Thread: Advice on handling meat after the kill

Originally Posted by Cigar

You won’t get a specific answer, it depends hugely on temperature and humidity.
Wrapped in plastic on a hot day or in your pack against your back it could be off in a couple of hours.
In the fridge it will be fine for several days, depending what condition the meat was in when you put it in.

Cigar is dead right you will not get a specific awnser - your nose is the best tester you have - if it smell's off it likely is - keeping time wildly differs between summer and winter - and moisture in air - and if any contaminant like gut content got onto carcass - or if the carcass got wet - the main rule is cool and dry - the opposite warm and moist in spring /summer will send a carcass of in mere hours - smell the bone joints they will go off first - I have had a pig go off hung up in a tree on warm summer morning in two hours - then again I ate venison that had been hung under cover but in a breeze in winter that was hung up for 9 days - meat bags are the way to go in summer - let the meat cool down in a breeze - or hang carcass up and open it up let breeze cool it -get it out quick to a chiller - no chiller what I do when home I vacuum pack using vacuum cleaner into heavy rubbish bags and leave in fridge usually for around 4-5 days and then cut up and rebag into freezer -goat meat is somewhat forgiving being generally leaner -but wild pigs go of real quick - dont stick a bloody hose down the carcass no no no - wet meat goes of real quick - use knife to remove any dirty meat