What happens if you don't field dress right away?

[PaladinX13]

My co-worker said he just shot a deer on his private property this morning but since we had a meeting this morning, he didn't have time to field dress it and won't do it until he gets home from work. Personally, I always think there's time to field dress (takes, what, 10 minutes?) but other than rote repetition of what I've been told (a vague, "Not dressing spoils the meat")... what exactly happens if you don't field dress a kill right away? My personality is such that I want to go to his house during lunch to field dress it FOR him... but anyways... so what happens?

 

[mete]

The USDA has done all the scientific study of that .They tell you that the most important thing is to cool the carcass as quickly as possible. Without immediately [as soon as the deer is dead] dressing it out the meat will spoil quickly. If the stomach or intestines have been punctured you will more rapidly spoil the meat with intestinal bacteria and digestive enzymes. You get STRONG GAMEY FLAVOR, which is not the flavor of venison but that of spoiled meat . Sadly spoiled meat is so common that many think that's what venison tastes like !! My deer is properly processed and is NEVER strong and gamey. This surprises people who eat my venison and have for the first time delicious meat. When I get my deer it's dressed out , taken home , butchered as soon as the carcass cools down and put in the freezer. Less than 12 hours between shot and freezer.

 

[redbone]

Another theory on gamey venison that I've heard is based on stomach contents. As the idea goes, if the deer's been eating acorns, it will be "bitter" meat. If the stomach contains corn, it will be good meat.

Not sure myself.... Can anybody add to this with actual observations?

RBH

 

[Erich]

Hey, I've heard that the gameyness comes from adrenalin in the animal's system - as in, "If it's a clean kill and the animal doesn't linger and suffer, it won't taste gamey."

Beats me.

 

[sumpnz]

What mete said is right on the money AFAIK. Being my first year deer hunting I can't comment on whether or not a deer high on adrenalin when shot will taste different than if it were calm when shot. I could see where it would have some affect (maybe) but most of the "gamey" flavor is really becuase it's partly spoiled.

A woman I know at work told me about how her hubby and his dad had each shot an elk one year. It was real late (almost dark) and rather cold out. They figured they'd dress the elk out in the morning rather than mess with it at night. They figured as cold as it was they'd be OK. Well, when they got the animals to the butcher they found out why, even on a freezing night, you should field dress right away. ALL of the meat was spoiled.

 

[giese]

Hanging

I have heard that if you hand feed deer corn so as they dont get excited and them kill them in their sleep, that is when the meat tastes best!!

Seriously.... how does hanging come into play then? According to your theory, which I will not say is wrong, no hanging time is needed and any hanging time will only lead to poor flavor. I buy beef by the half and we (my father and I) have an agreement with the locker to hang for 14 days, a few days longer than the locker likes because it takes too much room for too long, which we feel makes the meat better with just these couple more days.

But you dont hang pork, so???

I think that quick field dressing, cooling rapidly, and proper bleeding are very important. I wonder about the hanging at low but above freezing temps changes that flavor and texture.

 

[PaladinX13]

Thanks for the responses! For clarification, when you say "spoil" do you mean gamey/spoiled flavor or actually dangerous/inedible meat... like, say, spoiled milk?

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

You can still drink spoiled milk too ......... I field dress immediately after recovering the animal. The animal will still get stiff for a few hours after death, but that goes away. Soon after death, microbes and enzymes go to work tenderizing your meat. It's the temperature of the carcass that allows this to be regulated. If kept at body temp. for too long after death, the yucky stuff grows too quickly and you get "gamey" taste.

I do think diet has something to do with taste as well as that adrenal rush of a poorly placed shot. The WORST tasting venison I have ever tasted is one that was gut shot and ran off. We found the animal about one hour later entangled in a barbed fence already expired. It was dressed on the spot but tasted HORRIBLE !

Depending on the outside temperature I always try to hang the deer to drain some of the fluids that tend to cause a foul taste. If its hot out, I'll get it to the freezer ASAP.

 

[cracked butt]

We've recovered deer that have been shot bowhunting but not found untilt he following day. Its still edible, but you might as well send the carcass off to make sausage out of.

