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Warm Weather Deer Care
By Buckmasters
Many archery seasons have begun across the country, and the way the weather has been the past few years, warm temperatures can carry on well into the gun seasons. Proper care of your harvested deer is essential. Buckmasters Online volunteer biologist Dana Johnson says it is critical to get your deer meat cooled down as quickly as possible.
Field-dressing is always important, but getting the job done quickly is a must in warm weather. Also, if you have taken a deer, do not wait around the woods for other party members. Make an extra trip if necessary to get the deer to a processor or somewhere else it can be hung in a cooler. If you won't be able to get to a processor quickly, your best course of action is to skin the deer, quarter it and place it in a cooler with ice.
While putting ice bags in the body cavity can help, this technique does not do a good job of reducing the temperature of all the meat; nor does it keep dirt, bugs and bacteria from getting to your harvest. If you absolutely cannot get to a processor and can't skin and quarter your deer, go ahead and put bags of ice in the body cavity and try to keep the deer covered to keep out flies and dirt.