I would much rather risk losing the meat than taking up the trail too early and not find the deer. I've been there and it sucks!
I am one of those guys that has never had a problem when I have eaten a deer that was hung in 54 degree temps. I have also never had a problem with deer meat that has touched water. Maybe my insides are Neanderthalish and do not have a problem with some types of bacteria.
Its not the outside temp that creates most problems with venison spoiling....its the body temp of the animal that has to be cooled.....pack the body with bags of ice and get that body heat out and it will be fine till morning... Dale
My point is that if you shoot a doe for meat and you don't recover the doe while the meat is still good what is the difference if you recover it at all? What do you do with it then? So you can take pretty pictures with it? Not me. I am going to make the call as to my best chances to recover the animal while the meat is still good. If I shoot a big buck there are more reasons than meat to shoot the deer therefore my strategy may change a bit. As I said before I will make the best effort to recover the buck while the meat is still good but I will want to make absolutely sure the deer has expired before tracking. It's just my opinion and my approach. Right or wrong.
The biggest issue I'd worry about from the original post would be flies. That skinned meat needs to be covered by a game bag. The rule I follow up here is that warm (>40) and dry is okay. Cold (<40) and wet is okay. Warm and wet is definitely NOT okay. Sometimes it takes a week to get game out of the field up here and temps. in Sept. are not unprecidented to be in the mid 60's during a moose/caribou hunt. We do what we can to keep things dry, clean and cool with good air circulation and have yet to lose any meat but there have been trips where it's definitely been harder than others. Temp.'s on our last hunt never got below 40 and were up to 65 in the sun and we had some of our 9 deer hanging for 6 days without losing any. From what I'm hearing, I should be dead by now and the human species should have never survived without refrigeration. (I understand that the advise given was for someone that may not know the grey areas and it's best to err on the side of caution. I always do the best I can given the situation and am known for excellent meat care but the situation doesn't always allow for the best.) Meat care is a major factor in the guide's association constantly pushing for a guide requirement for non-residents to hunt moose up here. Meat loss is rampant among unguided non-residents.
Up here it doesn't matter, buck or doe, if you don't recover the meat and bring it out of the field you can't bring the trophy out of the field. Wanton waste laws are heavily enforced and I actually like that.
Back In the day I've shot deer In warm temps that were lung, heart and gut shots and never lost one to spoilage. Never did I skin them out but I did hang them and then butcher them In the next couple days. I've lost 2 deer to waste, both were liver kills that lived for a while (6 to 12 hours) after I shot them. I let both of them hang for a day and I know It wouldn't of mattered If I would've skun them or not. When you liver shoot a deer poison must sift through the blood I'm guessing from the liver. The liver Is the filter after all. From now on If I liver shoot any animal It's getting butchered much quicker then I normally would regardless of the temps.
I googled Wanton Waste laws to find out what it is about I agree with everything they are saying. Aren't you wasting the animal if you let it spoil though? That is how I perceive it.
Good thread and great post Rob. I always wondered reasons for the guide requirement...this one makes perfect sense. Luckily for me, with whitetails being fairly small animals, if it's hot I'll skin immediately and whack off the meat and place in fridge - then take the time to cut/wrap in next day or two.
