|
|
Post by esshup on Oct 22, 2015 13:36:18 GMT -5
I know you gotta do what you gotta do, but here's my experiences with 3 deer that I've had to leave overnight.
Others might have had a different experience, but here goes.
If you are looking to put something on the wall, you are fine, but if you are looking to fill the freezer, it's not a good idea.
Deer #1. Late archery season. Shot at last light, snow on the ground, temps in the 20's. I shot, and watched the deer go about 40 yds and bed down. I watched through binoculars until I couldn't' see the deer any more. The deer still had it's head up so I backed out and came back in the morning. The deer didn't move, it bled out there. The meat was 90% salvageable.
Deer #2. Firearms season. Shot at last light in a lake effect snow storm. Shot looked great and it was. I tracked the deer about 60 yds and lost the trail due to getting filled in by snow. Came back the next morning, grid searched and found the deer under 4" of snow not 30 yds from where I stopped looking the night before. Lost 1/2 of the meat to spoilage.
Deer #3. Archery season, shot Sunday at 6:05 p.m. Double lung, deer didn't bleed at all (how do you explain that?) and it dropped in a dry drainage ditch not 60 yds from point of impact. Deer wasn't recovered until 10:30 a.m. the next morning. Temps were in the 40's at night, it was in the mid 60's when recovered. Field dressed and 53°F water washing out/cooling the body cavity within 45 minutes. Put in a walk-in cooler after that. Lost over 1/2 the deer due to spoilage.
I'm not going to leave a deer overnight again if it's at all possible. Lesson learned.
|
|
|
|
Post by parrothead on Oct 22, 2015 14:12:26 GMT -5
How did half of deer 2 spoil in the snow?
|
|
|
|
Post by HuntMeister on Oct 22, 2015 14:14:34 GMT -5
I am fortunate and thankful that only one time in all the years I have hunted that I have had to leave one overnight. Late ML season, snow on the ground and last light. As I was walking to the truck to leave I heard them light up over a mile away. Back at first light but the coyotes beat me to it, entire side was gone. I was truly sick to my stomach.
I am with you on this, I will never do that again if I can possibly avoid it.
|
|
|
|
Post by trapperdave on Oct 22, 2015 14:30:02 GMT -5
define spoiled? id say you tossed some good meat. multiples times.
|
|
|
|
Post by swilk on Oct 22, 2015 14:33:54 GMT -5
On the flip side....push a deer and there is a good chance you'll never recover it. 100% meat loss.
If I see them fall I get them. If I don't see them fall I let them go at least 4 hours. Overnight if it's an evening shot.
|
|
|
|
Post by trapperdave on Oct 22, 2015 14:37:25 GMT -5
same here. ive left em over night in 50 degree or warmer and never lost any meat
|
|
|
|
Post by trapperdave on Oct 22, 2015 14:38:44 GMT -5
depending on the hit, they may be a bit bloated but that is just gas in the digestive tract
|
|
|
|
Post by steiny on Oct 22, 2015 15:07:31 GMT -5
On the flip side....push a deer and there is a good chance you'll never recover it. 100% meat loss.
EXCELLENT POINT !
I've lost a couple by pushing them too soon when they were marginally hit.
|
|
|
|
Post by chubwub on Oct 22, 2015 16:35:50 GMT -5
Cold weather is no guarantee of non-spoiled meat but it certainly helps. Snow can act as an insulator and prevent cold air flow from circulating around the meat and encourage bacteria growth. My guess is in the two cases the deer were lost, they were in spots that did not have good air flow. My husband has also seen deer carcass spoil in the snow.
|
|
|
|
Post by swilk on Oct 22, 2015 17:02:13 GMT -5
Any other contamination? Gut shot?
Even with lack of air (which *should help keep bacteria at bay) and the insulating properties of snow I don't see how meat would spoil unless there was something else introducing a tremendous amount of bacteria into the mix. The snow might insulate but if the meat is unable to generate heat....where does the bacteria come from?
|
|
|
|
Post by beermaker on Oct 22, 2015 17:06:54 GMT -5
Precisely why I do my own processing. You just do not have any way of knowing how others have handled their harvest. "Batched" sausage from big processors makes me cringe! I agree with your cautious culling of suspicious meat.
