Would you eat this bull?

[Chez]

The bull was beat up and skinny from fighting throughout the rut. He was probably a herd bull which means he was nonstop fighting to protect his cows.

cut out the bad meat and eat the rest

 

[sjb8215]

My wife killed her first bull on Halloween, and what started as a great day ended in disappointment. Antlers are cool, but we hunt for meat.
I don't want to be wasteful, and certainly don't want to throw away an elk that took all day to get out, but I'm really struggling with feeding my family with this.

He had a really nasty infection on the bottom of his brisket, that puss was bubbling out. The wound went into the lung cavity.
As you can see, he is very skinny.
I'm afraid the infection might be throughout his body.
You can see the bright viens all over his hide, I don't know that it's related, but I've never seen hide look like this.
Not sure what to do, this sucks.

From the pictures posted I would be very careful regarding handling the carcass. It appears your bull was suffering from some form of infection that has systemic impact on the host bull. You may want to take a sample and have it tested for a series of diseases that affect ungulates before you invest the time and energy butchering and storing the meat.

 

[Sid Post]

If you use "safe food handling" and "cook it thoroughly", you can eat some really questionable stuff. On the flip side, most of us are not starving or so low on the economic ladder that eating an animal like this is really necessary.

In terms of feeding it to your dogs, cook large muscle groups. Grinding will just equally distribute the ickies and increase the likelihood of getting sick.

Wanton waste, mercy kills, coyote food, etc. are all valid thoughts that may or may not be appropriate where you live.

 

[74honker]

What isn't good for human consumption isn't good for your canines....they get poisoned from bacteria also....
But the bull is bad...dont chance eating it..take it to f&g and let them decide...but if they say eat it..make them eat the first pieces....
And..they will probably want the antlers surrendered if she wants a cow tag...

I'm with you on this one. We have had a couple of bouts with EHD in our deer around here. The coyotes won't even eat them. The injury/infection will be throughout his whole body as it easily shows by the pic. Your wife should be very proud of her trophy and she did the right thing putting it down regardless. That bull was going to die slowly and painfully.

 

[Paladin300]

My wife killed her first bull on Halloween, and what started as a great day ended in disappointment. Antlers are cool, but we hunt for meat.
I don't want to be wasteful, and certainly don't want to throw away an elk that took all day to get out, but I'm really struggling with feeding my family with this.

He had a really nasty infection on the bottom of his brisket, that puss was bubbling out. The wound went into the lung cavity.
As you can see, he is very skinny.
I'm afraid the infection might be throughout his body.
You can see the bright viens all over his hide, I don't know that it's related, but I've never seen hide look like this.
Not sure what to do, this sucks.

Nice bull! Congrats! I agree , I would contact fish and game.

 

[shooters4h]

Most fish and game dept. have someone that will look at it for you just ask

 

[Black Tail Hunter]

I don't think this bull had an infected wound. Horses can get a fly borne disease called Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis otherwise known as "pigeon fever". Typically the horse gets bitten by an infected fly on the chest, which causes massive swelling and infection, thus their chest puffs out like a pigeon. As the disease progresses it forms large abscesses which eventually rupture with a very foul smelling puss discharge. The abscesses usually start in the chest region but can spread all over the body. There have been instances where captive elk have also gotten the disease from nearby horses. I suspect that wild elk could also get the disease from flys the same way horses do. I have never personally seen wild game with it, but we had a horse that got it. Once an acquaintance told me of an elk he shot, that had puss coming out all over its body and the animal stunk so bad he wouldn't go near it, I suspect that animal was also infected with pigeon fever. You should call your local wildlife office and ask to speak with a biologist and quiz them regarding your wife's elk and see if that disease it noted in your area.

 

[INVICTUS]

My wife killed her first bull on Halloween, and what started as a great day ended in disappointment. Antlers are cool, but we hunt for meat.
I don't want to be wasteful, and certainly don't want to throw away an elk that took all day to get out, but I'm really struggling with feeding my family with this.

He had a really nasty infection on the bottom of his brisket, that puss was bubbling out. The wound went into the lung cavity.
As you can see, he is very skinny.
I'm afraid the infection might be throughout his body.
You can see the bright viens all over his hide, I don't know that it's related, but I've never seen hide look like this.
Not sure what to do, this sucks.

Looks like nature was going to select this guy anyway, so you humanely sped up the process. It's not a waste. It's enough that you are questing the safety of consuming this. If it's in doubt, I wouldn't risk it.

 

[nerka83]

My wife killed her first bull on Halloween, and what started as a great day ended in disappointment. Antlers are cool, but we hunt for meat.
I don't want to be wasteful, and certainly don't want to throw away an elk that took all day to get out, but I'm really struggling with feeding my family with this.

He had a really nasty infection on the bottom of his brisket, that puss was bubbling out. The wound went into the lung cavity.
As you can see, he is very skinny.
I'm afraid the infection might be throughout his body.
You can see the bright viens all over his hide, I don't know that it's related, but I've never seen hide look like this.
Not sure what to do, this sucks.

I suggest discarding the carcass. Keep the horns. I'm a retired DVM. See a DVM locally an he may ge able to get you
a new tag. due to your infected carcass.

 

[tomsd]

My wife killed her first bull on Halloween, and what started as a great day ended in disappointment. Antlers are cool, but we hunt for meat.
I don't want to be wasteful, and certainly don't want to throw away an elk that took all day to get out, but I'm really struggling with feeding my family with this.

He had a really nasty infection on the bottom of his brisket, that puss was bubbling out. The wound went into the lung cavity.
As you can see, he is very skinny.
I'm afraid the infection might be throughout his body.
You can see the bright viens all over his hide, I don't know that it's related, but I've never seen hide look like this.
Not sure what to do, this sucks.

PASS

 

[cgcook777]

I personally wouldn't put my family or friends at any unnecessary health risk since you don't know what the infection is and you certainly don't know where all it has traveled through the blood stream. It may appear to be isolated to an area when indeed it is not. Definitely see if you can get a tag replacement and if possible use the meat for dog food or predator bait as previously mentioned by others. If you choose to feed this toxic matter to your family thoroughly cook the meat to high temperature.

 

[Charles Keethler]

Very nice bull great work but NO to eating.

 

[wapitiaddict]

The bull was beat up and skinny from fighting throughout the rut. He was probably a herd bull which means he was nonstop fighting to protect his cows.

cut out the bad meat and eat the rest

I would politely disagree about why he is so skinny. Bulls do lose a lot of weight during the rut, but I've never seen one that bad based on the pics. But I haven't shot as many bulls as others.

 

[Big Guy]

My wife killed her first bull on Halloween, and what started as a great day ended in disappointment. Antlers are cool, but we hunt for meat.
I don't want to be wasteful, and certainly don't want to throw away an elk that took all day to get out, but I'm really struggling with feeding my family with this.

He had a really nasty infection on the bottom of his brisket, that puss was bubbling out. The wound went into the lung cavity.
As you can see, he is very skinny.
I'm afraid the infection might be throughout his body.
You can see the bright viens all over his hide, I don't know that it's related, but I've never seen hide look like this.
Not sure what to do, this sucks.

The marks on the hide are from fighting I have seen that before, the white stuff, never seen before.. if that is a mt bull we have CWD in both deer and elk.. take the head to fish and game, they can tell..