spoiled meat

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Allan
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spoiled meat

Post by Allan »

I'll try to keep this short.
My nephew shot a nice buck on Thursday last week around 4:30 pm. We collected the buck on Friday morning around 9:30 am the temperature throughout the night was 2 to 5 degrees Celsius. We gutted it when we collected it.

After hanging the deer for just over a week, we butchered it deer on Satrtday (one week one day). The temps during the week were between -2 and plus 4 Celcius. I cold not have asked for better aging temps.

ISSUE the fat (lard) near the groin was SAGE GREEN, and the meat near the arteries in the groin area was also SAGE GREEN and it had a "BAD" scent. All the other meat was regular red. Why is the fat green in the groin area and the meat in the same around the arteries green? I did a "next morning" collection once before but the temperature was quite a bit colder with no issues.
Is the green because we gutted it late OR because we did not clean it well enough after we gutted it?

I think it is because of the time delay to gut it initially but that is my guess. Help

I don't want this to happen again.

Thanks
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one shot scott
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by one shot scott »

I cant say for sure what may have caused it. Could be anything. Could have been a wound he had that festered and spread once deceased, may have been from gutting. may have been from the internal organs settling and leaking as it lay till the next morning (doubt this). May have been the temp variations. I have heard of others having this as well. But one way have avoided it would have been to skin/process it sooner and eliminate the obvious damage before it spread. As a rule I do not age/hang my deer no matter how old the buck for more than a few days. And even then I'm getting nervous. And that is in a controlled environment. All venison I get is top shelf. buck, doe fawn all taste pretty much the same.

that's just my opinion. I know there are those who swear by hanging and some who don't. I dont

edit- I don't think the issue was how long it was sitting before gutting it -unless it was gut shot. I have found many deer in the same time frame and never had a problem. were the guts punctured during the gutting process?
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hunter with MS
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by hunter with MS »

I have had that happen a time or two chances are it was not cleaned well enough of blood clots and any material that may be on the meat . I rinse the whole deer inside and out for five minutes or so with a hose with good clean water. Making sure I get all the material off . Another place that can spoil if not taken care of is the throat area .
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Boo
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by Boo »

Skinning and hanging the carcass both cool the animal and reduces the chances of spoiling. So the sooner, the better. The hide and the ground are great insulators.
Deboning in the field may have been the best opton.
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artifact
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by artifact »

hunter with MS wrote:I have had that happen a time or two chances are it was not cleaned well enough of blood clots and any material that may be on the meat . I rinse the whole deer inside and out for five minutes or so with a hose with good clean water. Making sure I get all the material off . Another place that can spoil if not taken care of is the throat area .
I would tend to agree with this as the probable cause.
When we hunted Maine, we often left deer hang in cold weather for quite awhile and never had a problem. Every deer was trimmed out the next day as stated above, wiped down internally with a wet rag, and the cavity propped open with a stick to cool, and then left to hang until the trip home.
May not be the cause, but improper handling of the meat can/will result in what you are describing.
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MTBighorn
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by MTBighorn »

If a deer has to be left overnight with the guts in it... It cannot be saved. I know they do it on TV but most of those deer get donated.

The stench of gutting a bloated deer the next morning makes it obvious it's not suitable for food anymore... It's sad truth.

The green is usually from the powerful stomach acids leaking through... it's actually called Green belly in the fur industry. Canines are really bad for it!
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Flecha
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by Flecha »

Other more experienced hunters may disagree with me, but we never let an animal lay any longer than necessary. So unless it was a poor shot (happens to everyone sooner or later I reckon) and deer wanders far, we track and field dress and usually skin within a couple of hours of killing at most. I find it easier to skin when warm and it helps cool the meat quickly. If it's going to hang overnight before quartering, we'll wrap in plastic bag to it doesn't dry out. Also, if anything more than near-freezing out, we'll quarter, clean carcass, and put in coolers to 'age' for a couple of days before processing on spam table. I don't want my meat sitting in contact with body fluids, stomach contents, or anything else, any longer than necessary. And a dead animal on ground, with intact cavity, will stay warm for an amazing length of time...
Hunt it
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by Hunt it »

