yep. I boneout my deer meat the same day it is killed..easy when a deer is warm..sucks when they are cold.

Just as David re-stated his stand on the issue, I'll re-state mine for clarification. I've never shot a deer and not immediately put it into refrigerated-type temps, so we are actually all stating the same mantra- If you properly cool your carcass into refrigerated type temps immediately after harvest, then rinsing is not an issue. If you don't cool your carcass, then wetting it down should be avoided.
(fwiw- Your Petri-dish analogy brings up aninteresting point.Laboratory microbiology culture dishes are made with blood products which promotes the growth of bacteria better than any other water based product.)
Bottom line is anyextended storage of meatabove walk-in cooler temps is begging for spoilage.

This reminds me of many of other the nanny 'rules.

*Don't thaw your turkey by leaving it sit out, thaw it in the refrigerator or in cold water. (yeah right)

*Don't refreeze meat. (people have really swallowed this one, it's as if you try to refreeze a steak and suddenly it's going to kill you. It loses quality- it doesn't instantly become toxic. )

*Never serve foods that contain raw eggs, such as uncooked cookie dough, homemade eggnog, mousse, and homemade ice cream.

*Do not allow raw eggs to sit at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

*Cook meat until the juices run clear.

blah, blah, blah. Are these the safer ways? Yes. Must we all abide by them? No. Heck, I eat raw fish, raw eggs and raw meat all the time. ...and I thaw my turkey in the sink. so there.

Wet meat will spoil faster than dry meat.

So... if you wet your meat.. dry it or cool it down right away. It's that simple.

I was wondering about this one. I have a bunch of trim that I froze. Didn't have time to grind it so I stuck it in the freezer. I was going to thaw it out, mix it with pork, package it, and refreeze it. In not so many words I was told I would die lol [8D]. I was under the impression the quality suffers. Not sure how that will matter with hamburger and summer sausage which is what I plan on doing with it eventually.

We actually sink meat in the lake to stop bears from smelling them and getting to it it'll get so wet sometimes that it blanches the meat white but it's still good. Water alone is not the problem, it's the combination of water and heat! We've spent an entire day in waders in lakes up to our knees butchering moose and the meat is fine. You just don't want it to be warm water and you want the air temp.s to be cool as well.