help me im a moron and think I spoiled my deer meat

ok disclaimer i just got into hunting and am apparently an idiot. so it was my first time on my own and I shot an axis deer this morning at around 9. thought hey its early the deer are still moving maybe I can get another one down. well I didnt and didnt come back to bone out the meat til around 2ish and the thing is bloated flies are swarming and yea it was 80 degrees sunny (it was in the shade) but im not smart. I took as much meat as I could and put it in a garbage bag and then a little soft cooler til I got back to where im staying around 5 and then put some ice on the bottom of the cooler and ice on top of the bag til I get home which will be around 8. the meat was warm and had a little bit of a pungent odor, not rancid and (but like my hands smell a little bit after I touch it) when I put the ice in the cooler. how will I know if its completely spoiled? can I brine it and save it and what would the solution consist of. please help I promise to never wait ever again to field dress!
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I'll let more experienced hunters chime in, but a few things if I may. First, props for taking the high road and asking this question in the first place. Second, if you take an animal, dress it immediately. It is illegal in at least one state to take a game animal and continue hunting before that kill has been properly tagged and processed. Third, I think you aren't hunting in the proper frame of mind. If the first thought after shooting an animal is to let it lay and try to shoot another, to me, that is disrespectful to both the animal and to hunting. Hunting is NOT about quantity killing. You are taking the life of an animal for yourself to feed on and that is something you should hold with utmost respect. If you get an early morning kill then dress it and get it on ice. If it is still early, go back out afterwards or go at sunset when they will be moving again.

A little bit of greed may have ended in a wasted death and wasted meat - neither are acceptable.

Congrats on your first animal but I urge you to consider what I said above, in addition to your own feelings in the OP.

Hunting is a beautiful privilege and you took it way too lightly, IMO.

 

I'm here just to learn myself. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say it's still OK but just not in its prime. Anybody who knows WTF they're talking about should chime in before you listen to me though.

 

I agree with the second post, and also, your meat is bad I wouldn't eat it. If you shot the deer at night time and couldn't track it till morning, it may still be good but for it still having the guts in it for that long in the sun not good. Always take care of the first animal before moving onto pursue another. And as far as my state goes you can only shoot one deer a year, if you have a tag.

 

I've let ducks and geese sit all day in the bottom of a blind but it would normally be about ~50 degrees out. There are so many variables in your situation that the only solution for you to do is cook up some of the meat and see how it comes out. If its overly greasy before cooking or retains a foul odor after cooking it's obviously bad. Don't throw it in the trash. Walk back out to where you shot it and let the scavengers of nature have the meat.

Secondly, as already said, what you did is completely unethical and morally wrong. I understand you're new to hunting, but putting down your first deer is a gigantic accomplishment that you seem to have taken for granted by trying to down a second animal. Give the animal's life more respect next time. Savor the moment. When it comes to hunting getting 1 of an animal always feels a bit sweeter than getting 2.

You owe it to the animal to try to do everything possible to salvage the meat though.

 

This. I was taught never to kill anything I wouldn't eat, whether it was a game animal, a frog, or a crow. Try to save the meat, or at minimum give it back to other animals so it isn't completely wasted. Great advice.

 

you were selfish and should write the property owner an apology for wasting one of his tags.

 

As an experienced hunter and licensed guide let me also chime in with the fact that game animals meat does normally not smell good. Society has us so used to 'clean-smelling' raw meats, that we're not sure what is edible and what has gone bad. Most animals give off a gamey or foul odor when the meat is raw: shark, sea-ducks, warm deer.....You'll smell it on your hands for the next few days and won't be able to get the smell out.

In all honesty the meat is probably fine if cooked thoroughly. Better yet have it all turned into jerky. But I do hope you learned a valuable lesson.

 

ok easy ranger ricks. I know I screwed up I said I screwed up my wife is going to kill me I know I feel like crap.i just wanted an answer to the question. how will I know if ite bad and is there anything I can do to save it or make it taste better. and deer in hawaii are an invasive species they are cause a lot of destruction hence the ability to hunt archery 365 days a yesr unlimited bag limit so maybe u feel better now? they fly around on helicopters with ar15s slaughtering them because the proboem is out of control. I know I screwed up I was just excited it was my first time and i wanted to get my moneys worth. im sorry I hope u feel better now. anyone else who wants to answer the question please feel free to answer.

ps thanks 707 for answering the question didnt see your response as I was typing when u replied

 

I know you're not in Alaska, but walking into the stix with a bag full of raw or cooked meat to give back to the animals would pretty much be attempted suicide up here. I'd think long and hard before I did that. Understand where they're coming from, but what's done is done. Putting yourself at risk isn't going to change anything.

