warmdaze

To all those wih greater knowledge. My question is how long is too long to retrieve a deer? I know at some point you will know the meat is definitely bad, but what about before that point? I know it has to do with temperature. But has anyone ever estimated on how long a dead animal can lie in a certain degree range and still be safe to consume. I would never eat a animal after its belly has bloated and I do know some people hang their deer for days before processing it (even when tempratures seem to get a bit high). I personally prefer to get it in the icebox as quick as possible. Are their other signs to look for? And does the shot matter? The reason I' am asking is because I' ve lost trails before and for some reason or another was unable to pick it back up for a day or two. buddies stated that the meat was bad do to warm weather setting in but that' s not enough to convince me. I' ve been told before that the neck area was one of the first area' s to go bad because of the windpipe and the exsposure to the air and to look for a bloated belly. But does anyone have a sure method way of telling Yea or Nay?
Any help on the subject would be appreciated. Warmdaze

PABowhntr

warmdaze,

I don' t have a definitive answer for you on this one but I am going to bump you over to the regular bowhunting forum where I think you are more likely to get a multitude of responses.

da hunting ace

tell us how long you have waited and we' ll tell you if you can still take it,

JeramyK

I think it' s hard to say one way or another without actually inspecting the meat. The biggest variable is going to be the temperature.

cyclone

Many factors come into play here, temperature being a main one. Shot placement is another. Throw out that bloated belly indicator because their bellies start to bloat the second they hit the ground. They usually bloat to twice the normal size when left for as little as 1hr, again temperature dependent. Liver and paunch shots will go bad quicker than will a good boiler room hit. Now you have to remember all this is from time of death not time of hit.

I' ve left them for 12 hrs on cool nights and they were ok. The bloated belly gasses will make you gag, but this doesn' t mean that the entire deer is wasted. I usually peel back the skin from the field dressing incision about 8" or as far as needed. If it' s green then she' s started to turn.[X(]