venison meat care

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deertaker

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I was thinking about this fall and I am planning on going bow hunting right when it opens. I know we can get some pretty warm weather and I do not want to spoil the meat when it is warm out.
Does anyone have any suggestions or tricks in terms of care and hanging time?
 
if its too hot out and you are not planning on butchering your own deer .just drop off at butcher and ask him to hang for a few days or longer.if you plan on doing your own hany it in your garage and put a fan or something like that to keep it cool.did anyone here see the article in the Toronto star today about the poormans air-conditioner would be the cats ass for garage hangers
 
Get an extra beer fridge. Field dress the deer asap, then cut it into primary cuts, IE front shoulders, rear hams, bone out the loins, don't forget the tender loin. I do this right in the bush. No big mess to clean up at home. put the meat chunks in the fridge for 3-4 days then finish butchering it up.
 
Make arrangements with a butcher that will take care of the meat. If you check with the farmer whose land you are hunting on he will know the closest butcher or cooler. I hunt on a old order mennonites land and he has a wall in cooler and there are lots of farmers that butcher nearby.
 
Get the hide off it as quick as you can, cut away any damaged tissue and blood clots and get it chilled down.
Failing that, if you can't get it to a cooler quickly, you could try salting it down, inside and out and around the entry wounds.
I've used ordinary table salt on moose, when the weather warmed unexpectedly, and it worked well.
 
I was told by a butcher/hunter friend that i trust. To remove the trachea (wind pipe) as soon as posible in warm weather. He said it starts to go really quick and can ruin all of the neck meat, as well as it is a nice place for insects to land.

just my 2 cents
 
Heat is your enemy, you already know that :) Here is a trick that I have often seen people who fish Haines, AK and make the long trip home over several days. A bit costly, but you may already have some of the stuff needed or can get it cheap in the paper adds or even here in the EE forums.

Get an old chest freezer. Put in on a small tow trailer. Put a small generator on there. Make sure everything is bolted down secure. When you travel home with your deer in the freezer (set on minimum) you can cycle the generator on and off just so the meat doesn't freeze.
 
gitrdun said:
Get an old chest freezer. Put in on a small tow trailer. Put a small generator on there. Make sure everything is bolted down secure. When you travel home with your deer in the freezer (set on minimum) you can cycle the generator on and off just so the meat doesn't freeze.
Click to expand...
I've seen that here when Americans are travelling from NFLD to the north eastern States with a load of moose and caribou. Seems to work well, but most just put it in the back of a pick-up.


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SuperCub said:
I've seen that here when Americans are travelling from NFLD to the north eastern States with a load of moose and caribou. Seems to work well, but most just put it in the back of a pick-up.


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Click to expand...

True, the pick up will do. The trailers are used as their pick-ups usually have a camper on it. Either way, it'll work.
 
I do the beer fridge deal have for awhile now, all the racks come out I leave the top one for small cuts, leave the veggie tray in to collect the any dripping, and stand every up right with space in between.
 
I've only bow hunted deer and what we normally do is bring along a bunch of coolers and butcher the critter and put it in the coolers and then pack with ice. Then into the fridge when we get home. Another option is to fill 4 litre milk jugs with water and freeze them. They can then be placed in the chest cavity to assist in cooling.
 
In hot weather if I cannot get back to town, I will get all the meat off of the bone asap. I then put the meat into game bags, store them in a rubber maid container or 2 ( I try to use as many as possible) I then put the rubber maid container(s) in a river.
Where we hunt, we camp next to a fast cold river. I have used this several times and it seems to work great. I check on the meat 2 or 3 times a day and move it around a bit to make sure nothing is going bad.
But the meat stays dry, insect free and cool.
 
nwt2002 said:
In hot weather if I cannot get back to town, I will get all the meat off of the bone asap. I then put the meat into game bags, store them in a rubber maid container or 2 ( I try to use as many as possible) I then put the rubber maid container(s) in a river.
Where we hunt, we camp next to a fast cold river. I have used this several times and it seems to work great. I check on the meat 2 or 3 times a day and move it around a bit to make sure nothing is going bad.
But the meat stays dry, insect free and cool.
Click to expand...
Good idea!



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