A red fox got into my game bag

[fmyth]

I harvested a spike elk about 5pm on Friday, skinned and quartered him and put the meat in game bags. I put the flank meat, rib meat and some misc scraps in a plastic bag packed it with the quarters to the UTV and was back in camp by 10pm. My hunting partner thought he'd be helpful and threw the game bag w the loin/backstraps and the plastic bag w the scraps in the snow before going to bed. Saturday morning I went out of the tent and found a red fox had gotten into the plastic bag and pulled 2 large pieces of flank, and a pile of rib meat scraps out of the bag. I chased off the fox and my partner picked up the meat, cut off the pieces with visible bite marks and threw it back into the bag with the other scraps. Now I am concerned about the possibility that the fox could have been infected with rabies. I spent the last hour on google and still am not confident that I should keep the meat the fox bit or even the meat that was later in contact with the bitten meat. What would you do?

 

[MO_flatlander]

After listening to the meateater from last week with the disease guy I would trash anything that might have come in contact with it's saliva.

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[KeatonMullenix]

Same, trash anything that was dragged out of the bag


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[Southforkguy]

eh. if ya cook it youll be fine. that fox wasnt rabid. i wouldnt be worried much past trimming off the pieces he chewed on.

 

[Southforkguy]

then shoot the fox next time. we alwsys have fox in camp in CO. good time to keep a camp 20 ga with #4 buck

 

[Wapiti1]

Trim it, wash it, cook it, eat it. Rabies in fox is pretty rare in general, and that strain of the virus is hard to transmit to humans outside of a bite wound. If the fox acted like a fox, meaning he ran off, wasn't aggressive, and didn't seem disoriented, I wouldn't give it any more thought.

Jeremy

 

[Pigdog]

I would eat it without a second thought.

 

[Sturgeon]

We had a fox hanging out under our game bags last year, but luckily they were high enough he couldn't reach

 

[kiddogy]

I wouldn't be concerned about a red fox. a grey fox, now that would be an entirely different matter.

 

[AaronMColeman]

I'm no doctor, but I wouldn't worry about it. I'd rinse and dry all the meat, and do a liberal trim around the bite marks, and probably never think about it again.

A grizzly got a game bag of a buddy's hanging in a tree. No issues at all. I know your situation is a bit different due to mixing in the bag, but I *think* you'll be fine, and I'd honestly take that chance.

 

[CBreeze]

Between all the CWD and trichnosis, tick diseases and rabies out there I just pack out the horns anymore. And usually get someone else to do that for me and I just collect the euro at the taxi. way Too risky for my taste.


Real talk- I wouldn’t be washing anything, as that only distributes bacteria etc rather than remove it. Trim what has bite marks now- let everything dry and crust over like it should then trim off the whole rind as normal and with it any contamination.

 

[fmyth]

Thanks for the replies/advice. I called the University of Wyomings Veterinary Clinic and spoke to the one of the pathology professors. I've made the decision to discard the pieces of meat that the fox bit. Although its highly unlikely the rabbies virus would survive cooking I'd rather not take the chance. I also learned that 59,000 people die each year from rabbies, that's one every 9 minutes.

 

[ORfish]

Safe is best, especially if you like meat on the rare side. Personally, I cook my fox in the slow-cooker so it absorbs more juices.

 

[revelized]

Where was this? shot an elk a few years ago, went back in the next day to check the carcass, watched a red fox have the time of its life for a bit before he notice us and ran off. I bet money he was back on it as soon as we left. We didn't even question shooting him, it was a surreal experience knowing we made that little guys day while he feasted.

 

[fmyth]

South end of unit 21. We had moved down off the mountain after the first big snow and camped in a popular spot that always has someone camping. I would guess he was habituated to humans.

 

[FLAK]

Rabies pairs well with Brucellosis I hear. Like a sweet/sour combo.
59K/yr.?? Is that in the U.S. alone or more like 3rd world countries?

 

[CBreeze]

Rabies pairs well with Brucellosis I hear. Like a sweet/sour combo.
59K/yr.?? Is that in the U.S. alone or more like 3rd world countries?

If you like the brucellosis you should try some bovine TB. Exquisite.

 

[fmyth]

Rabies pairs well with Brucellosis I hear. Like a sweet/sour combo.
59K/yr.?? Is that in the U.S. alone or more like 3rd world countries?

59k deaths a year from rabies worldwide.

 

[Bulldawg]

59k deaths a year from rabies worldwide.

I’d venture to say that the vast majority is not in the US. If he ate the meat but ran away from you the odds are he doesn’t have rabies. Obviously do what you like, but I would not throw meat away if a fox got into my bags.


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[Cdroot89]

89 people have died in the US from rabies in the past 59 years. Of that, 62 of them got infected from bats.