Wife & I disagree deer in ice chest ...opinions?

[Huntindad]

I shot a buck and it has been on ice for about 10 days in my ice chest till yesterday. I cut it all up. However, there is still alot of ice in the ice chest.

I am going hunting this weekend(tomorrow) and figured I'd drain the water out of the ice chest and call it good and take it with me and add some more ice.

wife thinks there are cootties in it and I should dump the ice and clean it out.

the TBH response is ...

[rolylane6]

Ice is cheap. Why risk it for what it could end up costing you. That's my opinion.

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[SmTx]

It's fine.

For a second I thought the 350k member large "Deer Processing" group on FB found TBH.

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by rolylane6

Ice is cheap. Why risk it for what it could end up costing you. That's my opinion.

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what am I risking?

[RR 314]

Originally Posted by rolylane6

Ice is cheap. Why risk it for what it could end up costing you. That's my opinion.

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I agree. Likely no issue, but not worth the “I told you so” or telling you the deer tastes bad.

Just say, yes dear. Life is easier that way.

[sunsethunter]

Originally Posted by rolylane6

Ice is cheap. Why risk it for what it could end up costing you. That's my opinion.

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I'm in this group. It's probably fine, but I'd get new

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by SmTx

It's fine.

For a second I thought the 350k member large "Deer Processing" group on FB found TBH.

she did put it on her FB page ...She didn't like my answer

[Iansumrall]

Originally Posted by rolylane6

Ice is cheap. Why risk it for what it could end up costing you. That's my opinion.

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Agreed. Ice is cheap, just dump it and spend 10$ to fill it back up.

[Huntindad]

Why get new? it is ice it's freezing...Why can I not just add to it?

[HighwayHunter]

If it isn’t being drained of standing water frequently (1-3x a day depending on how fast ice is melting) you are soaking your meat in the blood you drained out of it. Realistically I don’t see why anyone leaves it on ice more than 48 hours. Put it on ice and leave the drain open adding ice as needed and keep all the water out.

Edit* I slightly misread. The ice that’s still frozen is fine. No need to take it out so long as it hasn’t sat in bloody water too long which would probably melt it anyway


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[Big_gun]

new ice at buccees is $5 with the meat sitting in the ice all week its picked up some bacteria etc... I would buy new but hey its your meat

[Huntindad]

ok, I guess my question is. after draining the old ice water out of the ice chest and I have a good amount of ice left, is it, can it be "bad" ???? seems to me it is just a continuation of the cycle of life. But if it is that important to remove the bloodied ice and replace it with clean ice...maybe...

[sboudreaux]

If it’s hitting water no bueno in my opinion. Should be dry & cool.

[Huntindad]

deer is gone. All is left is ICE & water. figure I can drain the water & add more ice

[dhall1414]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

what am I risking?

upsetting your wife seems pretty risky to me. you've got to pick your battles. give in on $10 worth of ice and make a stand on a better hill later.

[1riot1ranger]

just add ice and leave the drain open. 10 days is a long time to leave in an ice chest though

[RiverRat1]

Ice slows bacteria growth. If there were deer parts in there then there's bacteria.

As said, it's probably still safe but why risk it?

A better question would be when does ice get borderline unsafe due to bacteria?

[SmTx]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

deer is gone. All is left is ICE & water. figure I can drain the water & add more ice

Oh. I'd wash my cooler like normal and take it dry unless icing beer down

[Mike Fangman]

I’m with the, dump out and start fresh crowd.

[Smart]

With 10 days, there is no doubt I would be dumping out your bacterial slush, spray the cooler down with bleach spray,rinse it out and buy new. Ice is cheap......doctor bills are not.

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by dhall1414

upsetting your wife seems pretty risky to me. you've got to pick your battles. give in on $10 worth of ice and make a stand on a better hill later.

naah, that is not an issue. we hust disagree on the ice in the ice chest.

[rolylane6]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

Why get new? it is ice it's freezing...Why can I not just add to it?

