we would have skinned and butchered them, but I don't remember that it was a huge priority.

Since I've "grown up" and hunted as an adult I've shot 2 antelope. Both hadn't run a step when they were shot, both were immediately quartered up and put on ice in a cooler and butchered within a day. Both were very tasty, a night and day difference from what I had grown up thinking antelope tasted like.

 

[7mm08mo]

I killed my first three antelope this fall, and and all three probably no more than an hour from field to cooler. We did the gutless method, there were three of us and we all did the same thing and processed our own meat and so far it is delicious, IDK but maybe there is something to processing it yourself, we just did five deer today, never paid to have animals processed for some reason. Maybe next year with my elk.

 

[O C Hunter]

I've taken 5 pronghorns, 3 bucks and 2 does. I never had any problem with the meat tasting gamey or tasting bad. Some people say they taste like sage. So what: sage is a meat seasoning. None of mine tasted like sage though, even when I layed the meat on sagebrush to keep it out of the dirt. Long live the pronghorn!

 

[JohnCushman]

Ask the butcher if they used beef fat in your sausage. I tried beef fat in the first batch I ever ground and it tasted like absolute crap. From then on I've used pork fat and trimmings in all of my wild game meat burger and sausage and it has come out nicely. But, seriously. I've got a decent set up down here. Save up all of your families lopes next year and come down to my place and we'll butcher them all at once and vacuum seal it all and make burger and sausage. We've got plenty of bedrooms of you all want to crash for the night and rumor has it that me and my wife make some pretty good food, plus you can shoot out to 200 yards in my pasture and I have a 25 yard target set up for handguns. I've got plenty of pork fat and trimmings from the last 2 pigs I butchered and I'll have more by then, and me and my wife should have some more lopes down by then too, so we can crank out everything out at once. I'm building a cooling room in my garage with a cool-bot unit, so we can hang stuff until we're ready to use it.

 

[Dave N]

Sounds like Cushman is starting his own meat locker! I'll be headed your way in about 3 weeks so make sure the roads are cleared for me!

As far as the OP, I always butcher my own critters. I have only had one deer that tasted nasty and I knew it would from the start. I made a bad archery shot and had to back out for a while hoping it would die. Went back in later and it was still alive, but barely. Ended up chasing it for about a half hour trying to stick it with another arrow. Once it was dead and I skinned and quartered it I could smell the stink. I knew I had messed it up but went ahead and processed it anyway. Hated to waste the meat. It wasn't the best, but it did not go into the garbage. We just did what we could to mask the taste. Chalk it up to experience and carry on. Odds are you will have better meat next time.

 

[shootbrownelk]

Did you make the sausage or have it made? If you made it yourself, did you trim all the fat off?

If you had it made, are you sure you got your meat back, or did it get tossed in with some other dudes who may have drove around for a day or two with their antelope in the back of their truck?

Right Fin, most processers that I've used require you to have a minimum amount of meat to make sausage. One has a 75# minimum. That way they just use your meat.
If you have less than that, it's added to a big batch of other customer's meat and then made into sausage. How much meat did you take in? Sounds like a stinky, spoiled Goat that rode around in a truck box all day got added to the recipe.

 

[Lawnboy]

My first antelope I excitedly took it to the processor to have sausage and other things made. As I drop it off I see him take it to a back room and chuck it onto a pile of antelope laying there
The sausage I got back tasted like hair and the dog wouldn't but barely eat it. I'm confident that there is no way I got my meat back. When asked later the butcher said that all the meat gets combined until he has the amount he needs to do a batch. That's scary

 

[ida homer]

It's daunting to do your own and you don't think it's rewarding, yet. Once you do it yourself and you realize how much cleaner and much better of yield you'll get, you'll be stoked.

 

[RobG]

So we broke into some sausage we had made out of my son's antelope. Man does it taste just like that thing smelled.

Garbage in, garbage out... if it stunk before it will stink afterwords. Maybe you didn't get it cooled well enough. Also, with sausage, generally you don't get your own meat back unless you specifically request it and provide enough to make a whole batch.

 

[RobG]

My first antelope I excitedly took it to the processor to have sausage and other things made. As I drop it off I see him take it to a back room and chuck it onto a pile of antelope laying there
The sausage I got back tasted like hair and the dog wouldn't but barely eat it. I'm confident that there is no way I got my meat back. When asked later the butcher said that all the meat gets combined until he has the amount he needs to do a batch. That's scary

That's the norm with sausage unless you request otherwise and provide enough for a batch. Some places even allow you to trade the meat up front so you don't have to wait.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Everyone's borderline meat goes for sausage they stew it all together add spices and serve. Bon appetite!

 

[WapitiBob]

That's the norm with sausage unless you request otherwise and provide enough for a batch. Some places even allow you to trade the meat up front so you don't have to wait.

Not the norm where I shop.
They clean the grinder after every customer and you provide the min amount needed for sausage or they won't do it.

 

[Lawnboy]

That's the norm with sausage unless you request otherwise and provide enough for a batch. Some places even allow you to trade the meat up front so you don't have to wait.

The Hutterite colony that I use out in Lewistown won't take your meat unless you have a minimum 12 or 24 lbs for a batch when doing specialty meats. They absolutely don't mix and match and when your animal goes in the cutting room it is cut wrapped and ground with your name on it. It's really quite impressive. The place is super clean considering it is a butcher house. The downside is they are in the middle of nowhere and you need to return to get it as soon as they call.
I realize that the majority of shops don't operate like that though.

 

[RobertR]

There are few things that contribute to tainted meat. The first is proper use of your knife by cutting the hide from the inside out and not cutting through the hair. Gut hook style knives to spilt the hide can and do drag a lot of contamination onto the meat surface. If not careful urine and feces can taint meat by a poor gutting job. Leaving the hide on in warm weather will contribute big time by holding body heat.
As for a butcher it's me and for specialty meats its trimed well and cubed and also I never take my meat in at the peak of hunting season.

 

[JohnCushman]

I know Cliff and the meat issue is nothing on his part. He is good about quickly skinning and getting his animals on ice and being careful to not taint the insides with guts. I think his issue is with the processor, not something he has done wrong.

 

[Mudranger1]

No need to defend me Cush... with over 20 years of killing deer and different animals this is the first one I could not eat. It's also the first time I have used this guy for sausage so I will have to talk with him as I don't know his methods.

 

[Dave N]

it's also the first time i have used this guy for sausage so i will have to talk with him as i don't know his methods.

bingo!!!