I shot a doe the other night at 9 yards with my bow...she took two bounds looked back and piled up 18 yards from me very quickly. When I gutted her because she was slightly quartering towards me the arrow ended up going into the stomach apparently because her body cavity was FULL of very bloody smelly stomach contents. She was literally gutted about 30 minutes after I shot her and then I drove home and rinsed her out well with the hose. I took her to the butcher but I'm still concerned she won't be safe to eat. I've never gut shot a deer before so I don't really know what to expect and don't want to get sick eating it. What's a guy to do?

no worries. eat away.

what are you eating in the stomach anyway?

backstraps, hinds, front roasts all good. Don't eat the ribs thats all.

more psychological than anything.

I would also suggest eating the heart and liver. but they are probably in the woods.

the dogs love it too !

don't forget to DRY the carcass too after wash. Bacteria comes from water.

I took one in that was gut shot by my friend,got it processed and it tasts fine.We cleaned her out real good and it left no bad taste that I can tell after hanging 5 days in the cooler at 40 degrees.

Eat away! Nothing wrong with a gut shot, as far as the meat goes. Just avoid the tenderloins if they were covered in gut juices. Other than that, the hams, shoulders and backstraps are good to go.

I dont think you are going to be able to tell any difference in taste I gut shot one about 4 years ago and it tasted just fine. And my brother hit one quartering away last year with a bow and clipped the stomach and it was the best deer out of all of them we killed last year. It was a yearling doe and was excellent table fare.

A few years ago, I took a sharp angle quartering shot at a big doe and she jumped the string on me. I hit her too far back and was just sick that I made such a seemingly bad shot. To make a long story short, I recovered her within the hour as she only went about 80 yards but when I field dressed her it was a nasty mess. It was so bad that I gagged several times during the process and to make it worse, her tarsal glands were coal black and she smelled like an old billy goat. I took her home, skinned her out and washed her down inside and out. She hung outside with overnight temps in the 20's. I boned her out the next day and there was no evidence of foul smell or taste in the meat. I gave my neighbor one of the backstraps and he fried it up the same day and said it was the best he ever had. I canned the remainder of the meat and it was just as good and any other.

You'll be fine. Animals have been gut shot for as long as we have been hunting them, and eating them.

Don't let the contents from the intestines soak into the meat, and you won't have any problems. Basically, gut your deer as soon as you can, and you lessen the likelihood of any potential problems.

I've eaten many deer that were gut shot over the years. The worst ones required us to forego the inside tenderloins, but the rest of the meat was fine.

You'll never ever again try to hit the guts, and still hunt.

Depends on the butcher and how fast and how he cleans up the mess caused by you. A smell can surely linger. The butcher will know.

Sounds like your in the clear to me..

Perfectly fine. You handled it correctly.