How do you guys-gals from down south deal with the heat????

[Horner]

I did not want to steal away the topic of the (opening day thread), but I would like to know how you guys from the south beat the heat to bow hunt.

I am always afraid to bow hunt unless it is in the 50's for highs.  I would hate to lose my meat because of a poorly placed arrow and have to let the deer lay up for a long time period.  
I have not ever had this problem before, I have always flat out missed or had a good hit.  However, I know the day will come when I most likely will make a poor hit.
After I make a shot I always feel like I'm racing against time.  30 min to wait after the shot before I get out of my stand. Then there's the blood trailing and then the drag out.

So with that being said, how do you do it if its say in the 70's or 80's or hotter?

Thanks in advance,
Horner

[Apex Predator]

As long as you can get them on ice in 6-8 hours, they should be fine.  I've delayed longer before, with no problems.  It takes a man to scrape the maggots off though, which is a problem after just 1-2 hours.

[Warren H. Womack]

I would think we learn to accept the heat of the early season, down here, just like you learn to accept the cold of your late season, up there.

As far as how soon you have to recover and process a deer killed during hot weather... It's never been a problem for me.

There have been several times, with temp's in the mid 80's to 90+, when I wasn't able to recover an evening kill until the next morning.

In those cases I've never had one that was spoiled. At the worst the meat was bloody but a few days in an ice chest with lot's of melting ice took care of that problem.

The best way, I've found, to check for spoilage is to cut a chunk of meat out of the inside of the hindquarter near the ball joint. Take a sniff.. if it's bad you will instantly know.

[wingnut]

The key at any temperature is to get the meat to air temp as quick as is reasonable.  That will give you some time to get it on ice or in ice water (better).

I find that once recovered if I get the hide off and the animal boned, the heat comes out quick.  I've taken elk in 80+ degrees and never lost a pound of meat to spoilage.

Mike

[R H Clark]

Sometimes I don't hunt the early season if it's too hot.Some years are better than others.One year I went opening weekend and planed to stay four days.It was 95 degrees and the second day I killed two rattle snakes and a big cottonmouth went in a hole and got away.I packed up and went home that night.

[James Wrenn]

You just learn to work faster.You also pay close attention to the shots you take.I don't take last light shots early season.I keep a cooler in my truck early season and seldom bring a deer out whole.Mine are skined and brought out in a pack and on ice pretty quick.Even a deer left overnight in hot weather is usually ok but I like geetting mine ready for the freezer as quick as I can.

[straitera]

Never lost meat to heat spoilage. October is hot as blazes. It's something you learn to live with.
RH is right. We're lucky to have many snakes & big mosquitos. Takes your mind off the heat.

[Keystone Cowboy]

Out here in AZ. we don't worry about the heat cause when the temp. gets to 115 or so the meat is already cooked by the time we get to it. But you have to also remember it's a dry heat.

[joevan125]

I have killed a lot of deer down here south AL when the temps were in the high 70,s. It has never been a problem and you just get used to it. Ticks are the worst for me i take my deer straight to the butcher and let him do the gutting and everthing else. I hate those ticks.

[Jedimaster]

I've never had one go more than 4 hours before field dressing.  I'm sure they'd last longer though.  It makes me feel better to get the guts out and the hide off as soon as possible.  I don't like last light shots but will take it if it's a good one.  Also don't like to hunt a long way from transportation during the hottest periods.  Gotta agree with the above:  mosquitoes and snakes are much more of a consideration/concern here in central Mississippi.  I haaatttteee mosquitoes and gnats!

[John3]

When Missouri first moved our bowseason opening day back to Sept. 15th a few years ago I killed a doe the first week of season. I had a deflection and hit the deer a bit farther back than perfect. Confident the deer was liver hit I let her have some time to go lie down and get stiff. Four hours later I walked right up on her stone dead. The temp was 91 degrees while I was dragging her out. Crazy hot I thought to be bowhunting in Missouri. I was just not used to hunting in such hot conditions.

 A quick autopsy while field dressing confirmed she was probably dead before I walked out of my stand... The meat was perfect but I still cannot believe the amount of flies that had blown on her hide. I watched the maggots grow in the time it took me to get her to the house and wash them off with the garden hose...

[SELFBOW19953]

What you have to watch out for more than anything in the Deep South, if you have to leave a deer overnight, is losing to the skunk apes. They are carnivores and will steal any deer they come across, worse than any bear.  If the skunk apes don't get it, you have to be mindful of the coralhead rattlemouth's, the most venomous snake in the country.  They're attracted to the scent of blood and they are very agressive.

