Big-game field care

Standing over a downed deer in the bush is no time to start learning how to field-dress the animal. As a responsible hunter, you should have planned for success long before your game hit the ground. This means edu­cating yourself in the techniques needed to transform the animal into packages of qual­ity meat for the freezer. The animals we hunt deserve nothing less. The first step to ensuring great tasting wild meat is deciding what, when, and where to shoot in the first place. While we day­dream about big bucks, younger animals make better table fare. Also take care when and where you shoot an animal. Downing a big buck during a warm spell in the mid­dle of some inaccessible bog is not a great plan. Think twice about hunting during warm weather or where meat spoilage is likely. Once an animal is on the ground, the clock starts ticking. You must act quickly or the animal will soon spoil, especially in warm weather or if the digestive system has been punctured by your bullet or arrow. The pri­mary goals are to remove the contents of the body cavity, cool the carcass as quickly as possible, and keep the meat clean. Getting started First, tag the animal, then get it to the dri­est, cleanest area possible. Once the animal is gutted, get it back to camp and hang it as soon as practical, as this helps cool it and keep it clean. Leave the hide on until you’re ready to hang the animal. The hide will protect the meat from insects and dirt, and the hair will help you slide the animal along the ground. If you must quarter game in warm weather to take it back to camp, use black pepper on exposed meat. The pepper, dusted liber­ally on the quarters, will keep flies off in the short term. Pepper can be wiped off once the meat is away from insect contamination, and any pepper that stays with the meat through processing will only add flavour. Once your game is back at camp, there’s more work to be done. If you haven’t skinned the animal yet, you need to make a decision. Skinning is important to help chill the meat. Also, all animals are easier to skin when warm. Whether to skin deer right away or not depends on the conditions. If you’re hanging a deer outside in cold