Time before spoil

In this hot weather, how much time do you think you'd have to get a deer to a cooler or skinned and cut up before it goes bad? ( I'm new to hot weather bowhunting)

Also, has anyone ever lost their use of a truck and had to haul a deer in their car's trunk? If so, how did you keep the car clean to avoid a divorce?

I don't let them lay any longer than to be sure they dead.

Use lots of plastic. i know a guy who put 3 does in his trunk one day and he's still driving the car 3 years later.

Before I moved here this year, I had a buddy with a cooler at his house, so there was never any problem with spoiling. I know some guys out west that say at 65 degrees, they'll hang the deer in the shade and put a ton of black pepper on the exposed meat. I'm thinking about getting an old fridge and skin the deer as quickly as possible, then quarter it and put the quarters in the fridge until I can get it cut up. I don't like to pay as easy as it is to do, but I might have to this year.

As for the truck issue, my wife and I had 2 cars and one truck. The truck was the oldest and we couldn't move all three. I thought by now I'd have another, but things never seem to go as planned. Skipping the season is not an option. I'll get a roll of painters plastic or something, roll them up, and put 'em in the trunk.

Florida Cracker Hot weather deer cooler..

Big Igloo is it... Down in Florida, many folks in my neck of the woods would field dress till they could get it somewhere they could skin & quarter the deer and pack on ice... add ice daily and let the bloody water drain out... some would keep this up for 3+days. Some would use old milk jugs filled with water(frozen in that empty freezer before hand) so as not to drain the blood others would use gas station bags of ice/water to drain the gamey taste out...But everyone agreed on aging the meat 3-4 days :speechles :speechles

Me personally, I take em to them processor ASAP. Matter of fact I usually use the closest processor to the place I'm hunting since the breeze gets shot out pretty well by the time I get packed up...

3-4 days????? Heck,, that doesn't do much of anything. I leave my meat in an ice chest for 15-20 days. :speechles
I put fresh ice on every day and keep the frozen ice broken up. If you let the ice freeze together in a clump it creates a lot of air around the meat and that is where you get spoilage. I know 15-20 days sounds like a lot but it's no different than aging beef. It makes the enzyms in the meat start to break down creating tender meat.
But, Definitly get the meat in an ice chest and on ice A.S.A.P.! If you have to travel with the deer to get it to a processer. Gut the deer, then pack bags of ice in the chest and stomach cavity,,, not just 1 orr 2,,, as many as possible.

15-20 days?

Geez thats a lot of ice! I know aging beef is common, but thought that was due to all the fat in beef that took so long... I thought venison could be done shorter. I never heard of anyone icing down for more than 5 days or so, but then we were always to lazy or maybe since I was prone to accidents with knives in my youth my Dad steered me away from processing our own deer.....

Go to Sam’s club or Wal-Mart and buy one of those larger coolers you know the 100 to 150 quart size. Put your deer, and ice in there. The trunk of the wife’s car stays clean and so does the back of your truck. When I do a deer, it is skinned and dressed and placed whole in one of those coolers and iced down. Then to the butchers we go.

As soon as I get the deer field dressed I throw in a couple bags of ice and head for home. I can usuall have one quartered up and in the fridge within 3 hours of a kill. I will leave it in the fridge for three or four days before i begin to process it . If i am going to be at camp for a few days i will keep it iced down and wrapped in a tarp .Add ice daily.

cajoz said:

Also, has anyone ever lost their use of a truck and had to haul a deer in their car's trunk? If so, how did you keep the car clean to avoid a divorce?

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Get you a tarp and some old newspapers. Line the trunk with the tarp and the tarp with the newspaper. The newspaper soaks any fluids.

I once hauled 2 8 points and a 5 point in the back of a Bonneville

Thanks everyone!