Citrus spray for flys

Bynumlife

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 3, 2016
Messages
172
Location
Fort Worth Texas
I've heard you can use a citrus spray to keep bees and bugs off your meat.

Does anyone know where you can buy it?

I'd love to find a powder form I can mix in the backcountry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Grambo

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 11, 2016
Messages
273
Location
Chehalis,Wa.
I had the same question a while back . Wal Mart , Amazon , any canning supply . I got a 5 oz small jar and I'm going to split that for my trip.
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
325
Location
NE Wyoming
I believe you are referring to citric Acid. You can buy it online in a number of places including Amazon, just make sure it is food grade.
For what its worth, Here is what I do and is in part based on the knowledge set forth by Larry Bartlett through postings on various forums and in his books on hunting Alaska. He might even chime in here if he is around. Anyway, I bought a large bag (5 lbs) some time ago and I use it in the following manner; I have a platypus collapsible water bottle (with a spray bottle from a .99 spray bottle from Wal-Mart) in which I measure out a little bit of the citric acid ( I use the formula 1 oz acid to 1 quart water) and I just roll that up and leave it in my pack with my game bags. Then when I have an animal down and I am getting ready to quarter, I will add the needed water to the spray bottle, shake it up and prep my game bags. then when I get a quarter off, I spray the meat and then also spray the bags afterwards. I have never done this and kept off all of the flys but it sure cuts them down and I have never had an issue with the meat. In some instances, the acid along with the humidity and other factors will make a crust on the meat right away or at least shortly so don't be alarmed.
 

Owenst7

WKR
Joined
Jun 19, 2017
Messages
513
Location
Reno
I buy citric acid powder from any grocery store, including Walmart. It's usually Ball (think Mason jars) brand and it will be in the canning section.

I keep a small nalgene or ziplock in my kill kit with the powder measured out in 1 oz doses. When we kill something, I take one of my smart water drinking bottles that I use and dump the powder in. Then I use the squirt top on the bottle to rinse the meat down with the acid solution. I've found that I use this method more than a spray bottle frequently because it helps get stuff off the meat like stray hairs, dirt, etc. I'm not always hunting with guys with the best marksmanship either, and I think a good sterile washing can really turn things around when someone gut shots an animal or gets guts or urine on the meat while field dressing.

A couple times I've accidentally left the bottle partially full and taken a swig later in the day. Tastes like sour patch kids haha. If you use up the remainder to wash hand or something, I've found the water to taste fine when you fill the bottle back up. No need to rinse it several times or anything like that. Just keep nasty stuff off the drinking tip.

I recently used this method on an elk that had digestive contents literally cover a hind quarter that was under the animal on the ground...it was like 10 minutes before we could roll the animal to get to that leg. It wasn't my animal and I was just there to help, so I was pretty stressed out watching this. I irrigated the gunk off there as soon as it was cut off the animal, and several days later when we were butchering and packaging, I couldn't identify which leg had been contaminated.
 
Last edited:
Top