Just found a muntjac deer on the road - need advice please!

[Billy1]

It looks healthy and very fresh / still warm and looks like it died straight away from a head injury from a car. I've got it hanging up by the hind legs in the shed atm, but I haven't gutted it yet as I'm waiting for my stepdad to come over tomorrow and give me a hand (don't really know what I'm doing).

It's about 7 degrees tonight so fairly cold. Will it be alright to leave til tomorrow or will the meat spoil? If so, what does "spoil" actually mean? Will it just taste bad or will it actually be inedible and unsafe to eat?

I'd would also like to use as much of the deer as possible, the fur, sinew, that sort of stuff, but again I don't actually know what I'm doing!

Anything I should bare in mind before I start?

Thanks!

 

[tom.moran]

good work, waste not want not. unfortunately i have no advice as id be doing the same as you

 

[Ecoman]

Would be OK overnight in those temperatures.

Would take a few days for the meat to spoil.

 

[tom.moran]

your in for a nice lunch tomorrow

 

[Billy1]

7 degrees celsius I meant to say, this still ok?

 

[Buba]

you said it was probably hit by a vehicle, I would at least want to bleed it out, if it hasn't been done by the accident.

 

[Billy1]

Ok, I assume I just cut the throat to do that? Does this help to stop it spoiling?

 

[Buba]

Ok, I assume I just cut the throat to do that? Does this help to stop it spoiling?

yes, at least bleed it out, blood will putrify the meat although I don't know how long it takes, it sure can't hurt.

 

[EssexMonk]

From experience with deer here in Canada the sooner you get the innards out the better, just like doing a rabbit but bigger,

 

[Toddy]

If it's been hit by a car, it has probably rolled and bruised. That can mean that the gut bursts.
You need to gralloch it. You need to take out the bowel and the stomach.
It stinks like you've opened a sewer, but there's no other way to know if the bowel has burst or not.

I found one like that up at the Crannog meet up a few years ago. I went back to camp, I told Liz what I'd found and she said, "We could have that ", so we did......we nipped back round and lifted it into the boot of the car, came back and got it raised by it's legs with my big cast iron pot hooks.
When Liz split the belly though to let it all come out, and it does come out, it kind of pours free, it was obvious that the broken neck wasn't the only problem. The burst bowel taints the meat. It's literally ****. You really don't want to be keeping that hanging around in the beast or eating the tainted meat either.
Might have been fine 10,000 years ago, or for some modern wee hunter/gatherer in Africa or such like, but our immune systems and gut bacteria won't take that well at all.

The blood needs to be drained out too.

Tonight ? Get something that you can dispose of waste in easily under it, and gralloch it, slice it from breast bone to anus and get the bowels out. Be very, very careful....you need to look up and find images of Field Dressing a deer.....they will show the rumen, and explain how to avoid cutting that open if it's still unburst, and show how to deal with the upper stomach digestive bits too.....basically you really, really, do not want the deer's digestive bits to spread out over any meat that you're going to eat.

The other major thing that removing the guts will do is to quickly cool the carcase.....which is always a good thing

Best of luck with it but at least with a muntjac it's small enough to handle easily

http://www.thefield.co.uk/features/184265/Deer_Stalking__muntjac.html

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Buba]

you can find video's on internet on how to field dress deer. Like was said, It's best to do it right away

 

[Countryman]

I suspect by now the meat is already tainted.

When an animal dies in stress the body is alive with its fight or flight chemicals. The meat does not "set" well.

When a deer is killed it is usually bled as has been previously been said, by driving a knife down into the base of the clavicle not by cutting its throat.

The deer is Gralloched in the field soon after death with appropriate care taken to observe its internal health and any notifiable diseases and certainly not to contaminate the meat by bursting the bladder or gut.

Only when it's open and empty is it hung in a chiller to get the carcass down to 7 degrees ASAP. The acts of quickly bleeding and opening and emptying the deer help to rapidly cool the carcass.

You have a rumen full of rot in that animal keeping it warm. I'm not saying in a survival situation it wouldn't be a boon but you certainly aren't going to have the best venison dinner. I would stew it or certainly cook it very well not serve pink.

There is a risk too that someone may think you poached that deer.




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[Dougster]

Best practise is to get the guts out within 30 minutes and bleed unless a chest shot. You aren't going to get the best from this meat that's for sure.

The stomach very quickly taints the meat and the blood will congeal inside. Be very careful if you go ahead with this, anything with a trace of green colour or a bad smell needs to go.

 

[Billy1]

Did it yesterday and it went pretty well I think! I haven't tried any yet (got it in the freezer) but all the meat smelt good after washing and there wasnt any dodgy looking bits or colours, so hopefully it will be nice.

Didn't manage to get the hide off all in one piece but I reckon I should be able to next time and hopefully make something good out of it!

 

[onfire]

All the advice given here is very sound, but I couldn't help feeling a gut wrench for you as I read it (the same feeling I get when I think I have done well and then find I have wasted time / money / made life difficult for myself) ... so Im really pleased that you have gained something from it. Let us know how it goes from here ... we often do a big stew over an open fire ... your next report perhaps?!

 

[Toddy]

Very good

Sometimes getting the hide off tidily from a beast that's been knocked down isn't easy anyway. Mind that bruising I mentioned ? the damage can often mean that the hide is torn/shredded. If you got useable skin, and meat, it's a success

cheers,
Toddy