 

Wow. Ranger Ricks? Put the rifle away and grow up.

I'm out.

You want your money's worth? Eat it all then and find out. Don't ever pretend you're a hunter.

 

im not bashing ethical hunters. i know i made a mistake i just dont want to be lectured about it because i get it, i messed up. obviously in hindsight i would have done things differently. i just want to know how i possibly redeem the situation and if not all is lost. i think of myself as an ethical hunter. but we all make mistakes. when i realized that the thing was bloated, stiff and swarming with flies i knew i screwed up but i didnt walk away. i dressed it and boned it out to try and salvage what i could.

 

I think that's bad advice. Two primary types of food poisoning are possible in this scenario - microbial and microbial by-product(enterotoxins). Cooking will deal with the first, but it can't deal with the latter. If sufficient toxins are in the animal tissue, game over, have fun in the ER hooked to an I.V. and wishing you were dead. Normally enterotoxins aren't an issue, since we cook our food first from properly dressed animals. But if they accumulate in the prey animal, you can't get rid of them.

If it was late season in the mountains where the daytime temp was 45F? Sure, dress that sucker out, hang it in the bag for a week, then chow down. 80F? Not for me.

 

Do they make you go through Hunter Ed. in Hawaii before they give you a hunting license? If so, perhaps the Hateorade should be directed at your H.E. instructor(s).

 

This. ^^^^

Once the heart stops beating, you are in a race against the clock. And if it's a big animal with a big fat layer (bears!), the clock has a big head start, hates you, and banged your girlfriend in the backdoor last night.

Hrm, I hope the OP took the organ meats. The heart is probably still OK, come to think of it. Kidneys are probably a waste, but the liver may have survived too.

 

then there are the scent glands, if they weren't cut out as quickly as possible, you will have meat that will never taste right...as others have said, time is of the essence getting it dressed...

I am sure next time you will be more successful...

BTW, 'bloated, stiff and swarming with flies' is way too late to dress down and have completely safe meat...

 

so if you never gutted it out, then I wouldnt touch it then.

 

Yall stop trying to beat him up. Everyone is new at some point. At least he is willing to learn from his error and do better next run.

If it was me, I wouldn't eat it. But you can use it for other stuff. Make dog food and chews! The antlers are great for chew things, some of the bones splinter though so I'd watch em.

Used to, before I moved up here in the city, if I had any spoiled meat from the last year, I used to bait coyotes on it and kill as many of those bastards as I could. Farmers will thank you too, and you can make a jacket to boot!

 

I'm not gonna bother bashing the op about ethics and all this other stuff since he at least is asking the right questions now. Most deer I've killed always seem instantly bloated especially during archery season (when it starts in September) and the temps are high. As previously stated, all wild game tends to smell strong. Deer are a menace all over, but a welcomed menace for me...I'm thankful. If it were a hog (on the big island), I'd say your screwed, but it's venison. Make jerky as suggested...the old fashion way was to hang it on a line outside! lol. Just trying to put it into perspective. I personally am anal about handling an animal after the kill (any monkey can pull a trigger) it's how you handle and respect the animal afterwards. How did you field dress it? Did you use the same knife field dressing to debone it? Were there glands? Was it a good shot (not a gut shot right)? etc...the way a hunter handles the meat in many ways determines the flavor and condition of the meat on the plate. I like to take care of my venison from field to table, so I do all my own butchering, etc. If you continue to hunt and I assume you will, place more emphasis on the handling of the animal after the kill from now on by having the right tools and equipment (large cooler with ice, trash bags for organs) ready to go. I don't doubt that you will.

 

Everyone's gotta learn...Next time use your head, you know that. But, in my experience, I cut all my deer up in my back yard myself. No saws or bone cutters so it takes time but the meat is delicious! Last year I shot a doe in the early archery season, it was probably 75 degrees in the morning atleast. Took me awhile to get her out of the woods and everything seemed fine. Only thing I always caution about is not the smell, but the discoloration of any meat, this is usually around where you shot it... other then that, usually everything is okay.