Advice on handling meat after the kill

Hi folks, just took the meat off my first goat yesterday. (Back steaks and back wheels). Second goat I've got but first I've taken meat from (I'm a beginner bowhunter).

As I had cooled the meat down on a tree and bagged it up, I was walking back wondering how long the meat would last until it was inedible. I tried googling but there are crazy different answers on the net. Some people say you need to ice it straight away, some people hang it for days on a tree. What are your guys rules for handling the meat after a kill? When should I feel unsafe about eating it? Looking for a specific indication of hours instead of general answers please.

as long as its cool to the touch and you are keeping flies and stuff off it should last a few days.
Ive personally left deer guts in overnight (winter mostly) in hard to get to spots and meat was still fine next day, but i wont recommend that.

For me, if it looks fine, smells fine then it probably is fine.

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.

specific times are hard, because it depends on the temp and what sort of meat.
pig goes in the freezer asap.
red meat like goat and venison can stay amost indefinitely outside provided the temperature stays in single digits, it will get a hard skin on it and be fine, once the skin gets thick enough even the flies can't blow it. thats how my grandparents stored it and it makes for very tender meat.
once you get over 10 derees i'd limit it to no more than 36hrs myself. but the best thing you can do is give it a good old sniff, meat going bad is very... distinct. a clean meat smell means its all good.

shot a deer earlier in the year, butchered it up and it spent nearly 48 hrs at about 12 degrees followed by two weeks in an 8 degree fridge before it went into the freezer and it hasn't trapped me in the loo yet.

Yeah so keep as cold as possible given your circumstances is what I'm hearing. Above single digits provided you have cleaned and cooled everything - no longer than 36 hours until fridge or freezer. Smell is a good tip, anything else to look for to tell if the meat is bad?

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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.

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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

Dry ! keep it dry and cool. High humidity will make it turn quick.
Gut cleanly, drain any blood out of the gut / chest cavity, throw it on your back and head out. If camped overnight, hang it where there is a cool breeze down a gully or on an exposed ridge in the trees

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Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Dry ! keep it dry and cool. High humidity will make it turn quick.
Gut cleanly, drain any blood out of the gut / chest cavity, throw it on your back and head out. If camped overnight, hang it where there is a cool breeze down a gully or on an exposed ridge in the trees

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Once put couple of young fellas in to paint a hut - radioed that night could I come and collect a pig they had got -got to road end around midday and they had bought out about a 130 pound boar packed in pieces in plastic rubbish bags - opened one and yup fucken near bowled me over - stunk had sweated badly in packs and plastic bags - two dejected looking young hunters -

Im about to cut up 4 back deer legs which have been hanging up in the back of my truck since last Friday morning 6am=72hrs to now.Not covered,not touching anything.Truck keeped in the shade,cold weather helps(snow,rain,cold wind).Flys have no access.Meat smells fine.

yup all about the handling Trout should have some nice meat - got to Waiapoa hut Lake Waikaremoana one day and group of hunters from Auckland there had shot a stag - had it hanging in old meat safe there - but it looked whiteish to me and yes it had got wet before they hung it up - faint smell not fresh just at point of turning of - offered to take it back boned out and put in fridge for them but no turned that down - was back there week later and stink down the track a little way - yup whole bloody carcass down the bank - what bloody muppetts

Nice information to get me a better overall picture of what to expect. So we got the goat and took steaks and legs within about 20mins from bow release to cuts. Bagged in pillow case and hucked the meat out of the forest within maybe an hour and a half to car. Car ride home was about hour and a half too in the boot with air conditioner on cold haha. Got back and cut it into bite sized chunks, washed them under the tap to get hair off (whoops) and then chucked it all in a big bowl to marinate over night in the fridge. Gonna cook a big goat curry tonight for the fam. Did I do anything wrong? What did I do right and what can I improve?

All that sounds fine mate. Keeping it out of plastic will help stop it sweating and will give you more time to get it in the chiller/fridge. As mentioned your nose is the best test for if the meat is ok and if you cook it over 65C you kill the bacteria on it anyway. Curry was invented to hide the rotten meat smell :sick: that's not for me though

I prefer to get meat home either whole or broken down then hang it in my beer fridge for at least a week. Last stag backstraps were brilliant. FWIW, remove all fridge shelves and cut a length of rebar, with ends taped for protection before sliding into the top wall groove where said shelves fit. Meat hooks hang off. Beer goes in iceytek with rotated chiller bottles.

