Rotten Meat

[Gobble Doc]

How much time do I have to have between killing the deer (actually having my son get a deer) and getting it to someone to butcher and make sausage?  Assume the kill will happen when the weather isn't very cold, say September.   

[JKEEN33]

If it's still warm in the days, bone it out and get it in a cooler or to the shop asap.

[ICEMAN]

It totally varies.
 
In warm weather, (any weather in my book) you need to get your animal gutted and skinned as soon as you can. As soon as the animal hits the ground your hunt is over and it is now time for meat care.
 
Get the animal cooling. Some guys soak them in a river in a trashbag to cool them, others hang them in shade. Direct sunshine is bad. Trapping heat in any kind of bag is bad.
 
Get it cool, and tranport to a cooler place. We often simply lay blocks of ice around the game in transit to the garage and hang them in the cool garage for a few days before we butcher.
 
If you are a newby to getting game to a butcher, read up a bunch, maybe get some big huge coolers and be ready to atleast quarter the animal and get ice under the animal....
 
Good luck.

[link]

I'd say the most important thing is to get the hide off asap, let some air get to it and it should start to dry and cool off. But use common sense, and get it to the cooler as soon as you can.  Also, know in advance where you're taking your meat. Driving around town looking for a locker for a couple days dosen't help.

[Heredoggydoggy]

#1= Get the hide off ASAP--or sooner!

#2=  Get the meat hanging in the shade, or iced in a cooler ASAP--or sooner!

Main thing is to get the hide off and the cavity cooled.  Once skinned, the meat might get a dry surface but that won't hurt.  The hide holds the warmth, and sours the meat quickly.

[Gobble Doc]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.  I've got a much better idea about what I'm going to be dealing with.  I'll consider it like a turkey, get it gutted and on ice ASAP. 

[time2hunt]

Don't forget open the hind quarters up just cut down the inner seam to the bone, thats your biggest chunk of meat and the heat will hold there the longest.

[True Sportsman]

Don't forget open the hind quarters up just cut down the inner seam to the bone, thats your biggest chunk of meat and the heat will hold there the longest.

This is a great piece of advice. My dad and I lost his first bears meat to bone sour. It was in September and 90 degrees plus that day. We left the hide on and drug the anmal back to the truck to process. It was our first big game animal killed, and we didnt know what we were doing.

After losing that bears meat, I bone out every animal, unless it is really close to the road. After boning out everything, the meat tastes great, cools very quickly, and keeps me from worrying. Its really not a big deal to do this after youve done it a couple times. I put all meat in white breathable game bags and ice it down as soon as possible.

The quicker you get the meat cool, the better it will taste...

[Big P]

great thread I hope all new hunters are reading this

[Axle]

There are a lot of variables on this. The most important for me has been keeping it dry. If it gets wet and doesn't dry quickly (which is difficult on the wet side) then bacteria will grow quickly and that is what will cause the bad smell and taste.
I've hung meat for up to 5 days in temps where the daytime highs were into the low 90s. I just find a cool spot on the hill. Above a small stream in a steep ravine works good.
I will not hang meat in wet weather.
I also process the meat as quickly as possible but sometimes when you are out on a hunt and have a specific return date, you will have to implement the best temporary strategy for keeping it cool and dry till you head out of the woods.

[ICEMAN]

We have gotten meat wet before in the process of cooling and did not get a bacterial issue. We have iced deer and bear down in creeks, then hung them and patted them dry, kept good air circulation and no problems. Even when meat is iced down it often gets wet...  Heck, it seems that most Elk I bone out are during a freakin downpour... 

[demontang]

My experiance is its all about field care, get to the animal as fast as you can. My elk I shot last year was 10min after shooting light, I quartered it out and left the hide on half of it tell I got it out and had it packed out at dark drove to camp with it in the bed of my truck (cold night) got up ran down and got it ready to go to the processer. The meat was fine none spoilded. 

My bear was shot on a day that was 90+ out, I gutted it ran down to a store got a bag of ice throw it in side it. Drove 45 min home, skinned it out and got it to the processer and he told me that he never got a bear in that the meat was in such good shape 

I think cooling it down is key to it not spoiling

[Gobble Doc]

This all makes sense to me that colder is better.  Cold temps mean slower breakdown of the meat by enzymes, slower oxidation,  and slower bug growth.  If my son manages a deer this archery season I'll post a follow up on how we manage.  Thanks everyone.

[Wanttohuntmore]

I and my dad and hunting partner pretty much bone everything out, usually since we are miles from a road.  We usually are packing a couple game bags each (elk season last year I had 3 pillow cases and one large heavy duty game bag).  I boned out the meat, laying each piece on the large game bag out of the dirt.  I would flip the pieces to help cool it as I was working on the rest.  Then, since my elk was in about 3 miles, and it was dark, I split each pile up into the 4 bags and hung in a tree over a creek overnight.  Worked out great!

[DoubleJ]

Once you get it cool, i.e. breaking the animal down and put into coolers or better, a 34-36 degree fridge, you have some time.  We skin and bone out our animals as soon as we can.  The meat goes into those cloth Alaska game bags and into a fridge at 34-36 degrees.  There it sits to age.  The enzyme "Smell" we look for normally hits about day 5 and is strong enough to pull the meat, cut into steaks, and freeze at about day 7-8.  Called wet aging and we love it.  So much better IMO than even aging on the carcase outside in mid 30's weather.