How long is hanging meat good for?

[TAArrowood]

One really important key to hanging meat, especially in warm weather, is to place the meat in good game bags.. Also, after bagging the meat, sprinkle it completely with black pepper.. If airborne bugs can get to it it will spoil much quicker.. The pepper irritates the bugs and they won't spend much time on the meat.. I've tried it and it works.. I've taken early season deer in Ky in 80+ degree temps and used this method to help keep the meat usable much longer that without the pepper.. Good luck.. The pepper won't do much for the bears, but if you can keep them off of it you should be able to "keep" more of the meat..

 

[Michael Rankin]

I searched for similar threads but didn't find what I was looking for. I thought there was a chart out there with a sliding scale, like hanging quarters good for 3 days with highs of 70, lows of 40 at night, and it progresses up and down based on temperature. But I'm not seeing that info anywhere.

Situation is, I have a rad archery elk tag. Complications are we are on foot in horse country, and the Unit is infested with grizzly bears. I mean infested.

Hunting point is for us, an easy hike in, about 4 miles. We have 2 tags to fill and will pack in for 4 days Sept 1 - Sept 4. I can see forecast until the 30th of Aug and it's calling for high of 70 low of 45. Let's say hypothetically it stays that course.

Because we are constantly dealing with g bears we are pretty fast at getting animals quartered out and in game bags. We have done it with muleys and antelope but never a big bull.

Our plan if we kill is to get the animal quartered and portage meat back to one of the meadows on the main trail we take in. From there, we will make trips until the animal is out. Probably 4 trips with 2 guys. The head can wait and is not an emergency, nothing to spoil there.

Is there a rule of thumb for how long the meat can hang in 70 degrees with lows in the 40s? Is it hours or days? We have talked of de boning, but with the bear situation, I'm not sure we have time for that, unless we do it after we portage the meat away from the carcass. Even then, I'd like to get back to the meat, load up and get out of the area that the meat has been hanging.

What I haven't mentioned, because im planning for contingencies, is there is a good chance we will be able to get horses once we shoot something. However that is more like calling buddies who say they will do it, but have jobs, or might not be able to drop everything exactly when we need them so we are planning for the worst.

Looking for some outside perspective or ideas.

Thanks dudes,

Gary.

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Also for me a high of 70 and a low of 45 wouldn’t have me being concerned about meat spoilage.

Get it hung up and make sure it stays in the shade. You’ll easily have a few days

 

[HiMtnHntr]

You can keep the bone in while hanging/cooling, but I would have those bones out before packing out. Just extra weight.