I don't know about you guys, but I have been extremely busy(why I haven't been commenting)...so busy that I failed to realize deer archery season starts in TWO weeks, which seems crazy. Normally I would never hunt this early due to heat etc., but a

[JM]

I don't know about you guys, but I have been extremely busy(why I haven't been commenting)...so busy that I failed to realize deer archery season starts in TWO weeks, which seems crazy. Normally I would never hunt this early due to heat etc., but a friend of mine invited me on a hunt on some property his dad owns. I'm fairly prepared for the hunting in the heat, but what I am worried about is what to do after(if..and on this particular property its a fairly certain thing if you can shoot straight) we kill a deer. It would be about a 3 hour car drive, and chances of over 80 degree weather. So my question is whether any of you guys have any tips for preparing and transporting a deer in very hot weather. Normally I'd quarter it and stick it in a very large cooler, but we have a new walk-in cooler I've been itching to test out. The car we are driving actually has ice cold ac in the trunk portion, so the car drive itself isn't really a problem if we can cool the deer off beforehand.

[huntfishtrap]

I have been busy too, but I also am less excited about hunting this year than I can ever remember before. As someone who lives to be in the woods, I really hate to admit that, but it's true. I'm just having a hard time getting into the preseason preparation this year, with the exception of preparing for my elk hunting trip. Maybe that's taking up all my attention...I don't know. I expect I will feel more enthusiasm when fall actually arrives, though.

Regarding your question, I would definitely quarter the deer out and put it in a cooler with ice. Just trusting in the trunk AC wouldn't cut it for me. There's always the risk of mechanical failure - car breaks down, etc. And in those temps, meat can spoil very fast. There's really nothing that can go wrong with a cooler, other than the ice melting. I'm not sure how you would cool the animal down without ice, anyway. And if you're taking ice, you might as well take a cooler(s), too.

[jcarlin]

I think I'm hanging stands and cutting lanes this weekend. It's not worth doing early on the public land around here.
What was almost a disaster was my doe permits. My unit historically doesn't sell out til very late in season. Last year it was the first week in September. We do three mail in applications and then for certain units, mine included, it's over the counter sales at the county courthouses. I work a few minutes away from said courthouse. Been in the habit of sometime a week or two after they go over the counter popping in and buying two. OC sales started Monday, I happened to glance at the stats and realized that by last weekend 90% of them were sold. Was in a good sized line at 8AM Monday. Got mine and they were sold out by the end of day. That.. would not have been OK. Most of the state if you haven't hit the early mailings you're not getting a tag. This is new for my unit.

[jcarlin]

I generally have a large cooler or two with me, JIC. But I don't think I've ever used them. My early season spots are within a half hour of home. I one time grabbed a bag of ice and threw it in the body cavity on a really hot early season day.

[charlie elk]

Freeze water in 1-gallon plastic jugs. Thread twine down the throat, tie to one jug, pull up into the neck as far as possible and tie the twine around the muzzle to hold the ice in place. 2 more jugs in the abdomen with a 4th between the rear legs which are then tied together to hold that ice in place. Slit the abdomen hide, thread twine through these slits and tied off to enclose all the ice. The deer's hair and hide are great insulators; I use a cooler to keep the ice frozen before the kill.

[Okwaho]

I think I'm hanging stands and cutting lanes this weekend. It's not worth doing early on the public land around here.
What was almost a disaster was my doe permits. My unit historically doesn't sell out til very late in season. Last year it was the first week in September. We do three mail in applications and then for certain units, mine included, it's over the counter sales at the county courthouses. I work a few minutes away from said courthouse. Been in the habit of sometime a week or two after they go over the counter popping in and buying two. OC sales started Monday, I happened to glance at the stats and realized that by last weekend 90% of them were sold. Was in a good sized line at 8AM Monday. Got mine and they were sold out by the end of day. That.. would not have been OK. Most of the state if you haven't hit the early mailings you're not getting a tag. This is new for my unit.

