# Meat quality of deer left overnight?



## JWaltrip (Dec 30, 2006)

Last two times I have backed out my meat quality has been gone. Coyotes have beaten me to it. I would discourage waiting til morning for a recovery.


----------



## OBAN (Jun 25, 2006)

hauntedbyelk said:


> I see this advice all the time. If you take a shot in the evening, wait a while and start tracking. If you don't find the deer right away, back out and leave it alone to avoid pushing it out of it's bed and losing it. Come back the next morning and hopefully find it.
> I can't help but wonder what kind of shape the meat is in the next day when you recover the animal. I'm a long time rifle hunter and most of my animals were recovered within minutes, field dressed and cooled out immediately. I can't help but wonder what the meat is like if you leave a deer overnight at various temperatures.


I think we're good on that haunted! Supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. White Pass opens this weekend for skiing. I'm like you in that I've never had to leave one overnight yet, knock on wood! A brother of mine had to back out on an elk last year and I found her the next morning. After the coyotes beat me to her.


----------



## 18javelin (Aug 13, 2005)

Most times i have had to wait, my Meat was fine. I usually dont wait till next morning though 6 hours maybe in which case i pray the yotes dont get to it first.


I let the weather/ area/ other factor dictate on the value of waiting it out. You just have to take everything into consideration on what is best for your senario. And then pray you have done the right thing. :darkbeer:


----------



## junglerooster1 (Jul 23, 2009)

*any i have left*

have been fine you may lose some meat due to coyotes but if not the meat is just fine.


----------



## Archeroni (Oct 3, 2008)

I don't know anyone in "real life" that does this for the aforementioned reasons (spoilage and yotes).

I see it on TV shows, what little I watch them. I think the main reason there is the TV hunters could care less about the meat along as the rack and cape are in-tact.


----------



## StrutStopper (Sep 3, 2003)

I was tracking with my lantern last year and lost blood after about 50 yards. Not wanting to disturb whatever trail I may have been missing in the dark, I backed out. Temps were in the mid - upper 40s overnight. I returned the next morning to find my deer pretty close to where I quit looking. It was a bit bloated and stanky when I dressed it. After hanging for a week in the walk-in, the meat was just fine.


----------



## hauntedbyelk (May 3, 2009)

Any other experiences on deer left overnight? How did the meat turn out?


----------



## Charman03 (Jul 31, 2006)

as long as it's not too warm out I have had no problems. Heck I left one in the high 40 one night and it was fine except for the little bit of nibbling by a fox i think


----------



## TN-Deer (Sep 22, 2009)

I have left deer overnight and they were fine! I believe that if the temp is 35 or so it will be ok. On the other hand we have left them over night only to come back to find half the deer. We now have a dog to track on a leash. And it is the best move we ever made!!!!!


----------



## bagel77 (Feb 1, 2008)

Guess I am the downer here. I have been around deer that were left overnight....The quality goes down FAST. you might get some useable but generally....its shot. From my experience. As far as being okay if left out in cool weather...can't a gree with that either. I know of some one that lost a deer that sat out in below 0 temps in snow. The problem is even after death the insides are warm and full of bacteria. Regardless of outside temps inside is warm and breeding nasty stuff. This is my experience maybe you have been lucky.


----------



## 92python (Jul 24, 2006)

I backed out on a big doe this year that I gut / liver shot right before dark. It died 25 yards from impact and found it in the AM. 

It was a bit stinky when gutting it but after a quick rinse with a hose and a few hour hang the meat was perfect when I butchered it later that evening.

It was about 35 degrees that evening.


----------



## spike camp (Jun 2, 2008)

i dont have much experience with deer,but plenty with elk.
ive had to wait until morning a number of times and the meat has always been good. thats with temps down to around 38-40.
the only time meat went bad was on one side of a cow elk that i packed in snow after finding her. i couldnt pack out that night and when i came back 12 hours later,it had turned. the snow insulated the meat and caused it to spoil.


----------



## three under (May 17, 2007)

I have never left one over night but I have paunch hit a couple during the morning hunt that I backed out for 6 hours and then recovered in the afternoon and they tasted fine.

I read a mag article where the author actually uses the yotes to find his deer occasionaly. He says he tips toes out of the woods grabs a thermus of coffee and then returns to the woods to just sit and listen. When he hears barks and yips he quickly moves in to run the yotes of his deer.


----------



## trebor69 (Jul 31, 2005)

below 45 degrees I wouldnt hesitate to eat it if found first thing the next morning

obviously the deer isn't going to smell like a fresh heart shot deer...but I don't think the meat is spoiled

if temps are in the 50s or higher I think youre pretty much SOL on next day recoveries


----------



## pjwatson05 (Sep 18, 2008)

I shot a buck 2 yrs ago & left over night with temps in the 40's & he was fine in the mourning.


