gutted!

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Originally Posted by chainsaw

Buga, you got to get them gutted pretty quick or bone taint will set in

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Even gutted you've gotta get them chilled asap. As a butcher we used to get a lot of wild pigs in during summer that were knackered due to bone taint. Often it could be 2-3+ hour walk out with it during the middle of a hot day and another few hours to get it into the shop; or even the next day.

The synovial fluid in the knee and ball joint is neutral PH; the perfect level for bacteria. During summer abbatoirs often cut into these joints to release the fluid even though they go straight into a chiller. also; deer skins for tanning often slip in the front leg and back leg pits because if they're carried out like a backpack the heat stays in those tight areas.

A real shame Blisters, but it's not what you set out to do, just one of those things, so nothing to feel bad about. I shot a deer recently. Hit it exactly where I wanted it to, but the animal ran further than expected. I panicked thinking I was going to lose it and made the worst comedy follow-up shot in the history of hunting! Had to ditch some meat and was pretty paranoid about the rest (turned out to be fine). Horrible feeling.

Bugger.

I once shot a fallow doe at last light (in England) and couldn’t find it. It was a very cold and frosty night and I was back there looking at first light. Found the doe dead, but the badgers had been at it all night and there was little left of the haunches. We took the loins and left the rest. Always a shame to waste meat like that, but at least it’s some comfort to know the animal died close to where it was shot.

go the hunting dog.....finding a downed deer is just SOO much easier...good on you for going back to find her and trying to retrieve meat...next time.

this is an interesting discussion. at the other end of the scale, a couple of summers ago, on one of the hottest days of the year, some mates and I had a bomb up and put a few deer down way down in a gully late arvo. we gutted them, and took one load of meat out to the truck (left skin and bone on the rest). very warm night, arrived back in the morning and maggots everywhere. we cut maggots off, boned out the rest. then drove home (about 6 hours) in a very hot car. chilled in fridge after that for a few days before being processed and frozen. have eaten a lot of it, and no issues.

second story - this roar we got some meat early in the trip and due to poor organisation, left in back of truck for maybe 5 days, and then in fridge for another 5 or so before being frozen (i bought a mincer and was waiting for it to arrive). this meat has a bit of a funky smell when you start cooking it, but still tastes fine as long as there is enough flavouring with it.

so more of a question really for people that know more about meat (and are better organised) than i am.... what is the big deal about leaving it overnight? is it dangerous? or is it more to do with our society being terrified of germs? ive heard of people purposefully letting it go green purposefully to make it tender and add to the flavour.... or if thats not you, you can just cut off anything that looks green and the rest is fine, no?

i should add that i absolutely agree about getting guts out asap, so my post is probably not super relevant to the original. i was more responding to the follow ups about meat going bad even with guts out

You can get food poisoning from bone taint. You can cook it really hot but the toxins would still remain.

I am more keen on less tender meat than tender food poisoning

Getting it off of the bone is key if it cant be cooled quickly.

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Originally Posted by Max Headroom

This raises an interesting question for me. I have very little sense of smell.

How to tell if the meat's no good, apart from obvious cues, like bloating and discoloration?

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lick it

Interesting discussion and intriguing to read different peoples experiences. I've often heard or read of people recovering a shot deer the next day but it's always seemed a bit iffy to me. I'm all for cooling down that meat as fast as possible. I guess it also depends on where it was shot, how long it took to die (and therefore how much tainted blood was circulated etc.). I guess for me next day recovery would not be an intentional choice but only as a result of not being able to locate the animal as in the story above.

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Originally Posted by MB

... and made the worst comedy follow-up shot in the history of hunting!

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I'm quoting myself. Can't believe no one asked where the follow up shot landed!

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Originally Posted by MB

I'm quoting myself. Can't believe no one asked where the follow up shot landed!

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well ?????

Thank you dannyb! In the arsehole! The deer was running directly away from me and I had the base of it's neck in the crosshairs when I pulled the trigger. It's arse must of stuck up at just the wrong moment. The entry wound wasn't visible when I found the animal and I assumed the second shot missed. On boning, things weren't right. The lower intestines and the stomach had been damaged and I couldn't work out why. Then I got to the pelvis, it was in multiple pieces and the penny finally dropped! To add insult to injury, the first shot had hit the heart and at least one lung.

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Originally Posted by MB

Thank you dannyb! In the arsehole! The deer was running directly away from me and I had the base of it's neck in the crosshairs when I pulled the trigger. It's arse must of stuck up at just the wrong moment. The entry wound wasn't visible when I found the animal and I assumed the second shot missed. On boning, things weren't right. The lower intestines and the stomach had been damaged and I couldn't work out why. Then I got to the pelvis, it was in multiple pieces and the penny finally dropped! To add insult to injury, the first shot had hit the heart and at least one lung.

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The old texas heart shot