Early season recovery and processing time

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Mossberg90MN
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Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Mossberg90MN » Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:32 am

Hey beasts, this may be a simple question but I got to ask it...

With the season approaching my question is with the higher temps of early season. How long do you have to recover a deer? I imagine not very long?

I like to hunt a place that’s about 2 hours from my house. So if I shoot a deer, field dress it, make the 2 hour drive to come home before I start to process it. Will the meat go bad? How long do I normally have to do that whole process?

I just wouldn’t want to waste a deer.

Thanks guys!


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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Bowonly » Wed Sep 09, 2020 7:05 am

So many variables it's hard to give a concrete answer but I'd say you have several hours if your field dress it reasonably quickly and keep the carcass out of direct sunlight. Temps here in early season are in the 90's a lot and it's never really been an issue.

Another good option is to field quarter the deer and put everything in an iced cooler. I've went several days on that system and just kept fresh ice on and the water drained off.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby RiverBottoms » Wed Sep 09, 2020 7:35 am

If you plan to leave the hide on for a 2 hour drive, I'd put a bag of ice in the cavity and between the hind quarters. Especially if it is over 70. should be fine otherwise
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby rempse2 » Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:03 am

I've never had any issues with temps in the 70s, get it cleaned up and iced down as quick as you can.

I've kept deer on the concert floor of the garage iced down for two days in the early season and they ate fine.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:15 am

As said, bags of ice or frozen gallon water jugs in the cavity for a ride that long. It would probably be fine without, but if you add an unexpected longer than normal recovery/drag on to that 2 hour drive you are now pushing the limit... gotta be ready.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Bio1 » Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:54 am

If possible I’d bring a gambrel and hoist and break them down at the truck and straight on ice - mostly just due to the drive. If after dark and no sun I’d just head home.

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Mossberg90MN
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Mossberg90MN » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:29 am

Bio1 wrote:If possible I’d bring a gambrel and hoist and break them down at the truck and straight on ice - mostly just due to the drive. If after dark and no sun I’d just head home.

Bio1



This is actually what I think I’m going to do.

Drag it to truck and cut it up there, bag em and put them in a cooler, head home and clean it up well.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Mossberg90MN » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:30 am

Thanks for the replies fellas! I was a little stumped haha
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby nchb » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:53 am

I see you’re in Minnesota, so I don’t know what “higher temps” means to you. Here down South it means over 80.

What I do after arrowing one is go back to my vehicle, drop off my gear, then return with a couple five-gallon buckets and a knife. Track it, quarter it, and now you have two handy handles to carry it out. It’s a whole lot easier than dragging the whole carcass to your truck!

Also, I stop at the closest store to buy ice, and pour it into the buckets for the drive home. To keep the buckets from falling over in the back, strap them together.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Zephyrus » Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:59 am

nchb wrote:I see you’re in Minnesota, so I don’t know what “higher temps” means to you. Here down South it means over 80.


That would be the same in MN this time of year. I live in wisconsin and work 70 miles away in Minnesota, its been in the 80s + most of the summer through last week.


nchb wrote:I return with a couple five-gallon buckets and a knife. Track it, quarter it, and now you have two handy handles to carry it out. It’s a whole lot easier than dragging the whole carcass to your truck!

Also, I stop at the closest store to buy ice, and pour it into the buckets for the drive home. To keep the buckets from falling over in the back, strap them together.


Thats a nice idea!
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby elk yinzer » Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:24 pm

It's kind of a mystery to me. A cousin a couple years ago double lunged one but thought it was guts. Left it lay over night, it was in the 60's, super warm night. It was fine at 8 the next morning.

That same year I gut shot a doe, we had a hard frost. The back hindquarter touching the ground was soured the next morning. Rest of her was fine but first meat I had ever lost.

Generally I say more time than you think, but get to them as quick as you can. But always prioritize erring more time for marginal hits over pushing a bedded deer.

Once you get the hide off, you have a lot of time.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby muddy » Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:58 am

Keeping a bunch of frozen half/full gallon jugs on hand is a PITA storage wise but a really cheap/easy way to manage hot temps. Haul em in the cooler and use em if you kill one or else just set them back in the freezer when you get back home for next time.

A skinning set up in the timber, or at the truck, is an easy way to block up a deer and haul home.

I'm lucky. Local locker will let hunters hang deer for $5 a night up to 2 maximum nights. Really let's you get your cards aligned for processing.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Thesouthpaw » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:31 am

I try to get a bag of ice in the cavity as quickly as possible if I have a long drive. I'm lucky enough that I can put my deer in a walk in cooler overnight if I want, but before I could do that, I would skin them when I got home, let them hang overnight, then de-bone the meat and put it on ice in a cooler before work.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby A5BLASTER » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:22 am

I dont have any 2 hour drives to get home but some spots I hunt it takes 2 to 3 hours to drag one back to the truck, half that time if I use a game cart but we have very high temps for start of bow season.

So what I do is gut it on site then get it to the truck. I keep a nice chest on my rear floor board with a few bags of ice and stuff the body cavity with the bags till I get home then I quarter it out and it sits on ice for a few days to blood out on ice before deboning it.

Our early bow season is so hot if I have to leave one over night, it's not any good come the next morning. I lost a whole doe 4 years ago because I gut shot her and had to leave her laying till late that evening. Found her within mints of dark and she was already starting to balloon up.

Just try to be prepared too get it cooled off as soon as possible.
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Re: Early season recovery and processing time

Unread postby Bowonly » Sat Sep 12, 2020 7:15 am

elk yinzer wrote:It's kind of a mystery to me. A cousin a couple years ago double lunged one but thought it was guts. Left it lay over night, it was in the 60's, super warm night. It was fine at 8 the next morning.

That same year I gut shot a doe, we had a hard frost. The back hindquarter touching the ground was soured the next morning. Rest of her was fine but first meat I had ever lost.

Generally I say more time than you think, but get to them as quick as you can. But always prioritize erring more time for marginal hits over pushing a bedded deer.

Once you get the hide off, you have a lot of time.





Any chance your cousin's deer had a thinner early season coat that would have shed heat better that a later, thicker winter coat?


I had a similar experience last September. 1 lung and liver hit a doe , reluctantly left her overnight. Temps never got below mid 60's. Lost just the bottom hindquarter as it was just starting to turn. You could start to smell it and see a slight motor oil sheen to the blood.
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