river water can spoil a carcass very fast,bacteria I guess..Better to wait until it is home..A friend of mine thought he was smart and took his quarters to the damned car wash!!! :x Just brilliant as they recycle the water there..Ruined the meat by the time he got it butchered.
How many wash out the Cavity ??
- Thread starter Westicle
- Start date
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
I always wash mine when i can , then dry it out.
Check out the way I lprefer to do it when at a river side, in the thread about my Oct. Buck here in the hunting forum!
Cat
Check out the way I lprefer to do it when at a river side, in the thread about my Oct. Buck here in the hunting forum!
Cat
I talked to my doctor (also my friend) this morning and asked him this very question. :?: :?: :?:
His reply went like this :arrow:
Wash with river or pond water probably not a good idea, but the bacteria and other nasties would be killed off by proper cooking of the meat.
Wash with fresh, potable tap water would be OK, but still as with all other meat, wild or other, it would require proper handling and cooking.
SC.......................
His reply went like this :arrow:
Wash with river or pond water probably not a good idea, but the bacteria and other nasties would be killed off by proper cooking of the meat.
Wash with fresh, potable tap water would be OK, but still as with all other meat, wild or other, it would require proper handling and cooking.
SC.......................
- Location
- Lakes District BC
I have always used warm water and vineger and a damp cloth, but then I dont gut my animals in a swamp either or a mudhole :lol: , another way to remove hair off the meat is a small torch and lightly wave it over the meat sos not to burn the meat but hair falls right off , dirty animals discust me, but I dont think washing them down hurts them any atall , least no one I have done it for or with has gotten sick yet and thats a pile of animals :wink: 
I have always scrubbed my animals out with snow while in the field or washed them out with the hose when get them home. I dry them out completly with a roll of paper towel though and cut and wrap them myself within 48 hours.
death-junky
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Moose Jaw SK
i use viniger helps keeps the bugs away as well
talk to ya all later
Riley
talk to ya all later
Riley
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. My strong preference is NOT to wash out the carcass. But it is also my strong preference to leave the hide ON the carcass until just before I cut it...............
If the temperature is warm, I get the hide off right now, to help cool down the meat. But if it is cooler (or colder!) then I leave the hide on, it is a heck of a lot easier to handle deers with the hide on and keep the meat clean. And BTW I use the smallest incision I possibly can, to keep dirt and crap off the meat, NEVER cut to the pelvic bone in the field, NEVER cut through the sternum and up to the neck in the field.........
If the deer has been gut shot, then I do wash the cavity with water. Whatever water I have, including water known to contain giardia..........and then again with clean water if possible. Yes I dry it off to the extent possible too. I prefer to work with meat that has not been washed out, I find that it becomes slippery to work with and takes longer to cut up.
About fifteen years ago I shot a couple deers early in the week at the hunt camp. The weather turned quite warm on us - and in fact we packed out at the end of the week in short-sleeved shirts! Anyways the deers had been hanging for a day or two when the temperature rose and there was no good way to keep them cool, so I did use black pepper very liberally inside the cavities of both of them. Not enough to form a crust, but pretty thick. It did keep the flies off the meat, and the meat was very fine indeed. We butchered them back at the camp about two days later (Friday before packing out on Saturday) and got the packages of meat into our coolers/etc for the last 24 hours or so that we were in camp.
Never tried vinegar and water, but I would try it for sure another time.........
Doug
If the temperature is warm, I get the hide off right now, to help cool down the meat. But if it is cooler (or colder!) then I leave the hide on, it is a heck of a lot easier to handle deers with the hide on and keep the meat clean. And BTW I use the smallest incision I possibly can, to keep dirt and crap off the meat, NEVER cut to the pelvic bone in the field, NEVER cut through the sternum and up to the neck in the field.........
If the deer has been gut shot, then I do wash the cavity with water. Whatever water I have, including water known to contain giardia..........and then again with clean water if possible. Yes I dry it off to the extent possible too. I prefer to work with meat that has not been washed out, I find that it becomes slippery to work with and takes longer to cut up.
