Gutting Deer

[razmuz]

I'm getting to old to handle a deer after I shoot it. This year I had to wait for my son to come off his stand and during the interim the buzzards got to my deer. I've always gutted my deer right after shooting it. My question is this, is it ok to leave the guts in the deer when you take it to the processor, and for how long can I wait?

[fabsroman]

This is the opposite problem that a 70 year old guy I hunt with has. He is a pro at gutting the deer, he just cannot drap them out of the woods on his own. Personally, I think I would have set up shop by the deer and shot the buzzards when they came down. That would have made for some real fun.

Other than giving you a hard time, I don't have an answer for you because it was always my understanding that the guts should come out of the deer as soon as possible and the cavity should be rinsed out as soon as possible.

For the rest of the guys to answer your question, I am going to bet that the outside temperature will make a difference.

Then again, I know guys that have let their deer lay overnight, gone back and gutted it the next morning, processed it, and eaten it and nobody died.

[Lilred]

Iffin it's above 30 er so..I gut mine right then and there..but Fabs is right, I've seen folks leave em overnight..they git em the next mornin all bloated and stuff...he's right..aint nobody died from it that I know of..but I aint eatin no meat when the dern deer been bloated..uh uh no way..lol

I'd cut them scent bags off tho..

[gspsonny03]

razmuz,

If you watch any of the hunting shows on T.V., almost everyone of them will take the whole carcass to camp, or lodge if you will, for processing and as Fabs mentioned, there are times that on a bad hit they will let the animal lay over night and pick it up the next morning. But also as Fabs mentioned it has a lot to do with the outside temperatures. If it is unseasonably warm and you leave the entrails in, you are asking for spoilage, and at the very least, it's not going to taste very good. Now if you intend to give it away like they do in most of these shows, it probably won't matter much to you anyway. I always try to gut the animal right after the kill, now depending on where you're hunting some landowners don't want the 'gutpile' left on there property. I don't know if this helps you much, but it's my 02 cents.

[Classicvette63]

raz, I'd gut it as soon as possible. I had a hard time man handling the huge bodied buck I got this year. The easiest way I have found is to slit 'em open and grab the liver, even if the deer is on it's side and pull. Everything comes out pretty easy and you don't too messy either.

[Swift]

Holy crap how long it take fo your son to get there, that the buzzards beat him?
Gut it as soon as possible and cover er up with (bury under) with leaves of what have ya, if ya got to leave it fer awhile.

[Steverino]

All I can say is God bless you Razmuz for keep on keeping on! I hope that when I'm older, I'll be blessed with children that love the outdoors as much as I do to help give me a hand as well.

I've hunted many times with groups of friends and family and the older fellas were afforded shooter positions when the rest of us whipper-snappers drove game to them. The way that I look at it, it all comes full circle.

With that being said, I have found Razmuz, that getting your harvested animal elevated up even a little...will allow gravity to take over. I use a small folding Cabelas Guide Series lockback knife. A small incision under the skin between parted fingers and run up to the throat, will usually then empty the contants of the cavity when you roll your animal on it's side. If you have large game, it's still gonna be work but I have found that gravity does a nice job for you if you let it.

Fabs, I have never used them but have seen some slick looking lightweight folding wheeled game carriers advertised in some of my hunting magazines. Perhaps your older hunting buddy could look into one of these. Anybody ever use one of these??

[Forestwalker]

Professionally speaking, i am a hunting professional chef, you need to gut as quickly as possible, but time and temp are everything.

If its cold, you must gut quickly before it freezes. If its unseasonably warm, you need to get the core carcass temp down to about 34-44 F a quickly as possible, otherwise the meat will go rancid.

Letting them lay overnight might be okay depending on what time they actually expire and what the over night temp is.

With all that said, meat in general is dry aged under climate controlled conditions at about 45-50 F under ultraviolet light to stop mold and fungus growth. Meat is wet aged in cryovac plastic about 40-46 degrees. Meat aging is really just controlled rotting, it needs to rot a little to taste good. Meat that is processed before it gets through rigor mortis and softens is called green cut, and has a very coppery flavor to meat(comes from blood being to fresh, like when you bite your tongue. I find that many hunter's family's don't like venison, because its not process/aged correctly. If the weather is good (50 in day and 30 at night) I let my deer hang in root cellar, for 4-7 days depending on size of carcass.

Good Luck and Good Eating!

[ol_spark]

Seems like the topic has pretty much been covered but I get the guts out ASAP and rip the hide off as soon as I can. Weather permitting, I like to hang 4 days but alot of times that doesn't happen. Archery season is usually to warm and I have to cut the meat within a couple days and some time even in gun season because it is too cold to hang outside. The meat will sometimes freeze before it actually cools down properly. Hard to imagine but it does.

In talking about those TV shows. An ungutted deer makes a nicer pose and cleans up better for the camera than a gutted one. Most of the areas hunted are on managed land where the ranch managers want to know as much as they can about the animals harvested. So they take it all back to camp. Some analyze intestines for food variety,etc. Also their are other things inside to look at. How the arrow,bullets performed, what organs did it affect, path of bullet/arrow, etc.

I don't put a lot of faith in what happens on tv shows. After all, it is intertainment.

[8X56MS]

Its been my experience, that getting the deer gutted should be done fairly quickly. Now I hunt in Florida, or Georgia mostly, and its not always as cold as it is up North. Still, you need to cool the body cavity pretty quickly, to keep spoilage down and to insure that the meat is edible later.
I have no problem leaving the hide on, in fact, I prefer to hang the deer in the cooler with the hide on, and skin it after a week or so.

[VirginiaHunter]

Gut em ASAP, I left one over night, got to dark to find her, next day right at dawn I found her. The temp was in the 30's al night, and when I started to open her up almost sounded like a baloon loosing air. And Boy did it smell, I really hope I never have to deal with another one like that again.

[Jabba]

I like to get them gutted ASAP as well.

I do not rinse them unless for some reason, it was gut shot... and I can't remember how long since I did that.

3 or 4 days hanging is good if the weather is right... if not, green cut is OK too.

I think palatability is more about how you killed it and how you process it, than it is about how you cook it.

No bone sawing for me. Only knife butchering.

Jabba

[straightshooter]

South Texas weather dictates (usually) that it is a gut immediately situation. We haul our deer and hogs back to camp where we can lay them out on the tailgate and gut them, then hang them on the skinning pole for the rest. Two big washtubs carry the innards back to the pasture for strategic positioning for coyote bait.

[Hunting_Gal]

I agree with Swift, I keep a tarp in my back pack just big enough to cover it up if need be, im small so i can not drag it myself . but usually someone is close by so i wait until i go get them b4 i gut

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Gut ASAP...need to get it cooled down....meat starts to decompose as soon as the critter is dead...now on those that leave lay or not find till next morning, that for sure depends on the temp, time of death and how long it takes you to find the next day...I have tracked late evening hits the next morning and only found one to not fit to eat....that was because the buy gut shot it with his arrow....yuck...the good ones I have been lucky enough to find within an hr or daylight...field prep from the time you shoot anything to the table means the difference in a good meal or a memory for some not to eat wild game.
..I can't believe noone will come help you with your downed game even if it is midnight....that doesn't work in my parts...esp at 70...if it weren't so far a drive, I would be there in a blink to lend ya a hand...but I am proud of you for getting out there for the hunt and all that goes with it...keep it up.
Now, for the fun part....are you sure the buzzards were there for the deer?....lmao?.....kidding!...but if you were my hunting partner, that would be something you would have to hear from me....
AT LEAST GUT IT OUT TO LET IT COOL!...