ICE that kill!

[Wyoming Sage]

When we are hunting Deer and Antelope we always take two 1 gallon milk or juice jugs of ice for each "anticipated" animal. And another 5 gallon jug of water for pouring on the inside to clean the blood and other parts. This is mostly for hunting the bottom lands and farm fields where we won't be dragging far. Just as soon as we get it dressed and back to the pickup, pour the water on the body cavity and clean it. Then we put one iced jug inside the rib cage between the front legs and tie them with rope and put the second iced jug between the hind legs again tie the legs together then we put the body in old bed sheets wrapped around the body. This will keep them for all day out there.
If we are in a area that we might have to pack it out I have bags of ice in a cooler. I put the meat chunks into a garbage bag, layer it with about 3 inches of cubed ice, then another layer of meat in a bag, remember leaving evidence of sex for the wardens. If out all day keep draining the water off so it doesn't get in with the meat. I have had this keep for a week or more in the cooler adding ice as it melts and at the motel you can put this in the bathtub at night. The big thing is layering. We use two ice chests.
I have had more than one warden make me take all the meat out and put it on the tailgate for him to look at. I even had two make me take them back to the site of the kill just so they could look. They both said I had taken more than enough meat off the bones!
When I was living back in Tennessee for awhile my hunting buddies said I did a better/faster job of cleaning and deboneing a Whitetail at night with a flashlight than I did at high noon with help.

 

[mixedbag]

I just buy bags of ice to fill the entire body cavity and start the drive home.Before stopping for the night I put new ice in and again around noon the next day.After that, I'm usually home.Important to keep it chilled and not full of melted water.I was always taught to get the hide off as soon as possible.Thats a little tough on deer and antelope unless I want to stop and quarter them before driving 24 hours home.If you shoot a bear though that should be a high priority.Their hides can hold in some heat and spoil the meat very quick

 

[Muskeez]

My girls still remember and recite the 3 things they learned from their hunters safety course that will spoil the meat of their game. Moisture, heat, and dirt. I have tried and done a lot of styles of processing and cooling whitetails over 30 years but I have to say that the gutless method that I learned from Randy's video on this site is the best way that I have found. In Iowa we can't do that by law in the field, but in WY it worked really well. I found that putting the boned out meat in game bags and stacking them in coolers between frozen milk jugs immediately after the kill cooled the meat quite quickly. Plus it was nice to have a good portion of the work done before I got home. Lots of different methods, but like the OP stated cooling the meat as soon and fast as possible is the key and sure makes a difference in the meat quality. We love our antelope meat!

 

[sbhooper]

My girls still remember and recite the 3 things they learned from their hunters safety course that will spoil the meat of their game. Moisture, heat, and dirt. I have tried and done a lot of styles of processing and cooling whitetails over 30 years but I have to say that the gutless method that I learned from Randy's video on this site is the best way that I have found. In Iowa we can't do that by law in the field, but in WY it worked really well. I found that putting the boned out meat in game bags and stacking them in coolers between frozen milk jugs immediately after the kill cooled the meat quite quickly. Plus it was nice to have a good portion of the work done before I got home. Lots of different methods, but like the OP stated cooling the meat as soon and fast as possible is the key and sure makes a difference in the meat quality. We love our antelope meat!

Agreed. Boning or at least quartering antelope meat in the field is absolutely imperative if you want the best quality meat. Leave the trash out there! There is no reason to haul the whole thing home before cutting the meat off. There is no better meat than antelope, but it can also be some real lousy stuff if not treated correctly.

I think that my wife would give away elk meat before giving up the tender antelope.

 

[Khunter]

I just buy bags of ice to fill the entire body cavity and start the drive home.Before stopping for the night I put new ice in and again around noon the next day.After that, I'm usually home.Important to keep it chilled and not full of melted water.I was always taught to get the hide off as soon as possible.Thats a little tough on deer and antelope unless I want to stop and quarter them before driving 24 hours home.If you shoot a bear though that should be a high priority.Their hides can hold in some heat and spoil the meat very quick

Unclear how it is a challenge to remove hide and quarter an antelope or deer or any critter before leaving the spot you kill them at? I am probably the slowest out there and take an hour plus for lopes and deer and if it is warm out, drop parts in a cooler pretty quickly afterward. Curious to know more about what the challenge is in regards to consistently getting animals skinned at the kill site? That was always the first thing i thought most folks did before packing it/loading it as the case may be?

 

[have gun will travel]

Gutless method is the best. The biggest thing is getting the meat off the bone and cooling the meat in reasonable time. I stay away from garbage bags. I was told they put antibacterial stuff in garbage bags. And I don't think it's a good idea to eat any more chemicals then we already do. But no I don't have any facts to back this up, it just makes sense to me. As far as ice I also use milk jugs and tarp my coolers from the sun.

 

[Carrion Carrier]

I really don't think there is a best method. You need to get the meat cooled. That said, the less you open up the carcass the less trim there is if you let your meat age properly.

