Nasty warm deer?

[Ron Burgundy]

We cut up my buck on Friday just a few hours after it was shot. No time to cool. It was nasty. Kind of slimy and yellowish. Is this just because it didn't cool and the fat didn't solidify, or is the meat going to kill me? It looked like somebody hacked lung butter all over it!

[Code-Man]

I guess we try to skin it then let it stand a few hours. Shot during morning skin it have breakfast then after the evening hunt process it. I noticed the deer we did on saturday was still warm at 6-7 pm and it had been skinned for 8 hrs and dead for 13. Don' tknow if it was a just a warm deer or what but I didn't have any problems with the fat. Maybe let is hang longer otherwise I know of people having fans blow on the deer to try and keep them cool.

[harvey lee]

I alway try to let it hang for at least 1 day to let the meat firm up.Much easier to cut up without the slime and such.I know there are times when it is so warm that you have to deal with it pretty fast.Where we hunt now we have a freezer that we can put meat that is quartered up and throw in the freezer with a 2x4 between the lid.The meat will get cold and firm up and yet it wont freeze.

[Borch]

This is what we do for warm weather deer and it has worked great for us. Pack the chest cavity with bags of ice. Get a bag laying between the hams. Ties the bugger up and hang it. It's amazing how fast his cools the deer down. Just keep adding ice until the weather cools down or you're ready to cut up deer. We do this with the hide still on. The fat and hide insulate and with the ice in the cavity it's acts like a big cooler. The meat will be chilled to the bone.

[fishermn]

I agree with Borch. With the warm weather in the early part of bow season this is a must to keep the deer fresh for more than just a few hours in warmer weather. The other thing I do is bungie one or two bags of ice cubes to each hind quarter. Like Borch said this works well and will easily keep the for a day or so.

[sportfish]

When we were out in south dakota it was up in the 75-80 degrees and we would cut the deer up with in a hour or two of harvesting. the meat was warm but we just deboned it and put it in a cooler on ice or put it right in the frezzer, that meat tastes great,and tender. Letting it hang is only a bonus but not a must.

[charliepete2]

Start bear hunting and doing your own butchering. After a few bear you'll be so happy with how neat and clean deer are you could immediately butcher them after the shot and still feel clean as a whistle.

[SM1]

Ron B

I have always boned out my and my hunting parties deer. In 15 years I have gone through over 50 deer- in warm and cold weather. In that I have only seen one or two bucks that looked like what you described. A truly healthy deer should not look like that. My guess would be the deer had other issues like bruising from fighting or maybe a light brush with a car?

[Gissert]

The yellowish color does not sound right. I can understand a warm deer being a bit "slimey" but the membranes should be clear and the fat/tallow white. I think SM1 is on the right track with some bruising from fighting or a car hit.

I butchered a buck this year that had a small yellow spot on the inside of a hind leg. I noticed it just prior to field dressing. I assumed it was a small infection from an antler wound. When I was boning out that hind quarter, a few ounces of yellow mustard looking pus shot out. It was a old wound that had been encapsulated in a sac. When I probed the wound, it contained some small lead fragments. It almost looked like shrapnel.

[harvey lee]

We had a buck that had two holes along the back chute and when skun,it was yellowish and looked to be two horn holes.Looked like he had triple exhaust.

[Ron Burgundy]

There was another bullet hole on the top of his back. It didn't look to be more than a few hours old. Maybe from that moring, and I shot him at 1:30.

[Gissert]

Ah, that might be it. A deer that has been wounded and run hard can be stressed badly.

[UdeLakeTom]

Talk to a vet...he will inform you that old wounds can cause a bacterial infection causing the meat to be smelly...

old butcher got burnt when a fellow brought in a tainted deer and blamed it on the butcher mis-processing his "good" meat. problem was, it was a small town, and eventually the bars talked and the butcher found out what really happened...called a vet and confirmed the story.

[sakazulu]

Hubercita, Words of wisdom! If you have butchered bear, you will find butchering deer quick and simple. Any fat will go rancid above freezing. Period!