Meat care in the desert:

[ftballman125]

This is a question that I haven't really been able to find a good answer to, if there is one. I hunt the desert where temps can be in the high 90s - low 100s easily. I backpack 2-3 miles in, which means about a 1.5-2 hour pack out if loaded with meat. Assuming I can debone my mule deer fully in two hours from getting it down, that means I'll be looking at around 4 hours, at best, until I can get the meat back to the rig.

The plan once the deer is down is:
1) to first gut the deer to get a lot of heat out quickly
2) then debone it, separating muscle groups out
3) spray the muscles with citric acid, and lay them out on a tarp to dry/air cool (from 100+ down to 90+... not much cooling there).
4) I'll rig up another tarp to create some shade for the meat (there's no real natural shade where I'm at).
5) Once I've gotten all the meat/skull cap off of the deer, I'll pack the meat up in a TAG BOMB bag, and sandwich it between my frame and my pack, hopefully allowing it to have maximum breathing while being carried.
6) Carry back to coolers in the rig.

So, that's the plan. But big unknown is still whether that will be good enough to prevent spoilage. I would really hate to lose any meat. I haven't gotten a deer in the desert before... and smaller game like jackrabbits are easy to process/dry quickly.

Does anyone have any tips/advice to improve on that plan? Any experience with archery backpack hunting for desert mule deer in near 100 temperatures?

I posed the above question in the Elk sub-forum under a different topic, but it is most appropriate here, I think. Any thoughts?

 

[ftballman125]

Heh, guess not too many people find themselves in this situation?

 

[ckleeves]

I haven't hunted in quite that high of temps but I'll throw in my .02 fwiw. I wouldn't gut the deer, I think that's kinda a waste of valuable time. Debone FAST! In that kinda heat I don't know if I would lay the meat out to cool and rig another tarp for shade or just slash and dash to get to the coolers at the truck. 4+ hours from kill to truck 2/3 miles seems like a long time to me.

 

[ftballman125]

I haven't hunted in quite that high of temps but I'll throw in my .02 fwiw. I wouldn't gut the deer, I think that's kinda a waste of valuable time. Debone FAST! In that kinda heat I don't know if I would lay the meat out to cool and rig another tarp for shade or just slash and dash to get to the coolers at the truck. 4+ hours from kill to truck 2/3 miles seems like a long time to me.

Thanks for the advice. That makes sense... get meat off as quickly as possible. 4 hours is on the high end, I think, but there's always a risk of getting hung up or things taking longer than anticipated. It's also about 1000' of elevation gain from likely kill spot back to vehicle. So it's 2-3 miles with a decent climb.

So, get meat off ASAP, probably don't separate out muscle groups, just cut out bones, spray with citric acid, then once all done, toss in TAG bags and try to bust a** back to the rig.

I'd sure like to hear from anyone that's hunted in such warm/dry temps to see if this is doable or a bad idea...

 

[JPD350]

You might think about taking the quarters off and then de-bone

I've shot 2 antelope in those hot temps, one of them I gut and threw him over my shoulders and carried him for 2 miles, once at truck I butchered him and put in cooler, this was a long time ago and I would never do it this way again but the meat was fine.

The second one I quartered then laid the quarters in a mesquite tree then de-boned and let the pieces hang on the branches while I worked on another quarter, when finished i threw the meat in game bags and packed it a couple miles to the truck all the meat was fine.

Back then I had never heard of using citric acid to control bugs and bacteria so you should be good to go with the addition of citric acid.

When I shot my Oryx I was lucky that it was evening time and all the work was at night, it was freaking hot that day and I had to track him across the desert for 3 miles before I caught up to finish the job, that turned out to be a good bad thing, it's always better butchering in the nighttime . I would have done the same thing as the antelope if he had died in the daytime, quarter, place quarters in mesquite then de-bone and let pieces cool off hanging on branches before packing in meat bags.

 

[ftballman125]

You might think about taking the quarters off and then de-bone

I've shot 2 antelope in those hot temps, one of them I gut and threw him over my shoulders and carried him for 2 miles, once at truck I butchered him and put in cooler, this was a long time ago and I would never do it this way again but the meat was fine.

The second one I quartered then laid the quarters in a mesquite tree then de-boned and let the pieces hang on the branches while I worked on another quarter, when finished i threw the meat in game bags and packed it a couple miles to the truck all the meat was fine.

Back then I had never heard of using citric acid to control bugs and bacteria so you should be good to go with the addition of citric acid.

When I shot my Oryx I was lucky that it was evening time and all the work was at night, it was freaking hot that day and I had to track him across the desert for 3 miles before I caught up to finish the job, that turned out to be a good bad thing, it's always better butchering in the nighttime . I would have done the same thing as the antelope if he had died in the daytime, quarter, place quarters in mesquite then de-bone and let pieces cool off hanging on branches before packing in meat bags.

Thanks for the advice/stories... that really helps to know that your meat turned out fine both times. Unfortunately where I hunt there are exactly zero trees and the bushes are little more than knee high. The deer migrate down from the chapparal into the desert once they've had a little pressure from hunters. So, I'm going to try to rig up my tarp with my trekking poles to offer a bit of shade. I'll also have a sheet to put the meat on underneath the shade.

I like your idea of stripping the quarters/backstrap first and then deboning... that will get more of the big heat items separated quickly. Fortunately I'll have a helper (my girlfriend) so she'll be able to do the deboning as I strip off the quarters/backstrap and she can spray with citric acid too.

So, I'm hoping that combined we'll be able to get the meat processed pretty quickly.

Thanks for the tips guys... if anyone else has any other ideas/pointers, I'd appreciate them.

 

[JP100]

I think the advice above is pretty spot on. Get your missus a good knife and work fast as possible.
What kind of pack do you have? Having meat next to your back when walking usually produces alot of body heat. make sure the meat can get some good air circulating around it. Id be tempted to take an open pack frame if I was in your situation so the meat is out in the open, as far as possible from your body heat and gets maximum air flow.

There must be some aussies(Australians) on here that have dealt with this before.
Just shoot him on last light on a cold day haha

Good luck Im sure what you were going to do will be fine