HOT WEATHER and MEAT

[blacktailchaser]

all right i live in oregon and the first hunting season can get really hot..i want to do hunting in differant parts of the state..so,how would you go about getting meat home safley with out spoiling..meat can spoil fast so even if you start with skinning it would be cool too..thanks john

[Elmer Fudd]

Hi John,
This is just my opinion, but I grew up hunting the hot humid south. Long seasons with warm temperatures. We used to be part of a management deal where we had to weigh our deer with guts intact at the camp before cleaning. This led to many deer being down several hours before they were field dressed in humid 80-90 degree temp.  At first everyone including me were concerned and not all happy about the deal. After a couple years I realized that I was being a bit paranoid about spoilage. With that said, I would take care to cool the meat as quick as possible, keeping it clean and dry. If the weather is warm and you can't hang the meat, use a large ice chest or two, You'll be fine. If you are traveling for a day of two and the meat is wrapped, consider dry ice, it'll freeze meat. I skin, quarter and bone out the meat. I can't stand paying for professional meat processing, but I love it when my friends do and give me the meat. I usually cook deer stew anyway and I deep fry the back-strap and tenderloin with onions. Hanging is not necessary and is impossible in those temperatures, without fast access to a meat locker. Don't over think the meat. Kill it, clean it, transported it in a cooler, freeze it properly and enjoy it.

[Outwest]

Small chest freezer and a generator works well.

John

[steadman]

I got a real good tip from a butcher last season. Get some burlap and keep it in camp. When you get you game broke down (quartered) hang from tree, preferably in shade. Wrap burlap around loosely. Then every two hours or so, dump water on the burlap and make sure it stay moist. The sack then acts like a swamp cooler, keeping the meat cool.
The best burlap for this would be the wool bags, they are big.

[Slasher]

REDNECK deer processing!!! Keep a cooler with ice handy whenever you go hunting...

ASAP- choose to either quarter and take out back straps or have a bag of ice to insert into the body cavity...

I go with the quarter/backstrap/neck roast if possible dont even mess with field dressing... Throw it on the bags of ice in the cooler in the back of the truck...

I actually will age my venison on ice in the garage with the cooler on 5 gal buckets, the drain open a 2x4 under one end to help the water drain... It helps age and tenderize my venison... I add ice as necessary and will process at day 7-14 depending on my schedule...

It is just the way it has always been done... Apex Predator had a very good post showing his lil kit to help hang a deer/hog for just this purpose...    apex predator kit  

Hope it helps...

[KyStickbow]

I always take a cooler and a couple bags of ice with me when I hunt. The ice isn't very expensive and it is there if I should need it.

[blacktailchaser]

wow,there is some great ideas here..i could take some left over water jugs and frezzes them to save a buck..i wonder how much dry ice cost..john

[twitchstick]

I have done as steadman sugguseted with burlap or even the canvas game bags work great. I have some desert water bags made of canvas and can freeze your teeth off on a 90 degree day. I have used small steams to cool down animals or quarters quickly. Then hang them to dry out. If camping multipal days you can hang them at night(if cool enough) then store them in old sleeping bags in the shade during the day. I like to dig a 4x4x4 pit and store them in the sleeping bags with a canvas tarp over the top during the day. An old shed or basement with a concreate floor can keep and animal cool for a long time. Transporting I have used dry ice,big coolers with ice or wrap a whole deer/elk in a tarp with a bunch of ice. One person I know runs a cooler off of an inverter mounted in the back of his truck. He transports antelope between WY. to CA. every year. The key is to check the meat often and use your head.

[blacktailchaser]

well so far the dry ice comes up alot and i am thinking about hitting some yard sales to get some extra ice chests..thanks john

[Old Chief]

Pay attention to how you use dry ice in an ice chest as it can crack the lining.  Get the meat boned out as soon as you can and get it in a cotton bag.  Using plastic bags in the field will cause the meat to spoil rapidly.  If you keep it clean, the flies off, and get it into an ice chest as soon as you can it will keep very well.  I have not need dry ice for periods of a day or less.

