Meat Rotting

Neil Ray

New Member
Jul 28, 2013
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Springville, Ca.
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Ok I just got a call from a client saying that the bear that he has just killed when he took it to the buthcher the meat was rotten from the inside. We killed the bear in cold weather and skinned and caped it brought it and put it in the freezer. It was out for about an hour. When I pulled it out of the freezer we had to put water on the out side of the bag to get it to release from the freezer, no water was put on the meat. When he took it to the butcher he got a call telling him his meat was rotten from the inside,has this ever happend to anyone?
 
That's really weird It shouldn't have rotten being out for only an hour in cold weather. I know bears are a lot different I have killed deer in 90 degree weather and dragged them out whole after gutting them for six hours then wrapped them in a tarp with ice and have never lost any meat due to rot. Do you know the butcher? Is it possible this was the first bear he ever processed or he just didn't want to?
 
I thought of something else. Did you drop the bear right in its tracks or did it run far and you tracked it for a while. Could the bear have just overheated?
 
Hmm, Questions... How long and by what means and ways did the quarters get transported to the butcher, i.e. thrown in the bed of a pick up in hot weather or transported on ice in coolers. Also it is my understanding having never hunted or butchered a bear that it is more fragile than deer as far as preserving the meat. What does everyone know ?
 
Bears eat anything. Garbage, rotten road kill, anything. Because of this there mouth, and whole body lives with large amounts of bacteria. The clock starts ticking as soon as its heart stops. The bacteria and rapid decomposition makes its own heat. The hide needs to be removed and the meat on ice fast. Lots of ice. You can't have too much. You can have ice on the bottom, two quarters and ice on top and still loose meat in the middle. Butchered my own one time and cut off the green meat that smelled a little off and kept the rest. Sounds gross but it is possible to keep the good half. A butcher will not want to take the time and I wouldn't trust anyone else's nose to do it for me.

Same goes for the hide. Lots of ice and fast. I shot a 20 inch bear and was going to get him mounted for sure. I gave all the space in the ice chests to the meat, and had the hide with scull attached in a wad sitting on a bag of ice. The heat from the decomposition in the head was faster than the ice could cool. When I got to the taxidermist the tongue and gums were greenish and the bear lost patches of hair when it was tanned. The paws stunk too. The taxidermist had to transplant hair to cover the patches. He saved it but it took a lot more work.

Same goes for pigs. I shot one that ran off and died in the sun at 7:00 am. We found it at 10:00 but it was already bloating and meat was bad on the sunny side up. Black pig in the sun is no good.
 
Was it in a plastic bag or cloth game bag when it was first put in the freezer?
 
That's strange my buddy shot a bear last weekend it took 3 hours to get it out and iced and no problem......
 

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