Time deer goes down to the processor - what is a safe time with these outdoor temps

[pure lefty]

Used to have a guy hunt on my place and he would not gut deer or hog and drive 1 1/2 hours to processor and he never got sick, no matter how hot or cold.

[ted_kennedys_liver]

We quarter our deer and throw them on ice as soon as we get recover and get them back to camp.. doesn't really fit your scenario of shooting, recovering, cleaning , and racing to the processor.. any reason you couldn't slow your rush down by throwing them in a cooler? (other than maybe you dont quarter them..? )

I dont quarter them because the processor is so close - by the time I skinned the deer and quartered etc - I could have it to processor. I live within 55 minutes of where I hunt and the processor is 10 minutes from the house.

I believe after gutting - I will stuff the cavity with bottles/jugs of frozen water and wrap in a tarp as other have suggested. This should work fine.

[ted_kennedys_liver]

I use 2 litre soda bottles full of water and frozen. Just put a few in the body cavity and wrap with a tarp to keep the sun off, and it gives you a lot more time. When I get to the processor I just pull the bottles out and it's ready to go. I'm about 50 miles from the house and a bit farther to the processor and never had an issue with bad meat.

That is almost identical to my situation - thanks.

[ted_kennedys_liver]

I shot a buck one year about 0700 AM and gutted it within the hr. Because of lease rules on opening weekend you could not leave your hunting area till 1030... It was about 80 to 85 deg... Deer was starting to go bad by the time I got him on ice about noon after skinning....

That rule sucks. Sorry to hear that.

[Bowanta]

FDA guideline is no more than 4 hours between 40 and 140.

In practice I've exceeded that hundreds of times and never had spoiled/bad meat.

That is for Cooked Food or Time/Temp Sensitive food items (milk products on cold food items).
And the updated temperatures are 45 and 135.
If you have any worries, make sure you have ice available, so when you pull the truck up to load it up, put the ice in the body cavity.

[Javelin]

I kill mine, quarter, put on ice, keep for a week or two and add ice when needed with drain open, then process my own.

I dont think you will have a problem as long as you put ice in the cavity or buy a huge ice chest that will hold the whole deer