Weird how things go around: I almost got caught with my pants down, too. NY's license sales began about ten days earlier than usual and I had no idea. I'm almost positive the usual press release wasn't in the local paper. I ran over to City Hall on my lunch hour the day I found out (when I called to ask what day the licenses would be available; the lady laughed and said, "Ohhhh, let's see ... how 'bout last Monday?"). I still got my two usual doe permits, but next day I was in the Walmart sporting goods area and overheard a fellow get turned down for the same units.

[Okwaho]

I have been busy too, but I also am less excited about hunting this year than I can ever remember before. As someone who lives to be in the woods, I really hate to admit that, but it's true. I'm just having a hard time getting into the preseason preparation this year, with the exception of preparing for my elk hunting trip. Maybe that's taking up all my attention...I don't know. I expect I will feel more enthusiasm when fall actually arrives, though.

Regarding your question, I would definitely quarter the deer out and put it in a cooler with ice. Just trusting in the trunk AC wouldn't cut it for me. There's always the risk of mechanical failure - car breaks down, etc. And in those temps, meat can spoil very fast. There's really nothing that can go wrong with a cooler, other than the ice melting. I'm not sure how you would cool the animal down without ice, anyway. And if you're taking ice, you might as well take a cooler(s), too.

I've been there, too, with that weird "meh" feeling as fall approaches. In my case, trying out a new patch of woods helps a lot; just seeing some different cricks and hillsides and such. I get real tired sometimes of even my family's old homestead, which I love beyond words. Or sometimes I just don't hunt for a while even after seasons open. I just keep fishing, and usually by the time there are too many fallen leaves in the cricks to retrieve a spinner, the old urge has come back.

[huntfishtrap]

I think I'm hanging stands and cutting lanes this weekend. It's not worth doing early on the public land around here.
What was almost a disaster was my doe permits. My unit historically doesn't sell out til very late in season. Last year it was the first week in September. We do three mail in applications and then for certain units, mine included, it's over the counter sales at the county courthouses. I work a few minutes away from said courthouse. Been in the habit of sometime a week or two after they go over the counter popping in and buying two. OC sales started Monday, I happened to glance at the stats and realized that by last weekend 90% of them were sold. Was in a good sized line at 8AM Monday. Got mine and they were sold out by the end of day. That.. would not have been OK. Most of the state if you haven't hit the early mailings you're not getting a tag. This is new for my unit.

I had a similar experience last year when I was buying an antlerless tag for our first shotgun season. They usually don't even sell out for my county, but there were only about 100 left when I bought mine (out of almost 3000 issued), and the last ones sold the next day. I had no excuse for it either, they post up-to-the-minute updates about how many tags are left on the DNR website.

[huntfishtrap]

I have been busy too, but I also am less excited about hunting this year than I can ever remember before. As someone who lives to be in the woods, I really hate to admit that, but it's true. I'm just having a hard time getting into the preseason preparation this year, with the exception of preparing for my elk hunting trip. Maybe that's taking up all my attention...I don't know. I expect I will feel more enthusiasm when fall actually arrives, though.

Regarding your question, I would definitely quarter the deer out and put it in a cooler with ice. Just trusting in the trunk AC wouldn't cut it for me. There's always the risk of mechanical failure - car breaks down, etc. And in those temps, meat can spoil very fast. There's really nothing that can go wrong with a cooler, other than the ice melting. I'm not sure how you would cool the animal down without ice, anyway. And if you're taking ice, you might as well take a cooler(s), too.

Yeah, maybe I'll get out squirrel hunting next weekend when the season opens, and see if that gets me going. Not going out if it's 80+ degrees, though.

[huntfishtrap]

Freeze water in 1-gallon plastic jugs. Thread twine down the throat, tie to one jug, pull up into the neck as far as possible and tie the twine around the muzzle to hold the ice in place. 2 more jugs in the abdomen with a 4th between the rear legs which are then tied together to hold that ice in place. Slit the abdomen hide, thread twine through these slits and tied off to enclose all the ice. The deer's hair and hide are great insulators; I use a cooler to keep the ice frozen before the kill.

I don't doubt your experience in this area, but that advice runs counter to all the conventional wisdom about handling game in high temperatures, which is to get that hide off as soon after the kill as possible, because it IS such a good insulator.

