Home

Warm weather deer hunt ? *UPDATE*

Posted By: kyron4

Warm weather deer hunt ? *UPDATE* - 09/22/19 05:02 AM

Next weekend is our states youth deer hunt and it's going to be warm and humid , mid 80's high mid 60's low with 70% to 80% humidity, with a slight chance of rain. If my daughter gets a deer it will take at least an hour to get it home after gutting and the coldest I can get my shop is 65* F . We butcher and process our deer ourselves, so how much time do we have to get it packed away in the freezer before bacteria sets in and spoilage occurs ? Hanging is out of the question, so is it safe to put "warm" meat in the freezer ? Any tips or advice ? -Thanks
Posted By: bucksnbears

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 09:24 AM

Get it gutted asap.
I always let my game cool off naturally, never put warm meat in the freezer.
Posted By: mrob

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 09:36 AM

Get it in the freezer or refrigerator as soon as possible and spread it out so it cools down fast. Letting the meat cool down naturally when it is 80 degrees won’t work.
Posted By: countrygun

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 09:56 AM

Bone it down as soon as possible, put into pans or butcher tubs, and put into fridge for 2-3 days. You can also do this w/ ice in an ice chest just leave plug undone so water will drain.
Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 11:24 AM

Our early archery season for deer and bear opened yesterday, temps were in the low eighties, high eighties forecast for today.

I also do all my own processing. I have a friend who butchers professionally and allows me to hang deer in his walk in cooler for the 7-10 days it takes to make good venison before I butcher them. Even with that option I decided it was just too warm. It would take me a minimum of two hours after harvest to get the deer hung at his place. IMO, that is too long in these temps.

If you're determined to get your daughter out there for the youth hunt I would think you'd be okay if you can get it in a freezer in not much more than an hour. If you have the freezer space, a good option would be to just quarter it and get in in the freezer until the next day. Finish processing then after the meat has cooled and set up a bit.
Posted By: countrygun

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 11:33 AM

Do not put warm meat in the freezer, meat needs to chill before freezing. We see temps like that all the time during season, the quicker you get it boned the quicker the meat will cool. If I had to wait for cool temps, I would starve.lol
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 11:48 AM

what country gun said. We don't generally hunt more than a 20 minute drive from home. We just get the guts out and bring the whole thing home. Get it skinned and quartered and put the quarters in a frigerater we use for just that. I like to wait 12 hours minimum to process. let rigor mortis set in and go back out. I have put gutted skinned whole carcasses in the bathtub and kept putting ice on it. that works but takes a lot of ice. cheaper to just buy an old frig from craigslist or something.

I bought a Sawzall at springfield this year. I think that is going to be the ticket for quartering up hogs and deer
Posted By: Deerhunter51

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 11:54 AM

I keep an old refrigerator in the garage just to cool down meat before freezing. I'll keep it in there usually 2-3 days before making final cuts, vacuum packing and putting up in the freezer. I keep a few 10 lb bags of ice in one of my chest freezers and on warm weather hunts I'll put a couple bags in the cooler and keep in the truck in case we get one. Put a couple bags of ice in the body cavity for the ride home.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 12:46 PM

Take a cooler with you with cold packs or bags of ice. You can fill the chest cavity with them for the trip home. Will help cool from the inside out.
Posted By: Sprung & Rusty

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by krispcritter
Take a cooler with you with cold packs or bags of ice. You can fill the chest cavity with them for the trip home. Will help cool from the inside out.


This. Then quarter it up and put into couple of coolers. Prep and freeze bottles of salt water now and use instead of ice. Keep the meat in the coolers until butchering. Let the meat cool then butchering asap.
Posted By: charles

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 12:57 PM

My club has a walk in cooler and a skinning shelter with cold well water. Deer are brought immediately to be skinned and gutted. I like to thoroughly wash my carcass inside and out. This speeds cooling as well. Once it goes in the cooler the fan dries the exterior of the carcass and the chilling and aging begin. A two week hang time is ideal.

Nothing can improve poorly handled meat. Ice and soaking will not bring back flavor and quality.
Posted By: 330-Trapper

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by countrygun
Do not put warm meat in the freezer, meat needs to chill before freezing.


Correct....Do not freeze warm meat, if you're out and about and have no fridge, cut it up and Puy it in a cooler with Ice.
Posted By: QuietButDeadly

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 01:36 PM

If you do not have access to a cooler to hang it in, just quarter it up and put it in a cooler with ice. You can hold it several days that way. Just keep it drained so it is not sitting in water and keep plenty of ice on it. You have to let the rigor mortise run its course. Google is your friend.