About fifteen years ago I shot a couple deers early in the week at the hunt camp. The weather turned quite warm on us - and in fact we packed out at the end of the week in short-sleeved shirts! Anyways the deers had been hanging for a day or two when the temperature rose and there was no good way to keep them cool, so I did use black pepper very liberally inside the cavities of both of them. Not enough to form a crust, but pretty thick. It did keep the flies off the meat, and the meat was very fine indeed. We butchered them back at the camp about two days later (Friday before packing out on Saturday) and got the packages of meat into our coolers/etc for the last 24 hours or so that we were in camp.
Never tried vinegar and water, but I would try it for sure another time.........
Doug
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
I normally don't cut the pelvis, but cut around the anus, pull it out, tie it off with a piece of leather, then pull the whole works back trough.
I cut out the whole throat /windpipe as soon as possible to get rid of any stuff that is in there.
This tends to taint meat as well......
Cat
I cut out the whole throat /windpipe as soon as possible to get rid of any stuff that is in there.
This tends to taint meat as well......
Cat
- Location
- Lakes District BC
I cut the pelvis and sternum right there if I have to pack it out , and do it as soon as I am home anyways , never bothered the meat , + I always carry cheese cloth with me to wrap the meat as well.
and yes Doug try the vinegar and water , just dampen the cloth it works great and I have yet to have a bad tasting critter .....have shot a few senior citizen moose that were so tuff even the hamburger needed a knife :lol:
and yes Doug try the vinegar and water , just dampen the cloth it works great and I have yet to have a bad tasting critter .....have shot a few senior citizen moose that were so tuff even the hamburger needed a knife :lol:
The reason I do not (EVER) cut to or through the pelvis bone, nor the meat between the cavity and the arsehole is that as soon as this is done there is another VERY large meat surface laid bare to contamination from dirt and crap. And that is some of the best meat, too. So I leave the hide over it and the meat uncut until the beast is hanging.
Yes of course I cut out the arsehole itself, this is practically the first thing I do, and yes I pull it back into the cavity and then out. Last thing out is the bladder.
I am talking about white-tail deer here, where the animal goes out in one piece, and in my case pretty always by man-power. I have only ever shot one moose, and that fellow got cut and quartered by my veterinarian buddy that was with me. Kind of neat to watch a pro at work.......... 8)
On the windpipe/throat, yes I agree that it can go off quickly, and especially in warmer temperatures. But in many hundreds of deer that I have participated in killing/cleaning/butchering, only a small percentage had the windpipe/throat removed at the kill site. Mostly we take them out after the deer is hanging. I do not recall ever having bad meat, or hearing of other fellow hunters having bad meat, from leaving the windpipe intact for an extra few hours. I have however seen dirt, leaves, and gravel etc right into the meat that was exposed by a hunter making a L O N G cut on his deer, arsehole to jaw kind of thing, and then dragging it from the kill site to wherever it was hung.
I think that most hunters do things for a reason. In my own case, I am mostly on foot and mostly in the back country when I shoot a deer. If I had an ATV, or if I was going to be home in an hour after I shot the deer, I might do things differently. If I owned a walk-in cooler for hanging game, I would do things differently, and especially regarding skinning. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer to how things are done, except maybe leaving the guts in an animal longer than necessary, or similar bizarre behaviour, that any person with half a brain and an arsehole could figure out "MIGHT" taint the meat..........
One of the great things about this forum is that people can think about other hunters' experiences, and learn from them, take the lessons that are applicable and ignore the ones that aren't. For example, I will certainly take vinegar in with me to the hunt camp this year. We are hunting a new area (for all but one of us) and when I did the recce I saw that there is no clean water within MILES of the camp. So unless we are going to sacrifice our drinking water to clean a possible gut-shot deer, we need an alternative and it looks like a vinegar/water solution is a good one.
"There are none so blind as those that will not see."
