After the shot Meat care and storage.

[JLS]

wt,

I think I misunderstood your original post.  If you had the meat completely submerged in ice, it's okay to keep it in plastic for a while.  Just don't do it for long periods.  Bacteria needs moisture to grow, and keeping it in plastic provides the conditions it needs.

[windygorge]

Meat up date: It's in the freezer vacuum packed and  I sampled each quarter. Yummy!!!! I'll. Still make some changes next time.

 

[WaltAlpine]

I have experienced one deer and it went this way, last Oct, day two... and it tasted excellent...one reason I am hooked on hunting.
Shot the deer at 8 AM Sunday.
Boned it out on the spot without gutting it. Spread it out on coats and extra shirts, etc to cool off.
Carried the meat down the hill, and had it in game bags and in the cooler by 12.
Drove home the next day, Monday and put it in the fridge.
Cleaned it up, what little cleaning there was to do, and cut it up Tuesday night.

No plastic, no hanging/aging on purpose, other than the two days to get home, but was always kept cool and dry.
It was all excellent. Roasts, steaks, ground for tacos, soup, etc. We just treated it like beef. We were with an experienced hunter and just followed instructions until we drove away from the campsite. We went with our guts the rest of the way.
If there is anything I am missing, let me know. Like , even what we may have sone right... It seems like we must have done the right thing.

[DoubleJ]

5.  Between 5-7 days, you smell the meat.  When it just starts to have that "twinge" of smell where you think it might be going bad, it's time to process and freeze within the next 24 hours.

LMFAO. First time reading this old thread.  Eventually the "twinge" will turn into the death "twitch" if consumed prior to freezing.

I agree no aging needed. Get all animals cool ASAP which sounds like happened with this bear and cut em' up.

Been doing it for years with no issue.  The bacteria that grows in and on meat kept under 40 degrees for a week isn't bad bacteria.  No threat of illness.  It's science and has been proven over and over.  How do you think they age that 40 day beef people pay so much for at the restaraunts?  Same way.  It makes the meat much more tender and concentrates the flavor.  Period.  So, you can laugh your f'n ass off all you want.  Doing it the way I described will do no damage to anyone.  If you don't like it, don't do it that way

This is with deer though.  I agree, I wouldn't age bear meat. 

[h20hunter]

Wow......relax.......

[DoubleJ]

Sorry.  I just got a bit upset when someone takes the total ok and valid way I do things, when I was simply offering up how I do it as a suggestion of a way to do it,  and tells people it's going to make them sick.  Everyone that takes their game to a butcher has the exact same thing done with their meat.  Most butchers are too busy to cut, wrap, and freeze the same day so they hang the animal in the cooler until they can get to it.

[DoubleJ]

I appologize.  Seems we were both a bit mixed on what the other was saying.