Meat Spoilage???

[terminator]

I recently got into a discussion regarding how long deer meat would be good in the woods before spoiling. I know that there are many factors such as temperature, where the animal was shot and if the animal was field dressed. What have you guys heard in regard of time and what to look for in regard to determining if the meat is spoiled???

[passinthru]

In my experience i would never leave it longer than overnight if its warm. If its cold then you have alot longer. Anything that sits there longer will let the stomach acids start to taint the meat and decomposition will start.

[terminator]

It's a bad situation in trying to choose between leaving a deer that may still be good or risking food poisoning. I wished it was easier to tell.

[allhunter]

we normally have such cold weather we can leave them but im with passin. you never wanna press a deer if its wounded and kick him up but you either risk that or risk the meeting going bad

[Deleted]

The easiest way to tell if a deer has spoiled is the smell.
You can also tell by checking for slime on the meat.
Even if the meat has a slimy film developing on it, you can wash it with water, towel dry it & get it cold asap.
It will also start to turn a green shade when it has spoiled.
Once it turns green & starts to stink, its too late to salvage.

Otherwise, if none of the above have happened, then get it butchered & into the freezer.

[grassi25]

We recently had a buck shot on sat morning and had good blood for a long way. ended up losing the trail and giving up after about five hours of looking. The bad thing was it was getting warmer by the hour. It stayed over 65 degrees all that night and the next day after the morning hunt we went back again and found him. It was easy to tell he was no good. It was the guys first buck and he wanted to mount it. The buck was already swoll up and smelling . We tried to atleast cape him and couldnt' deal with the smell but we kept his head and will try to get another cape for him.

I think down here where I hunt the humidity hurts as well.