Warm Weather Field Dressing

[juniordo1]

Only having started bowhunting in the last couple of years I have yet to shoot a deer when the temps are really warm when I am not in close proximity to a place I can process a deer quickly. During rifle season I am minutes away from a place to process quickly while during early season I am a couple of hours away.

I was wondering what everyone does to prserve their deer in the heat of the early fall. Someone gave a tip last year that I prepared for but wasn't lucky enough to use.

The suggestion was to santize 20 oz pop bottles, fill them with water and freeze them. This way when you put a deer down you can fill the cavity with the frozen bottles and get the deer to processing (home). The pop bottles were recommended because when the ice melts they don't get the carcass wet and fill your truck with a bloody mess. I checked and most of the bottles remained mostly frozen for three days in a five day cooler.

Any thoughts on this method? Any better methods out there?

[harvey lee]

If its really warm, I will skin the deer, hang it and cover it with cheese cloth so the bugs don't get on the meat. Then use your frozen pop bottles and cool the meat down the best you can.

Then I butcher it the next day.

Where we hunt in North Dakota, I will skin the deer and put it in a freezer we have for this. I will lay cardboard on the bottom of the freezer and then quarter the deer and put a 2x4 in the lid so its really just a cooler.

I personally do not hunt the warmer weather any more due to the handling of deer when its hot and I also do not have to deal with the bugs. I now do not start until October.

[Cheetah]

My deer the last two seasons were in September and it was in the upper 80's out. The first one I quickly quartered at the cabin and threw it in the fridge. Finished cutting it up at home later.

Last year's deer I hauled straight home. I stopped at a gas station and bought a 20lb bag of ice to shove in the cavity. Got home around midnight, left the deer in the garage til about 6am then started processing it right away before it got hot out again.

[Nate McVey]

I like to prop open the ribcage and fill it with frozen 2 liters, 20 oz. or milk jugs, whatever I happen to have in the house before I head out. The important thing is getting the meat out of the temperature "danger zone" which is 41-135 degrees. Rule of thumb is you have 4 hours to get below 41 degrees to avoid bacteria growth.

[Bear55]

Gut - Wash cavity if possible - Skin - Register Online or by Phone! (yaa hoo) - Quarter

Then get them in a large cooler with block ice or into a fridge if possible. The faster you get them on ice the better. It sounds like a lot of work but it goes by pretty fast and really isn't that hard to get done. I think I've done it in close to an hour before.

You might also consider the gutless method, probably better to do a search on that. I've never done it but might give it a try this year.

[FishingWebGuy]

Last year on opener highs were in the mid 80s in our area. We bring a cooler filled with 1 gallon milk jugs frozen with water.

Hang the deer, skin it, quarter it, and throw it in the cooler. If flies are really bad, you can pepper the meat right away.

Our camp is very primitive so a good tarp to block the sun helps also.

[mrklean]

ice is your best friend in weather like that thats for sure i wasnt sure what the weather for bear was gonna be like so i bought over 100 pounds of ice some went unused

[DonBo]

It's often hot during our trips to So. Dak. even in mid Oct. Be prepared. Like Fishing WebGuy said, bring a big cooler full of frozen milk jugs. Quarter it up ASAP and put the quarters in the cooler.

[deerminator]

I agree. I use the frozen milk jugs if I can't get it to the processor who puts it in his cooler right away. Bags of ice are fine other than the mess. Water is ok in the cavity for a little while if it doesnt get warm. Heat is the real enemy not water. If you can get it to the processor within a couple hours, though, I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

[Grayfox]

I personally go gutless most of the time in Wisconsin but when hunting in Missouri with phone registration, the deer makes it to the closest ditch then the knife comes out and front shoulders and back straps come off and rear legs boned out then right in a cooler. Fast,easy,don't have to worry about stomach contents getting on the meat,no deer to hang,minimal blood mess, no brainer for me and should be a lot easier with phone call registration.

Rob