I've seen and heard of people who just cover there quartered deer with ice, and just let the melted ice drain out the bottom of the cooler.

So I decided to give it a try yesterday after harvesting 2 deer.

I am seeing the meat turn grey. I'm sure the meat is OK but it dosn't look very appealing.

Should I proceed to keep it on ice for several days or cut it up and freeze it? Thanks for the advice.

Here in South Texas where it is not unusual to hunt deer in a T-shirt in January, chilling meat is problematic. Most of the time, if the weather is not cool, we quarter our deer into an ice chest, cover with ice and cover with water while adding ice. As long as everything is kept clean and the processing is done within a day or two no ill effects have been observed. Keep the ice on it and change the water/ice mixture. This will also draw much of the blood out of the meat. The sight of cooked coagulated blood only bothers one person in my houshold and she doesn't eat much anyway so this is not really a major concern to me but just thought I'd bring it up in case others were squemish about such things.

Alan

quote:

Originally posted by Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.:
This will also draw much of the blood out of the meat.

This is probably what you were noticing

Yes the meat takes on a white color but cooks up just like the rest. Only the very top layer gets white. I don't like keeping it like that more than 1 day but known it to be kept with ice for three or four days.

If anyone thinks this is the least bit detrimental to the meat, they probably should not visit a deer proccessing facility if they take their deer there.

Alan

I routinely keep it iced up to 5 days,and have never had a problem. Usually skin,quater and pack in ice as soon as we kill something, then cut and wrap when we have a chance. Killed an antelope on a Tuesday in Wyoming this fall,and flew back home on Saturday. (It was all boned out meat-had to carry it a LONG way!) It stayed packed in ice until we returned the rental (dumped the ice out there) Couldn't get dry ice, so meat flew home w/o any ice. Soon as we got out of the airport back home, we stopped and re-iced the coolers. Didn't cut/wrap until Sunday afternoon,and it's fine.

Alan,
Glad to see you here (HA poster!)

Most people I bring my meat to tell me to keep it away from water. I usually put a couple bags in with a quartered deer. That's enough to keep it cold and I periodically drain what water accumulates or leaks from the bags. The new 100 quart coolers I have keep the ice frozen for days. I just finished cutting up my mule deer from six days ago and the meat was very fresh.

Hey Dave, HA was gettin kinda slow and actualy I can't get it to load right now. I joined over here several years ago but couldn't keep up with two boards at one time. Kinda Feelin my way around over here now.

The weather has been too warm for me to work up much hunting enthusiasm. #1 son and a friend went to the ranch today. They didn't shoot anything. It's just too warm. Maybe next weekend.

Alan

Yes, the meat will discolor, but if you will keep the drain to your cooler open, and put something under your cooler, so that the drain is at the lowest point, the meat will be good for 5 or 6 days, even longer, as long as you are adding ice.

The melting ice will help pull blood out of the meat.

When in doubt, make a small cut in a piece of the meat. It will smell like fresh deer meat. If it smells bad, toss just the piece you have sampled.

If you are at home, de-boning the larger pieces also helps. JMO.

While putting the meat in ice is not supposed to hurt it, I never do it.

I used to be a butcher, and I like my meat to be red.

Here is what I do.

I put the meat in large trash bags, double bagged.

If hunting in warm weather I do not seal the bag in the cooler at first. I surround the bagged meat with ice. After it has cooled off I twist the bag to keep water out of the bag.

If you keep fresh ice on the meat, draining the water daily, or every other day in cooler weather you can keep the meat fresh for up to 2 weeks.

I have done this with elk, bear, and deer and for 8 or 9 days with wild pig meat.

The key is drain the water, and add fresh ice as necessary, do not skimp on the ice.

We drive out. From our home in W NY its 1961 miles to our spot in SW CO.
A combination of coolers and a small chest freezer works just fine for us.
This year we brought home three elk and a deer.
We were able to let it hang for three days and the meat stayed well chilled.
Boned out and in kitchen trash bags, we use the white ones-- easy to mark the contents. Half the meat fit in the freezer and the rest went in two coolers.
By freezing gallon jugs we have a constant supply of fresh ice and no water. Pulled the plug the morning we left and the freezer became an excellent cooler for the 2.5 day trip home.
We hit 70-80 degree temps and got everyting home in fine shape.
An extension cord suppied our power, luckily.
We have found that the freezer needs to be run a surprisingly short time, small generator would work very nicely if no power is available.
This has been our routine for the past two years. We have brought home seven elk and a deer without a problem.

