How long can a deer lay in the woods with out gutting it before the meet go's bad?

i shot a deer tue. night it was 40 deg.out and found it thu. night 17 deg. wed. it was 20 deg.. so it was 2 full days in the woods.is there a way to find out if the meat is bad with out eating it and getting sick....what is longest anyone has ever let won lay and still process it...How long can a deer lay in the woods with out gutting it before the meet go's bad?
The rule of thumb for clean meat (ie) Buffalo, cattle,deer,elk,moose, sheep,-If you can get it past your nose, it wont kill you.I'm not saying it will be tasty....and at the temperatures you described, for the deer to be fine as long as it aint gut-shot is about 4 hrs.How long can a deer lay in the woods with out gutting it before the meet go's bad?
To Mountain Man's correct answer, I wish to add that if a deer is gutshot, immediately hack off the 4 legs as close to the torso as possible, leaving the hide in place to keep dirt and flies off the meat. This satisfies the legal requirement of not wasting a kill, and if you are fast, that horrid gut juice will not have migrated to ';gamey out'; the entire carcass. Those enzymes and rumen bacteria can dissolve wood, and here they come with designs on doing that to your tongue!





It might be noted that at many game meat processors, your kill is weighed, and you often get a share of somebody's gutshot uncleaned 3 day-old kill. For this reason, I put up my own venison in pint jars right at hunt camp. One inch cubes, down from the top a bit and loose, 1 tsp seasoned salt, a dollop of kidney fat or substitute, 65 minutes after the pressure top starts rocking, slow natural cooldown or you boil out all the gravy. Great for quick stews, sandwiches, lasts a decade easy on cool area shelf. Regards, Larry.
You don't know how long it was dead, so it may still be fine. I assume it's at the butcher's now. At least I hope it is. Should be fine unless it was gut shot. If it was, you'll wan to discard any meat touched by the contents of the stomach or intestine, and make sure you thoroughly cook the rest. If the meat is cooked thoroughly, it can't hurt you no matter how bad it is when it's not cooked.
Hmmm....just me, but the 40 degree (night after the shot) doesn't sound good. But....given that obviously it's going to be cooked before eaten...hmmmm....I just don't know. Sounds a little risky. Depending on where the shot passed thru (if it got into the guts at all I'd disgard it). If you process it yourself them all you'd be out is your time if it doesn't taste good. If someone else process it then you're out money. Since the deer wasn't immediately killed and was able to run (and I'm thinking quiet a distance) before you found it....I don't think it'd chance it.


Sorry...I got sort of long there. I don't think I'd chance it. Feel good in knowing that the deer didn't suffer for weeks before dieing.