[Rick McGowan]

Spoiliage is caused by bacteria, bacteria thrive in warm temperatures and moisture, thats why refrigeration or drying(jerky) delay spoilage. I guided a lot of hunters in Australia, where it wasn't unusual to hit 100F and we never had any meat go bad and that was from some very big animals like feral cattle, water buffalo, red stag etc.. Its best to cool the animal as soon as possible, field dress or quarter or bone it out, get the hide off if practical, keep the meat clean of any bacteria carriers like dirt, feces, hair etc.. I don't like to get the meat wet, it just makes the bacteria happy, but like on a gut shot animal, washing it out with clean water is the lesser of two evils, just don't leave it wet, dry the meat off. Hang the meat in the shade in a low cool spot or at least get it off the ground so air can circulate underneath. Dry ice has its use, but it can also be dangerous, people have died from sleeping in campers with coolers of dry ice. Also I don't want the meat frozen until AFTER its processed and packaged and dry ice can do that. If you use dry ice, I would put it in the bottom of the cooler and lay several layers of newspaper or cardboard on top and then the meat on that. Regular ice is a problem too, in that you don't want the meat to sit in a bunch of water. I don't like putting the meat in plastic either, unless its really cold and you can keep it that way. I don't bother to age deer or elk, its great if you have a way to do that, but you really need a big refrigerator with a fixed temperature. We had a walk in cooler in Australia that we could keep meat at a constant 38F and it was great for tenderizing wild cattle and buffalo, they were to tough to chew otherwise, elk and deer don't have that problem.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

What Rick said.

[ksbowman]

I learned a trick from a friend of mine a few years ago on an antelope hunt. He took a generator and a small freezer that fit cross ways in the back of a pickup. On the out trip it was packed with gear. When we got our lopes we dressed and quarted then and put them in game bags. Then ran two tanks of gas thru the generator to chill the meat. Everyday it it was started and ran one tank of gas, but didn't open the lid except to add more meat. The day we left we ran two more tanks of gas thru it and left for home. When we arrived home a day latter the meat was very cold and most was frosty. That was the best antelope I ever ate. The same small freezers can be bought used for $75 all the time. I have one now.

[steadman]

The best you ever ate Ben?          

[PaddyMac]

I'm a salmon fisherman so I have what I call "fish coffins". Originally, they were styrofoam boxes inside waxed cardboard. Very economical. But now I have a fleet of Igloos (many many yardsales). I carry a lot of ice which I freeze ahead of time in gallon plastic jugs.

Get the hide off, dismantle it, and get it in the cooler ASAP.

Once I get home I'm not at all afraid to watch the membranes with cold water and a new sponge. Works great getting hair off.

I really like the idea of the freezer and the generator. Going to start working on that one.

[Don Stokes]

Down here in Mississippi, it's not that unusual to hunt in a t-shirt. I think the key is to cool the meat as quickly as possible, whatever steps are then taken to keep it cool. If it's legal, I field dress on the spot. When I'm hunting near a stream, I dunk the carcase in the running water to cool it quickly. When I get back to home base, I wash out the body cavity and skin it immediately, unless I'm taking it straight to a processor. In that case, I tell them it's OK to wait a week or so before processing it. I think aging makes a difference.

When I do my own, unless it's in the deep winter portion of the season and the temperatures are cold enough to hang it (rare), I quarter it and bone out the rest of the usable meat, and put the meat on ice in a cooler for a week or more. I make sure there's more ice under the meat than on top of it, and tilt the cooler to drain. Two weeks is about the limit with this method. On the rare occasion that I can hang one, I don't skin it first. One memorable January, I hung a rut-leaned young buck for 17 days. The meat was mild and flavorful.

I once transported a bull elk from Colorado to Mississippi by wrapping the chilled meat, still in the skin, in tarps and sleeping bags. After a two-day trip home, it was in fine shape.

[PaddyMac]

OK... How big of a generator?

[Bonebuster]

All this talk about meat makes me want to go hunting!

3500 watt generators will start and run most freezers without any worry of overheating the motor, and they are still quite compact and easy on fuel.

Bags of ice in a quality cooler will do a great job of getting meat cool. Keep the drain in the bottom of the cooler open to let water out.

[The Night Stalker]

I few years ago, I bought a big fish cooler at the beach. You can usually find them around charter boats. I bought a coffin cooler like the Yete. I can put two large does in there with ice and it will last for days.

[ksbowman]

It was almost as good as the lope you cooked for us in Utah, Ryan! LOL. Yea, a 3500 watt will handle it easy and it is really a great setup. Like Bonebuster said they aren't big at all and don't take up much room and will run a couple hours on a tank of fuel.Kinslow had a smaller generator (Honda) that was whisper queit on a Utah elk hunt. We made breakfast packages at home, he also brought a little microwave oven and could warm up breakfasts every morning and they were fast,easy and good.