i gut and quarter mine within an hour of being shot and will bleed it out in ice/water for atleast 5-7 days. Never had bad meat doing it that way. Before I started bleeding it out for that long, the meat would sometimes come out tasting metalic though. Not bad tasting, just strong metalic taste that I'm guessing was from the blood in the meat. Also, I dont know why, but when I let it bleed out for 5-7 days, the meat seems to be SOOOOOOO much more tender.