I also agree with the notion that snow will act as an insulator. Several professional butchers have told me that in warm weather you should leave the hide on and pack the chest cavity with ice. The hide will trap the cooling effect of the ice. I assume that snow would have a reverse effect on and undressed carcass.
|
|
|
|
Post by bullseye69 on Oct 22, 2015 18:40:31 GMT -5
IMO you got to make a good clean shot.
Then there is no waiting out the deer till next morning.But thats in a perfect world.LOL
I have passed up allot of shots that I could have taken that I just didn't feel
would have lead to a quick kill. JMO
I hate tracking deer. Done it for others and it a pain in the butt to me.
I have lost one deer to a bad shot that I took. I talked myself into taking a shot that
I really shouldn't have taken.
Never again.
But I guess snow could cause the deer to spoil.
Look how it insulates the roof of your house in the winter.
I also do my own processing, who knows if you will get your deer back or
you may get Joe Puckaslobages deer that sat in the woods for a day.
|
|
|
|
Post by chubwub on Oct 22, 2015 18:40:42 GMT -5
Any other contamination? Gut shot? Even with lack of air (which *should help keep bacteria at bay) and the insulating properties of snow I don't see how meat would spoil unless there was something else introducing a tremendous amount of bacteria into the mix. The snow might insulate but if the meat is unable to generate heat....where does the bacteria come from? The gut itself will continue to stay warm for quite some time after death. This can be further compounded by bloating, which pushes it closer to the meat and keeps it warm. You can get bacteria contamination from snow/rain water seeping into the wound, introduction via the arrow/bullet and also from a ruptured gut due to excessive gas build up. |
|
|
|
Post by swilk on Oct 22, 2015 19:04:56 GMT -5
I would think a rupture in the gut itself would be necessary to introduce the amount of bacteria necessary if we are talking less than 12 hours from shot to recovery. No doubt its possible other ways but that's an awfully hostile environment for bacteria from water or the arrow to survive and thrive in.
I've lost deer because I pushed them too soon....I'll chance the real possibilities of contamination over losing one. The buck I shot in 2013 was a liver shot that got gut as well....left him for 8 hours during the day and did lose some of the meat but not all. I truly believe if I would have pushed him my chances of finding him would be slim....as it was he never got out of his first bed and the recovery was fairly easy.
Choosing between two imperfect options.....
|
|
|
|
Post by swilk on Oct 22, 2015 19:07:36 GMT -5
Of course a rupture in the guts is probably more possible than not in a deer not recovered right away. Deer with a hole through their heart or both lungs don't tend to run far. Most other shots that end up in death seem to involve the guts in some way....subtle or not so subtle.
|
|
|
|
Post by chubwub on Oct 22, 2015 19:16:05 GMT -5
Oh yes I forgot a shot liver and just liver can do it too. Nature's oil filter, lol. You'd be surprised how quickly things can get nasty in the right conditions, lol.
|
|
|
|
Post by swilk on Oct 22, 2015 19:20:36 GMT -5
No doubt. A broadside heart shot...and only heart....is about the only thing that doesn't turn the inside to a sick soupy mess. Even gunshots to the lungs turn them to a coagulated mess.
|
|
|
|
Post by bartiks on Oct 22, 2015 20:37:53 GMT -5
I guess I'm the lucky one, I only gun hunt and the 3 deer that I have gotten 2 of them dropped when I shot them. The last one ran 30 yards and crashed. I knew I should of waited on the last doe, however when I got down and looked for blood it was all over the ground which I knew that she was hit hard. I guess when I push one to hard and then have to leave him/her overnight then that will be a lesson learned in my book.
|
|
|
|
Post by esshup on Oct 22, 2015 21:23:58 GMT -5
How did half of deer 2 spoil in the snow? The only thing that I can think of is that the winter fur and the blanket of snow acted like an insulator, keeping the heat inside the deer. Heck, they can sleep in the snow and not melt it................. |
|
|
|
Post by esshup on Oct 22, 2015 21:27:44 GMT -5
define spoiled? id say you tossed some good meat. multiples times. I take mine in to have processed, and have used the same processor for as long as I can remember. I've never got any bloodshot meat, nor even a single deer hair in any of the meat. When I took it in, it smelled a bit and he thought that I might lose a little. He said the side that was laying on the ground (I told him what happened) was toast when they started cutting it up. Some of the fat from the body cavity on that side had a yellowish tint to it when I field dressed it. The flank had a slight tint to it too, but he cut that away as soon as he got it, before it was put in the cooler. |
|
