Dead Deer in Water

[timberjack86]

No we are saying keep the meat dry. Any water will breed bacteria especially creek water

I think I understand where y'all are coming from but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree, we've always done that and nobody has ever gotten sick. My uncle did try to eat one that had been out in the heat to long and almost died from food poisoning.

 

[timberjack86]

The expected temp of cold water springs is 52 degrees year round. To be less than that it would need to be glacier melt. Below 40 to retard bacteria. Gut prop open and hang as long as the meat temp is going down you should be fine.

We need to pack the meat out as soon as possible. I don't think the meats going to last too long in 70 degrees and up. Especially 5 or 6 hrs. We've always cooled the quarters down in the creek before packing out and nobody has ever gotten sick. Even eat my tenderloin rare Why stop now?

 

[CATCHDAWG]

So you guys have me kinda confused, which ain't hard, here's my confusion. We hunt south Cherokee and the cohutta wma in ga. East TN mountains. Anyway alot of times we have to pack the meat out a couple miles in the heat. According to what I've read here it would be better to stick the hot quarters in a pack and get them out compared to cooling the meat down completely and then pack it out? I don't think I want to do that, sometimes it takes several hours to get a deer out of a mountain hell hole and there's no way I could trust that meat after being in the heat that long.

Here's the short version for the correct answer to your question. If it's warm out and you got a long ways to go you can absolutely cool the meat off in a cold stream. AS LONG AS you put it in unscented trash bags tied and zip tied off to keep water out but that takes about as long as just packing one out even if it takes several hours.

 

[megalomaniac]

The quickest way to cool the meat is to expose as much of it to air ASAP. The best way to do that is skin, quarter, and hang the quarters, even if it's 70 degrees outside (in the shade). If you do that, the meat will still be good 36 to 48h later, esp if covered in cheesecloth to keep the flies off it. No need to dump the carcass in a creek.