Doug
Yes of course I cut out the arsehole itself, this is practically the first thing I do, and yes I pull it back into the cavity and then out. Last thing out is the bladder.
I am talking about white-tail deer here, where the animal goes out in one piece, and in my case pretty always by man-power. I have only ever shot one moose, and that fellow got cut and quartered by my veterinarian buddy that was with me. Kind of neat to watch a pro at work.......... 8)
On the windpipe/throat, yes I agree that it can go off quickly, and especially in warmer temperatures. But in many hundreds of deer that I have participated in killing/cleaning/butchering, only a small percentage had the windpipe/throat removed at the kill site. Mostly we take them out after the deer is hanging. I do not recall ever having bad meat, or hearing of other fellow hunters having bad meat, from leaving the windpipe intact for an extra few hours. I have however seen dirt, leaves, and gravel etc right into the meat that was exposed by a hunter making a L O N G cut on his deer, arsehole to jaw kind of thing, and then dragging it from the kill site to wherever it was hung.
I think that most hunters do things for a reason. In my own case, I am mostly on foot and mostly in the back country when I shoot a deer. If I had an ATV, or if I was going to be home in an hour after I shot the deer, I might do things differently. If I owned a walk-in cooler for hanging game, I would do things differently, and especially regarding skinning. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer to how things are done, except maybe leaving the guts in an animal longer than necessary, or similar bizarre behaviour, that any person with half a brain and an arsehole could figure out "MIGHT" taint the meat..........
One of the great things about this forum is that people can think about other hunters' experiences, and learn from them, take the lessons that are applicable and ignore the ones that aren't. For example, I will certainly take vinegar in with me to the hunt camp this year. We are hunting a new area (for all but one of us) and when I did the recce I saw that there is no clean water within MILES of the camp. So unless we are going to sacrifice our drinking water to clean a possible gut-shot deer, we need an alternative and it looks like a vinegar/water solution is a good one.
"There are none so blind as those that will not see."
Doug
We spend some extra time when we get them hung, trimming any suspect meat and fat and making sure there is nothing in or around the cavity.
If the animal was gutshot we will skin it right away to make sure there is no offal between the hide and meat.
If you have a dirty wound channel... cut it out immediately ... remove some ribs if you have to but never leave a dirty wound channel to contaminate the rest of your meat.
If the animal was gutshot we will skin it right away to make sure there is no offal between the hide and meat.
If you have a dirty wound channel... cut it out immediately ... remove some ribs if you have to but never leave a dirty wound channel to contaminate the rest of your meat.
- Location
- Lakes District BC
agreed Doug, but if its fussy you want try hunting with me for moose :wink:
I will admit 8 out of 10 moose can be carted home without quartering unless your on a fly in, I dont even gut my moose in the bush , I drag it out to the ditch and do it there were the pick-up is sitting so I can load it imedietly, if you asked P17 or Anphib about once were home I am sure they would growl about the 4 hours of picking and cleaning the meat to prefection , I refuse to take a dirty animal to my butcher and he refuses to take 1, having a roll of cheese cloth or even squares of it help stop alot of contaminents from getting at the meat , I also will not wrap the quarters until they have hung for a hour or so with no hide on them, let them cool even more and start to stiffen up then wrap it up good , another thing is I never let a tarp or any other object touch the meat while hanging , anything on it can create moisture entraptment and spoil meat , and Rita says Doug mix the vinegar and water about 70%-30% 70% water, shes the washer around here :lol:
everyone has there own tricks and secrets to hunting and meat preperation , and those that dont will learn , nice to finaly see a honest easy going discussion without people having spazz attacks over it :lol:
oh and PS Doug try skinning a moose for a client life sized mount from the back :lol: , there goes 7 hours :lol: ..oh and not contaminating the meat during the skinning :x :wink: (remember you cant gut it from the belly for that it has to be skinned out whole life sized then gutted and packed out ...a real pain in the arse if I do say so , thank the good lord only 1 or 2 clients ever have the money for the mounts :!: )
