The #1 cause of spoiling wild game comes from washing out the carcass or icing down the carcass. I know this sounds strange and counter intuitive but believe me in this matter.
My Father and Brother operate a professional meat processing plant and each year deer are brought in that have spoiled because the hunter washed out the inside of the deer or iced it down thinking they were doing the right thing.
The bacteria that spoils meat needs water/moisture to grow and do its damage. Without the moisture there can be no bacteria growth.
After field dressing your big game, drain out all of the fluid and then using a clean rag wipe out the inside of the carcass as good as you can. Be sure to wipe in every nook and cranny, especially between the hind legs and up into the throat area. Prop open the chest to allow for drying and cooling.
Don't skin your animal until you are ready to process the meat. The skin will protect the meat and keep it from drying out. If the temperatures in your garage stays at or below 40 degrees you can hang your animal to age for 7-10 days. If temperatures in your garage get above the 40 degree mark because of a warmer fall you should take your animal to a meat processor or process the game animal yourself right away. Just be aware that if you do not allow your deer to age for a while you will not have as tender meat. If you are going to be making all of your deer into hamburger or sausage the aging process can be eliminated all together. Another option is to quarter your animal and age the meat in a refrigerator.
You owe it to yourself and to the animal to properly take care of the meat after the kill. Remember, wild game is the best organic protein that you can eat. Check the price of true organic beef and you'll see that venison is a bargain. At least that is my story and I'm sticking to it :)
2 comments:
Saturday night I shot a doe at 5 pm as light was waining. Deer ran off as if untouched. After waiting a while I went to take a look and found no sign of blood or hair.
I assumed I had hit a twig or just pulled the shot, but figured I would come back the next day anyway.
It was 25 when I shot her and remained between there and 28 until 7 am when it began to warm. I am ashamed to admit that between a bunch of things that came up on sunday and my doubt that I had hit her at all I did not get back out to the woods till 2 pm. Of course the shot had been good, took out both lungs and she rang about 60 yards.
It hit 32 at 8, was 35 at 9, 42 at 10, 46 at 11, 52 at 1 and 54 by the time I took my daughter home and got processing stuff, got back and put the knife in her at 3.
All organs were intact other than the lungs, as was the bladder. She was a bit more rank than normal, but all looked good.
Is this safe to eat?
I have never left a deer overnight in over 30 years of hunting and feel both bad and concerned over possible loss of meat, but obviously do not want my family getting sick.
Help
As long as the meat itself does not smell sour and the intestinal tract was not shot it is normally not a problem. In Europe it is customary to age venison for several weeks at 36-40 degrees.
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