I guess compared to some people, I am a old timer, considering that I have butchered meat since I was 7 years old and I am now 43.
In that time frame of a dad and an uncle and a grandfather and two brothers and a cousin that all hunts deer. Plus neighbors and relatives and friends that has also asked me to cut their meat for them - I have done hundreds of deer in my time.
Without a degree in Veterinarian Sciences, I cannot tell you over the Internet - weather or not your meat is fine.
BUT
In 35 years of being around meat, and having a cousin that was a PA Dept. Of Agriculture meat inspector. I can say with a clear conscience that you will not die from eating a piece of meat that came somewhere other than the injured portion of the deer that you harvested.
My dad once shot a doe that only had 3 legs. I'm sure that if you been around me long enough that I already told this story before. It came running down a hill in antlerless deer season and my dad shot it and it took a couple of steps and was walking funny. My dad finished it off and when he went to field dress it - he noticed something wasn't right. It only had 3 legs. One of its front legs was missing and it scabbed over and you couldn't tell there was anything wrong with the deer -- other than it walked with a limp when it was going slow. When it ran, it put its front leg into the middle of its chest and ran just fine on 3.
We cut that deer up and threw away the ribs - just as we always did and ate the rest. None of us got sick and none of us died.
It sickens my stomach when someone shoots a deer because they want the antlers - just to find out that someone stuck it with a arrow in archery season and it lived until rifle season and then some fool shot it and refused to eat the meat.
MOST of the times, the PGC Game Warden will refuse to give you a second tag and they will also charge you $10 a point if you want to keep the rack.
There are Lot's of scam artists out there that will shoot a deer and tag it to win a buck pool or just be able to brag that they shot a big one - only to find out when they get home that there was something wrong with the meat. They then think that the state owes them a second tag and that they should be able to keep the rack!
A friend of mine owns a processing plant and they have called the game warden several times over that issue and the game warden tells them that if it was no good when they shot it that they should have left it there and that they are not eligible for a second tag. It makes people mad, but once you find out that you cannot get away with it, you won't think twice about trying to call them and have them feel sorry about the situation.
If it was a arrow, and if the season ended 1 month ago, the yellow or green that you see is actually the wound healing. In nature the wound will either scab over, heal over or the limb that is affected will fall off. If it had gangrene that bad, it would just die somewhere out in the woods and that would be the end of it.
Deer gets hit by cars everyday. Deer gets into fights and gets gored and injured every day during the rut, yet if you didn't see it until after you caped the deer out, you never would know that it was injured in the first place.
It sickens me when I walk through the woods in hunting season and someone shot a deer and left it lay. How people all of a sudden becomes deer experts is beyond me. I couldn't tell you if it was ruined or not until I got it home. How could you tell me that it was ruined.
As far as gut shot deer goes, if you shoot it, you eat it.
You take the deer and you gut it out as best as you can. Then you find a spring or a creek and throw the deer into it. Wash it out until you get it as clean as you can get it. Take it home and hang it in a tree and get a wash bucket and a garden hose if you have one and wash it again.
Then cape it out as soon as you can and wash it again.
I don't eat the ribs, so you can quarter the deer and hang it in your shed or garage on hooks and throw the ribs away.
I will guarantee you that if you do this, and then trim off any tainted meat that you will never get sick from eating gut shot deer.
My one brother did one last Saturday and after we got it home, he gave it to his sister in law.
I gave him heck for not doing a good job field dressing it out before we took it out of the woods.
But his wife and his sister in law doesn't get along good and I think he did it just for spite.
I just finished cutting up 2 deer today and I will guarantee you that you will not find a hair or a piece of bone or dirt or leaves or feces in any of my meat. I clean my butcher boards and my knives and my pans for meat every 15 minutes. When I am done, I clean everything with Clorox and Dawn dish detergent and hot water. I will guarantee you that 90% of the processing plants that you take your deer to does not do that as often as I do.
So you can actually get worse meat from the butcher - just because his shop was not clean and he cut someone else deer before yours and transfered dirt, feces,hair, blood, infectious meat etc. onto your deer meat.
Throw away what ever you are not sure of and keep or give away the rest.