I will admit 8 out of 10 moose can be carted home without quartering unless your on a fly in, I dont even gut my moose in the bush , I drag it out to the ditch and do it there were the pick-up is sitting so I can load it imedietly, if you asked P17 or Anphib about once were home I am sure they would growl about the 4 hours of picking and cleaning the meat to prefection , I refuse to take a dirty animal to my butcher and he refuses to take 1, having a roll of cheese cloth or even squares of it help stop alot of contaminents from getting at the meat , I also will not wrap the quarters until they have hung for a hour or so with no hide on them, let them cool even more and start to stiffen up then wrap it up good , another thing is I never let a tarp or any other object touch the meat while hanging , anything on it can create moisture entraptment and spoil meat , and Rita says Doug mix the vinegar and water about 70%-30% 70% water, shes the washer around here :lol:
everyone has there own tricks and secrets to hunting and meat preperation , and those that dont will learn , nice to finaly see a honest easy going discussion without people having spazz attacks over it :lol:
oh and PS Doug try skinning a moose for a client life sized mount from the back :lol: , there goes 7 hours :lol: ..oh and not contaminating the meat during the skinning :x :wink: (remember you cant gut it from the belly for that it has to be skinned out whole life sized then gutted and packed out ...a real pain in the arse if I do say so , thank the good lord only 1 or 2 clients ever have the money for the mounts :!: )
I"ve also wiped mine down with vinegar and water in a bucket and cloth to clean them.
But for the new guys reading this i also wipe the meat down and dry it so its not left WET anywear or it can sour.Think of it as a sponge bath and not a car wash. :lol:
But for the new guys reading this i also wipe the meat down and dry it so its not left WET anywear or it can sour.Think of it as a sponge bath and not a car wash. :lol:
EnfieldMike
CGN Regular
- Location
- Northern NS
Oh the irony! Not to start a war here...this is just an observation! We as hunters...well many of us...enjoy hunting because of the "freshness" and the unprocessed...unchemicalized...non steroided meat. Get back to nature...so to speak. Then once the meat is "gotten" or "gutted", what have you...we're scared to death to put it into a lake...river...or stream because we're afraid of contamination..from running water? We drag the carcass home then put the hose on it...with water from a municipal water supply. Its laughable...really. It just goes to show that even us die hards are somewhat corrupted by 21rst century thinking. Natural water bad....processed chlorinated water good. There's been many threads talking about WTSHTF. Most of us have all thrown in with statements like " I'm ready..got my ammo and a great hunting spot to provide for my family". But intrinsically...me too here guys...we've been convinced that natural water is a bad thing. So when the SHTF...we got meat...but no water? Its a wonder the human species has lasted as long as we have...we might have big brains...but by god we can be "sum stunned" at times.
Oh and to answer the question... I'll throw the animal into the closest body of water I can find...as long as the source is not brackish, stagnant or coming out of a beaver dam.
Oh and to answer the question... I'll throw the animal into the closest body of water I can find...as long as the source is not brackish, stagnant or coming out of a beaver dam.
- Location
- Lakes District BC
EnfieldMike said:
you wont start a war Mike , but if you had ever hunted northern BC much you would know that stagnant, brackish and beaver water is about 9/10ths of all water in the bush and with zero water absorbtion in many parts of central and northern BC in the forests you now have unusual runoffs and bodies of water sitting thanks to the pine beetle epidemic , even good sized river systems are being effected by it .
in the end your the one that has to eat what you have butchered so each to there own it was an ideas and methods discussion , if you want to drown your animal then go ahead if it works for you
Like Big Redd we always take time to clean up everything.
When we get deer around here we either use the tractor or my new deer hanging shed to clean them out while hanging. It makes it so much easier than gutting in the field.
Once cleaned out we just take the hose to them and do some more cleaning, extra fat, wound channel etc.
When we get deer around here we either use the tractor or my new deer hanging shed to clean them out while hanging. It makes it so much easier than gutting in the field.
Once cleaned out we just take the hose to them and do some more cleaning, extra fat, wound channel etc.