Once bacteria starts the temps you are dealing with would not stop it. The deer needed to be processed right away not hung in those temperatures. Any good butcher would have trimmed off any areas concerned about and salvaged the rest. If you hung the deer with the hide on that was another big no no. After laying that long it should have been skinned right away after you found it to aid in cooling it down faster. The hide is insulation that is not needed in this case - sub zero and recovered within a few hours then fine to leave it on.
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nchunterkw
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by nchunterkw »

I lost some hind qtrs. this year in a similar fashion. Temps were high here - like 90F, so when I shot the deer I immediately gutted it and got it home. Then I skinned it and boned it out and put all of the meat in a refrigerator. This has never been an issue for me before, but my older fridge was bigger. The new one is a bit smaller and I could not fit everything in the main area, so I put some hinds in the crisper drawer. 4 days later I went to cut it up and the hind had turned. Nothing green but the smell was off. Butcher told me to toss it (that hurt) and the reason was the crisper drawers keep things about 10 degrees warmer than the main refrigerator area. So even with that set at about 38F, that meat turned.....guessing it was at about 48F. Also limited air flow.

A hard lesson, but one I won't forget.

I would think in your case that the green stuff and anything that smells bad should be thrown out. But anything that cooled enough and smells normal will be OK.

As was already said, getting that hide off would have helped a lot.
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paulaboutform
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by paulaboutform »

Aging beef is not like aging wild game. You don't have the fat marbling in game that you have in beef so you aren't accomplishing anything by trying to age game. I've had this explained to me by a few butchers, two of them being European trained and certified which is at least three years of training. That being said, I try to gut, skin, quarter and process my game as quickly as possible. I lost a bear years ago by trying to age it and not having the meat cold enough.

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Re: spoiled meat

Post by Tom »

paulaboutform wrote:Aging beef is not like aging wild game. You don't have the fat marbling in game that you have in beef so you aren't accomplishing anything by trying to age game. I've had this explained to me by a few butchers, two of them being European trained and certified which is at least three years of training. That being said, I try to gut, skin, quarter and process my game as quickly as possible. I lost a bear years ago by trying to age it and not having the meat cold enough.

Paul
Sorry Paul but I have to disagree with your statement.

Hanging wild game does help break down the meat. Also, from my experiences, it will also break down a real strong wild taste which some deer have.

If a deer has been heavy in the RUT cycle, or has been fighting, the deer meat can easily be lost no matter how it is looked after during processing especially if that animal has been HORNED during a fight. A loosing deer will usually get horned in the hind quarters as it tries to leave.

Since a deer gets "really heated up" during a rut, extra caution needs to be taken.

Tom
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one shot scott
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by one shot scott »

A butcher told me once that white vinegar is useful for cleaning the cavity of a deer if you suspect contamination. I have always had clean tap water nearby and used that, sometimes for 20 mins or more. I'm anal about clean meat pardon the pun. but using water that is not clean can bring issues as well. That is why vinegar was recommended but I have never personally used it.
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Tom
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by Tom »

one shot scott wrote:A butcher told me once that white vinegar is useful for cleaning the cavity of a deer if you suspect contamination. I have always had clean tap water nearby and used that, sometimes for 20 mins or more. I'm anal about clean meat pardon the pun. but using water that is not clean can bring issues as well. That is why vinegar was recommended but I have never personally used it.
We always have a few jugs of vinegar and clean cloths to wipe down the meat. Vinegar does a few good things. It helps clean the meat and keep flies away. Soak the rags liberally and wipe down rigorously. This will not harm the meat.

Tom
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Boo
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by Boo »

Tom, I've talked to a couple of butcher including one that was an instructor in a community college and they have all agreed with what Paul said.
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Re: spoiled meat

Post by papabear1 »

paulaboutform wrote:Aging beef is not like aging wild game. You don't have the fat marbling in game that you have in beef so you aren't accomplishing anything by trying to age game. I've had this explained to me by a few butchers, two of them being European trained and certified which is at least three years of training. That being said, I try to gut, skin, quarter and process my game as quickly as possible. I lost a bear years ago by trying to age it and not having the meat cold enough.

Paul
Totally agree with what the butcher told you, My butcher told me the same exact same thing.

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