Gut shot doe... is the meat ok?

[tp308]

Yesterday afternoon before last light, my son shot a doe with his bow. Not the greatest shot, ended up being gut shot... we could tell by the arrow that it wasn't a very good hit and decided to back out and give her overnight. Found her first thing this morning but she stinks to high heaven. After sitting all night in low 30 degree temps and being gut shot, is the meat salvageable? After being field dressed and skinned she still stinks, geesh!

 

[Pickettpuncher]

I understand it stinks, but what does it smell like. Does it smell rancid, or just like a stinky deer. I probably wouldn’t eat the inner loins, but the rest could be ok.

 

[Macintosh]

Personally, I would open up the deer and give it a really good hosing with a high pressure hose in the body cavity, and then let it dry and evaluate after that. At that point I would pull a backstrap, pull off a rear ham, and pull out some of the muscles as if you were packaging to freeze it, and then take those inside and see how it smells by itself away from the carcass. As mentioned, meat that was exposed inside the cavity to the gut juice may be spoiled, and possibly the inside of some of the thicker parts of the animal, where it took longest to cool, although with temps in the 30s on a deer I would be skeptical of even that spoiling. There might be some waste, if any of the meat is discolored I would trim that, but I’ve eaten many deer that sound worse than what you’ve said with absolutely no issue. My guess is that when you get those meat cuts away from the whole carcass, it just smells like meat.

Edit: if it wasnt clear from my post^^, I have eaten deer that were recovered the next morning, also gut shot, in much warmer temps and not only did it not spoil, the meat TASTED great. Its only the meat directly in physical contact with the gut juice, or meat that spoiled from being warm too long that is a problem (highly unlikely given you said overnight temps in the 30’s). Have also eaten roadkill deer that the entire innards were basically mush, ie swimming in guts inside, delivered to my door by game warden—nasty butchering job, but again hosed off, dried and even the inner loins tasted good and were fine to eat. Some might trim more, but definitely not a total loss even from a flavor perspective. Warmer temps is a different ballgame, temps in the 30’s and a smaller animal like a white tail, you have considerable wiggle room here.

 

[IdahoBeav]

I probably wouldn’t eat the inner loins, but the rest could be ok.

I have done this very thing. The deer didn't sit all night, but it was during Sep, so the temps were much higher. The tenderloins were trash. I didn't even try on the rib meat. The neck, all 4 hams, and backstraps were fine.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Agree 100% with @Pickettpuncher and @Macintosh. You'll get nose blind while your around the carcasse. Pull everything that looks good, trim any nasty bits, and take inside for a good rinse. Take a whiff and I'll bet it just smells like meat too.

 

[RuggedYogi]

Gut shot stinky is very different than spoiled meat stinky. I think it would be impossible to tell if the meat was bad until you had the animal field dressed.

In the unfortunate event that I gut shot an animal, I always use the gutless method to process them.

 

[Wrench]

Let your nose do the walking....

 

[FearedFactor]

Allow me to introduce you to the Alabama Six Pack.
In Alabama the season is October to February and the limit is one antlered and one un-antlered per day. Deer are overpopulated, especially in agricultural areas.
So anytime someone gut shots a deer, cut the shoulders (2), cut the hams(2) and cut the back straps(2). 2+2+2=6 pack. Let the rest feed the coyotes and try to do better tomorrow.

Yes, we waste some meat but that's not always the priority.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

There is NO WAY a gutshot deer that sat overnight with temps in the 30s is spoiled.

Now that we have that out of the way cut it up and throw away anything that marinated in stomach contents overnight. It’s not spoiled but it won’t taste good. You’ll probably only lose the inner loins.

 

[Beagle1]

Agree. A gut shot deer in the woods overnight in the 30s is not going to go bad. It will smell bad because that’s what gut contents smell like.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

30 degrees
Should be fine and all your smelling should be the the open gut,which stinks 3 seconds after it’s open.

 

[ArcherAnthony]

There is NO WAY a gutshot deer that sat overnight with temps in the 30s is spoiled.

Now that we have that out of the way cut it up and throw away anything that marinated in stomach contents overnight. It’s not spoiled but it won’t taste good. You’ll probably only lose the inner loins.

x2

 

[Trimbandit]

I have a question that fits this thread.
Yesterday morning I was on a cow elk hunt and stalked in on a lone cow. She seemed to be struggling to get up earlier in the morning. After I shot her she had 4 beds within 15 yards and she crawled from one to another as her chest hair was worn down. When I first saw her she was standing. I had guessed she was injured, maybe shot in the leg. That didn't prove to be the case. Upon dressing her out she had been gut shot with a smaller caliber bullet (I found the slug on the opposite side hide). It was a quartering to shot that only hit intestine.
Should I be concerned since I have no information about the timeframe of when she was shot?

 

[realunlucky]

I have a question that fits this thread.
Yesterday morning I was on a cow elk hunt and stalked in on a lone cow. She seemed to be struggling to get up earlier in the morning. After I shot her she had 4 beds within 15 yards and she crawled from one to another as her chest hair was worn down. When I first saw her she was standing. I had guessed she was injured, maybe shot in the leg. That didn't prove to be the case. Upon dressing her out she had been gut shot with a smaller caliber bullet (I found the slug on the opposite side hide). It was a quartering to shot that only hit intestine.
Should I be concerned since I have no information about the timeframe of when she was shot?

I personally wouldn't be concerned.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[Rich M]

I have a question that fits this thread.
Yesterday morning I was on a cow elk hunt and stalked in on a lone cow. She seemed to be struggling to get up earlier in the morning. After I shot her she had 4 beds within 15 yards and she crawled from one to another as her chest hair was worn down. When I first saw her she was standing. I had guessed she was injured, maybe shot in the leg. That didn't prove to be the case. Upon dressing her out she had been gut shot with a smaller caliber bullet (I found the slug on the opposite side hide). It was a quartering to shot that only hit intestine.
Should I be concerned since I have no information about the timeframe of when she was shot?

It wasnt too long. Have seen gut shot deer do the same.

Meat is fine.

 

[TWHrunner]

It’s not spoiled per se, but it’s going to taste like crap imo. I’m willing to bet on that from similar experience. I kept it all and ended up feeding it to my dogs after nobody in the family wanted it. But it’s your deer! Do with it as you please. And let us know how it tasted.

 

[Ronjobinson28]

Ate a few gut shot deer (of course not mine I’d never do such a thing…lol) and never had an issues with the meat

 

[Flintlock13]

just clean out the inside with water and your all good

 

[mitchell]

Take the backstraps , hind quarters and front quarters and call it a day. I wouldent even try field dressing it unless I had all those quarters seperated. Then you can go messing around with the rest. A trick my buddy used when he had bad entral smelling meat was to rinse it really well, and then throw it into a mixture of ice water, 2 grocery store boxes of salt and two gallons of white vinegar and let stand for one day. Kills bacteria and takes away the smell.

 

[TN Tyrant]

Wash her down real good with water and you should be fine. I always side on the side of caution, if its in doubt i trim it out and use only what I am comfortable with or am certain is not tainted in any manner. One of the first deer I processed myself was completed under similar circumstances and there were no issues.