Hot weather hunting ???

[RIng]

Hi all.  I am hunting in Maryland in a few days . The forecast has temp. at or need 90 in the day and mid 70 at night . I have never hunted in high temperature be for . I would guess that letting game sit over night be for tracking is out of the question . Do any of you have some hints on handling the recovery , and meet handling . Thank You

May life's simplest things bring you the greatest pleasures!!!

[TX FLY CASTER]

We have the same conditions here in TX. What I have learned over the years......know the area you are hunting very well. Have at least two friends who are willing to show up and help track at any given hour. Invest in two or three coleman lanterns and add reflectors to them (I have found this to be the best light for finding blood). Go slow and be sure you know where you hit the animal. Mark the blood you find with reflective wire ties ,this makes seeing the path an animal it taking really easy. Good luck this season !!!!

[monkeyball]

And keep a couple bags of ice in a good cooler. After you dress your deer lay the bags of ice inside the carcass. It will keep things good and cool until you get it processed.

                                                                    Good Shooting,
                                                                                 Craig

[tracker12]

I usually gut and drag to the car where I skin, quarter and put in the cooler that has ice.  I always prepare for a kill in SEP.  Fly's will get on your deer as a soon as it hits the ground.

Also I will not take a shot this time of year unless it is 100% slam dunk.  Any deer left overnight will be spoiled by morning.

[Roadkill]

Our archery season is nearly done-and it is hot here=100  degrees often.  Two spray bottles-one with peroxide for spraying  to help tracking.  The other has vinegar-I spray and wipe down all the meat as I put it in the cooler-kills bacteria, and it smells for a bit, but you never taste it.  I really spray down the parts that touch internal organs and I wipe off all the dirt and hair as I spray.
You can put teh deer in a tarp with ice in the chest cavity until you get to a place to work it over too.

[gringol]

Lots of ice.

Drag to car, clean, quarter, and bury in ice.  i throw a rope over a limb, hoist it with the truck and get to work asap.  For recovery and tracking, a few hours won't hurt, but I wouldn't leave it until morning.

[tarponnut]

We guide for hogs year-round here in south Florida.
We recommend clients bring a cooler with ice and we always have extra in our vehicles.
It's rarely cool enough at night to leave hogs to be recovered the following morning(although we have had some success with that in the cooler months). We usually will track them anyway the following am because you can learn a lot from a poor blood trail.
When we do recover the hog, we nearly always skin and quarter it where it lays. Not gutting them eliminates a lot of the bacteria(the tenderloins can be removed without gutting, by the way)The buzzards have it picked clean within 12-24 hours.
We try and get the meat cooled asap, clean it later in the hotel bathtub:)jk.

[dbd870]

I know some of you just have to live with the conditions but my answer is just not to go out. I have hunted KY for several years now and I have never gone out during their Sept. archery season; I'd rather wait until it's a little cooler.

[Cwilder]

I've never had a problem with the warm weather. I normally have the deer in a walkin cooler within two hours. But if I was hunting in the marsh for sika. I would not gut until I was close to my car since you are in a marshy area and water does not help with warm temps. And have a good size cooler with ice and I would just put the whole sika in the cooler until I could either cut up or get to a butcher with a walkin

[two4hooking]

Welcome to MD.  Hunt hard, and get your deer cool as quick as you can.  Use ice, coolers, wheelbarrows, tubs, quarter it....whatever but get the deer cool and to the processor or cutting table as quick as you can.

Good luck and bring some deet!

[ishoot4thrills]

If I hunt on hot days in the evening, I only hunt on evenings where I don't have to work on the following morning. That way I can just stay out as late as I have to that night to find the deer instead of leaving it 'til morning.

[cahaba]

It's hot and humid most years here in Alabama when the season starts Oct. 15th. It usually don't get cool till the second week of November. That's when I usually start my hunting. Since our season runs till Jan, 31st. I'm in no hurry and don't like hunting in the heat. If I go on hot days I will be wearing my TUSX Stone Shirt.

[RIng]

Thank You all . I well be flowing some of your advice . I am staying 15 minutes from my hunting . My primary stand is 1 1/2 mi.  from my car . If I decide  to take the shot and am susfull . I will gut as soon as I am on dry land and take the gutted Sika or whitetail to my car on a wheeled cart . I will then ice as good as I can . If I have a walk in to use I we'll hang there , if not I will skin and cut up as soon as I can. Thank You All .

May life's simplest things bring you the greatest pleasures!!

[Cwilder]

Just remember to fill out your harvest record and fill out a tag. I have some friends who are DNR and they are going to be pushing those two hard this year with big fines

[m midd]

I usually hunt for a air conditioner until it cools off here in arkansas. In my younger years when i hunted opening weekend i would keep several bags of ice in a cooler and pack the chest cavity with ice until i could quarter and get it in a cooler.

[Sam McMichael]

I have been hunting in the heat for many years, as our bow season starts in September. Dress for the heat (and the bugs) and take plenty of fluids.  If you have to trail a deer in the heat, you could be there a while, so the fluids are very important.

I sometimes start trailing a bit sooner than I might in colder weather, but a lot depends on how good the hit looks.  I do not hunt much in the evening, because I don't want to trail at night. I am just not that good at it.  If you need to track after dark, there are lights with filters, or you can use a Coleman lantern to help blood show up. Use the florescent trail markers to mark your progress. The meat does not last as long as it does in colder weather, so stay with it.

Once you locate the deer, field dress it and get it on ice quickly as others have suggested.  The process is no different than hunting, trailing, and processing in cold weather, except that time is much more crucial.

One thing you just don't get used to is that deer hunting with sweat dripping off the end of your nose just doesn't feel right. Man, I wish bow season opened in October with gun season beginning in November the way it used to do when I was young.

[MikeNova]

Been three times so far it's been hot! Unfortunately here in South Carolina we don't get cold weather till November sometimes

[wtpops]

Just recently left California where hunting in the heat is the norm, deer season is in July, temps
In the hundreds, hog hunting also, find it, field dress it, get it back to camp, skin it, quarter it, and put it on ice, don't let the heat stop you 35 years of hunting in the heat and I have never lost one to the heat.

[randy grider]

I skin and debone as soon as they hit the ground and ice it down. I can wait a day or two to actually process the meat, just drain the water and add ice. A hit deer needs to be found soon. I too do not hunt evenings that I have to work the next day. Once you drop the string you are committed.