The meat doesn't spoil that quickly. A few years ago, a buddy and I shot deer almost simultaneously one evening around 6pm. We saw his go down in front of us, but mine went the other way. It took a long time to get his out and we didn't get to look for mine until the next day. The temps were near 80 and it was 4:30pm when we found my buck. It smelled bad because I also caught some guts, but I had it inspected by a meat processor who said it smelled, looked and felt fresh. I washed it out and immediately iced it. It was--and remains--the best deer my family has ever eaten.

BTW--We have eaten over 50 deer!

Today's small bucks are tomorrow's trophies.