60 degree forecast for Sat/Sun/Mon…. We had even warmer weather around 10 years ago – lots of deer ended up in landfills as processors didn’t have a way to cool large quantities of deer that came in….
Makes it a bit dicey, especially if shot Saturday and can’t get to the butcher until mid-Monday. If needed, I’ll skin and quarter and put in coolers.
Other than bags of ice in the body cavity, any other ideas… ??
Thanks
Pete
Great post! Way to go for thinking ahead.
Yes, wasted deer is a bad deal and bad PR for hunters. Totally agree, this weekend’s forecast presents some potential issues.
A heavy plastic tarp and bags of ice should be enough to keep a deer cool until a processor can take the deer as long as there is some kind of shaded location available. Garage, shed, bathtub, whatever.
Otherwise, bring extra coolers and butchering tools. A pocket knife sharpener is a necessity IMO. A meat/bone saw is a tremendous tool as well when time needs to be saved. Any clean hand saw will work, I’ve even used a cordless Sawzall with a clean blade as a quartering saw.
Be ready to skin and break the deer down into quarters or whatever’s needed to get the deer into the available coolers. I’m pretty bad at any processing beyond field dressing, but skinning and quartering isn’t that hard and there are videos online. I don’t do a great job with the hide, but I can get it off in a pinch.
Wrap quarters in plastic bags, add ice to the quartered deer and the deer would be good for days.
Grouse
From what I understand the initial cool down is very important. A couple thing we have done in the past, is skin the deer right away as the hide holds a ton of heat in even after field dressing, and if near a clean lake or moving water to drop them in after field dressing and it will drop the temp in short order. Most MN lakes are around 50 degrees, give or take, so that will drop them down quickly. So far northern MN doesn’t look TOO bad, temp wise. On a related note, I was in the park rapids area this weekend, and spent the weekend in the woods grouse and bow hunting. Saw a lot of scrapes, and the bucks were on the doe’s pretty heavily. I think it will be great opener for us!
I would de-bone it right away and I then store it in my garage fridge in meat bins. Coolers work well too, but the fridge works best for me.
I would de-bone it right away and I then store it in my garage fridge in meat bins. Coolers work well too, but the fridge works best for me.
Agree with this. Best way to prevent spoilage is to gut, hang, and skin the deer then quarter it up and if freezer and fridge space allows wrap them in freezer paper and put them in garbage bags and either fridge or freeze them. It’s more work but that’s all apart of hunting. And they skin and quarter WAY easier while still warm. My dad and I process all our own deer and this is what we have been doing for years. Works very well.
*Cough* could push the opener back a few weeks, like Wisconsin. *Cough*
I will shut up now.
I’ve quartered, butchered and wrapped deer for years, but have been using a butcher that makes awesome bacon and sticks and we are out!! Keep the back straps/loins and the rest goes into the grinder.
I actually received “the look” from my Bride when I didn’t bring one home last year.
They charge a processing fee no matter if you bring it in with hide on or in quarters, so I’ve not had to get the knives out for several years.
Call around to grocery stores and see if they have any dry ice. Colder/last longer.
I’m not a fan of water in the meat. Like stated above, skin and quarter, then in the cooler with ice. I like to bag it up and keep the meat isolated from the water as the ice melts.
Do not under any circumstances put meat in a lake , river or even wash it. YOu are opening it to instant bacteria bath. Ask a butcher no washing meat or getting it wet period against meat handling safety rules. You are legal to bone out after registered. Cut up put in platstic bag 2 gallon ziplocs and get on ice . Garbage bas are a no go they have chemicals and stuff on them.
Mwal
Do not under any circumstances put meat in a lake , river or even wash it. YOu are opening it to instant bacteria bath. Ask a butcher no washing meat or getting it wet period against meat handling safety rules. You are legal to bone out after registered. Cut up put in platstic bag 2 gallon ziplocs and get on ice . Garbage bas are a no go they have chemicals and stuff on them.
Mwal
Do you wash out chest cavitys?
Do you wash out chest cavitys?
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no real need to imo. Best bet is to get the meat off the bone and into zip locs of tupperware and then into coolers. Even if it’s not the best butchering job in the world, who cares, put it through a grinder and save the meat.
I’ve gotten to the point i’ll bone a deer and leave it in tupperware a few days, sometimes up to a week, to let the blood drain from the meat.
