Retrieving Animals Next Day
 

I was watching an Alberta elk hunt on you tube. The video posted by this guy are really good and I can tell he has a real passion for the out doors and he respects the animals he hunts. In one video an elk was shot with a bow at the very last light all legal for sure. The elk ran away and they could not find it that night but found it the next day.
Do others on here eat animals that they find the next day. The temp on this show was probably plus 10 during the day so maybe 0 at night probably closer to plus 5 at night.
I made this mistake once a long time ago cause I watch the shows that showed people doing this. Me personallly I would not recover something the next day and expect to salvage the meat off of it.
Curious what others feel about this?

I know of situations where the meat was still good the next day.I don't like to leave an animal overnight, but sometimes, it is the best option.

To summit up without getting into all the typical BS about meat spoilage etc…..yup!


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And…. Unlawful to abandon, destroy or allow flesh suitable for human consumption of any game bird or big game animal (except cougar or bear), to become unfit for human consumption…..so you better make every effort to recover the game animal or might be having a serious discussion with a warden…plus what are you teaching the next generation?


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Only ever had meat spoilage once. It was on a mulie doe, and took place when recovery was delayed. Animals was not gut shot either. Can’t make judgements off one encounter, but whenever I see guys go in the next day, I wonder what the effect was on the meat. If you can’t find it, what else are you gonna do except go in the next day.

Not unusual to happen and in most cases the meat is fine. Of course temperature and shot placement are part of it.

I have done this many times my self without issue. Last light in the mountains and shot was across a valley, last light raining with thick bush, questionable shot, last light bears thick bush, and just straight up couldn’t find it in the dark are some of the reasons we have done so. On mountain hunts in the past we often broken down animals and did part of the recovery that evening and the rest first thing in the morning

It’s just part of the game essentially hunting tough country away from the road. Sometimes you also make the choice to pass on last light opportunities because temperatures or time available won’t allow a next morning recovery

I have had a few that I helped guys recover the next day. In all cases the meat was just fine. A couple were bloated from the gas in the stomach so we did the gutless on them, but the meat smelled and tasted fine. None were in really warm weather, typical fall night temps of +5C to -20. Even in -20, the meat does not cool off very fast with the hide on and not opened up. If they were left more than overnight I could see there being spoilage.

except when
 

the meat sours which happens.

I have heard of it, never seen it personally on day later recovered. Only time I saw it was guys that left the hide on and didn't get the meat cooled out quick enough. These were same day recovery, gutted and hung but not skinned like they should have been. Have you seen souring on next day recovered and what were the conditions it showed up in?

A mulie buck
 

Hit too far back just forward the diaphragm not guts at last light -10 no snow recovered about 6hrs later . Took the meat but it was not great tasting ..bloated like fish.stunk ....all soured.

So many factors at play. I have been on a few hunts where another shooter took an animal at last light but could not recover it until the next day and had no issues with the meat.

I have intentionally left an animal in the bush overnight only because it was too hazardous to safely extricate in the dark, but only after field dressing and packing the carcass full of snow. Never had a problem with the meat when using this tactic.

On another hunt, a buddy took a moose towards last light and could not find it in the dark. He went out the next morning, picked up the trail right away, and got to work in getting it back to his shop for processing. Temperature should have been cold enough, he got it out of the bush quickly and tended to cutting and wrapping but it was not edible. I was amazed at how quickly the entire carcass gassed.

I've had a number of moose we could not locate until next morning over the years. All but one were just fine. I normally don't worry about it too.much as long you get it cooled fast the next day.

The one that wasn't, I'm still a little surprised at it. Cool night but it fell in a really mossy spot and I suspect it somehow insulated the part of the animal on the ground keeping it hot. Hard to predict sometimes I guess.

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My recommendation is have good flashlights and work extra hard to try track in dark. Pull guts out and pry cavity open (Skin out if possible), recover meat next day. If -20oC like in November will usually not overheat. In typical fall hot +30oC weather (Sept/Oct) like we now have, do not have chance on meat not spoiling.

We’ve done it and it want a disaster but I sure do like to get the guts out and prop it open at the very least. Hanging the quarters and packing out the next day is way more preferable.

The one we found the next day was hit good but we both thought he missed but we went back to make sure and he did hit it. We cleaned it and took it to the butcher and the butcher cut into it and said it was spoiled maybe some was good maybe it was all bad. To me if some is rotten then it’s all bad pretty tough to separate spoiled and good. We were reported it to game warden and he appreciated the call nothing happen he said you tried your best and learned a lesson.
Maybe some that recovers their animals the animal spent most of the night alive and died 3 or 4 hours before the next morning. When we did it the temp was around -5 that night.
In my opinion the next morning especially in bow season of animal is shot in evening and found the next morning it’s not worth eating. The Same thing happen to a new hunter that was telling me how they found an elk the next morning and it was not edible. He went through the reporting it but was disappointed cause he thought it would be all right the next day cause of what he saw on hunting shows.
I told him my story and how I thought the same before. These shows that get it the next day I think that is bad teaching. I would put a big effort to find something at night and of course go back and look to see if I could figure out what happen the next day but if I did find I doubt I would be eating it.
From my lesson on loosing an animal i am cautious on hunting warm days and evening I’ll often stop before lash light depending on conditions.