That freezer idea is a good one. If you stop you can always plug in at a campsite or "borrow" with permission of course, from someone at various stops along the way. I have a power inverter in my truck and I've often wondered if a freezer could be run "in route" for limited periods. I may try it this year without water.

One aspect of using the water though is that, as clean as I try to keep the meat, there is always some hair that sticks to it. When immersed in water, it floats and can be removed.

Alan

TVC15,
Put your parts in a large industrial trash bag first then seal. I normally just tie it shut, pour on the ice, then close the lid of the cooler while the excess of the bag sticks out between the cooler and the lid,this acts as a secondary seal. The parts stay cold yet nothing comes in contact with the meat. I have kept meat cold this way over a week in the 50's.
P.S. It works well while camping to keep things
cool also.
Thanks, Doug

I use drum liners which dont break easy and I freeze gallon ice jugs.I rotate the ice every other day.My meat does turn white and is yummy.I have done alot of moose at 85 degrees this way which would have rotted other wise.I hate aged meat that turns black which is nasty.I have seen so many caribou and moose turned into dog food by haging them in 80 degree heat.I love meat thats aged in the cooler.You have to watch water on meat it can grow bacteria.Thats why I like the frozen jugs better than ice.I have aged meat a week or sop this way.If you ever get a bloodshot deer add salt it will draw out the blood also.I buttermilk on tough moose and deer also over night in the fridge.I only eat wild meat and process my own .

part of making wild game taste better is getting the blood out.
i dont see how just cooling it will do that.
i want it aged but i also want it brined to pull out the blood.

Some kitchen trash bags have a bacteriacide in them.
Have seen folks coming back across the country with car trailers, hauling ATVs,gear,etc, and freezers, with a small Honda gennie.

I've done the plastic bag route with the ice packed around on the outside of the meat bag..ice kept in separate plastic bags. I don't seal the meat bag, but allow the heat to escape from it. This has worked for twenty years so don't think I'll change now.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveP:
Killed an antelope on a Tuesday in Wyoming this fall,and flew back home on Saturday. (It was all boned out meat-had to carry it a LONG way!) It stayed packed in ice until we returned the rental (dumped the ice out there) Couldn't get dry ice, so meat flew home w/o any ice.

Surprised you couldn't get dry ice in Wyoming, most of the Smith's supermarkets have it and there's usually a listing in the phone book also. We did have trouble finding a meat cutter this time, had to go to Rock Springs or Green River (circumstances picked Green River for us).

We put a bag of water ice inside the antelope to cool it off while we drove to the meat cutter's place. If there is enough frozen meat in the cooler, it will stay frozen for a couple of days while I drive back (it's about 900 miles from our place to middle of Wyoming). The last trip to Montana it was frozen cold from there to Las Vegas, didn't need more cooling.

I usually soak it in salt water a little before cooking, to remove blood, but try to avoid plain water before then.

If you want to taste some great venison, soak it in iced salt water for 3-5 days.

We have insulated soaking vats next to our skinning racks. We gut and skin as soon as we can, then we place them in a vat, cover with water, pour approx 1 lb of salt in the water, and cover with ice. Drain the water and place fresh ice and salt on the meat each day. The meat will nearly be white when it's removed and it results in some of the best venison you can get.

Good Luck

Reloader

That's how I used to cure pork shoulders and side meat for smoking. I would use more salt than that though.

Alan

We put them on ice for several days leaving the drain plug open so the bloody water drains. It helps bleed-out the deer meat. Besides, here in South Louisiana when we Cajuns get through cooking it you can't tell what kind of meat it was anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by BEGNO:
We put them on ice for several days leaving the drain plug open so the bloody water drains. It helps bleed-out the deer meat. Besides, here in South Louisiana when we Cajuns get through cooking it you can't tell what kind of meat it was anyway.

or that it was ever meat to begin with.
i hunt w/ some coon asses in S AR every year. they start a mess of red beans on friday and never take it off the stove, they just keep adding stuff all week. the first couple of days i wont touch it. by the fourth or fifth day i can walk past the kitchen w/o dipping into it.