[Okwaho]

Freeze water in 1-gallon plastic jugs. Thread twine down the throat, tie to one jug, pull up into the neck as far as possible and tie the twine around the muzzle to hold the ice in place. 2 more jugs in the abdomen with a 4th between the rear legs which are then tied together to hold that ice in place. Slit the abdomen hide, thread twine through these slits and tied off to enclose all the ice. The deer's hair and hide are great insulators; I use a cooler to keep the ice frozen before the kill.

But if there's a good source of cold up inside the deer, then the insulating hide will keep the cold in. Assuming the body temperature has gone down -- which doesn't happen so fast when it's warm out -- which is probably why we're always told to get the hide off right after the kill. This is a lot like that thing about the chicken or the egg.

[charlie elk]

Freeze water in 1-gallon plastic jugs. Thread twine down the throat, tie to one jug, pull up into the neck as far as possible and tie the twine around the muzzle to hold the ice in place. 2 more jugs in the abdomen with a 4th between the rear legs which are then tied together to hold that ice in place. Slit the abdomen hide, thread twine through these slits and tied off to enclose all the ice. The deer's hair and hide are great insulators; I use a cooler to keep the ice frozen before the kill.

hft, if no ice is available, then the hide must come off immediately, and the carcass needs to be cut into pieces smaller than quarters. In the past, it was illegal to skin deer until it was registered intact in person. So to stay legal, I had to improvise or not hunt.
During cool temps, I remove the hide as soon as possible and rely on moisture evaporation and air to do the cooling while hanging. Nothing I have found cools the meat faster on warm days than ice applied to bone or as close as you can get to the bone. Game meat is more likely to sour from the bone out rather than from the surface inward. Even if a little souring takes place next to the hide, or at the surface, you'll be cutting that off to remove the silver skin.
Using only external cooling gives a false illusion the meat is cold throughout. A lot of folks touch test meat and think it's cooled but inside by the bone it is likely quite warm hours later, this is the reason I don't like to use coolers to cool meat.

[charlie elk]

I have been busy too, but I also am less excited about hunting this year than I can ever remember before. As someone who lives to be in the woods, I really hate to admit that, but it's true. I'm just having a hard time getting into the preseason preparation this year, with the exception of preparing for my elk hunting trip. Maybe that's taking up all my attention...I don't know. I expect I will feel more enthusiasm when fall actually arrives, though.

Regarding your question, I would definitely quarter the deer out and put it in a cooler with ice. Just trusting in the trunk AC wouldn't cut it for me. There's always the risk of mechanical failure - car breaks down, etc. And in those temps, meat can spoil very fast. There's really nothing that can go wrong with a cooler, other than the ice melting. I'm not sure how you would cool the animal down without ice, anyway. And if you're taking ice, you might as well take a cooler(s), too.

Yikes, you guys are in a depression that requires an intervention! Hope is not contagious.

[Okwaho]

I have been busy too, but I also am less excited about hunting this year than I can ever remember before. As someone who lives to be in the woods, I really hate to admit that, but it's true. I'm just having a hard time getting into the preseason preparation this year, with the exception of preparing for my elk hunting trip. Maybe that's taking up all my attention...I don't know. I expect I will feel more enthusiasm when fall actually arrives, though.

Regarding your question, I would definitely quarter the deer out and put it in a cooler with ice. Just trusting in the trunk AC wouldn't cut it for me. There's always the risk of mechanical failure - car breaks down, etc. And in those temps, meat can spoil very fast. There's really nothing that can go wrong with a cooler, other than the ice melting. I'm not sure how you would cool the animal down without ice, anyway. And if you're taking ice, you might as well take a cooler(s), too.

No worries, Charlie, I'm feeling pretty perky this year. I was just commiserating with HFT because that feeling he's got is something I've had before. This year, with some of our turkeys coming back a bit, and all the grouse and deer I've seen hiking around these past couple of weeks, I'm definitely looking forward to fall.

[Okwaho]

Every time I click on Answers from the home page, it still lists jcarlin's question from 7/18 as the most recent; this one and the one about GPS aren't even there. I got here by clicking on it in the margin of an article. Anyone else having this problem?