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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.