how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

Shot a doe last night at 7:00PM and lost the blood trail (large quanitites of bright red blood with air in it). She was going up hill, tons of blood to follow, then it just stopped; no trailing off either, just stopped! I marked the last know spot, lined it up the direction of travel and did a 30M cirlce but nothing (I had a feeling that I was SO close but I just couldn' t see her).
All I had was a headlamp and a mini-maglight which wasn' t enough.

Here' s the question:
Last night it was in the low 70s and this morning it' s in the mid 60' s. When I find her today, is she still edible?
Thanks!

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

i would guess probably not.however ,i will be interested to find out.:)

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

The fore quarters and backstrap should be ok for 18-24 hrs but you will lose part of the rump adjacent to the bowels butt,urinary tract etc, Good luck and let us know how you made out.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

I wouldn' t eat it if you find. Jersey 18-24 hours in 60-70 degree temps ? Your talking about a bacteria breeding ground,

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

My buddy and I cut up a lot of deer every year for people. It is a good side job in our neck of the woods. We find deer of all kinds that people bring in and most of the time if they are bad it is because they let them hang for too long in the warm weather. My suggestion to you is to really check it over before you save any. At 60 to 70 deg. the deer never had a chance to properly cool down and as the others have said spoilage will occur and bacteria will be growing. Fly' s will probably have laid their eggs too. Now if you hit any paunch I would toss the whole deer. With warm weather and that gut juice swashing around inside, you can bet the deer will be tainted and will be the worst tasting venison you will ever eat!!

Around here I wait until the temp is below 40 before I take a doe. I have a long season and plenty of deer in my woods. I do however hunt for the big guy and if he happens to come along and gives me an opportunity I take it. I don' t know how long your season is but waiting for it to cool off has helped me in the past.

Good luck finding her, let us know.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

:eek: First you must find the critter then make your decision. If she laid up all night and didn' t expire until the next day, it would be fine! Don' t just give up because someone says it wouldn' t be any good. Find the critter then decide for yourself or better yet, take her to your local locker plant and have them look at her.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

charlie and cwlks -So what your say is don' t go hunting the evening post if you can' t guarantee you' ll recover the deer that night. First off the deer was shot at 7 pm he tracked it for a while assuming he waited 1/2-1hour that would make it 8 o' clock he didn' t find it so either the deer lived a little longer or he would still have to come back the next day 7am, 12 hours gone since the shot. I agree about the flies and the abdominal juices, but the flies do not buzz around in the dark. This is why I said you would lose some of the meat. His nose should be his guide. But there is no way I am going to just say forget about it its no good. Now if he finds the animal at 7 am -9 am, guts it and goes home too butcher it this will take approx 3 -5hrs now were down to 15-17 hours before butchering takes place. Sorry I cut it so close with 18-24 hrs. This has happened to me and the meat was fine,though like I said I lost a little. But he should not just turn his computer on and read your post and say the heck with it. You have to give it some kind of effort, well maybe not all of us so I just speak for myself. Also when in doubt put a piece in the fry pan and taste it.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

I agree with rcd567. Everything depends on when the animal dies.

It almost sounds like a single lung hit and if so the animal could survive but from the blood loss you describe, I doubt it. I wouldn' t think the animal is too far from where you stopped. Remember two things: get on your hands and knees when the trail gets scarce . . . things look a lot different from that perspective and most animals are lost because the hunter gives up too soon.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

Go pull a roast out for 18- 24 hours and then eat it. I mean after its has reached 60 -70 degrees. After you get out of the bathroom give me a call.

I' ve never gave up looking for a deer until I was sure it was alive still alive. Luckily I have only lost two in 28 years.

Flies don' t work 9-5.

Meat Spoilage by Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds
Although a number of factors may contribute to meat spoilage, the most common cause of meat spoilage is the deterioration of meat caused by micro-organisms (bacteria, yeasts, and molds). Beware! Foods can contain dangerous bacteria and microorganisms but still have a normal appearance. Food which has not been handled or stored properly should not be eaten even if it has no apparent indications of spoilage.

From the university of Georgia' s web site

15 years working a a chef taught me one thing. When in doubt throw it out!!

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

Exactly when I saw red blood with bubbles in it, I immediatly thought single lung hit.