As others have said, dry and well aired is the way to go. I've applied this to a few aspects of my outdoor activities. Never wash meat or fish, never pack in non-breathable bags/containers until the last minute and only when well cooled. At the same time, you have to keep the flies off. On a similar note, my chilly bins are stored open unless 100% dry. Same principle when I get wounds on my body! Bacteria like water and the more unpleasant ones like anaerobic conditions (no oxygen).

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Originally Posted by cally woo

Nice information to get me a better overall picture of what to expect. So we got the goat and took steaks and legs within about 20mins from bow release to cuts. Bagged in pillow case and hucked the meat out of the forest within maybe an hour and a half to car. Car ride home was about hour and a half too in the boot with air conditioner on cold haha. Got back and cut it into bite sized chunks, washed them under the tap to get hair off (whoops) and then chucked it all in a big bowl to marinate over night in the fridge. Gonna cook a big goat curry tonight for the fam. Did I do anything wrong? What did I do right and what can I improve?

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Sounds good to me. Enjoy!

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Originally Posted by cally woo

I tried googling but there are crazy different answers on the net.

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Remember a lot of this info comes from the US where they have a hunting season and only hunt deer in weather often colder than most of NZ gets in winter.

Only two ways to age meat
Dry aging; as in a commercial walk-in chiller or beer fridge but the beer fridge must have circulating air. The outside of the meat will dry out and will need to be trimmed before you eat it. You'd also get away with hanging meat outside (flyproof) during the colder months
Wet aging; get the meat home and cut it into your selected cuts. Vacuum pack the meat same day and leave it in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, then eat it or freeze it.
All to do with bacteria breaking down the muscle fibres, and trying to control that natural process.

Wet aging is what is used with vacuum packed cuts in the supermarket, and even most of the "aged ribeye" you spend megabucks on in the restaurant

So many factors to consider:

Hanging has rule 40degrees - 1day (so 20degrees - 2days, 10degrees - 4days but you want that breeze use a fan if your keen enough) learn to smell your meat so you know when it’s going, if it smells super gamey like the guts it’s gone.

But I reckon it’s best to break down muscle groups asap (like nz hunter does) cool then chill if possible. Better to cut up and chill in fridge once you get home unless you have a chiller.

Ya don’t need plastic bags, let it breathe in Mutton cloth, pillow cases ect but don’t let it get fly blown.

Where was it shot - a ruptured gut bag will spoil meat super quick don’t get it on back legs ie leave arsehole in before you gut so you don’t expose meat. Get this meat chilled asap

Keep hair off meat - this brings that game flavour

Drain the blood and get it all - game flavour

Don’t burst gut bag - game flavour

Take ice and get it chilled

Keep it clean that’s the key!

To many shit butchers have turned people off game meat - me included!

About 2 hours after hanging these legs up i took the shoulder out and placed a small rock between each leg just to keep them apart.Yesterday i had the a/con going in the rear of the truck for the 3hr journey home keeping the meat cold.All in the freezer now,34kgs of meat.
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Cool it. Cool it fast...

Basically if you're in the bush, hang the carcass out of a tree and gut and skin it as a minimum, pegging the gut cavity open to allow air to circulate. It gets surprisingly cold in the winter in the bush especially at altitude, I've been up in the central plateau at -4 with a big red stag for a total meat recovery between two of us of 48Kg plus the head. That was a brutal carry out, but the meat was amazing. Worst thing you can do, is fluff your shot and end up chasing the animal around for a few hours - it'll be full of lactic acid and the meat will go rancid and end up with near instant bone taint and green striping. I've often seen pig hunters come in with a buggered absolutely destroyed animal, flanks covered in sweat and chew marks all over it and I'm always like - yum, actually (not).

Probably great fun, but I wouldn't want to eat it.

How do you know it's off? Smell isn't a good indicator surprisingly, I've taken animals that stink from the get go and others have been quite free of smell but the meat is green striped and curled up (full of bacteria and past 'aged') so you can't really rely on that. It's quite dependent on age and sex of animal, general health, time of year and also what it's been feeding on. I tend to run off appearance and condition of the meat, any green striping needs to be cut off and also freezer burn or anything overdried or scaled. If it stinks like seriously sweet decay then it's probably a bit past it, put if you slow cook it and then curry it you'd be surprised what you can get away with.