Do not under any circumstances put meat in a lake , river or even wash it. YOu are opening it to instant bacteria bath.
Mwal
This.
Any lake or river in MN can contain giardia, and you dont want to contaminate your venison with it. And no, I dont wash out the chest cavity either, even with my home well water.
I hang the animal and if real warm I’ll pull the hide. If there is a heavy fat cap across the hinds I remove it too as its just easier while the critter is still warm. If the animal’s gut was breached I take time to wash out the gut cavity well using plenty of cold water. I hang by the head so I’ll also cut the lower legs off which helps drain blood out of the meat. If the air temps are real warm I will stuff a couple ten pound bags of ice in the cavity and put a drain container under the animal. Boning a stuffing warm meat in zip locks or coolers would be a last resort for me. The bacteria that is natural in the meat can run rampant in enclosed confines as such and can spoil your meat in a short time. Allowing the warm meat to lay in a mess of blood can really invite issues. Bacteria really do like blood. Toss in some remaining body heat in a close environment without any air circulation and things are prime for problems.
In lieu of boning and bagging or packing quarters in coolers I’d lay the quarters out in a single layer and cover by laying a sheet of meat paper over them so air can circulate around them. Putting a large window fan a few feet away and aimed at the meat will assure your air movement. Circumstances of course can change things quickly though so a person really has to be adaptable.
Hair, blood, fat and bone are the first enemies of good wild meat. Get these off the meat in the order shown and then worry about heat.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mwal wrote:</div>
Do not under any circumstances put meat in a lake , river or even wash it. YOu are opening it to instant bacteria bath.
MwalThis.
Any lake or river in MN can contain giardia, and you dont want to contaminate your venison with it. And no, I dont wash out the chest cavity either, even with my home well water.
I agree it is not ideal, but if you shoot a deer in the morning and it’s going to be 65+ degrees all weekend cooling the meat down as fast as possible is the main goal. By this same logic, fish would be contaminated every time you wash the fillet’s. Bacteria is everywhere, and giardia is killed by cooking your meat through, so neither of these are a concern imo. We have always washed out the cavity, and on rare warm years washed out in a river and never had problems.
I have washed out and iced the chest cavity on over 50 deer over the years. Never had a problem with bad meat or bacteria. clean up the chest cavity well and pack with ice.
Do not under any circumstances put meat in a lake , river or even wash it. YOu are opening it to instant bacteria bath. Ask a butcher no washing meat or getting it wet period against meat handling safety rules. You are legal to bone out after registered. Cut up put in platstic bag 2 gallon ziplocs and get on ice . Garbage bas are a no go they have chemicals and stuff on them.
Mwal
X2!
Water WILL spread bacteria. The only time we’ve rinsed or wiped an animal out is when it had been gut shot. We always dry the cavity out with paper towels to dry it as much as possible. Putting the carcass in a lake will only drop the surface temp of the carcass anyway. The thicker meat and bone will hold heat for a longer time than anyone would care to leave the deer in a lake. Bad idea. BTW fish don’t seem to harbor the same bacteria that land animals do. That’s why you can wash them.
Garbage bags are also a big no no too, especially black plastic bags. Clear plastic is the only thing that meat should be placed in. We use 55 gallon clear poly drum liners and plastic sheeting. The drum liners work great in a pinch for rain ponchos also.
The issue of needing to butcher is something we in Minnesota usually don’t have to worry about, but it’s standard operating procedure for archers and western hunters. Guys just need to be ready to handle it.
I do not wash chest cavity. I would only wash gut shot tenderloins for immediate consumption.There is tissue between chest cavity and meat so why wash and get bacteria going faster. I register and skin my deer the day its shot if its 65 70 its boned and put into coolers and or refrigerator to cool and rest. Memebers of my party that insist on doing it there way have had rot started by femur bones when it was in single digits as he refused to split sternum and pelvis and open the deer to the cold . He also left hide on. He now is a big fan of getting hide off immediately and spreading open the deer.
Don’t do what I did. Got so concentrated in getting the deer back, skinned and cooling before it got real warm out that I forgot to take any good pictures.
Deer is currently de boned and over ice in coolers (freezer paper separated from ice) and I’ll start processing it down in a little bit here.
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