Leaving deer overnight

I keep watching all these hunting videos on YouTube and noticed a really high percentage of them leave the deer for 12 hours or more overnight. I’ve never done that and would think that all the meat would be spoiled. Does anyone know from experience how long a deer will still be good for to clean in say 40-50 degree temps?

I don't think the main point for all of the hunting show and video yahoos is hunting for meat but hunting for horns and selling the products that sponsor their shows. The bigger their name, the bigger their income from products they shill. So meat spoiling is probably not too high on their concerns but recovering the head and horns is. But that is just my opinion....

A couple other things- if they were concerned about what the folks that watch their shows are concerned about and write to them about this they would address it on at least one of the shows. Also, if they were shooting a decent caliber weapon or their shot placement was better we wouldn't see so many deer react to a shot by humping their back and run off- probably 98-99% of the deer I have shot over the last 40+ years have dropped in their tracks.

I have a flashlight. I would NEVER leave meat on the ground for a whole night.

It will spoil unless it’s cold….dumb practice and advertisement of that practice, I’ve noticed too.

The only time I’ve seen it was on MeatEater. The guy is in the wilderness and if he does leave it, he guts it and It’s usually cold. He packs it out the next morning. I can’t see doing that unless you are extremely remote.

If it’s cold, the meat will be fine. I think he is more worried about being ambushed by a bear at night where he hunts trying to pack it out in the dark.

Our yotes will leave nothing but the spine if we do that. Seen it happen.

Meat wouldn't spoil regardless the temperature where I am. Coyotes would make sure of that. There is ZERO chance a dead/dying deer would make it unconsumed (to some degree) in my area.

The options here are: Search for the animal until you find it (OK to wait a few hours, but can not leave overnight). Prepare to find a completely or mostly consumed carcass the next day.

I could see if it's cold out where it might be okay, BUT, I can see the predators getting to it before you.

I think there are a lot of variables at play, but I have left deer out before on four occasions and never had issues with the meat when recovered. All four of these times, overnight temps were dropping into the 20s/30s.

Shot placement, area you’re hunting, predators. Temperature is obviously huge and in the cases of hunting shows, most are in the Midwest where it is significantly colder than Texas. On our ranch, there are multiple areas that are frankly too dangerous to go into at night if a deer is wounded. We are very rocky and one misstep in the dark and you have a broken ankle or have fallen off a rock face and you don’t have cell service.

Our typical procedure for an evening hunt is if a deer runs and you don’t see it fall give it an hour. Once you find blood, if it looks like a muscle hit (watery, bright red but not lung red, coming in steady but light drops typically after 50yds or more on the trail) either track with a dog or give 3 hours. If found and still alive or jumped, continue with dog or let it go overnight. We’ve had coyotes get to it before we did once. But hunter safety is ultimately more important than recovering the same night when it comes down to it. But again, I can only think of four or five occasions we have had to do this.

I have only left 1 overnight because of thick brush and dead light, Yep, nothing left but antlers and bones by morning. I shoot them in the neck now.

Same thing for us in Webb County, one left overnight due to thick brush, prickly pear and rain washing away blood trail and picked clean to head and legs.

Now a big azz pig might be another story.

I shot a bull elk before in the last 15 minutes of light and I made the decision to leave him overnight. I watched him go down near the edge of very thick timber. I could not make a finishing shot on him because his body was mostly blocked by trees. If I pursued him to get a better shooting angle and he jumped up to move going uphill in very thick steep timber, I would never be able to find and recover him. So, I came back at first light and he was within 40 yards of where I last saw him. My buddy and I field dressed him and quartered him and the meat was perfect. This is obviously different in terms of Texas temperatures, as the overnight low got into the teens that night.

I think it all depends on the temp out

my dad used to field dress them and hang in in a tree all time growing up when it was cold enough..

I dont think I have ever shot a deer that I would be comfortable leaving over night and still eating. Undoubtedly to me the meat would be at least tainted if not spoiled. And like others have said with our coyote population likely all you would find is the head/spine.

I field dressed a doe that was left over night in below freezing weather. Nope, I wouldn't keep the meat if she were mine. She was still warm inside, and had a funky smell.

We did also and still do. I was taught that if the temp was 55 or less it was ok to hang them over night. Have done it for years and never had a bad experience from it.

