DIY deer cooler ideas

[Grill-n-man]

DoeSlayer1 As long as you keep the meat iced down and the water draining the meat is perfectly fine. Ive been doing this since one of my dad's friends showed me roughly 0ver 30 years ago and he was doing the same before he showed me and is still doing it to this day. The meat is supposed to change colors while in the cooler on ice. The animal is dead so no blood nor oxygen is getting to it, the salt is drawing out the blood, the vinegar is breaking down the muscle fibers (tenderizing), and its cold in there. Blck and green are the the colors you dont want to see. I completely understand being hesitant and in regards to bad meat is never a bad idea to think on it but the more you do the more you will understand. Its kinda like potted meat when you open the can, aint no way does it look like you an eat it or should but its fine and wont hurt you.

 

[WTM]

clean unscented trash bags, cooler and ice. i debone everything except for the front legs. 1" layer of ice in bottom of cooler, open a trash bag and place deboned cuts spreading them out within the bag not touching. fold the bag over a let out the air. place another bag next to it and repeat. place another 1" or 2 layer of ice over that and continue. when you get to the last bags cover with ice all the way to the top. open drain plug to drain. once a day add ice to top if needed. in winter you wont have to add ice. 5-7 days is about perfect.

the bags act like a skin to protect the meat from the ice and water. it keeps from getting dark spots on the meat and helps hold the enzymes in the meat. there is very little trim loss with this method.

contrary to popular belief that is not blood in the meat, its myoglobin which contains enzymes to break down and tenderize the meat. suck that out of the meat and you end up with a gray flavorless piece of meat. its the same liquid that comes out of a medium rare steak.