My buddy shot a doe yesterday morning about 9:00 a.m., he bumped her twice after 20 minutes and decided to back out. He works the night shift so he went home and took a nap. When I get off work he still hand't been out to look for her so I went and helped him. The rage 2 blade did it's job, put a heck of a gash into her as he made a bad gut shot. We found at 6:00. She probably was dead for approx. 6 hours in 80 degree heat, between her sittin and the gut shot she was a stinky *****. So what do you guys think, is the meat still good on her?
Nope Being is was 80 degrees and a gut shot I would definitely not eat the meat. That's pushing it for a well shot deer in those temps.
Thanks NC - yeah she had been sittin awhile and it was 82 or so all afternoon. She was nasty man, I'm really glad we found her though.
Being an experienced butcher I can tell you....Every gut shot stinks regardless. The meat MIGHT still be ok, but theres no way of knowing until you get it skinned out and cooled down. The hide will hold alot of heat in. I have let gut shot deer lay over night but never in the heat like we have been seeing in WI. This is why I opted out of shooting a decent doe lastnight. I would think the meat might be ok yet, take a few steaks and fry them up before you cut and wrap, if theres an unusuall stink to it, then give it the meat to your dogs/cats or someone that has dogs or cats on a farm. Or drag it out to the woods and let mother nature take its course. Let me know how this turns out.
The stink is probably just from the gut shot. Wash her out good. I don't think six hours is that bad. I had a gut shot deer sit 24 hours but it was colder though. I kind of cut around the bad area that the guts came in contact with.
I will let you know - thanks for the advice. It's been heck-a-hot here in Indiana this week also, had she been sitting all day in 50 degree weather I probably wouldn't have to make a thread about it. Thanks again Bob - we hosed her out pretty good last night when we got her home. I'm surprised we didn't smell her before we saw her... lol
You owe it to the deer you shot to do everything possible. I would skin her out as soon as possible and then cool the meat down. I then would put it through my smell test.
I didn't shoot the deer - just helped track the deer later on in the day. At this point we are treating the meat like it's still good. My buddy was cutting her up last night to get the meet on ice asap - like you suggested, he was going to give it the smell test and see. You might not know until the taste test. lol
I think you will be ok .. she was prolly alive a few hours after the shot??? Who knows .... do what you guys are doing and congrats to your friend!!!