How you treat the meat is the key, as I said cool it quickly. If it's cold enough, and you are boning the animal out a clothesline arrangement between the trees and the meat cuts sectioned out and hung over will cool it very quickly. If you can, bleed the animal (hilar or neck shot, or cut the main vein if the animal is still alive when you get to it) as this removes a lot of the nutrients and acids that promote meat spoiling. Once the meat is cool, you can bag it in plastic or anything really and go from there as it won't sweat and promote bacteria growth. Do the best you can at this stage, even if it's just a mesh bag and skinning and gutting and pegging the gut cavity open in the shadiest spot you can find (this is the minimum level I would accept for an eating animal, you gotta get it cool!!!).

With the cuts, if you section the cuts out along the fascia lines in the muscles they will cool and skin off and last longer than if you have ragged chunks of meat sliced everywhere and anywhere. If pays to learn as much as you can about the processing of meat - I find it really difficult to do this justice with the animal on the ground so if possible I hang it (I carry a little set of yacht pulleys and braid and a little stainless gambrel for this reason, in the right area with good sticks you can dispatch with the gambrel and use a stick to keep the legs apart). With it hanging it's much much easier to set up the cuts of meat and section them out without making a mess of the whole deal, and you can get cuts that equal anything from the supermarket.

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Originally Posted by cally woo

Nice information to get me a better overall picture of what to expect. So we got the goat and took steaks and legs within about 20mins from bow release to cuts. Bagged in pillow case and hucked the meat out of the forest within maybe an hour and a half to car. Car ride home was about hour and a half too in the boot with air conditioner on cold haha. Got back and cut it into bite sized chunks, washed them under the tap to get hair off (whoops) and then chucked it all in a big bowl to marinate over night in the fridge. Gonna cook a big goat curry tonight for the fam. Did I do anything wrong? What did I do right and what can I improve?

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the only thing I could suggest to improve on what you did would be to go to a local Indian supply store ( big one at Fitzroy ) and get some authentic spices for your curry - they can help with dried spices - neighbours could help with green herbs - just make it so much better - but ya going great mate - wash when ya did okay because you then continued processing - its when you wash and then hang up or store wet without cooling you have problems - no learn a good recipe with authentic spices for you goat curry and you are half way to becoming a legend

What everyone else has said, it depends on lots of things, everyone that’s done it for a while has a different recipe. I’m probably a bit fussy but my personal method for goats is once on the deck get it in the shade if possible (flies aren’t as keen on shade but they are still keen). Then cut the head off and then get the guts out. I generally carry the carcass out whole if it’s not too long to walk. Goats are fairly light to carry and keeping the skin on keeps the bush off the meat.
Having a gambrel hook and a couple of pulleys is well worth while along with some running water to rinse the knife as you’re skinning.
I hang in the garage with a fan keeping it cool and skin and butcher within two days. At butchering time I just cut the back stakes off first and then any front wheels that aren’t bulleted. Then one back wheel taking as much meat with it as possible and then the spine comes off the other back wheel which is still hanging. Spine and ribs are given away as dog tucker. Everything else goes in the freezer.
I do the final breaking down in the kitchen after defrosting the part that I need for the meal.

I use the back stakes for spicy roasting usually for meals to serve 1-2
One back wheel makes a curry that lasts two of us two nights.
One back wheel and one front wheel for a curry to take to a potluck.

If anything does go wrong with the meat between shooting and freezer/table it will most likely be maggots after it’s had a visit from flies, mould after getting wet, or sweat after being suffocated in a hot bag in the sun. In all of the above you will know by looking/smelling and how to avoid it happening.

Different handling techniques may elicit different flavours but after it’s full of curry spices I don’t think any particular popular way would consistently win the Pepsi Coke challenge.

Which is another fair point, discard any meat contaminated by organ tissue or gut content - and also anything with bullet damage plus a safety factor of about 60mm past what you can see as visible bullet damage or if you are really keen on that meat cut it into very thin strips prior to mincing and then any bullet/lead fragments will be obvious by the tissue damage where they have cut through. It pays not to eat that contaminated meat as not only do you have potentially powdered lead in there but also the blood and tissue products promote the formation of bacteria and meat spoiling. Not a good combination!!!!

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Originally Posted by No.3

Which is another fair point, discard any meat contaminated by organ tissue or gut content - and also anything with bullet damage plus a safety factor of about 60mm past what you can see as visible bullet damage or if you are really keen on that meat cut it into very thin strips prior to mincing and then any bullet/lead fragments will be obvious by the tissue damage where they have cut through. It pays not to eat that contaminated meat as not only do you have potentially powdered lead in there but also the blood and tissue products promote the formation of bacteria and meat spoiling. Not a good combination!!!!

