Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I always wash my deer after I skin them... to get excess blood, hair, etc... basically to clean the meat... I'm not asking if Davidmil is wrong, but what do you guys do??

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I agree with David. Water invites bacteria big time!

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Ive always rinsed mine out, im interested to hear opinions on this!

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

No water. Never.

If I do a bad job skinning, and there is hair...I torch it.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I absolutely rinse it out. You know what invites bacteria more than water? Blood and tissue fluids. When you use your knife to make the inital cut into the hide and around the 'nads, you then introduce tons of bateria into the body cavity as you continue dressing with that knife. You use your hand to hold the leg aside that he's been peeing down the last few weeks, then hang onto his 'unit' to make your intial cuts, and then use those hands inside the cavity. Yuk![:'(] It needs thoroughly rinsed and hung to drip dry. And who lets a deer sit around for any length of time that isn't in walk-in cooler type temps?

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I like this answer.;)Even My butcher rinses them out... but after he does they do immediatley go into the cooler.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I dont think bacteria is an issue if you have the meat on ice or in a freezer hours after rinsing off, especially in November weather.;)

Ive always rinsed mine too.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Water will never touch my meat.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Agreed. The best advice I've ever seen is to wipe them down with a rag soaked in vinegar.

I never wash mine down until I'm deboning and putting the meat in a bag for freezing to await the delivery to my butcher for bologna around March. Even then, rarely does water touch the meat.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Excerpt from an article on venison care. Same thing is taught in hunter safety etc etc etc

ANother
[*]

Quote:

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[*]Wipe out excess blood in gutted cavity with a paper towel or clean cloth and clean water. Use as little water as possible, because damp meat spoils faster than dry meat. [*]

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RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I don't rinse mine out. I quarter them up, first....THEN I rinse the quarters (and backstraps/TL's) off.....right as I'm putting them in the cooler, on ice.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Oh my... Rob's deer bologna...... such sweet tender pieces of heavenlyness:)

Man how Id love to have some of that right now....

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Exactly David and the utmost care should be taken when processing the animal so water is not a necessity.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I should edit mine as this is EXACTLY what I do. But I wipe mine down to wipe off excess water and put in a plastic bag to go on ice...I sometimes leave on ice for a few days, and dont want the meat touching the pooled water from melted ice.

On my next deer, I plan on skipping the quartering process and simply deboning off the carcass...may take a little longer but it will skip a major step of prep work at the house.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Rinsing the carcass really isn't excess moisture. After rinsing and skinning, the inner body cavity of the carcass is dry to the touch within an hour or two just like the outer surface of the carcass. No different than if you don't rinse. I'd interpret excess moisture to be soaking the carcass by submerging it in water for an extended period like some folks do.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

WEll hell, do what you want then. I can go online and find a ton of places to say avoid water and now someone wants to say they have dry water. Do what you want, it's your meat.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Is dry water like dry ice?

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Well hell, I will Dave!;)
Seeing how you don't rinse your carcasses, how is ityou can tell me how quickly they do or don'tdry off?

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Water never touches mine. The meat comes off the deer and onto fresh wax paper. Then it goes into the vaccume seal bags and in the freezer. I rinse and clean it up good (remove excess silver skin, fat etc.) before cooking.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

David Is correct Aaron!!

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I've been laughing non-stop for over 30 sec. Are you getting grumpy now that your sick Dave??:D

IAhunter, sure they dry off. I don't think you have to tell us that common sense. It's what is going on with the meat while it's wet is what we are trying to tell you. Wet meat is a petri dish for bacteria. Plain and simple.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Doesnt it die after you freeze it and then cook it though?

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Honest question...what is the difference in rinsing and cleaning the meat before you freeze it rather than after?

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

As long as you immediately freeze it I would say it doesn't make a difference. I know mine doesn't touch water until minutes before cooking.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I had to drag all 4 of my deer thru a creek that was a foot deep in some instances and the carcass was submerged for the 2 or 3 seconds it took to get it across. Other than that I don't water it down but rather let the dried blood preserve the meat.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

You guys want me to tell you what they do with beef at an abbatoir? My grandpa ran one for 40 years.....up until the mid 80's.

I never saw a sideof beef that didn't get rinsed before it went into the cooler to hang/age. What kinda bacteria grows in those cool temps? Why are operating rooms so cold? If we could run faster than the speed of light.....and we ran around the block.....could we bump into ourselves, leaving?:D

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

If you go back to one of my original post I stated, don't wash unless you can put it in a cooler right away.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

I tenderize mine before gutting!
[&:]

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Mine gets rinsed as it's hanging, then quartered/deboned, then straight in the cooler on ice for a couple of days.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

Here is the bottom line guys .....NEVER wash your deer in temps above 40 degrees!!!!

If you have temps that willl stay 39 or below, there is NO HARM in rinsing your deer off .....

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

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

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

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.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

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. :eek:)

*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. :)

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

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]:eek:. 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.

RE: Davidmil Just got the ol' buckmaster noggin concerned...
 

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.