Bull elk- fit to eat?

As others have mentioned, the key here is ageing, otherwise known as letting enzymes do their thing. Yes, you can marinate meat in alcohol, acid, or salt, but know that these things are actually denaturing the proteins, meaning they are technically cooking the meat....they can also make it mushy if left for too long (less true for salt than for the others).

If you don't have the capacity to dry age, just pack larger chunks of meat into vacuum seal bags and leave them in the fridge for a few days; this is commonly referred to as wet ageing, and while a little more attention is needed to monitor it, it can yield great results.

On a side note, if you cool an animal too quickly after it dies you can get "cold shortening" where the muscle fibers basically contract permanently, leaving you with something less rigid than rigor mortis, but stiff and awful nonetheless.
 
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