Posted by denny mcdaniels on Oct 15, 2025 in News Tags: deer hunting
Everybody has an opinion or method to prevent game meat from spoiling. The following is some advice from a hunter and farmer who has 40-plus years in butchering and processing meat:
In his opinion, once blood starts to warm and turn dark, it can taint the flavor of your meat — and that can happen in less than an hour. He learned this the hard way years ago, and over time developed a system that has worked for him, especially when hunting antelope, his favorite pursuit, where the weather is often hot and time isn’t on your side.
His field kit is simple: a jug of water, five bags of ice in a cooler, a length of rope, and a tarp.
Here’s his process:
- First, wash the carcass out well and lay it on the tarp.
- Put two bags of ice inside the body cavity, then spread the rest evenly over the animal.
- Wrap it all up in the tarp “like a burrito,” as he says, and tie it off with rope.
- This setup pulls the heat right out of the meat and buys you valuable time before you can properly process it.
Now, that’s the ideal situation — and anyone who’s hunted long enough knows things don’t always go perfectly. But the concept still holds true: get the heat out as fast as you can.
A few key takeaways:
When it’s cooler than 38°F, heat isn’t your problem anymore — dirt and moisture are. Keep your meat clean and dry, and it’ll reward you at the table.
Meat keeps best between 38–42°F. If it’s warmer than that, you’ve got to find a way to cool it down or risk spoiling your game.
Once skinned, hang your meat in clean game bags in the shade where air can circulate. It’ll form a light rind — that’s perfectly fine. If it’s really warm, dampen the game bags to help pull heat out through evaporation.
