Hello everyone!

Went squirrel hunting this weekend and got 7 - hunted from about 6:30am till 1:30pm - avg temp was about 78.

My question is, is the meat going to be safe to eat? The squirrels we just carried around in a backpack/sack all day, complete with guts hanging out of half of them thanks to my buddies 17 that destroyed them.

We cleaned the squirrels at about 2:00pm, then got them home, washed them really good, and froze them at about 6pm - so basically, they were dead on avg anywhere from 6-11 hrs before they hit refrigeration (3 were killed at about 7am).

Are we going to be visiting an emergency room once we thaw these out and prepare them? Has anyone gone this long before refrigerating/freezing and the meat was ok? I'm not sure how to determine if the meat "was spoiled".
Thanks!

I've carried squirrels around the better part of a day and never had a problem. That said, trust your nose -- if it smells like something you wouldn't eat, don't eat it. Otherwise, it's fine.

I have never had one go bad on me either and I have carried some around all day here in the Fla heat. I have threw a few away that had the wobbles, (bott fly larve) supposed to be safe but I won't eat anything that has something that ugly growing on it.

Thanks everyone - appreciate the input.

I'll post from the hospital if there are any problems!

Unlike deer, squirrel meat really isnt affected by not gutting them when outside. Besides that, you're gonna boil them for at least an hour anyway. They're like chicken, theres not much you can do to ruin the flavor. As long as its moderately cool out, they should be fine for hours without skinning them. I don't gut mine after I shoot them, as its too much trouble and it doesn't affect the meat and any bacteria that grows is killed by the hours of boiling. If you don't plan on eating them for a while, just freeze them as you would any other meat.