Hunting in the heat!

[sinawalli]

#5859

Bow season here is late August to mid September in the areas I hunt in. Lately it’s been stupid hot! Anywhere from 25C to 30C. Beach weather!Now should a guy get a animal down, like a elk or moose, how do you deal with the heat? Takes me about 1.5 hours to walk out of the bush to my Jeep empty. Add animal quarters and that’s even longer. Walk can be pretty evil too, not a stroll in the park! By the time it’s all out, it’s probably bad. Any thoughts? BTW, it’s also Griz country, so night travel ain’t landing my plane!

[Doc Nock]

#45346

Heard a few things living in MT I sent in PM…I’m sure the guys who’ve actually DONE this sort of thing have better suggestions, so I didn’t post it here…since I only Heard about it and never got to try hunting in some heat in MT

[jpc]

#45350

Wait November Will be nice hunting weather :lol::lol::lol:

[Etter1]

#45696

People are too worried about this. I live in GA and our bow season starts in September where an overnight low might be in the mid 60s or might be in the mid 70s. We have left deer out overnight and they are fine.

I even left a pig out one night due to a poor blood trail and found her fifteen hours later. Clean as usual, rinse off the meat, same as any other pig I ever killed.

[jpc]

#45920

Simply do as African or Australian hunters do

Here in south of france we start wild boar hunting in august Very hot weather,

We pick up and butcher as soon as possible

If we let a dead animal one night meat is lost Nights are also very hot here

[Stephen Graf]

#45999

I second what Etter says…

Biggest problem leaving an animal out over night is not spoilage, it’s predators. Around here the most common problem is opossums eating the a$$ out.

It can be a little stinky doing the field dressing in the morning, but the meat is fine.

[Etter1]

#46242

Steve Graf wrote: I second what Etter says…

Biggest problem leaving an animal out over night is not spoilage, it’s predators. Around here the most common problem is opossums eating the a$$ out.

It can be a little stinky doing the field dressing in the morning, but the meat is fine.

Yeah, coyotes might find it first and if you’re in North GA, bears almost certainly will but the meat is just fine. If people saw how meat is really cared for in most butchering facilities, they would be less worried about their own.

[bruc]

#46251

Sprinkling black pepper on exposed meat, keeps flies and maggots off.

Bruce

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#46362

I agree that some people probably worry about it too much, but I also understand what sinawalli is saying. Particularly if I’m elk hunting and I’m alone, it would be pretty easy for me to be hours from the truck, and on a September afternoon the outside temp could be 75F, which means it will be significantly warmer inside my truck. Hiking out with one quarter, putting it in the truck while I spend another several hours hiking back in and out with another quarter, and then doing the whole thing several more times before it’s all said and done could mean that I’ve got meat sitting in a hot truck for quite a while.

My hunting circle of friends know that we are all on the “call list” and if one of us gets a big animal and needs help, we’re all going to drop what we’re doing if we can, grab a backpack and hike in. So that’s usually ‘Plan A’ for me when hunting near home, with a big elk anyway. “Plan B” is get it all bagged and in the shade, wait till evening when things cool off and then start packing out, assuming I’m in a place where hiking in the dark with that much weight on my back wouldn’t be unsafe. I wouldn’t sleep that night anyway, thinking about all that meat getting devoured overnight.

[David Coulter]

#46542

This is an interesting thread for me. I’m in Eastern PA and only minutes from a vehicle on any given hunt. I always wonder how folks handle a kill when it’s a real hump to get it somewhere cool and safe from being scarfed up by animals. Thanks,dwc

[Dan Jackowiak]

#46709

Smithhammer, you are one lucky guy. In my neck of the woods, my friends are so lazy that if they can’t get off an atv, they prefer not to go hunting… much less strap on a backpack and pack meat.

With that said, I have packed quite a few elk myself because I like to hunt em. This year, hopefully, I’ll get to do it again. I have left elk out overnight on a couple of occasions and didn’t lose a thing. 80 during the day, 50 at night, temps will drop 30 degrees in the hills. The best thing you can do is get it off the bone and bagged. Bone retains heat, besides the fact its half the weight of a quarter which I prefer not to carry.

[Stephen Graf]

#47203

The bacterial count in wild meat is very very low. This means that the meat will not spoil as fast as industrial feed lot meat.

I looked around for some links to show this, but was unsuccessful. I did find a link that talks about spraying harvested meat with acetic acid to preserve it while it is in the field:

http://outdoorsdirectory.com/magazine/citric_acid.htm

You could buy their stuff, or just spray it with apple cider vinegar. Same thing, only apple cider vinegar has other anti-microbial properties too. A better option in my opinion.

I’ve a great idea: I’m going to bottle apple cider vinegar in a camo bottle and sell it in cabbala’s as a game preservative. 😀

[sinawalli]

#47404

Yeah, no clear cut solution! Packing out after dark is a solution providing one has help. Country side is real tough trucking, and Mr. Griz is a real possibility. Oh well, guess I’ll have to load up the 45-70 and just get after it! God hates cowards!

[Ptaylor]

#48543

Etter1 wrote: People are too worried about this. I live in GA and our bow season starts in September where an overnight low might be in the mid 60s or might be in the mid 70s. We have left deer out overnight and they are fine.

I even left a pig out one night due to a poor blood trail and found her fifteen hours later. Clean as usual, rinse off the meat, same as any other pig I ever killed.

Hey Etter what about bears in that kind of heat by you? Ever had any issues with their fat starting to rot?

[Etter1]

#48760

Ptaylor wrote: [quote=Etter1]People are too worried about this. I live in GA and our bow season starts in September where an overnight low might be in the mid 60s or might be in the mid 70s. We have left deer out overnight and they are fine.

I even left a pig out one night due to a poor blood trail and found her fifteen hours later. Clean as usual, rinse off the meat, same as any other pig I ever killed.

Hey Etter what about bears in that kind of heat by you? Ever had any issues with their fat starting to rot?

I’ve only killed one here in Ga and I was only two miles in. I killed that one right at daylight and had it out by noon so I don’t have any experience there but I think that as long as you get the hide off, there wouldn’t be an issue. I would assume that as long as you got to any meat within about 12 hours, it would be okay. In the mtns it usually drops down into the fifties, at least, in September.

Again, I have noticed an odor when skinning a critter left out on a warm night but once the meat is rinsed, I never notice a difference.

We usually do the cooler with the drain plug open thing with all of our meat. It really helps to pull blood out and tenderize it.

[Author]

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