Thread: Overnight meat recovery - thoughts?

Originally Posted by Bhess

Tahr
The lingo those guys use is very much Army. A lot of youtubers hunting the Ruahines are either Army or ex Army.
Other classic give aways are the use of "team" all the time amongst others. I am Air Force and have spent quite a bit of time working alongside Army guys and can pick it a mile away.
It does my head in to the point i just flat out refuse to watch the vids.

Must be an age bracket 'thing'. The guys I hunt with, we are all ex Army. But Viet Nam era and slightly later. And no one talks like that. Occasionally an acronym will slip out by mistake.

Oh, and we wouldn't dream of advertising ourselves like that by having a YT channel... Must be an age thing.

Back to the animals. Only ever leave them if I can't find them that evening. Which is not very often at all. And never when I had a dog.

This time of the year the heat can start an animal going off just while you look at it. We mainly do evening hunts, and will gut and throw into a creek bend with some stones in their gut cavity, out of the way of the morning sun. Have not had one that being underwater has buggered. Come back the next morning and break down into boneless joints prior to the trip back out.

No eels where we hunt but

Originally Posted by Nathan F

Ok we are away in a few days.

Cripes if you are coming here to your old haunts its going to be frigging hot. Luckily you have the knack of cooling the carcass's off in rivers.

Originally Posted by Shearer

Wow. Sounds like I am lucky to still be alive considering the number of “rotting” animals I have eaten over the years.

If it was rotting you would know it Leaving them un-gutted over night obviously can be ok, and its not a crime. Your nose and appearance of the meat should tell you if its ok.

Its just not something I grew up with or would do. Each to our own.

Anyway, I'm sure leaving them out is not what you do by preference..

Originally Posted by Pop Shot

You and me both. Never had an issue!

@Pop Shot Yours and Craigs' deer are gutted and in small portions by the time the shooting stops aren't they?

Originally Posted by Nathan F

@Tahr Do you want me to make a video for you mate ? Black singlet and shorts is the norm !

See what happens to a Black singlet if you eat too much venison

Arrgh my eyes. Is there an unsee button??

Now thats what I call a fart!!!

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Attachment 188463
See what happens to a Black singlet if you eat too much venison

LOL ive got a mate whos singlet kept getting shorter and shorter on a trip cos he left his bog roll at home. He was just cutting off strips with his knife!

I have done it before, but not willingly, only because I couldnt find the damn thing in the dark - or like earlier this year when I shot at two animals that popped up and I inexplicably missed an easy shot, an they both ran off. I looked but couldn't find a trace of blood where they had run. On the way back to the hut the next morning I found a perfectly neck shot deer lying where I saw the two animals the evening before - there had obviously been three and when I shot one another popped up and ran off with the first, and I had just walked past the bloody thing, still looking at the two I thought I had shot at.

Anyway. It depends on how hot it is. I still took the meat from the three animals I have had to leave over night. Winter in Fiordland its not really an issue. During the roar still is okay. But, I don't hunt much at all in summertime. It has been a long time since I bothered gutting any animals anyway, I take the backsteaks, the rear wheels, and sometimes the front shoulders if I do not have a long way to go. This operation si less offensive to perform in this situation I imagine so it didnt put me off. The meat smelled okay. But they bloat up and rigour mortis is a pain.

Sorry, my team do this with their weapons, after checking their status and forming on me, and taking a knee. I can't stand young people in general. I hate anyone under the age of forty.
Long range shooting never interested me. If the Duleys shoot things so far away they have to leave animals overnight regularly, then their interest doen't lie in the hunting of deer is all I can say. He seems like a nice bloke though, I just have my hands full shooting deer at sixty yards I cannot imagine why I would need to build a rifle to shoot one six hundred metres away. Life just isn't that hard.

Originally Posted by Ginga

I wouldn’t eat anything left overnight with its guts in. Even in the middle of winter. It’s basically a big compost heap going rotten from the inside out as soon as it hits the ground. Seen a guy try it once after a hard frost and it was still tainted. Foul.
Go shoot another one, plenty around.

Yep I 100% agree. I’ve only ever left two deer out over night and the meat was tainted even on the 30th of June. I’d never do it (intentionally) again.

Originally Posted by Chur Bay

Arrgh my eyes. Is there an unsee button??

Once you've tried black, (singlet) you'll never go back

Originally Posted by Tahr

Have never done it. Hate the thought of it. I know others' do it. When I was meat hunting in the Ruahines often enough I would find them in the dark and then bivy there and carry them out in the morning. I have spent some uncomfortable nights in an old fairy down bivy bag and all of my clothing. But its never longer than 8 hours and you can get going with the carry.

Leaving them overnight seems to go hand in hand with long range shooting. My approach has always been if I cant retrieve it or get to it that evening I don't shoot it.

Duleys do it and their vids seem to have normalised it. But I bet they don't kill a house mutton on their farm and then leave it laying outside for 10 hors before they get around to skinning and gutting it.

And while Im at it, WTF is this YouTube invention called a "blind"? Im guessing its what's always been called a "look out" or "shooting spot". And a "recovery" - jeez - what ever happened to "going to get it". And "checking weapon status"? What happen to "have ya checked ya gun"? And "got my eyes on one". FFS, it was always "there's one" or "I can see one". And people walk "clicks"?? My hip clicks when I walk, but I guess they are actually meaning something else. I dunno. Its whole new YouTube language.

Pretty much spot on as far as my opinion gos as well.
Ive left one deer over night to recover next morning. it was edible but did look suspicious. not something I would ever do out of choice again. Have seen a big boar go off on a hot summer night on the carry out! Poor brother, carried it all the way home and then had to dump it.

On a side note. The moon light thing. i think it gets brought up alot because people are hunting more often on fine warm nights than cold ones. Ive never seen a correlation between moonlight and meat going off. just in warmth and meat going off.

I had to leave a deer overnight and it was fine, but I did bleed and gut it first. This was also on a cool Autumn night.

Yeah during summer you need to gut and clean it up asap
I wouldn’t even bother pulling the trigger if I couldn’t get it in a chiller or similar within a couple of hours maybe 3-4 max flys are instantaneous this time of year

In winter up in the hills if you shoot one on last light and go get it in the morning it will be sweet
Rule of thumb though is get it chilling asap

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

I had to leave a deer overnight and it was fine, but I did bleed and gut it first. This was also on a cool Autumn night.

Yeah I think they mean with the guts left in? I’ve often shot deer and gutted and dressed them. Then left them hanging on the shady side of a cool spot for a day or two. It cools the meat down. Sure you get a few maggots on the exposed bits but the back straps and back legs are usually good.