Messy kill- contaminated body cavity

good points


the last one that I rupured the guts got a good wipe down with snow then hung and froze, (Its Alberta and November, everything freezes) so freeze dry.

then once home another wipe down when it thawed.

everyting was good
 
Big Guy said:
Ten Venison Myths
Much of the info in that post is true and very useful, but .................. :)




Big Guy said:
1, Hang venison for 5 days
Deer shouldn’t be hung at all, because life begins at 40. At 40 degrees bacteria come alive and usually, if a deer is hung in a garage all day long. It will be above 40degrees. The fat turns rancid and the meat begins to rot. To tenderize deer, leave it in the freezer for a few months. Butcher right away, freeze fresh. That’s the best way.
If a deer can be hung at a lower temperature than 40deg, it WILL benefit from hanging as the connective tissue breaks down and it will be more tender. A commercial meat cooler runs at 28deg during the night when the door is closed all night. Meat will stay for 2 weeks this way with no problems. It is ALOT easier to properly cut the muscle when it has firmed up from hanging. Very fresh killed meat is hard to cut as it tends to roll under the knife causing more trimming sand less choice cuts as a result. Before the advent of vacuum packed meat, beef was hung for as long as 2-3 weeks, and there never was a problem with this method.

Big Guy said:
3 Make burger from shanks and scraps
Shanks and scraps are fine if all the fat and connective tissue are trimmed away. Most hunters and butchers don’t take the time to do it. Commercial grinders can slice the sinews and connective tissues into small pieces, but that’s where the off taste is concentrated. Trim your meat scraps then make burger, all the difference in the world.
Shanks and scraps are used for two things... Stew and ground portions. I'd like to see the fellow try to remove the sinew from the deer shanks. Its no easy task, so grind them. Yes, remove the fat, but don't worry too much about other stuff..

Big Guy said:
4 Hose out the deer with water after field dressing
Three things work to ruin deer meat, dirt, heat and moisture. One minute after the inside of a deer is wiped down with a cloth, a thin dry film forms that prevents flies from laying eggs. Water it down and it’s vulnerable. The meat is warmed, moistened, and bacteria grows at a fantastic rate. Don’t soak your deer down; let it dry naturally the good meat is on the other side of the ribs anyway. Excluding the tender loins.
If you read this again, you will see that moisture is one of the problems that will ruin meat, and he is right, BUT a deer needs to hang in a cold, DRY environment. Long term humidity and washing with cold/clean water are two different things. Wash the deer, inside and out, wipe it down, open the cavity, put a fan on it and make sure that it's not hung in a humid place and you will not have problems, besides it's really a good idea to hang your meat in a place where these are no flys anyways. :rolleyes:
 
Gutshot is messy, but mostly harmless. And sometimes a right pain to recover.

Rinse well, towel it dry and carry on as if you were normal. Trim any actual meat that came in contact with the contents of the innards (via bullet holes, cut edges, mangled bits)
You can trim away the silver skin later, and not lose anything.

I've seen a lot of wasted meat because some schmuck thought that you had to hang a deer to make it tender. Works good with beef, it's got lots of fat in the muscle tissue, and is in large chunks that don't dry out much in the locker. Deer are lean beasts. Even the ones with an inch or more of fat across their backs. The meat is lean and dries out easy. Freezing the meat breaks up the connective tissue very well, and the cutter does not have to throw away a signifigant part of your hard gained deer meat because it's almost jerky.

I've seen deer that were brought in to be cut that were going on black in color. The butcher figured he'd get less than half the cuts he'd get from one that was brought in fresh.

We have come a ways from the English ideal , where a pheasant was hung by the feet until the head fell off before it was considered fit for the table, but some myths die really hard.

Take a look at the parts of the deer that actually come in contact with the innards, and other than the tenderloins, it all gets trimmed away anyway.

Cheers
Trevor
 
I agree Super cub If you can hang it in a meat cooler fine. My point was "most" places that deer are hung the temp is too high. What I do is bone out the deer into major sections ASAP. usually right in the field less than an hour from the kill, then place in the fridge for a couple of days before final butchering. Like you said it cuts better when cold. And yes I do remove the membranes from the shanks, and it is time consuming but the end product is worth the work. IMHO.
 
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It's a bit of a myth replacing a myth...

In reality Water on meat is no big deal as long as the meat is hung to dry in a properly chilled environment.

I'd rather wash stomach contents and such off the meat ASAP then simply dry wipe it off, and leave possible reside to contaminate the meat later which would be unsafe food preparation, and handling.

How do you think your supermarket meat is handled in accordance to set standards?

Cows, Pigs, and Chickens are rinsed out...I have seen and done this myself.
Methinks the ride in the back of the pick-up truck with the warm sun on the deer carcass is more the problem in some cases.
 
"By the way, the e.coli isn't from the 'feedlot conditions', it's from contamination at the slaughterhouse. E.coli is a natural intestinial bacteria."






Yes it is a natural intestinal infection but the close quarters , heavily manured areas, shared watering bowls etc of feed lot operations does lead to spread amoung the cattle. There have been studies done that show up to 90% of animals in a feed lot pen became infected durring their stay . My point was that deer who do not live under the artificial conditions are less likely to contact the bacteria. That said not all deer are free nor are all cattle infected. Slaughtering procedures may allow the spread onto the meat as even in a slauhter house with trained operators errors occur. The reason hamburger is a main source of humans contracting the disease is that the grinding process spreads the bacteria throughout the meat. On other cuts of meat the bacteria if present are more likely to be confined to the surface where normal cooking will kill it.
Similarly when hunting birds it is an extremely high probability that the intestines will be damaged on going away shots but the incidence of bacterial contamination of the meat is quite low.

My comments are not a slam of feedlots or commercial chicken raising operations ,
 
From what I have seen you are both right.
Contamination has been known to have been caused at both sources.

In the field it would be very simple to contaminate the meat you are handling if you where not paying attention.
 
The vinegar thing works well in a mix of 1 oz vin.to 1gal water.If your animal is gamey Wounded/chased/smelly! Mix 1 cup vinegar to 1 tub water and let sit overnight,drain and refill tub with cold waterand let sit.Total time is 24-36hrs,cut and wrap.Also works good to cool and age in warm weather! good luck guys&gals!!
 
Yes it is a natural intestinal infection but the close quarters , heavily manured areas, shared watering bowls etc of feed lot operations does lead to spread amoung the cattle. There have been studies done that show up to 90% of animals in a feed lot pen became infected durring their stay . My point was that deer who do not live under the artificial conditions are less likely to contact the bacteria. That said not all deer are free nor are all cattle infected. Slaughtering procedures may allow the spread onto the meat as even in a slauhter house with trained operators errors occur. The reason hamburger is a main source of humans contracting the disease is that the grinding process spreads the bacteria throughout the meat. On other cuts of meat the bacteria if present are more likely to be confined to the surface where normal cooking will kill it.
Similarly when hunting birds it is an extremely high probability that the intestines will be damaged on going away shots but the incidence of bacterial contamination of the meat is quite low.

My comments are not a slam of feedlots or commercial chicken raising operations ,[/QUOTE]


Good post, thanks! I get abuse for being part of the industry, regularly. I tend to over react.

I hunt, in spite of the Free Beef I get from the Farm. I just prefer Venison, and I've had to deal with a few animals with ruptured innards. It's never posed any problems, yet. We throughly rinse the insides, and then cool them quickly. Deer we cut up ASAP, for the reasons listed above.
 
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