Post by tofan on Feb 13, 2022 12:54:37 GMT -5
This is for the beginning or experienced trapper or hunter, it doesn't matter. I have been fortunate to hunt for a lot of years learn a lot of things, and have access to a variety of animals. I have also purchased a boat load of older books from the late 1800s and early 1900s that talk about game care that presented some nice information. Again this is my opinion, based on my own years of experience, there are lots of yuppies in the sports world who cringe at most things I do so it is what it is.
Now before some of the mouth breathers go ballistic, make sure you think about what I said. If a person shouldn't lay an animal in the back of the truck, how do I get them home when thats all I have? Great question, and I will include multiple different systems that range from lower cost(poor) to the filthy rich animals that exist in LA so everybody has an option. First if the only option you have is to lay the animal on truck bed, I would encourage you to just cut the animal up into quarters at that point and pack it in a cooler above the ice. The main thing that we want to do especially in our great hot humid state is we need to get airflow to the animal as quickly as possible, from the time we help them expire with a conibear, or a gunshot. The clock starts ticking on the decay process as soon as their heart stops pumping oxygenated blood throughout the body, and this will result in meat spoilage, hair slippage on the pelt and could cause undue sickness to the person consuming or handling the animal.
The absolute best way to accomplish this is to be able to hang the animal from a rack that goes in the hitch on the back of the truck. If you are camping out in an area, throw a rope over a big tree limb, and hoist the animal or animals up. Not only is this the way that our ancestors used to help preserve game animals, but its a forgotten tip that some of the hunters out west have re-learned in the subsequent years of hiking through the "back woods". "Matt, I live in bear country and the bears can get to the animals, what do I do?" You must hoist the animals higher than the bear can reach, and on a limb that would break if the bear tried to walk on it. You see bears are smart in the sense that they understand when they should not do something, although I hear this does not apply to traps.
If you are just taking the animal to the house and cannot take care of it right away, I don't care if you use 550 cord, electrical wire, you use whatever you can find to hoist that animal in the air. On a HOT, hot being 85+, if you have a big enough fan, you can hang them for 12+ hours without extreme decay. This is assuming an ungutted animal, if you have it gutted, I would feel comfortable doubling that time period, and if the animal is quartered, we are looking at multiple days under this condition. However I want to warn and preface you, you MUST keep the bugs away and off the animals. How do you do that? However you can, a thin sheet, to a blanket in the worst case scenario, regular cotton cloth will work fine. There are a lot of "synthetic" and must have this, must have that, you don't need any of that, they are all doing the same thing here. You see Meat when exposed to air, will form a hard casing on the outside that will provide for some decay and bacteria protection for some time.
Furs are very similar since the basic principle is that we want to stop decay from happening as soon as possible. If we can stop decay, the fur or hair will never slip from the roots, and the "leather" or skin will never end up disintegrate. I have been doing skinning one day, hanging my furs with the FUR OUT, and fleshing and boarding the next day. Again, I have airflow, and they are hanging, if you can you should do it all in the same day.
Only you can decide if it's good or not good to consume, but I will add that I have personally done what I have told you multiple times. I am one person though, who has a bit of experience using this method for years at this point. For trapping I started doing the furs this way this year, since many of you know I just started. My opinion is just that, many others will chime in with different ways, I am sure all will accomplish the same goal. Best of luck.
How long do I have until my animal I killed goes bad? Well that depends on a lot of factors, but something that we do that is just absolutely WRONG is laying an animal down in the truck bed, strapping to the car roof, car trunk, laying down on the boat floor, laying it down on the grass floor.
Now before some of the mouth breathers go ballistic, make sure you think about what I said. If a person shouldn't lay an animal in the back of the truck, how do I get them home when thats all I have? Great question, and I will include multiple different systems that range from lower cost(poor) to the filthy rich animals that exist in LA so everybody has an option. First if the only option you have is to lay the animal on truck bed, I would encourage you to just cut the animal up into quarters at that point and pack it in a cooler above the ice. The main thing that we want to do especially in our great hot humid state is we need to get airflow to the animal as quickly as possible, from the time we help them expire with a conibear, or a gunshot. The clock starts ticking on the decay process as soon as their heart stops pumping oxygenated blood throughout the body, and this will result in meat spoilage, hair slippage on the pelt and could cause undue sickness to the person consuming or handling the animal.
The absolute best way to accomplish this is to be able to hang the animal from a rack that goes in the hitch on the back of the truck. If you are camping out in an area, throw a rope over a big tree limb, and hoist the animal or animals up. Not only is this the way that our ancestors used to help preserve game animals, but its a forgotten tip that some of the hunters out west have re-learned in the subsequent years of hiking through the "back woods". "Matt, I live in bear country and the bears can get to the animals, what do I do?" You must hoist the animals higher than the bear can reach, and on a limb that would break if the bear tried to walk on it. You see bears are smart in the sense that they understand when they should not do something, although I hear this does not apply to traps.
If you are just taking the animal to the house and cannot take care of it right away, I don't care if you use 550 cord, electrical wire, you use whatever you can find to hoist that animal in the air. On a HOT, hot being 85+, if you have a big enough fan, you can hang them for 12+ hours without extreme decay. This is assuming an ungutted animal, if you have it gutted, I would feel comfortable doubling that time period, and if the animal is quartered, we are looking at multiple days under this condition. However I want to warn and preface you, you MUST keep the bugs away and off the animals. How do you do that? However you can, a thin sheet, to a blanket in the worst case scenario, regular cotton cloth will work fine. There are a lot of "synthetic" and must have this, must have that, you don't need any of that, they are all doing the same thing here. You see Meat when exposed to air, will form a hard casing on the outside that will provide for some decay and bacteria protection for some time.
Furs are very similar since the basic principle is that we want to stop decay from happening as soon as possible. If we can stop decay, the fur or hair will never slip from the roots, and the "leather" or skin will never end up disintegrate. I have been doing skinning one day, hanging my furs with the FUR OUT, and fleshing and boarding the next day. Again, I have airflow, and they are hanging, if you can you should do it all in the same day.
Only you can decide if it's good or not good to consume, but I will add that I have personally done what I have told you multiple times. I am one person though, who has a bit of experience using this method for years at this point. For trapping I started doing the furs this way this year, since many of you know I just started. My opinion is just that, many others will chime in with different ways, I am sure all will accomplish the same goal. Best of luck.