Where I live in WI we have to take our deer to a check station and register it. Most of the season it will be cool enough to leave a deer over night but I've never had to do it. Where I hunt in Louisiana I have a cooler and bags of ice on stand by in early season. We only have to call the deer in. If I shoot one I call my wife and have her come running I skin and bone it right there in the woods after I gut it. I then place all the meat on ice get it home and start freezing it. I would still try my hardest to track one the next day after a gut shot but I wouldnt even try to skin or eat it. It sucks but thats just the way it is.
Along with what PT is saying, I would still have gone after back straps and front legs or just cut way out around the green and went for some of the hind quarters. I love venison too much to let it go at that.
I dont think its the outside temp you have to worry about as much. If a deer is laying out there dead with guts and hide still on, its gonna take a lot longer for the deer to cool down cause its still holding in all that body heat. Thats why it started rotting around the joints instead from the outside in. Ive also heard with gut shot deer that all the gas and seapage coming out of them will spoil meat too. I always wait a couple hours if i dont see the deer fall. 1. Because of the body heat 2. Yotes 3. I know i wouldnt be getting any sleep that night anyways, might as well make it a late night!
Yeah, it has to do with the internal temperature of the deer, and the bacteria in the stomach and guts if its gut shot. I have taken several college classes dealing with food science (which is actually my major), and a lot dealing with food safety. My old man actually teaches a food safety class at Kansas State, so I was raised with him preaching to me about the dangers of things like this. It is probably a good thing Greg did not eat any of the meat off that deer, you don't want to risk getting you or your family sick by feeding them contaminated deer.
i left a deer one time over night because I lost the blood trail and it was late any my light was near dead, went back to the morning and you couldn't get enough meat off the bones of this deer to make a bowl of soup because coyotes stripped it.
Yeah, that deer was as perfectly heart-shot as you could ask for... died in 20 seconds or less; I watched it tip over -- so no contamination from anything gut-wise. My butcher said it's because it takes a LOT longer for the insides of a deer to cool down than you would think... Like I said, if I want to make that call again to not mess with one in the dark and come back in the morning (doubtful), I'll just gut it so that its insides can cool off quickly.
i had to do this once with the only buck i ever killed, came back first thing the next morning to find everything from the front shoulders back gone!!!however the little bit if meat i did get off of him was fine it was cold out though....
Several times I have had to leave deer overnite in warmer weather, 50* to 70*. Of coarse the shot was taken in late afternoon and deer recovered early next morning. I'm sure the temps dropped lower than the above stated temps overnight. The deer were bloated pretty bad and did have some odor to them due to gastric gasses and such. I processed the deer myself and got it into the freezer ASAP. A few of those times I had friends with me to help recover the deer. When I went to gut it and that smell filled the air, they wanted me to just leave it and said it was no good. Try as I might, I couldn't convince them the deer was OK and that smell was due to the stomache fluids and stuff. Months late,r when I'd give them a taste of some jerky I had just made, they liked it. I then reminded them of the deer they wanted me to leave. They couldn't believe it. I hate when I hear or see fellow hunters that recover a deer the next morning and refuse to take it because they see it bloated. It is a terrible waste. Needless to say, I won't take anyone like that to my hunting areas. It causes hard feelings but I don't care. I don't want someone that just lets a deer rot in the woods and wants to go kill another one hunt in my areas.
I have left many deer overnight for various reasons. I have left them overnight in 60 degree temps, recovered them the next day, and eaten them without any issue. Maybe I have a neanderthal stomach.
I saw this thread the other day and wanted to respond, but I didn't have time. Food safety is one thing, and that definitely puts the onus on you getting out there to find your deer as quickly as possible. Getting your buck is a different issue, altogether. If I had a dollar for every whitetail that was bedded down to die, but was bumped off his bed (and subsequently lost) by a hunter who was pushing the bloodtrail, I'd be a wealthy man. When you arrow a deer, ask yourself one question: Do I want the meat, or do I want the deer? If you want to give yourself your best chance at bringing that deer home following an evening hunt, you turn the arrow loose, watch the deer as it leaves the area, noting its precise travel route. Provided that it doesn't go down in plain view, you pack up your gear and go home. If you push it, and inadvertently bump him out of his bed, your odds just decreased by a factor of two. If you value your meat enough to put your harvest potential at risk, hound away. This guy will wait overnight every time. He's learned his lesson the hard way.
I've too shoot deer and questioned my P.O.C. Normally people wait until day light the following day; however, I'm different. I wait 6 hours and head back out. I like to think most things with an arrow in its body would die in the 6 hour window. I've found many deer at 1 or 2 AM. worst case scenario you find it just after the coyotes did. In FL you'll probably loose it to a gator. lol