You can. Go for it.

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[lodgepole]

Originally Posted by Smart

With 10 days, there is no doubt I would be dumping out your bacterial slush, spray the cooler down with bleach spray,rinse it out and buy new. Ice is cheap......doctor bills are not.

This. Food safety comes to mind. No telling what could grow in there. Dump, throughly wash, dry, new ice.


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[glen]

Heck. She will never know- Just go and never mention it. But it will be fine. The temp itself keeps bacteria from growing.

[texan16]

Dump it, wash your ice chest, refill with new ice and new deer meat. I have a deer thats been on ice for 8 days now. Meat has been totally covered in ice the whole time with the drain plug open and ice chest elevated so water can drain. I know the meat is good to go, but there is some dried blood and stuff around the inside of the ice chest that needs to be cleaned up before I put any fresh meat in there. You probably dont have anything to worry about, but why not clean it all up ?

[Aggiehunter08]

Stubborn is a hard thing to deal with.

[rolylane6]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

what am I risking?

A chance of bacteria growth maybe. Maybe not. I'm not a biology major. It may be just fine but it may not. I say don't take the chance. If you knew for sure you wouldn't have asked...so there must an unknown risk involved. Like I said, ice is cheap.

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[Huntindad]

ok folks...I concede...I'll dump the ice in morning and clean it before leaving

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by rolylane6

A chance of bacteria growth maybe. Maybe not. I'm not a biology major. It may be just fine but it may not. I say don't take the chance. If you knew for sure you wouldn't have asked...so there must an unknown risk involved. Like I said, ice is cheap.

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no, that was from her.

[12ring]

Would you put it in your Crown & Coke ?

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by Aggiehunter08

Stubborn is a hard thing to deal with.

You don't know the half of it

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by 12ring

Would you put it in your Crown & Coke ?

Any deer I put on ice, I wouldn't put the ice in a drink. nice try...

[Killer]

It’s just ice how in the hades can it “go bad”
Throw it in the back of the truck and haul azz.
Gosh we got a lot of softies on here!

[Huntindad]

guess my real question is...what bacteria growth would there be in an ice chest full of ice ???

[Benno]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

ok folks...I concede...I'll dump the ice in morning and clean it before leaving

Whoooooa, slow your roll there partner. You have not killed anything yet. Put your beer on the remaining ice tomorrow. Just because some spouses keep their set in their wife’s purse doesn’t mean you need to follow along. If you do kill a deer, just tell her you replaced all the ice. How in the hell will she know any different?

[lodgepole]

Originally Posted by glen

Heck. She will never know- Just go and never mention it. But it will be fine. The temp itself keeps bacteria from growing.

Not true, it slows the growth. Remember Blue Bell and listeria. Guess what, ice cream factories are kept pretty cold too,


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[DaveC]

I'd vote new ice in case any bacteria got lose in there.

This is another case for the meat doesn't touch the ice method.

I've used the bleed out with drain open method for the last ~30 years.

This year in camp I went with the meat doesn't touch the deer option after helping a guy quarter up a buck and put the meat in new garbage bags.
I asked why?
A. he worked for a processor in high school and preferred the meat that hadn't been bled out.
I gave it a shot the next day on the one I put on ice.

The remaining ice in the cooler after dropping meat off was nice and clean.

Maybe that's the cheap answer- use your ice that's left over & bag the meat to make sure no cootie cross contamination from previous deer.

[Fishndude]

Response is…why’d you ask? Pretty obvious you’re gonna stick to your original plan.

Whoa…edit edit edit. Maybe not after all!! .

[Benno]

Originally Posted by 12ring

Would you put it in your Crown & Coke ?

1st drink or 9th? Hell yes I would. At least the clear ice on top, wouldn’t read into the bloody stuff on the bottom, that’s just crazy.

[bigchiefj]

Any germs that are in there will grow way slower on ice. There might be E. Coli from a deers' digestive system.