Quote
When you shoot a deer in warm weather and you butcher it yourself, is there a problem with cutting it up the same day you shoot it? quarter and cooler it up if you don't have a walk in freezer. Put it on ice and drain every couple days for a good week, then process.


I live and deer hunt in warm conditions and have bow killed deer on many occasions when temps were 70 or higher. I prefer to hang the carcass for at least a week but that is not always possible. Quartering and packing in ice works fine. Just keep it drained.
Posted By: NE Wildlife

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 02:02 PM

As stated above cooler or two and Ice you will be just fine. I would gut in the field bring it home
Hang it and skin it in your shop at 65 let cool for couple hours and then quarter it up and put it in the cooler.
With the hide off at 65 degrees it will cool fairly quick
Posted By: FL cracker in AK

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 02:08 PM

I grew up in Florida. We would kill 10 or more deer a year when I was growing up. We processed the meat ourselves, and every deer we put in the bottom of an ice chest, put ice on top, sprinkled a little salt on the ice, left the drain open, and as the ice melted, added more ice and a little salt. Did this for three days. Helps tenderize the meat. Never had any meat go bad. Did this with wild hogs too.
Posted By: J.Morse

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 03:02 PM

The last bear I shot was in 2017. It was 87 degrees when the beast hit the ground. My All Purpose Boy went ASAP and got the tractor, he dragged the bear the 150 or so yards to the tractor and we soon had it hung in his pole barn where we dressed it out. Then, also ASAP, we got it in the back of my truck with ice bags in and around it, and I headed the 16 miles for home. I bought more ice on my way. When I got the bear home I put it in my "Meat Box" and filled the box with the extra ice bags. Then, for about 3 days that bear stayed as-is because my Bride was rushed to the hospital about 30 minutes after I'd boxed the bruin. After that I skinned and quartered the animal, froze the hide, and put the chunks of skinned bear into a big cooler with it packed in ice. I propped up the cooler and opened the drain plug. I don't remember if I left it like that for 4-5 days (Bride was still in the hospital out of town and I was with her). After that I butchered and packaged the bear, then froze. The meat was excellent even though the outside temps were, literally, in in high 80's and low 90's the whole time. Fast forward to that bull elk I shot the last week of last month. It was quartered in the field and set,in chunks, into the same "Meat Box". I shot the bull on Tuesday a.m. and the last of it was packaged and in the freezer by Saturday afternoon. The ice in that box was still ice for several days afterward. It was so-so warm the whole time....60's to low 80's.
I made that meat box back in '92 to haul elk, etc. back home from my western trips. It is approximately 4'x4'x18", OSB with 1" blue foam board for insulation top/sides/and bottom. I have put fresh elk quarters in it out in western Colorado, put 30 lbs of dry ice in it and drove 1800 miles home (2 days) and had enough dry ice left to actually freeze a bunch of the elk, and put ice crystals in the rest of it when home.
Posted By: SGT. C

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/22/19 11:15 PM

Originally Posted by FL cracker in AK
I grew up in Florida. We would kill 10 or more deer a year when I was growing up. We processed the meat ourselves, and every deer we put in the bottom of an ice chest, put ice on top, sprinkled a little salt on the ice, left the drain open, and as the ice melted, added more ice and a little salt. Did this for three days. Helps tenderize the meat. Never had any meat go bad. Did this with wild hogs too.

FL cracker, I'm also from Florida and that's exactly how I did it. People must learned to break down a carcass quick. I always put the drain hole facing downward on my driveway or a slope. Did it for about 3-5 days and then processed. No blood al all left. Now fish was a totally different story.
Use an old shelf from a freezer or wire basket to keep the meat from setting in the bloody water. I always used large coolers. Or put meat in an old working fridge until ready to process. Warm weather is not your friend with raw meat. Sarge
Posted By: twild

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 01:07 AM

I'd think the most important thing would be getting it gutted and skinned, then the meat is starting to cool. It's not as fast as putting it in the fridge but it is cooling. On early season back country elk hunts we do gutless method and quarter and skin then into game bags hang in shade. It is sometimes 15/18 hrs before it sees a cooler but no real choice. Meat has always been fine because once skinned and quartered it is starting to cool. If ya cant get to it for acouple days then I'd quarter and into coolers with ice, that would be fine for a week.
Posted By: gryhkl

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 01:23 AM

We bone ours out as soon as we can and put the meat in a couple coolers with a bunch of bottles of water we keep frozen in the freezer. Replace the ice in the morning and drain any water/blood that's in the cooler. With a few changes of the ice bottles, we have kept the meat like that for a couple days before final cutting and wrapping. Never had a problem.
Posted By: Big George W

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 02:07 AM

Very good info here - thanks for posting !!