----------



## fikester (Nov 8, 2009)

Myself and family members have left deer overnight, hung deer for 2-3 days in temps above 40/50F and none, and none of us ever got sick from eating the meat. We have used this method for many years with no issues at all. Coyotes are not in large numbers here, yet.


----------



## Skeeter 58 (Jan 25, 2009)

I lost some elk meat once from leaving it over night. About 5-7 pounds spoiled. I will never do that again if there is any way around it.


----------



## mshannon (Dec 10, 2008)

*deer after a night around 40-50 degrees*

I just shot a deer and backed out it was around 45 degrees that night. Most of the meat was fine I put a good double lung shot a bit high on the deer at dark and did not find alot of blood. The only thing that I advise is to be careful when you gut the deer it will be bloated a bit. I dod not know whether I caught a little of a intestine but definetly not part of its stomach but the juices came out onto the back hams and pretty much they were done. You cannot hardly get that smell off the meat after that. Everything else was good backstraps and front shouldersand the top off the hams.


----------



## eskimoohunt (Dec 21, 2008)

Archeroni said:


> I don't know anyone in "real life" that does this for the aforementioned reasons (spoilage and yotes).
> 
> I see it on TV shows, what little I watch them. I think the main reason there is the TV hunters could care less about the meat along as the rack and cape are in-tact.


I couldnt agree more. When have you ever seen a TV guy back out on a doe.

you dont. If they were concerned about the meat they wouldnt back out as much. They want antlers to pick up, sit down on the ground 3 feet behind the rack to make it look bigger for the camera.

I have never had to do it, but i would be more concerned about coyotes if it was cold enough to leave. If it wasnt going into the upper 30's at nite i wouldnt even consider it. To me if the meat was gone--- what a waste


----------



## archer36 (May 11, 2009)

Obviously, meat quality suffers if the carcass is not cooled immediately after death. It's a matter of degree, from barely noticeable to ukey:. Alot of factors go into this such as temps and location of hit. If at all possible, recover the deer ASAP if you are concerned for the meat.


----------



## C-NOGLE (Jan 6, 2003)

This season I shot 2 nice bucks,one with a recurve and one with a compound. Both deer were hit in the liver and bottom lobe on 1 lung. I bumped recurve hit deer after 2.5 hours of waiting and finally took a follow up shot at 2:30 PM Deer meat was fine and the temps were about 55 degrees outside. Deer #2 was bedded with his head on the ground sideways and jumped out of his bed an hour and 45 minutes later. We decided to let him go overnight because I was confused about how the deer managed to live with a seemingly fatal shot. Went back the next morning at 1st light and the deer had spoiled very badly. What I learned form this season was:
better to wait vs. push an animal but certain hits (like liver shot) can cause accelerated decomposition due to the poisioning of the bloodstream by liver failure. Deer are very tough animals and when they are cornered they are good at running out of our lives forever. I hate that I lost the meat, but I can honestly say that backing out in some cases in the best way to ensure the animal expires close to the bloodtrail and initial impact point. I have learned that any hit aside from double lung and heart should be followed with caution and patience.


----------



## swampdonkeysk (Jul 8, 2008)

bagel77 said:


> Guess I am the downer here. I have been around deer that were left overnight....The quality goes down FAST. you might get some useable but generally....its shot. From my experience. As far as being okay if left out in cool weather...can't a gree with that either. I know of some one that lost a deer that sat out in below 0 temps in snow. The problem is even after death the insides are warm and full of bacteria. Regardless of outside temps inside is warm and breeding nasty stuff. This is my experience maybe you have been lucky.


:thumbs_up Left a moose overnight in -5C temps and found him first thing the next morning. No guts were hit at all and he never smelled bad either. Hung him for three days then started cutting him up and he was green everywhere(cleared the room out pretty quick). Lesson learned, next time go in at night and find it!!


----------



## maxx532 (Feb 24, 2007)

Good Thread...
A lot of variables, but it's been my experience that the smaller the animal, the better chance it will be ok. Obviously the best thing would be, get the guts out and skin it soon as it quits kicking. Then hang your meat until it is aged to your liking.

Often that just aint possible... Bigger critters ie. Moose, Bear, probably Elk.

Don't seem to fare well when they can't be cooled out quickly. 

Not saying it's going to kill you to eat it, but it's just not a good feed. My 2ct.


----------



## hauntedbyelk (May 3, 2009)

*To the top*

Any more experiences with animals lef out overnight?


----------



## Rford (Jul 24, 2008)

*Yup*

Buck double lung shot. Left over night (10 hours) in 50 degree weather. Spoiled. 

Doe left in 40 degree weather (10 hours). Yotes ate her. 

l've decided to stop leaving them but to give them at least an hour before searching. What happens to me is I'll shoot one at dusk and get anxious because I'm losing the light and end up getting down too soon and pushing a mortally wounded deer when if I'd just waited a while longer it would have keeled over.


----------



## hauntedbyelk (May 3, 2009)

*Any more stories of deer left overnight?*

How was the meat quality when recovered?


----------