I’ll agree with this finding it at night and getting the guts out and recovering the next day should be fine for the most part. Huge effort should be made to find that eveningof the shot and not think that leaving it the next day that the meat will be fine. That way people can make better choices on when they shoot animal

Sometimes the only and last option, best hope Bro Bear doesn't show up.

With the exception of bears, which seem to sour within hours, I have never had an animal recovered the next day 'sour'.

Chances are, if you can't find it right away it didn't die right away. Something to consider...

IMO leaving an animal over night is the stupidest thing you can do. I realize sometimes you can’t help it but don’t expect quality meat. My buddy shot a cow elk with 10 minutes of legal light left. We never found it until 9:00am. We cut and wrapped it and it tasted like liver. Made it it all into sausage was the only way we could eat it.

I don’t have any experience recovering an animal the next day so can’t help there. When I see it or hear it mentioned I assume the hunter didn’t try, didn’t want to try or failed to bring the appropriate lighting. I also assume the meat quality will range from suboptimal to inedible.


After 30 years of bow hunting, I pretty much prefer to blood trail at night. Give me an old Coleman lantern or a zerbralight headlamp with a floody beam and neutral tint and I find it’s easier because I have to look where the light is shining. The fact I can’t see “everything” calms the visual stimulation and gets me more focused on the blood, tracks, ground disturbance etc.
Without getting on a soapbox, it absolutely can be learned and can be a very effective way to blood trail.





Not having a crack at you but this rule always makes me wonder when I see guys giving or throwing away their freezer burnt meat in the fall. Seems to me the onus is on the producer/consumer to not take more than they need and eat it before it goes bad. The guys who post shooting 2-3 elk/moose per year and aren’t feeding a hockey team of youngsters come to mind. Take only what you need and eat it. If your feeding it to your dog or giving it away for bear bait you failed.

I have never left an animal overnight unless I gutted it first. We have flashlights and headlamps for a reason.

Consider the decision making in the OP's referenced video. It's last light and you're going to huck an arrow into a Elk? My VERY first thought would be that i'm tracking and recovering this animal in the dark. I've been in this situation with Mtn Goats, and you have to consider the terrain. Can I recover this animal after dark? Is the terrain suitable? if the answers are no, then you don't shoot.

Mind you it took a couple midnight packouts by headlamp to drive this decision making process home.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. You don't HAVE to shoot that animal.

The only way that I will willingly leave an animal overnight, is if the shot is questionable, and I don't want to bump an animal into a location where access is an issue.

Yup!

There are times when an animal is not located until the next day, even if it was shot with lots of light the day before.
lots of different scenarios.
Cat

Leaving a deer overnight where I hunt isn’t good the coyotes get on them and usually is nothing left. With big game I would really consider not pulling the trigger on evening hunts in warm conditions for this reason alone. There’s just too many factors that come in when you just can’t find the animal in the dark. Not to mention if the meat is no good your tag is still punched. Selective harvest always with big game.

Retrieving Animals Next Day
 

See it all the time on hunting shows.. and the next day all they show is the antlers because the coyotes have eaten most of the rest of the animal. But no surprise as that is really all the hunting shows care about.

I have left one animal overnight, a solo elk that I recovered, gutted and left with some of my clothes on and around to keep the coyotes at bay. It was rifle season with cooler temps and luckily the coyotes had not touched it and the meat was nice and cool.

Unless I am sitting in a treestand and the animal is completely unaware that I can take a great shot, would be pretty hesitant to shoot an animal at last light with archery gear. Rifle has never been a concern with shirt recovery.

DR


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Hunting show horse…feathers. Both from a predator damage and meat spoilage perspective

I left one deer overnight because there was no blood trail to follow. Nothing left but skull and bones at first light, not even enough for the birds to bother with. Closed my tag and learned a lesson. Had other deer ripped open within minutes of the shot and even had a pup coyote jump at the throat of a heart shot buck doing the death wobble.

I’ve seen tenderloins taste off after 4 hours inside a moose, at single digit temps. They bloat and spoil fast. That guy did nothing wrong, just a difficult recovery.

Multiple head lamps and coffees. If it takes all night, it takes all night, we won’t die from one day of being a little tired.

Things often don’t work out the way we would like when it comes to hunting when i teach hunting to some one new I’ll be telling to then be prepared well to look in the dark and find it that night cause the next day is not a safe option.
Some of the hunting shows don’t teach proper ehics or maybe mentality when it comes to hunting.
Like I said stuff happens I once had some one send me a picture of big white tail that was shot it was left over night and the coyotes looked to have aten about half of it. The guy was so happy with the trophy rack but I was thinking what a waist. It can happen to anyone maybe I’m out of line but to not try to respect an animal by recovering the meat is this wrong to me. I would not be happy with my trophy unless I recovered the entire animal. Not saying it’s right it’s just the way I feel about it

Wise words!!

Personally speaking I don't care if it is a big or small rack, or half of the meat is gone or none of it.I feel happy just to be able to find the animal instead of losing it. To me their is nothing more heart breaking and dismal as to hit an animal and not be able to recover it, weather or not it is completely intact.
Cat