If I came across like I was telling this guy not to look for the deer I apoligize. That was never my intent.He said the der as shot at 7 and he posted at almost 10:00 am. With the amount of blood loss he was describing I didn' t think it would take that long for the deer to expire. So I figured this deer had been dead for about 10 hours already. With out ever cooling down. In my experience that woud create a dangerous situation in regards to meat spoilage.

[quotecharlie and cwlks -So what your say is don' t go hunting the evening post if you can' t guarantee you' ll recover the deer that night] [/quote] There are no guarentees in bow hunting. I do take the temperture and weather conditions into account before I release the arrow. One night I was out and it started raining hard, I passed on a fat doe, because I knew tracking the deer would be near impossible in the conditions. Got out of my stand and went home.I do my meat hunting when it turns cold, I live in upstate NY I lucky enough to get nice cold weather.

I proably would have gone home and got the lanterns and one of my good buddies on this deer. The hit defianately sounds like lung/lungs.Even if it meant staying out all night.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

Charlie p . I did not see he was posting this at 10 am without looking for it yet I was assuming he would have gone and found it by sunrise. My apoligies if I sounded gruff.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

Jersey, No problem, That' s the problem with this mode of communication.

This reminded me of something that happened two years ago the day before Thanksgiving. A buddy of mine calls me to help him find one a couple hours after dark. We looked for about three hours the deer circled and we had lost the trail. We were debating waiting till morning when I start getting a whiff of something musky. The doe was lieing about 15 feet from us in high weeds. First time I ever used my nose to find one.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

LuckyLindy, We' re waiting for an update. What happened? Did you retrieve it or just chalked it up to a loss?

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

And so it starts:(
I' d have continued the search more through the night, had I felt the deer was dead and not waiting on it to die. Get better lights or something. Also he should have been out there at first light, not still typing on a computer at 10AM. Never give up on a deer assuming its bad, find it and find out for yourself.

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

I hope in my reply I didn' t sound like he should give up. In no way would I intend that. I was just relating to my experience in which I had recoverd a deer that was spoiled. If the deer had expired right away then the chances are some of the meat could spoil in those temps. But if it died say early in the morning he may be alright and get some good meat off her pending a gut shot or not. Now lets say they tracked for a while in the morning and found her four hours later, that is enough time for the fly' s to make there move. Just a worst case scenario to be cautious of. Bacteria and insects are not something to fool with that is all that is being said. Find that deer if possible and make the judgement from there.

Good Luck

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

A little more background: I left the woods at 10PM, went home and got a lantern but after 2 hours I was still unable to find her. After the front that moved through bringing rain to the area, I asked the forum for their opinion and headed out.

Bottom line no joy and I feel terrible about wasting that doe. I enjoy most aspects of the hunt but I' m not too crazy about the kill let alone killing an animal and letting it go to waste.

Lessons learned:
1) Always take the lantern.
2) Bring trail marking tape (that would have REALLY help giving me a line of bearing along the blood trail.)
3) I' ve read other posts regarding the Glow-sticks and I' m going to get some. Circling out from the last known blood, I often lost the last position. Glow stick would easily have solved this.

I do appreciate all the advice from all the more experienced bowhunters out there and vow that I will do my best to ensure that this doesn' t happen again. This would have been my first bow kill and now it' s tainted:(

RE: how long ' till the meat spoils?
 

my experience from last year. i shot a doe about 15 minutes from dark at about 5 yards from my tree. i got down and looked at my arrow and found it to be covered with guts. i couldn' t believe that i paunch shot her. i tracked her about 10 yards and lost blood. i decided to back out and come back in the morning at first light. the overnight temp was around 60 degrees. the next morning my neighbor and i searched for her and found her about 35 yards from my stand. she was back tracking from the big woods to the clearcut edge i was hunting. i was so excited. i noticed the bad aroma of guts from her. i skined her and butchered her myself. the whole time the meat smelled like gut juice. i packed her up and froze her. the first time we cooked some steaks they tasted and smelt awful. lesson learned from this old gal. My shot was a single lung hit that came out the bottom of the stomach due to the steep angle I shot her from. lesson learned here too. best advice is to use your nose. if meat smells bad then it is bad and dont waste time processing it.