Shot a doe with a bow in Val Verde County a few weeks back. I gave her an hour and a half. I started tracking her and looked up to see about 40 buzzards on the ground about 75 yds ahead. Tracking job was over and I hustled to the spot where the eyes and butt were already being consumed by the buzzards. Guessing overnight like on TV is not a good idea in Texas!

Field dressing and hanging for a day or two in cool temps is done quiet regularly by many with no problems. The guts being in them and the coyotes on the overnight is the big difference, imo.

I've never left one overnight on purpose that was mortally wounded. As posted above, I've waited 1-2 hours and then started searching.

Agree with the statement, it depends on how cold it is. I think we have left a gutted deer outside hanging if it was in the 40 degree area. We had a hunter shoot a deer one evening that he was unable to find. The deer was found the next morning after a night with temps in the 20 degree range. The deer was fine no problem with the meat.

The TV, "backing out till morning," is such BS. Meat hunters don't do that. They track until they find the deer.
And in Texas, the meat will be ruined by heat, coyotes, buzzards by morning.

It's not much different than someone shooting a deer in 60+ degrees at 4:30 waiting until after dark maybe 2 hours then dressing it 1 hour for some If the deer ran, this time is longer. They hang it in the cooler then the next day throw the whole deer in the back if a truck and drive 6 hours to a processor that may or not be open then hang it in that cooler. That's 9+ hours un-refrigerated. Processor still processed it but probably don't know the details.

Opening weekend-Sunday afternoon I saw some guys in Mills county that had 3 deer on a 16' utility trailer. Deer had been hanging overnight; they were on the trailer for a while and they were adding bags of ice to the cavity. The meat isn't in the cavity. No telling how far they were going. I would not want to eat at their house.

Me either.

I've never let one go overnight - as said earlier, on my place the coyotes would have it cleaned by morning. Plus, what I have always practiced, is to get the guts and blood out as soon as possible, because just that heat alone can cause the meat to start to taint. Not sure if luck, good shooting, or a combination of both, but I've never failed to find a deer that I have shot, usually within a hundred yards or so of shot. And getting off topic, the other key is patience. Unless I can see where the deer falls and sure it is dead, I just sit, at least 20-30 minutes, and then may go get the Mule and come back. Unless just a really bad shot, they will likely die fairly close if not pushed early.

Hanging a field dressed deer overnight is a completely different matter.

I have a dog that will find a wounded deer. He has found several deer for people that were left over night. Some were just fine. Others were partially consumed by either coyotes or hogs. On a gut shot deer it’s best to leave it 4-6 hours. If gut shot just before dark, leaving it overnight increases your odds of recovery. Unless it’s hot outside the meat will be fine.
I’ve watched several hunting shows where I’ve made the assumption the only reason an animal was left overnight was to have better light for filming the next day.

i'd think it would really need to be pretty cold. We've on occasion gone back to look again in the morning for a deer/hog that we did not find the night before. With deer at least its never been the case that we found one the following day, the animal wasn't dead. Some big hogs shot in the dark that we knew we weren't going to eat we left til the next day just so we could look in the daylight. It would certainly be my preference to not ever leave an animal once shot. I also believe in giving them a little time after the shot...but i'd think any reasonably shot animal will be dead within a few minutes or maybe 15-20 at the most. If they're surviving longer than that then they really weren't hit well and odds of recovery within the 24hr period probably aren't good. I agree with what was said above about the tv shows always leaving them overnight....the point of the show is not meat retention. i saw a show once where a guy shot a deer late and didn't even try to look for it. he said on the show that he had to leave to catch a plane to another hunt location...that if the deer was found they'd mail it to him. pretty disgusting.

for me...even if a deer is dead in front of me...i try to give it 10-15min before i get out of the stand and approach it. if the deer ran out of sight i'll still give it 10-15min and the i'll go look at the point of impact for sign. if i'm seeing good sign i'll follow up and look until i find or until it seems likely that the animal is not dead and i'm not going to find. leaving an animal overnight purposefully seems un-necessary.

once a deer is recovered and gutted, if its at least 50-ish deg, we commonly will let them hang overnight to chill out and skin later....or at least until we've got some breakfast and coffee.