HUNTING Keeping healthy means not mishandling game
Don't rely on luck to avoid illness.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Luck is the only reasonable explanation for why many hunters have not gotten sick from eating game that was mishandled before it reached a processor.
It's odd that otherwise intelligent people would allow a piece of raw meat to sit or hang outside for hours, sometimes days, in temperatures common during some states' hunting season. Then they toss the animal in the bed of a pickup and drive for hours with or without a bag of ice melting within the body cavity. This might keep the ribs and tenderloins cold but would do nothing to retard bacteria growth in the hindquarters, depending on weather.
I know what some of you are thinking. For years hunters would strap their kills to the hoods of automobiles for the drive home and they never got sick. Yes they did. That's why we don't do that anymore.
Consider some common missteps.
Bacteria soup
Many hunters put a large animal in a small ice chest. The animal is field dressed, sometimes skinned sometimes not, and submerged in a mixture of ice, water, blood and mud. Parts of the animal are exposed and sticking out of the ice chest. Every now and then, the urine-soaked or musk-soaked hind legs of deer will taint this bacteria soup in which your meat is bathing. Talk about gamey.
It's best to remove the musk gland on bucks as soon as possible. On a doe, especially during the rut, remove the urine-soaked rear legs if possible.
Field dress ASAP
Field dress as soon as possible and remove all the guts. Thoroughly clean with water the entire body cavity, making sure to remove blood, stomach contents, fecal matter, dirt and grass. Remove the bladder and cut away the anal area too. The flavor of your meat will reflect your diligence.
If you skin the animal, clean it and ice it down. Leave ice in bags. Block ice is better than cubes. Better yet, freeze water in plastic containers. This requires planning, which is key to doing it right.
If the ambient temperature is 50 degrees or cooler, it's probably better to leave the skin on your deer. Hanging in the shade, it'll be OK for about 24 hours. Game processors can more cleanly skin animals.
Skin and ice
Fully skin the animal and ice it down if the temperature is above 50 degrees and certainly if it's approaching 70. Quarter it if you must to keep it cool. This goes double for any big game with a high fat content.
Try to drain the water from ice chests containing meat. Continue to pack the meat in ice until it reaches the processor.
And remember that it's just as important to keep cooled the head and hide you intend to have mounted. Bacteria could destroy the hide and result in loss of fur.