Is it ok to soak a dead deer in clean creek water to preserve meat?(Creek cooler than ambient temperature) For instance warm weather today, kill this am,and want to hunt the evening without coming out of the woods.
Dead Deer in Water
- Thread starter ronnycl
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Bone Collector
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Ice is how I would do it, but you'd have to leave.
That would be out of my comfort zone
We talking East TN mountain stream? Or regular ole creek? I wouldn't hesitate in a mountain stream.
No, no, and no! Water creates bacteria and also makes meat mushy. I either hang deer (weather permitting) or quarter and put them in a cooler on a rack above the ice. I wouldn't recommend letting the meat get wet.
younggun308
Well-Known Member
Seems worth clarifying at this point in the thread whether one is going to field dress the deer before sticking it in the mountain stream.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Field dressing to maximize the surface area of the meat exposed to bacteria in the water?
Unless I was confident the water was below 40*, and I'm completely confident that no tn creek is that cold in November, I wouldn't even consider soaking my deer in a creek.
Hence the reason for an East TN mountain stream. I would absolutely leave a deer in it all day, during September we quarter them and get them soaking to cool them down
Some spring fed creeks can produce very cold water, but I don't know that I would be comfortable leaving a deer in creek water.
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Nope , water of any kind starts bacterial growth, the reason lots of meat taste off.
GOODWIN
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quarter put meat in plastic water tight bag then in creek. I would not want meat getting wet
megalomaniac
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Exactly, this is the way to do it!
I was referring to whole deer field dressed
Bone Collector
Well-Known Member
I would not do that. I would just take ice in a cooler and if I got one Stuff the cavity full of ice bags and cover it with something to keep it out of the sun.
or if you have a big enough cooler, quarter it and put it on ice.
this
I was even told not to wash them out after gutting before you quarter them out by a Taxidermist because of what you just said (bacteria)
So you guys have me kinda confused, which ain't hard, here's my confusion. We hunt south Cherokee and the cohutta wma in ga. East TN mountains. Anyway alot of times we have to pack the meat out a couple miles in the heat. According to what I've read here it would be better to stick the hot quarters in a pack and get them out compared to cooling the meat down completely and then pack it out? I don't think I want to do that, sometimes it takes several hours to get a deer out of a mountain hell hole and there's no way I could trust that meat after being in the heat that long.
Popcorn
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The expected temp of cold water springs is 52 degrees year round. To be less than that it would need to be glacier melt. Below 40 to retard bacteria. Gut prop open and hang as long as the meat temp is going down you should be fine.
GOODWIN
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No we are saying keep the meat dry. Any water will breed bacteria especially creek water
Benelli 4 Life
Well-Known Member
I'd bet that over half the deer I've ever killed I've gutted and threw in a branch to cool off for 15-20 minutes. That's always been something we have done. It'll cool em down in a hurry
I think I understand where y'all are coming from but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree, we've always done that and nobody has ever gotten sick. My uncle did try to eat one that had been out in the heat to long and almost died from food poisoning.
We need to pack the meat out as soon as possible. I don't think the meats going to last too long in 70 degrees and up. Especially 5 or 6 hrs. We've always cooled the quarters down in the creek before packing out and nobody has ever gotten sick. Even eat my tenderloin rare Why stop now?
Here's the short version for the correct answer to your question. If it's warm out and you got a long ways to go you can absolutely cool the meat off in a cold stream. AS LONG AS you put it in unscented trash bags tied and zip tied off to keep water out but that takes about as long as just packing one out even if it takes several hours.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
The quickest way to cool the meat is to expose as much of it to air ASAP. The best way to do that is skin, quarter, and hang the quarters, even if it's 70 degrees outside (in the shade). If you do that, the meat will still be good 36 to 48h later, esp if covered in cheesecloth to keep the flies off it. No need to dump the carcass in a creek.
