Chapter 6: Basic Hunting
Techniques
Field Care of Game (continued)
Transporting Game
Keep the dressed game cool and free of insects. If you've
quartered the animal, pack the quarters in ice chests—don't
cut up the deer beyond quartering until you reach your final
destination. Be sure to keep proper "evidence of gender"
if required by your game laws.
Most hunters take their game
to a commercial meat cooler, where a typical white-tailed
deer can be properly aged up
to three or four days at 40° Fahrenheit.
Animal Diseases
Identify possible diseased animals or animals
with infected wounds or parasites.
- Irrational or odd behavior
before harvesting—rabies
- Bad odor—gangrene
- Blisters on lungs or other organs—bovine tuberculosis
- Seeing outline of skeleton through
skin—Chronic Wasting Disease
- Hair loss or skin irritations—mange
- No fear of humans—brain worm (elk)
Remember... A clean kill improves the flavor of game meat. A wounded
animal that has to be chased down yields strong-flavored
meat because waste products, produced by stress, accumulate
in the flesh.
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