Saving meat from the heat

[Arnak]

Hi,

We are starting to talk about our moose hunt in southern NWT this fall and it looks like it will be a 9 days trip in early September. Now my concern is the temperature. Looks like we should expect temp in the 20 or so during the day and in the 0 to 10 at night. I need advice about that. My concern is if we are lucky and get a moose early in the trip, I would not want to see that meat go to waste.

Any advices are much appreciated

Thanks

[mgvande]

Air your meat out at night. Put it in the shade during the day. The meat stays surprisingly cold. Just watch for fly eggs for the first day as the meat is damp and they will hatch. I had a caribou down for 4 days treated like this and it was fine. Same time of year. The first week of Sept is awesome time in the Mackenzie's. Coat in the morning, tshirt during the day. I actually dropped a ram the first week of the season up there and I had the meat out for 2 days in +25 C during the day. Meat was fine just get the cheapo meat bags and change them out after the first day to prevent mould. The meat will crust up good then. After that you're golden. The people down here have anxiety regarding the weather and meat, when in reality meat can last a long time if treated properly.

[Bassett]

What the above member said, or debone and put in tubs and perhaps leave it in a river? But that leaves more potential for bears im assuming.

[The-Legend]

I brought a big deep freezer up north with me and ran it off my generator.. Found the freezer for $100 on kijiji and it still works great.

[albertabighorn]

Prevent the flys/bugs by using game bags presoaked in hotsauce/cayenne

[southernman]

Fine black pepper to keep flys off, and hang it in the brease, and out of the sun if you can,
I have shot deer in new Zealand summer and hung them in a tree,for over three weeks, still good, I remove skin, and you want to get a Hard crust, biggest problem is folds of meat, that flys can get into or can go off.
I know sum fellow's worry about meat going off, but they hunt game and big animals, and field process it, in a lot hotter places than Canada.

[Frosty Tracks]

The two biggest concerns that time of year is heat and flies,getting the hide off as soon as possible and fine black pepper does work great for flies although not always practical we have froze 2l pop bottles full of water and packed the cavity after the animal was dressed it really helps bring the temp down on the meat , just a few thoughts wish you the best of luck

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Have hunted aug early Sept most of 40 years bowhunting...gets 30C plus some hunts

Bought a huge 5Ft Wide X 100 ft roll of industrial Cheesecloth I take 24FT...fold and sew both sides for full size 12 long moose/elk gamebags...

Once animal is split down middle hanging in game bag if hot a spraybottle filled with water [lightly salted is ok] is sprayed on gamebag...not the animal but is ok if it does...but try soak the bag...

The process of evaporation will cool up to 10 degrees...works on same princible as an refrigerator.

Game bag can be sprinkled with the pepper also..

key is to field dress, remove entire windpipe/throat, get off ground and skin ASAP

Neil

[omega50]

http://www.westernhunter.com/Pages/V...fieldcare.html


or-A bit more controversial methods
http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/magazine/meatcare.htm

[h&t]

you could make jerky

seriously, I'd avoid water, dress as cleanly as possible, remove any contaminated parts, all organs, put in game bags, use pepper to deter flies.
If you can get dry crust to form, it will protect the meat.

[Smokinyotes]

If it's warm you also need to quarter the animal. Retained heat through the thick part of the shoulder will make the meat around the bone sour fairly quick.

[huntinstuff]

Quarter it.

Cut into the quarter, right to the bone and remove some of the meat. This will allow the large bones within to cool. Saves your meat getting sour from the inside.

Buy good game bags. They are washable and reuseable.

Take some time to build a spruce bough lean to between your hanging meat and the sun.

Just a few ideas.

Desperate times? In game bags, leave in a creek.
Really desperate ? In game bags in the lake. But, better to cut the hunt short.

[reddeerhunter]

Plug in empty freezer, freeze a pile of 2L bottles of water. Debone animal, even if freezer quits you always have the ice, and if you don't want meat to freeze just air overnight via hanging,*( shoot the bear), then place meat in freezer with ice jugs on top. Cold air drops.
That's how I have done it. Works awesome.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff

Quarter it.

Cut into the quarter, right to the bone and remove some of the meat. This will allow the large bones within to cool. Saves your meat getting sour from the inside.

Buy good game bags. They are washable and reuseable.

Take some time to build a spruce bough lean to between your hanging meat and the sun.

Just a few ideas.

Desperate times? In game bags, leave in a creek.
Really desperate ? In game bags in the lake. But, better to cut the hunt short.

^^^^
This the large bone in the hips hold the heat the most and the sirloin tip is most likely to spoil first.

Leary about leaving meat lay in natural waters unprotected....silt and natural bacteria can flourish in nooks and crannies in the tissue, I would air cool...then double bag and place in water personally if I had to. My Dad used to collect the large plastic bags that mattresses come in and store meat in those after cooling it out.

LC

[Arnak]

Thanks everyone for the advices. So seems like quartering, deboning, bagging and to keep in the shade are the big things and I'll be doing that for sure. It's good to know that can be enough to keep it despite the heat.

To cool in a lake or creek is a good desperate idea, I hope it won't come to that tho.

As for pepper and hot sauce, I will have to make a quick search about that. I just have a hard time seeing this lol. I'm not saying I don't believe it work but hummm... that's a lot of hot sauce and pepper

[southernman]

You don't need much pepper, for a week plus trip, I only ever took a 100g shaker, od fine black pepper, its enough for several deer. Hot sauce I have no idea, but if you by habanero tabasco, cant see you needing much.
Besides, with pepper and tabasco, breakfast bacon & eggs will be good.

[3blade]

Gutless method, quicker/less contamination/less bone = cooler safer meat. Good quality game bags and hang in the shade during the day, if it's <10 at night it'll be fine.

As far as bugs, I like the ideas of changing out the bags after a day and pre-treat in a pepper sauce solution.

[mgvande]

The gutless method is best as far as keeping integrity of the quarters. Only where you cut really is exposed to bacteria. Deboning will introduce bacteria don't do it unless required.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by mgvande

The gutless method is best as far as keeping integrity of the quarters. Only where you cut really is exposed to bacteria. Deboning will introduce bacteria don't do it unless required.

Yup...more surface area = more chance of aerobic bacteria activity.

LC

[xxclaro]

Being as I primarily bowhunt, I always worry about this. My elk hunting area is a good 7 hour drive, so I'd hate to have to come home early if I shoot something and the other guys haven't. I built myself and insulated trailer with the intention of building a refrigerated unit I could take up. Turns out it tows like a parachute and is not feasible. So going to look at a little camper trailer tomorrow with the same idea in mind. If it works, it'll give me peace of mind that I can keep the meat cool. If not, a chest freezer on a trailer or back of the truck has worked in the past too.

[CBintheNorth]

I have heard from several people that smoking the meat heavily with spruce boughs really keeps the flies off.
Never had to do it myself so I can't speak from experience, but perhaps someone here has done it?
I'll 3x or 4x the quartering over de boning if possible.