 

[roadhunter]

These are an interesting solution that I ran across a while back. Seems like a pretty good idea.

http://www.trophybagkooler.com/

 

[LCH]

I've got a big cooler that I can fit an entire antelope in (minus hide/head/guts). Throw in a couple dry ice packs in paper grocery sacks (to prevent freezer burn) and it will freeze the entire thing solid for at least a couple of days.

For deer, I prefer to skin/quarter without gutting and place the quartered up meat in the cooler. Rather than bagging the meat, I double bag the ice so it doesn't leak out and soak my meat. Again, if I'm somewhere I can get some dry ice, I get a couple blocks instead of regular ice.

 

[Wyoming Sage]

I either at the site of the kill or on the tailgate, it is better. After gutting take and lay the animal on it's side on a tarp or big heavy plastic sheet if I have it but with care you don't need it. I then either start on the hind or front quarter and lift up the leg and make a slit up towards the hoof and skin around each side of the leg towards the back bone, then do the middle of the rib area and when I have the hide off and laid back along the back bone I then take off the meat on the quarters or the whole quarter, then put it in the pack or cooler, then the back straps from the hind all the way up to the neck and me along the neck. Now some of these will be maybe 5 or 6 feet long on the bigger animals. Rib meat and skirt meat if you want, tenderloin is there also. Then I take and lay the hide back over the meatless part and roll the animal over onto the other side and do the same- leave evidence of sex on something! For the Wardens, ha ha. An extra set of hands or rope will help on doing this, the rope can be strung back to a tree,sagebrush, stake in the ground. I have did this all my life, mostly by myself in a remote area. It is a lot easier to hang or pack out meat parts than a whole quarter for sure.

 

[shoots-straight]

Agreed. Boning or at least quartering antelope meat in the field is absolutely imperative if you want the best quality meat. Leave the trash out there! There is no reason to haul the whole thing home before cutting the meat off. There is no better meat than antelope, but it can also be some real lousy stuff if not treated correctly.

I think that my wife would give away elk meat before giving up the tender antelope.

I totally disagree with the comment of cutting up the antelope in field! (As long as you can get it home in a few hours) If your where you can drag, cart, or stretch, the animal out within a few hours of the vehicle, then keeping it in tact makes for a sanitary butchering job back at home or the meat processor. Anytime you cut the meat up in the field there's a greater chance of contaminating that meat. Any hair, dust or fluids can make great meat taste wild.

Most kill sites are not very sanitary, you either have sage pollen, tree pollen, or other dust flying around. Just walking around the animal to work on it stirs up dust.

I also take along frozen milk jugs to stuff inside the cavity until I get the meat to where I can butcher or hang. Then the hide comes off. If it's warm out I'll hang the meat at the processor plant for a modest hanging fee. I will still butcher it myself.

 

[1_pointer]

This it's too dirty, especially after a rain which keeps the dust at bay...

 

[shoots-straight]

Nope, that's good duty. I've also seen guys take a table with rapping paper with them so they can butcher right on the spot. The meat has to be cold though. Rain is tough to count on in most of our Antelope country.

 

[Slam]

I generally quarter, take the straps, tenderloins, neck and rib meat and pack back to the truck. I keep a 5' folding plastic table in the truck where I bone out the quarters and trim the rest and throw in coolers. I have had goats and mulies on ice like this for up to 5 days with never a problem.

My buddy throws his meat (unwrapped) in the cooler over ice then layers meat/ice. He is out sometimes 5-6 days and claims that his meat isn't harmed in any manner by being in contact with the ice. He is a Florida boy and the first time I had him in Wy. hunting goats I saw him doing this and cautioned him I thought his meat would be absorbing water and be tainted. he called me when he got home and told me the goat was the best meat he had ever had!

 

[npaden]

Yep. Putting the meat in the cooler with ice poured over the top is standard operating procedure in most of the south. I will even leave it in the cooler on ice on my back porch for a few more days before cutting it because I think it ends up tasting better that way. I drain out the water and add more ice. I try to keep it iced down for 5 days and will throw a little rock salt in there to brine it usually. The first few times you drain it the water looks like cherry kolaid, then more like pink lemonade and hopefully close to clear water at the end.

For deer/elk/antelope I've done this and it works fine, but for pigs it really does wonders. I've grilled a fresh backstrap off a pig the day that I shot it that tasted fine but was pretty tough, and kept the other backstrap in a cooler on ice for 5 days and then grilled it and it wasn't near as tough as the other one.

Have to keep a close eye on the ice though, sometimes in the summer I end up adding ice 2 or 3 times a day.

 

[JoseCuervo]

SMH on getting water inside an animal after it is gutted. Any bacteria that is inside the cavity from your knife (or bullet work) then gets flushed and pushed around via the water into other areas of the meat.

Keep 'em dry, get 'em cooled as quickly as possible.