muscle shortening

[gspn]

Several times in the past I've experienced "muscle shortening" with venison back strap. This almost always occurred when I processed the deer quickly after killing it...maybe 10% to 20% of the time it would happen. On those occasions you get a back strap that is so tough that no human being could chew it fully.

Nowadays I hang the deer for a few days or weeks in the cooler and it's not a problem...however...this weekend I was hunting in a "walk in only area" and had no choice but to process the animal on the spot. I deboned it, put it in a meat pack and hiked it out. I got home tonight and those beautiful, thick, tender back straps had tightened up so much they looked flat when I took them from the cooler. Sure enough...they are so tough you'll never be able to quit chewing them.

For those of you who hunt areas where you have to pack your meat out on your back...how do you handle this?

 

[desidog]

I generally freeze it soon as possible; then the thawing process helps to tenderize it a bit too, with the expansion of the frozen liquid in the cells damaging the cell walls. For thawing, i soak the meat in room temp. water; which, through diffusion/osmosis, some of the body fluid in the meat comes out, and the rest is essentially watered-down which counter acts the gamey flavor from not being hung to drain properly.

/i advocate proper hanging over this technique though...

 

[buck460XVR]

I've had the biggest problem when Rigor Mortis sets in when the temps are below freezing and the meat cools too quickly and freezes before the meat relaxes again. Anytime the meat is butchered when it is in Rigor Mortis one will have problems with muscle shortening. Proper aging of backstraps taken whole from an animal in rigor mortis should still result in a more tender meat than one that is packaged and froze immediately.

 

[brainwake]

We processed a doe last weekend here in OK and it was warm...like hitting the 80's.

We pretty much drug it out of the woods, hung it up and skinned and quartered it right away.

We took the meat and put it in trash backs and put them in a refrigerator for a couple of days. After 3 or 4 days we vacuum sealed it up in meal size chunks, ground up the little pieces and stored it in the freezer.

 

[Patocazador]

I separate the deer by sections within 3 hours after killing it because of the heat down here. After skinning, I remove the shoulders, hind quarters and loins and tenderloins. I place these in an old refrigerator and cut it into steaks, roasts, etc. four days later. It usually isn't tough.