Spot-Hogg's Gone Hunting

When SPOT-HOGG goes hunting, the woods come alive with silent laughter. Not from us, but from our intended prey. We try to be serious hunters. But, they must think we are a joke, because they are always waving their bare asses at us.

Elk hunting is where our passion lies. We buy a deer tag, a bear tag, and a cougar tag, but these are just in case they get in the way of our elk.

This year we had the last laugh. Five of us hunted for eight days and we brought home two elk and a deer (it got in the way). For the way we hunt (we don't bugle) and where we hunt, we did good! This is also a lot of meat.

We all knew how to turn the critters into meat (you kill them). But for some, the step of getting the meat to the dinner table was not as clear as you might think.

Everybody knew the basics. But, some of the details were unclear to the newer members of the group. Like what makes meat have that strong "wild taste"? How can our meat be mild and delicious enough to be cut with a fork?

After the animal is down and found, we find everything that is done or not done will affect the quality of the meat. Time being the major controlling factor. As soon as the animal is dead, the meat starts to change. If certain actions are not taken in a timely manner, the meat quality will suffer.

The blood, guts and hide need to be removed as soon as possible. The guts are probably the highest priority, next the blood, and then the hide. Getting rid of the guts and most of the blood can be done at the same time. Blood seems to be one of the major contributors to meat having a strong "wild taste".

The temperature of the meat needs to be reduced quickly. This means the hide needs to come off as soon as possible. The hide on mule deer and blacktail deer is thin and will give you a little more time to get it off without seriously affecting the meat. The hide on an elk is thick and needs to come off right away. As soon as we remove the guts, we skin our elk.

The meat needs to be protected from bugs, and hung so it can continue to cool. We put the meat into cloth game bags made of a jersey type material that is very porous and will fit over the hindquarter of an elk very loosely. Special care is taken to not trap any bugs in the bag with the meat.

If we are not where we can hang the meat, we take it to where we can. (This is where good pack boards come in handy.)

Often times, if we have to pack the meat very far, we will not bring out the rib cage and neck. Instead, we remove all the meat being careful to not forget the two muscles (tenderloins) along the backbone on the inside of the ribcage. We put all this loose meat in a game bag as well. Later, when we hang the loose meat bag, we will slip a second bag over it for increased protection against bugs.

Each bag has the meat suspended inside, but the bags are loose around the meat. This promotes cooling and discourages bugs.

The meat will probably start drying on the outside (skinning over) before we are done hanging it on the meat pole. This is good. This "skinning over" is what we want to happen (it helps protect the meat).

The bags must be checked morning, noon, and night to make sure the bags are not stuck to the meat (flies will lay eggs where it is stuck to the meat). When the bloody bags dry and are not stuck to the meat, the bugs are not a problem.

For the tenderest meat possible, it must be aged. With daytime temperatures in the 80's to 90's and nighttime temperatures between the 30's and 40's, we can age the meat by keeping it hung in the shade for three to four days. A change in the smell of the meat means it's time to panic. Sometimes we will put the meat in a walk-in cooler or meat locker for up to twelve days. In the meat lockers it takes three times as long to properly age meat as it does in camp. Hanging your meat in a commercial type meat locker is not necessary, but it is safer. Chance of spoilage is much less and bugs are not a bother.

After three to four days of aging in camp or about ten days in the meat locker, the meat needs to be cut up and frozen. All the fat and excess blood has to be removed before the meat is frozen. The dried tissue-like skin is also removed along with any discolored meat. Every bit of hair must be removed (a single piece of hair can taint a whole package of meat). Blood shot tissue is removed (be careful not to throw away meat that is only covered with blood). We rinse our hands often to prevent contaminating the meat with the fat, blood, hair, or filth that might stick to our hands.

Only when the meat is clean and lean do we cut the meat into cooking portions. Steaks are cut across the grain of the meat and of even thickness (even thickness promotes even cooking). Clean meat that has a lot of tendons or is too small for anything else is ground into hamburger. Tendons and clean tissues do not seem to really affect the taste of the meat and are OK in hamburger. But we do try to cut off large amounts of both.

The meat is put into freezer bags, the air is squeezed out, and it's sealed. We now have very good meat, ready for the freezer.

We often get many compliments on our meat, from family and friends. This makes our extra care and work worthwhile. The quality of our meat draws the support of friends and family for the next hunt.

Good Shooting!