...is anybody else experiencing this unusually hot weather ??

It's hunting season out here in CT, and this weekend say mid to upper 80s, next weekend is forecasted to be the same, and the following week - granted long range out look - they are calling for mid 90s !!

I'm just wondering how the heat effects deer and turkey hunting - from a hunting standpoint - as I was hoping to get my bow hunting license this year, but I put a priority on helping out both my mother and father - both of who are having health issues as they age....
Posted By: Deerhunter51

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 03:29 AM

90 degrees here today with no end in sight - bow opener here next Saturday.
Posted By: Katcatcher

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 09:21 AM

I HAVE HUNTED IN WARM TO HOT WEATHER KILLING DEER, ELK AND BEARS IN 80+ DEGREES OFTEN 6 - 10 HOURS FROM THE CLOSEST COOLER. WHEN TAKEN CARE OF THE WAY I SUGGEST WE HAVE NEVER HAD ANY MEAT SPOIL
IDAHO ARCHERY HUNTING STARTED OVER A MONTH AND NONE OF THE ELK OR DEER THAT WE HAVE KILLED SPOILED. WHY?? BECAUSE WE GET THE HIDE OFF OF THE CARCASS "IMMEDIATELY' AND GET IT INTO MEAT BAGS (TO KEEP MEAT AWAY FROM FLIES), OFF THE GROUND AND INTO THE SHADE. WITH ELK WE GET THEM CUT INTO QUARTERS BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING AND I WILL STRESS IT AGAIN "GET THE HIDE OFF IMMEDIATELY" HANG IN THE SHADE AND THE MEAT WILL DO JUST FINE EVEN WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE 90'S. WITH BEARS (200+ LB), MOOSE AND ELK I CUT THEM INTO QUARTER WHICH WILL LET THE MEAT COOL MORE QUICKLY AND YOU HAVE TO DO IT SO YOU CAN HANDLE THEM ANYWAY, UNLESS THEY ARE ON OR VERY NEAR A ROAD. THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN WHERE I HAVE HUNTED MOST OF MY LIFE.
HERE IS MY SYSTEM: SHOOT IT, GUT IT, SKIN IT, HANG IT THERE IN THE SHADE, PACK IT OUT, HANG IT IN THE SHADE AT CAMP, TAKE IT HOME, CUT IT UP, WRAP IT, PUT IT IN THE FREEZER.
ONE OTHER VERY IMPORTANT THING IS TO KEEP THE MEAT CLEAN AND THE HAIR OFF OF IT
Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by Big George W
Very good info here - thanks for posting !!

...is anybody else experiencing this unusually hot weather ??

It's hunting season out here in CT, and this weekend say mid to upper 80s, next weekend is forecasted to be the same, and the following week - granted long range out look - they are calling for mid 90s !!


You are a couple hundred miles northeast of me. We're having the same weather and our early archery just opened. Starting two days ago I have four months of nearly continual deer season to fill my freezers. I can and will wait for colder weather. Never liked hunting in hot weather.
Posted By: Marty

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 09/23/19 11:19 AM

Get the meat off the deer asap and on ice/in fridge asap.

Posted By: kyron4

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 10/02/19 05:18 AM

Well, she got a small doe Saturday morning around 8am . Temp was about 68* with 85% humidity . We were skinning it within 10 mins of the shot, and took the front and rear quarters, backstraps, loins, heart and liver. We put them in a chesses cloth game bag, then in a large fabric tote bag to carry back to the house. From the shot to the house we were at about 45 mins to an hour. Hung the meat in the shop fridge to cool. Came back about an hour later and warm meat raised the temps inside fridge to around 48*. Another hour and it was at 42*. At this point I had the shop cooled to 65* and butchered the meat ; this took about an hour and half or so. Meat was cool/cold to touch when it went into the freezer. I hope I got everything done right and the meat was safely handled and safe to eat. . Any thoughts ? -Thanks
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 10/02/19 09:08 AM

it will be safe to eat. good on her. had fun and helping feed her family
Posted By: 330-Trapper

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 10/02/19 01:43 PM

I would have kept it Cooled but not cut up and frozen overnight at the very least.

Its Great she got her deer! wink
Posted By: gryhkl

Re: Warm weather deer hunt ? - 10/02/19 03:45 PM

Thanks for the video, Marty. There are parts of our state where(because of CWD) we are not allowed to take any of the spine nor brain from. For those of us who live in non-cwd areas, your method makes it easy to comply and still do our own butchering.
© 2024 Trapperman Forums