Show The care and cleaning of your game By John C C. C Dickerson Have you noticed quaking aspen are turning yellow already That means fall is just around the corner and with it our most popular hunting seasons which brings up the subject of this article The Care and Cleaning of Your Game Each year during the hunts I run across quite a few instances of successful hunters having hung their game in a nice shady spot after cleaning it of course and then forgetting it until it is time to go home The meat has dirt leaves and other debris on it Often it is not skinned and sometimes there are not even meat sacks on it to keep the flies out In talking to our other field people this is far from an uncommon uncommon un un- un common occurrence but it is rather common IF WE would even sit down and figure out the cost of a pound of fish or a a- leg of venison it would probably scare us all to death Doesn't it make sense to take care of our game once we have bagged it Of c course it does Many people claim they cant can't stand to eat elk or deer meat Others claim it is as good or better than beef I believe the way the game is handled after itis it itis itis is killed makes a big difference in the palatability and here is where we can take a lesson from our local butcher the biggest enemy of any freshly killed meat is heat What does the professional butcher do as soon as he kills a beef he skins it out The poultry man does the same thing to fowl he gets the feathers off as soon as possible because they hold in the heat This is exactly what the sportsman sportsman sportsman sport sport- should do in order to assure himself of the best possible table fare In our area we have two big game animals that should be skinned the second it is feasible those are antelope and elk Antelope are normally hunted in desert areas and hot weather so most people are aware they need caring for but elk are a little different They are hunted later in the fall often in the snow and many people feel the cool fall weather will solve the problem not so Elk have a avery avery avery very heavy hide especially around the he shoulders and the shoulders will spoil faster than you think possible If you leave leavean an elk in the field overnight at least skin out the shoulders and prop the animal up off the ground and let the air circulate ONCE TIlE THE animal is in camp campit it should be quartered and a good game bag put on it For elk the average cheese cloth bag is about worthless These types of bags often allow a fly to blow the meat through the material because they are too tight One of the best bags you can find is a mattress cover They allow good circulation l ii n and are large enough to handle an elk quarter or a small deer If you cant can't find these the wife should be able to whip out a few loose weave cotton bags without any trouble at all Go prepared be optimistic get yourself a good skinning knife a meat saw good meat sacks and maybe even a small block and tackle Have a nice hunt and enjoy yourselves The Division has a pretty good film on how to clean a big game animal that is available to the public or many of the popular sporting magazines have articles on the procedure Either way many new hunters are not familiar with how an animal should be taken care of Find out before the big hunt Have a nice hunt enjoy yourself and be prepared |