Is it spoiled?(Ext. Recovery Question)

So I guy I know shot a deer Sat night at his place in N TX but did not recover it till Sunday afternoon. He is an avid archer and the shot was through the shoulder.

Anyhow he could not comprehend leaving it in the field so he quartered it and put it on ice.

Any chance the meat is still good? Temps were at 32 at night and up to mid 40's during the day.

I was at our lease this weekend in Cass county and it stayed cold enough that the deer should be ok IMO.

thats a good question im new at hunting and I could use this info

Meat should be fine at those temps. All prime meats are aged - either dry or wet aged - between freezing and 38 degrees for quite alot longer than that. Nothing to worry about.

I wouldn;t eat the tenders. It's likely that they didn't cool off too much being in the organ cavity and all, but everything else should be alright.

I would say since i wont be eating any of it..... you should be fine ! LOL

Hams are fine,Backstraps are probably OK,Tenderloins-no.

I agree with all of the above, keep the info coming. He is going to make a decision end of day!

Cut it up and smell of it,if it smells like blood and meat that's OK...If it smells like a sh%t house door on a tuna boat toss it.

Should be fine. I'd eat the tenderloins as well.

Slice off some, put it in a hot pan and cook it. If it ia bad you will know it from the smell

I would eat the tenderloins but I would not bother to dig them out on a bloated deer. I almost never gut a deer anyway but definitely would not in this case. He might want to cut out the meat from around the areas where the coyotes were gnawing on it.

At those temps the meat should be just fine. I "age" my deer in the ice chest for up to 1 week before I begin to make steaks, been doing it this way for years. The key is cold temps, as long as the temp stays below 40-45 you should be fine. As long as the innards were not pierced I wouldn't hesitate to eat that deer.

We keep our walk in at 45 that deer sould be fine with the temps ur talkin about..

No coyotes or gut shot!

thanks to all, he is taking it to Kubys tomorrow!

Please be more specific when describing the smell. Not quite sure you got your point across...

If you've ever been sick from eating spoiled game, you wouldnt risk it again. Let me know what ER he will be going to and I'll be sure to send him a get well card!

Another factor to think about is how long the deer was dead. A friend of mine shot a deer, looked for it for several hours, and finally gave up. He went back the next day before dawn and looked for 2 or 3 hours. He finally saw the deer underneath a tree. When he walked toward it, the deer was still breathing, at least 18 hours after he shot it. The venison was great.

sometimes we leave em' hangin over night when its that cold outside...

Sorry for the late response.All meat has a blood smell and that's totally natural.If it smells soured or like a gut shot smell to it ,discard.I'm sure it will be fine.

Partner, yrs. ago when I had the muzzleloading bug...the archers
were saying not to give us a season because we'd wound too many
deer..I don't shoot with sticks, but if you hunt long enough you
will loose an occasional animal..Your chances of wounding go up
in a major way with a bow and arrow...But I support your right
to hunt as you will...I know most of you guys are patient and do
your homework...But I've touched deer in the chest with a rifle
and been with a foot or two on occasion..with a rifle..so some of
us can still hunt with a gun also...Your deer probably had too
high a bacteria count to recover...DD