Wounded animal meat safety #2

[MontanaHunter222]

Hey everyone, I’m back with a question on meat safety on a wounded animal. My neighbor shot a buck with his bow, and it hit high. He asked for permission to track it on our property, and he said he was not able to recover it. One week later, I saw the buck is alive and appears to be showing rutting behavior. There is an obvious spot where he was hit. My wife doesn’t want me to put my tag on it, as she’s concerned that the meat may be infected.

I feel that I have heard countless stories of guys harvesting an animal that had a broadhead or a bullet still in the animal, and the meat was fine. But my wife argues that those are old wounds where the infection has had time to heal, and she thinks that a fresh wound may be worse. I also feel that, if the animal is suffering, it would be good to take it out. On the other hand, it seemed to be following a doe when I saw it.

 

[ccbrockett]

Just coat your arrows in Ancef and shoot to wound again, then one week later shoot to kill. The antibiotics will have had time to clear the infection from the first disaster.

All joking aside, you’re likely fine, if the buck is behaving normally and showing rutting behavior then it likely is not sick and safe to eat.

In my opinion, if the opportunity arises to put that buck down, the humane thing to do would be to put it down. The winter months will be no kinder to wound healing and his chances of survival will undoubtedly be lower than an uninjured buck.

 

[TOGIE]

You’ll most likely just have to cut around the wound.

98% of the harvestable meat will be just fine, that is, if the hit even affects harvestable meat

 

[ccbrockett]

@MontanaHunter222

In all seriousness, your harvest will likely be intact with the exception of the local injury at the site of entry and potential exit depending on the projectile path. There is most likely going to be some hemorrhage/hematoma in the front right quarter based on the image supplied and possibly the front left as well, but that should be contained and the rest of the meat extant from that entry/exit will be normal. So you’ll have 100% intact meat from both rears, neck/brisket if that’s your style, same for tendys, ~75%+ of the back straps, ~50-75% of each of the fronts if not more. Plus you get absolution knowing that you humanely dispatched an animal that would possibly not have made it through the winter.

 

[devon deer]

Firstly, I appreciate it's different where I live, but any deer I see suffering I end it, period.

I expect any infection in the deer in your photo, and in relation to the time elapsed since it was injured is probably localised.
However, and I know it means getting your hands dirty by not doing the 'gutless method' but inspect the internal organs, see https://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/uploads/guides/159.pdf which might help.
The gutless method has major short comings in relation to infections and deer health.

 

[rjthehunter]

Firstly, I appreciate it's different where I live, but any deer I see suffering I end it, period.

I expect any infection in the deer in your photo, and in relation to the time elapsed since it was injured is probably localised.
However, and I know it means getting your hands dirty by not doing the 'gutless method' but inspect the internal organs, see https://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/uploads/guides/159.pdf which might help.
The gutless method has major short comings in relation to infections and deer health.

I think the shortcomings noted about the gutless method could fairly easily be rectified by opening up the guts once all the meat is taken off!

 

[ccbrockett]

I think the shortcomings noted about the gutless method could fairly easily be rectified by opening up the guts once all the meat is taken off!

Couldn’t agree more, save the necropsy for the ready and willing after you get the harvest cooling and out of the oven. It is fairly apparent at initial inspection as to health of the animal and fitness of the meat for consumption.

 

[devon deer]

I think the shortcomings noted about the gutless method could fairly easily be rectified by opening up the guts once all the meat is taken off!

True, so why do gutless in the first place?
Gutting it out only takes a very short time and aids cooling.

 

[Jamen]

After processing several hundred deer IMO you wont know until you clean it. I have seen half arrows in deer and no wasted meat, i have discovered a deer shot with bird shot " no infection but tons of lead in the hinds." Deer that looked perfectly normal when the hunter shot but to discover it was hit by a car and the entire inside was rotten. Old bullet wounds that have healed. Just this weekend we were doing one everything looked normal but i kept smelling an awful smell. Get to the hind quarters and it was filled with infection. Well over a cup of pudding looking puss inside.

 

[rjthehunter]

True, so why do gutless in the first place?
Gutting it out only takes a very short time and aids cooling.

It keeps all the guts from getting all over your meat. It doesn't take that much longer to just quarter an animal, so the cooling doesn't really matter when we're talking 20 mins maybe.

 

[2rocky]

If you do shoot that buck, please tell us where the arrow actually hit. Many people might think that there is a mystical "VOID" under the spine and above the lungs, but I'll tell you that is above the spinal column.

I think any infection will be localized. If in doubt, shoot him in the head, and run over to take his temperature ASAP . If he has a fever, then dump the meat....

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

You’ll most likely just have to cut around the wound.

98% of the harvestable meat will be just fine, that is, if the hit even affects harvestable meat

This. There might be an area that is infected around the wound, and if so there is a decent chance the animal dies this winter. There is also a chance it healed just fine. I shot an elk with an area that was hit by an arrow in the rump 2 years ago. I ended up tossing part of the back leg as it was obviously infected as you could smell it and puss came out of it when I tried cutting anything. Most likely though you will get almost all of the meat from that deer.

 

[The Hedgehog]

@MontanaHunter222 Why not go get your neighbor that shot it the fist time and have him finish what he started? Why does that not seem so obviously like the thing you should do? Let him deal with the meat issues.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Your wife is not really wrong. An active infection presents more of a risk to you, pathogen-wise, than something that is healed. But the only way to know what you are dealing with is to look. Behavior is a very poor indicator of health. Animals are exceptionally good at masking not feeling good…I mean, that’s an evolutionary trait to fool predators, right?