You want to get them field dressed as soon as possible. I had a gut shot deer last year, but I trimmed away all the meat that got exposed to stomach contents and the remainding meat tasted just fine. Having cold weather helps- it it stays below 40 degrees (or colder) you'll be able to avoid alot of meat spoilage because you can get the carcass to cool rapidly after dressing. Hanging a carcass at this temperature isn't going to hurt anything and will tenderize the meat if hung for a week.

 

[Navy joe]

Field dress on the spot, meat off the bone while still warm wipe down with vinegar and into the freezer is the only way I know.

-Gut shot deer taste bad.
-Wounded and found later deer taste bad.
-Deer run by dogs tastes horrible, lactic acid and adrenaline.
-Old deer tastes not as good as buttons.
-I grew up on mountain deer that ate grass and acorns, so corn-fed fatty deer don't taste good to me.

Hanging. Yes, prime beef is hung to let the breakdown process begin. It is done in controlled conditions in a cooled meat locker. I see folks hang a deer in the front yard, it gets up to 50 and the sun shines on it and then they wonder why so much sauce is needed to make it taste not "gamey".

 

[444]

I am certainly no authority on the subject, but I can tell you what happened to me in ONE instance.
The last elk I got, was taken with a very poor shot. It was spooked and was trotting away. I had to fire through a narrow opening of brush and hit the animal too far back. I tracked it and found it lying down. It spooked again and ran about 50 more yards. Finally, I shot it in the head. I would say this animal was extremly stressed. I field dressed it, skinned it, and quartered it right way, but ended up having to leave about half the meat in the woods over night and the other half was left in my truck over night. The meat was terrible. In fact, I couldn't eat it. I cooked it several times and forced myself to eat it, but I finally faced the reality that it was bad and threw the rest of it away.
Every other big game animal I ever shot was taken cleanly and was dressed immediately; and it tasted fine.
If nothing else, you need to field dress the animal to make it much easier to get out of the woods.

 

[sumpnz]

Field dress on the spot, meat off the bone while still warm wipe down with vinegar and into the freezer is the only way I know.

Why vinegar?

 

[nico]

sumpnz
I'm no expert on deer processing, but I'd think the acidity of the vinegar would help cut down on bacterial growth. There's most likely going to be something nasty on the meat when you cut the deer open. I'd think the vinegar would prevent anything from really growing.

 

[mete]

You can wipe down the body cavity with a paper towel, washing it leads to bacteria growth....Aging meat is ok -IF- it is done in a proper butchers cooler at about 36-38F. Enzymes in the meat tenderize and flavor the meat. Freezing meat has the same effect on tenderizing as five days of aging.. ..Hanging it in the garage ,it will absorb the wonderfull flavors of gasoline and oil ,if the temperature varies 20 -50F it will alternately freeze and thaw spoiling the meat even more [ meat spoils at temperatures above 40 F] .... I always wish for a very good acorn year because I know from experience that it gives the venison a delicious sweet nutty flavor. For thousands of years Italians have put their pigs out in the forest to fatten on acorns and chestnuts, the flavor difference is VERY obvious.

 

[twoblink]

My gramps, a butcher from before my dad was born says, if you get the inner'ds out, you are in good shape. Doing that asap is critical to prevention of spoilage. rinsing it only increases the chance of spoilage due to bacteria. It should be wiped down with your hand (dry) and when the wind blows, it will form a small fat/gut juice layer, this layer is suppose to lock in the meat juices, so it doesn't spoil so quickly.

I don't know if all this is true, but it's worked for my gramps for about 60 years..

 

[redbone]

mete:

For what its worth, I never put much stock in the idea that acorns made the meat bitter. I agree with you.

RBH

 

[WhiteKnight]

A great number of bacteria that cause decay cannot live in a sour environment. Only bacteria that produce acid themselves can do it. You already know about the bacteria of lactic acid. Now we are going to talk about the bacteria of vinegar acid . Acids are used for preservation of foodstuff due to this quality.

http://miksike.com/chemistry/5-2-15-2.htm