The only risk would be spreading contamination on your hands or using it for food that wasn't going to be cooked before eating.

I would put another deer in it, but not my beers.

[rolylane6]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

no, that was from her.

But she didn't ask us, you did. If you knew for sure youd've just told her there's nothing wrong with it and why.

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[Huntindad]

as I expected...answers are ARE OVER THE BOARD.

I'll deal with it in the morning. Probably gonna put some rock salt in it to lower the tempature and add ice and rock on

[Cullstuff]

Originally Posted by DaveC

I'd vote new ice in case any bacteria got lose in there.

This is another case for the meat doesn't touch the ice method.

I've used the bleed out with drain open method for the last ~30 years.

This year in camp I went with the meat doesn't touch the deer option after helping a guy quarter up a buck and put the meat in new garbage bags.
I asked why?
A. he worked for a processor in high school and preferred the meat that hadn't been bled out.
I gave it a shot the next day on the one I put on ice.

The remaining ice in the cooler after dropping meat off was nice and clean.

Maybe that's the cheap answer- use your ice that's left over & bag the meat to make sure no cootie cross contamination from previous deer.

How exactly does that work - the meat will bleed out into the bags they’re in until it is completely cooled. Do you drain the “meat bags” periodically?

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by bigchiefj

Any germs that are in there will grow way slower on ice. There might be E. Coli from a deers' digestive system.

The only risk would be spreading contamination on your hands or using it for food that wasn't going to be cooked before eating.

I would put another deer in it, but not my beers.

pretty sure there is not any digestive system in my ice chest.

[rolylane6]

Just to be clear, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with using the old ice. I'm just saying I don't know for sure that there isn't, hence, the risk. For the cost of ice, I'd remove that risk, no matter how small it may be.

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[DaveC]

Originally Posted by Cullstuff

How exactly does that work - the meat will bleed out into the bags they’re in until it is completely cooled. Do you drain the “meat bags” periodically?

They pulled the meat out of the bags at the processor- they were dry- no standing blood or dripping blood that I saw- but then again I didn't run over to investigate.
I'll take a closer look next time.
But thinking offhand- when I'm quartering a deer the only time I encounter much blood is in the area of trauma damage (killing wound) the rest isn't oozing blood with every cut. Some blood yes, but not much. I'm thinking since the heart is no longer pumping it throughout, whatever dribbled out on the way back to camp and landed on the cleaning slab was the bulk of what's left over to deal with.

[Smart]

Originally Posted by Killer

It’s just ice how in the hades can it “go bad”
Throw it in the back of the truck and haul azz.
Gosh we got a lot of softies on here!

It’s not the **** individual ice cubes. It’s the cooler that’s the nasty part and can be the health issue. Especially after 10 days of a bloody slush in it and being moved around splashing the sides and them drying up. That’s not always under ice. Not to mention the next 2-3 days trying to kill something and then adding another 10 days of “ice cube slush aging” after that.

[Smart]

Originally Posted by Huntindad

pretty sure there is not any digestive system in my ice chest.

One piece of poop hits the inside of the hind quarter or cutting of the esophagus doesn’t get washed out 100% from the meat …. Or you just spray wash it to another part of the carcass and you have introduced the possibility of bacteria ….unbeknownst to your naked eye.

The ice is too cheap to risk it … and 10 days is longer than I like to ice it anyway.

[Benno]

Originally Posted by Smart

It’s not the **** individual ice cubes. It’s the cooler that’s the nasty part and can be the health issue. Especially after 10 days of a bloody slush in it and being moved around splashing the sides and them drying up. That’s not always under ice. Not to mention the next 2-3 days trying to kill something and then adding another 10 days of “ice cube slush aging” after that.

So what if he kept the original deer in the cooler for 3 to 4 weeks?

[Huntindad]

Originally Posted by Benno

So what if he kept the original deer in the cooler for 3 to 4 weeks?

yeah, you have gone way out of bounds.