If you harvest it, I personally would do as @devon deer describes. I would open the cavity and just see if there are signs of systemic infection. If multiple organs or areas don’t look right, I wouldn’t eat it. If it mostly looks/smells ok, I would trim meat liberally. Look for anything off color (and I mean anything that looks weird. Infected meat can be a range of colors: green, pale pink, black or gray. Sometimes it almost appears “cooked” so watch for that.) Toss anything that smells weird, feels mushy, etc.

 

[MontanaHunter222]

Firstly, I appreciate it's different where I live, but any deer I see suffering I end it, period.

I expect any infection in the deer in your photo, and in relation to the time elapsed since it was injured is probably localised.
However, and I know it means getting your hands dirty by not doing the 'gutless method' but inspect the internal organs, see https://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/uploads/guides/159.pdf which might help.
The gutless method has major short comings in relation to infections and deer health.

Thanks so much for asking the time to share your perspective and supporting information. I appreciate it!

 

[MontanaHunter222]

After processing several hundred deer IMO you wont know until you clean it. I have seen half arrows in deer and no wasted meat, i have discovered a deer shot with bird shot " no infection but tons of lead in the hinds." Deer that looked perfectly normal when the hunter shot but to discover it was hit by a car and the entire inside was rotten. Old bullet wounds that have healed. Just this weekend we were doing one everything looked normal but i kept smelling an awful smell. Get to the hind quarters and it was filled with infection. Well over a cup of pudding looking puss inside.

What did you do with the infected animal? Discard everything or just some parts?

 

[MontanaHunter222]

@MontanaHunter222 Why not go get your neighbor that shot it the fist time and have him finish what he started? Why does that not seem so obviously like the thing you should do? Let him deal with the meat issues.

There are plenty of reasons, even in a theoretical situation, that this may not be the thing to do. Just off the top of my head, valid reasons in a theoretical situation would be:
- It is private property. A landowner may be willing to let someone retrieve an animal that ran across the property line and died, but that doesn't mean they will now allow hunting to continue on their land.
- Even if the landowner is open to hunting, they may not trust that specific person to not continue making poor shots or potentially injure additional animals if they fail to identify the correct one.
- The land owner's schedule or even the schedule of agricultural use of the land is not conducive to allow more hunting at a time that will work for the hunter.

But those are just theoretical, totally justifiable reasons. Here are my real-life reasons:
- I don't know this individual. He's never spoken to me before this time, and I don't really want him roaming around my private property.
- I have 5 young kids, and I don't want anyone shooting firearms or sharp projectiles anywhere where they may be. I already think he made a poor decision to shoot an animal right on the property line, knowing how far it would run onto mine. I don't trust his future decisions.
- I did call him back about this deer when I found it, and he has already tagged another animal. He is not legally allowed to hunt anymore.
- If the animal isn't infected, I'm potentially interested in myself or a family member having the ability to harvest the meat. My post was to ask about meat safety.

 

[MontanaHunter222]

Your wife is not really wrong. An active infection presents more of a risk to you, pathogen-wise, than something that is healed. But the only way to know what you are dealing with is to look. Behavior is a very poor indicator of health. Animals are exceptionally good at masking not feeling good…I mean, that’s an evolutionary trait to fool predators, right?

If you harvest it, I personally would do as @devon deer describes. I would open the cavity and just see if there are signs of systemic infection. If multiple organs or areas don’t look right, I wouldn’t eat it. If it mostly looks/smells ok, I would trim meat liberally. Look for anything off color (and I mean anything that looks weird. Infected meat can be a range of colors: green, pale pink, black or gray. Sometimes it almost appears “cooked” so watch for that.) Toss anything that smells weird, feels mushy, etc.

Thank you again for your comments. I appreciate your thorough analysis and tips. I've already had one badly infected animal this year, so my wife is quite nervous about losing meat again. On my side, we've been building a house this year, so my hunting time has been drastically limited and I'd love to tag a decent animal if I get a chance...

 

[Jamen]

What did you do with the infected animal? Discard everything or just some parts?

That one in particular i called the hunter he came down and looked at it. We ended up calling the game warden. They will not issue another tag but he ended up on a list of ones poached or hit by a car that are not completely mangled. We threw away that whole deer unfortunately. He did end up getting one from the warden and got some meat. I will look for some pictures if i still have it. The one from this weekend we will get a few that have pockets of puss in them we cut around that and make sure no meat has any in it. Disinfect the knives and table and then continue on with the animal. I normally take pictures and send to the hunters.

 

[The Hedgehog]

There are plenty of reasons, even in a theoretical situation, that this may not be the thing to do. Just off the top of my head, valid reasons in a theoretical situation would be:
- It is private property. A landowner may be willing to let someone retrieve an animal that ran across the property line and died, but that doesn't mean they will now allow hunting to continue on their land.
- Even if the landowner is open to hunting, they may not trust that specific person to not continue making poor shots or potentially injure additional animals if they fail to identify the correct one.
- The land owner's schedule or even the schedule of agricultural use of the land is not conducive to allow more hunting at a time that will work for the hunter.

But those are just theoretical, totally justifiable reasons. Here are my real-life reasons:
- I don't know this individual. He's never spoken to me before this time, and I don't really want him roaming around my private property.
- I have 5 young kids, and I don't want anyone shooting firearms or sharp projectiles anywhere where they may be. I already think he made a poor decision to shoot an animal right on the property line, knowing how far it would run onto mine. I don't trust his future decisions.
- I did call him back about this deer when I found it, and he has already tagged another animal. He is not legally allowed to hunt anymore.
- If the animal isn't infected, I'm potentially interested in myself or a family member having the ability to harvest the meat. My post was to ask about meat safety.

If you kill that dink and the meat is questionable / will you go to FWP and get a replacement license so you can kill yet another one?