a deer is gut shot or the stomach is inadvertantly cut during the field dressing. It happened over the weekend and I told him he should hose the body cavity out with water to clean it out, it was then sent to the butcher and should be processed within the next day or so. Is there any rules to go by to keep meat from spoiling when dealing with a deer when the stomach contents may have come in contact with the meat?

Thanks for the info

Flush it with as much clean water as possible, we always carry several gallons with us to clan out the cavities. We butcher our own, and anything that look green or tainted, or smells tainted, gets tossed. Do this purgin ASAP and the rest of it should be fine. Also, clean out the contaminants BEFORE you split the pelvis, when you split the pelvis you expose some of the best meat in the animal.
George

Completely clean the body cavity with good clean water and nothing will spoil a slong as you keep the deer below 40 degrees and above the 32 degree mark. Spoilage takes place very fast if you do not clean the deers spilled stomach contents immediatly. It is always best to get the harvested animal to a processing station as soon as possible. Warm temperatures are a deer hunters worst enemy. When your not sure get the animal processed as soon as possible. Any freshly harvested deer cavity should be washed out very well even if no stomach contents have been spilled into the body cavity. Hang the deer head up until the body cavity is completely drained and dry. I never hang my deer with the head down even though many hunters do.

I have left my deer hang with the hide on in a cool dark barn where the tempurature never got above 40 degrees for five days. The hide acts as protective covering for the aniaml and will keep the carcass cold since deer hair is so insulating in the cold weather. The winter deer coat keeps the live deer toasty warm in the winter and will also keep the carcass cold when the body cavity is opened up after harvest. Remember as long as the deer is kept in a cold dark place even in the daytime it will not spoil. Even deer meat should be aged to get the best flavor from the meat. I have been harvesting deer for 40 years and have never had one spoil yet. The worst thing you can do is remove the deers hide and then not finish the job. I once had a deer hunting friend call me to come help him cut up and package his deer. When I arrived at his house the deer was hanging in his garage half skinned and frozen solid. After a short discussion I left him to his impossible task.

Cleaning with clean water is what I have done in the past and I too have had no problems with it.

However, the latest advice we have been given is not to do this as the flushing is actually spreading the bacterial contamination around the insides of the carcass to previously clean areas. Best practice is now supposedly to "mop" out the contamination with clean damp paper towels (or similar) taking care not to spread the contamination to clean areas of the carcass. Any grossly contaminated areas should be cut out and discarded.

Personally I think in the real world, if carcass is stored at the correct temperature (ie a couple of degrees above freezing in a chiller) and if the carcass is butchered and *cooked* properly, there is little risk of food poisoning from either method.