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yup no 3 dead right and ya cant hide it with curry either

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Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

yup no 3 dead right and ya cant hide it with curry either

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Well, funny story: was in Auckland with my cousin who mentioned to one of his co-workers of the time that he'd been out hunting goats. This perked up the ears of one of the gentlemen over the way who was working at this outfit, who promptly enquired if we could get him goat. Cousin was like yeah, guess so - what do you want, kid, nanny? No no no no no, and then with a lot of waving and hands spaced out we worked out that he wanted old, stinky billy goat (or that's what I was thinking him pinching his nose meant). Turns out what he was after (with a bit of translation from the young lass who didn't say much to anyone until directed) is literally a dirty old stinky billy goat, and why that was important was for this one ceremonial curry dish the way to tell if it was done properly to tradition was by cooking a piece of billy belly piss strip. And when you couldn't taste the piss, the curry was ready (and probably capable of powering a small urban centre...). I'm still not sure that I have the right end of this story - and I was there...

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Originally Posted by No.3

Well, funny story: was in Auckland with my cousin who mentioned to one of his co-workers of the time that he'd been out hunting goats. This perked up the ears of one of the gentlemen over the way who was working at this outfit, who promptly enquired if we could get him goat. Cousin was like yeah, guess so - what do you want, kid, nanny? No no no no no, and then with a lot of waving and hands spaced out we worked out that he wanted old, stinky billy goat (or that's what I was thinking him pinching his nose meant). Turns out what he was after (with a bit of translation from the young lass who didn't say much to anyone until directed) is literally a dirty old stinky billy goat, and why that was important was for this one ceremonial curry dish the way to tell if it was done properly to tradition was by cooking a piece of billy belly piss strip. And when you couldn't taste the piss, the curry was ready (and probably capable of powering a small urban centre...). I'm still not sure that I have the right end of this story - and I was there...

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And right there is a great reason not to get too excited about experiencing all cultural events.

From the explanation, I have the sneaky suspicion that a bit of piss on the belly flap would be well down the list of my concerns if I was to try that dish...

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Originally Posted by No.3

From the explanation, I have the sneaky suspicion that a bit of piss on the belly flap would be well down the list of my concerns if I was to try that dish...

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Gold!

If gutting and hanging fly proof, well bled and pop the hip joint asap if it is warmer too, that's usually first place the taint starts.

I tend to use a gutless quarter method (YouTube it if unsure what is meant, many videos can show you better than I can explain) and hang de-boned in pillow cases in a shady breezy spot if possible until cooled. Never put it in plastic while warm and keep as much hair and stuff off as is possible. Cut from inside skin out to not transfer small cut shards of hair on to (into the meat).

Washing it as you are putting into marinade etc is not a problem as is likely the marinade is already moist.

Cold, clean, chur

Sounds like you have a good idea already though @cally woo

My go to is multiple of 40 degrees - hang it for two days at 20 degrees C or eight days at 5 degrees C etc skin on.

Get it into a chiller and that multiple slightly changes - my chiller is an old coke fridge and I'll hang venison for up to three weeks, skin-on at 2 degrees C. Vensison has never tasted better

Found some "official" info from MPI on wild meat prep when I was looking into how to do this. Obviously taking the ultra-careful approach some interesting advice.

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/1059/direct

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Originally Posted by OneStep

Found some "official" info from MPI on wild meat prep when I was looking into how to do this. Obviously taking the ultra-careful approach some interesting advice.

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/1059/direct

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I disagree with the MPI gutting method, reaching up and cutting the windpipe inside the animal is a mistake if you want a really clean job. Better to open the neck, release the WP, tie it off and free it

Hi , as a lot of others have said keep your meat as clean and dry as you can , i use pillow cases (not the good ones) and bone straight into them if i can .if its raining either quarter and get in your pack or carry out whole . DONT put in plastic bags while warm as will make your meat go off real fast i wont bag it till its going in the freezer. if your going to hang it whole open up the joints as that's where it will go off fastest . try not to poke/stab the meat as you are cutting it as bacteria love moist holes. keep you knife clean as you can don't poke it into the ground/trees etc. hanging wise depends on the day sometimes might be 2-3days others might be 2weeks . if you think its past it give it to the mother in law.