A question that never occurred to me until now. What do you do when you take a deer in the evening or on Saturday night and can't get it to a butcher until the next morning or even worse? Let's say the temps are 50-65 degrees overnight. Do you ice it down or cut it up and attempt to find room in your freezer? Thought I would ask the experts. Thanks.

Kelly

I throw bags of ice on him until mourning. It has worked for me many times.

IMO, the most important thing to do is get it field dressed ASAP. I wouldn't mind at all letting a deer hang in 55-60 degree temp. for a day. Avoid direct sun though. And maybe put a few blocks of ice in the cavity.

We put ice in the cavity of a skinned animal. Then cut them up as soon as possible. We debone our deer before we take them to the butcher. Saves us money and gives us good reason to hang our for a couple of hours and swap hunting stories.

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No butcher??? Process the deer yourself!!!! At least skin and quarter so it can be easily refrigerated until processing.

Aim Hard!

We always quarter the deer up, put it in an ice chest, then "bleed" the meat out by filling the chest with cool water and sloshing your meat around in it a couple of times, draining it off each time. Then ice it down and your good to go. The more blood you can get out of the meat the longer it will keep. This has worked great for me over the years..Good luck..Fletch

KEEP THE WIND IN YOUR FACE.... FLETCH

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The Army base here has a cooler we can hang the deer in, cost $2.00 a day. We need it in TX.

Maryland is too hot most of the season for hanging a deer. Usually within an hour of arriving home with them they're skinned, boned out, put on trays and refridgerated or iced and put in an ice chest. I put in some absorbitive sheets on the trays and cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for 3 or 4 days before wrapping and freezing. My brother has a couple bog old refrigerators in his garage. If it turns warm he skins, cuts off the lower part of the legs and stuffs them in a fridge standing upright(all racks removed from the fridge) On some larger ones he may have to quarter. He puts a rack in the bottom to allow 360 degree circulation of air and the meat isn't sitting in blood.

Hung, skinned, quartered and in the deer fridge that night. Will cool and age up to 9 days for my tastes.