[Horner]

WOW, the maggots would make my stomach turn upside down.  It puts me to mind of a squirrel with a worble in it.  I still eat the squirrel's I get with them. It does not effect the meat, but they are nasty little creatures.
Horner

[Steertalker]

Honestly..it's never been an issue.  I pick my shots carefully so that there is no doubt I'm gonna make a good clean kill.  My deer usually go down within sight (less than 6-7 seconds) and so there is no waiting the obligatory 30 minutes.  Just shoot'em and then go get'em and load'em in the truck.  Usually have them opened up and hanging within 30-45 minutes after the shot.

Brett

[Bill Skinner]

Where I hunt, I worry more about over heating myself.  Also got to watch out when you drag something out.  Heat problems out in the woods can be bad.  Bill

[Terry Green]

Killed most of my deer in bow season her in Ga....and its hot the 1st month it opens, usually the 2nd weekend in Sept.

Like steertalker said....make a good shot, and no worries.  Usually you will see them go down, or hear them crash or thrash after they fall.  Use a head that will put blood on the ground in case he runs into the thick stuff.  And listen closely as a deer that don't know its dead usually make less noise than one that knows its hurt.

I found all my deer loosing only one, and the one I lost only got a brisket slice and lived till the next season when I killed him on the same date just a year later.

The longest I had to trail one was 80 yards...I jammed his off lower shoulder and he ran straight away running over what he didn't bounce off of, and I heard it crash. Blood was everywhere and lead me straight to where I'd heard the crash.

 Had a doe feeding with here neck wrapped back around under and her head was under her body on the shot and I had no idea what happened but I heard a loud crack.  She ran 70 yards and crashed.  She raised here head up on the shot and when her head got level with the vitals, she too that Z 4 blade slap through the scull.

Had a few more off shoulder hits that gave 50 to 60 yard dash n crash.....and had a TON of them double lungers, where no big bone was encountered,  fall inside 30, and inside 20, and I remember 3 that died within 10, and a spike that went down and crawled about 4 yards and died.  

I had a heck of a recovery average that bounced around in the 30's yardage with 57 deer.  Last count average I have is 38 yards after that big ten I killed November of 2007. I double lunged him, but poked his off elbow so he managed to up my average as he knew he was hit and made it 72 yards.  This recovery average is on GA deer only.

The TX average is a lot different....those deer are spooky, flighty, and plumb dang crazy.....and hard as heck the hit them bottle rockets in the right place.

Anyway, I never had any meat spoil on me in GA.  I think I had a rabbits foot in my pocket pretty deep.

I killed 14 deer in a row with one of those rare blue Zwickey 4 blades of the mid 80s...and brought it out of retirement a couple of year ago and took it to TX and killed a hog with it on my birthday,...then climbed up a tree and kill my Birthday Buck with another Zwickey 4 blade.

I killed 3 in 13 minutes October 17 1993, the doe I scull at shot at 7:00PM ran 70 yards, then at 7:06 I shot a 5 pointer that ran 15 yards, turned dead left and fell over after another 15....I shot him on a trot and he just kept on trotting...I really don't think he knew he was even dead as he was on a trail leading to the bean field.  Then that spike came in at 7:13 and gave me an 8 yard   shot and he crawled 4 yards.  

Shot another doe the next hear on one side of a dogwood tree and she ran around the tree and came straight to me but she never made it.  I could have spit on here from my tree stand.  

I heart shot a doe once at 20 yards, she ran wide open away from me for 40 yard, fell down and flopped around a couple of times and got up and came back toward me at an angle and dove into the brush and died closer to me than the shot was....I could go on and on....

But take a good shot, and make a good shot, and all will work out great....and if you happen to have a rabbits foot deep in our pocket like I did, your trails with be short and sweet.  And you wont spend a lot time following blood trails into the wee hours of the morning.

[caleb7mm]

ditto on everyone else, my longest trail is 40 yards and all my deer have come from fl, al and ga. I remember getting to my parking spot 4 or 5 years ago and the truck said it was 102F. it was an afternoon hunt and I killed a buck at 4pm that day. Had it gutted where he fell and there was no worries. i also vowed to never hunt again when it was that hot cause i was miserable  

[matt schuster]

It takes fresh meat quite some time to go bad.  I've left hogs & deer overnight when daytime temps where in the 90s and at night it didn't get below 70 and they were fine.    The guts swell & smell, but the meat is good as ever.   If fresh meat went bad all that quickly, Indians would have been vegetarians.

[Arkansaslongbow]

hot weather is the norm here in arkansas for the first month of bowhunting;{oct}; i make sure of my shot and never had a problem with loosing a deer but work very fast to get deer in cooler; i also keep very light clothes and plenty of bottled water with me in backpack because you can get in real trouble real quick in dragging a deer out in hot weather up and down the hills; also wear snake proof shoes and chaps during this time of year; we have learned to accept the hot weather and ajust accordingly;....