wildchild04

I shot it last evening, found it 16 hrs later.
Weather has been between 30-34 degrees.
Pretty good shot with my bow, enter behind shoulder, exited the 4th rib from the rear of the deer.

It was bloated when I found it, ....and it smells!!!

I just rinsed it out to see if there was just some bad stuff in there.

Did it sit too long? Am I able to keep anything? Or not risk it, and throw it away?

lrhuntr

Meat is fine, no worries.

Shot was good, temps were good.

Can't belive it was bloated already. Must have had a full stomach with all the gas that formed.

As for the smell, are you sure it isn't just the piss on the tarsal glands? Deer can be pretty stinky this time of year.

rybohunter

Meat should be fine.

_Dan

Sounds like you shot it quartering towards you and you nicked the guts.....that's where the smell came from. Meat should be fine.

StrikeTrue

Yea buddy, definately spoiled, send it to me.

davidmil

If you see a green tint when you pull off the hide I'd worry. But really, it should be fine. The one thing you did exactly wrong was to wash the thing out. Unless you cut the gut or broke the urine sack you should NOT wash a deer out. Moisture is a big no no. It aids in the growth of bacteria and germs. Never wash unless you can immediately dry and slap it in a nice cold walkin cooler.

wildchild04

Thank you all for the quick replies.

This was my first archery deer, and thought it was going to have an unhappy ending.

lrhuntr

Man Law has been violated tho..... we need pics of this deer.

Especially since it's your first! Congrats!

RIStrutStopper

Same thing happened to me this year. Deer was stinky aftersitting all night in 38 degree weather before finding it in the AM. I grilled up some backstraps the next day and man, that was stinky too when the freshly rinsed backstraps hit the grill, but 5 min later it smelled fine and tasted great. The rest of the deer was hung in a walk in cooler and 4 days later smelled fine and meat was fine too.

Nubby_Stalker

Lol....my G-friend thinks that everytime we clean deer and bring the meat in to package that its bad...she says it kinda smells like old milk.

Wanna really stinky cleaning??

Arrow goes in the right side...laces the right lung...through the diaphram...through the kidney....punches the stomache....laces the intestines and goes clear out the other side. Now, leave that deer lay all night and till noon the next day ( night lows 30...by noon 45 ) and then hang without washing.....[:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(]