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Kort,

Thanks for the tip.  Years ago Doug Drum (the owner of Indian Valley Meats) used to do seminars on meat care in the field and he suggested two things I've seen repeated many times:

1.  Build a fly trap.  He suggested using meat scraps to attract flies under a piece of black visqueen, and then you put fly poison under there.  I can't remember the name of the poison... golden something...  Anyway he maintained that if you killed all the flies in the area around the meat rack they wouldn't bother you.  Makes sense, but I didn't know it was possible to get them all.  Apparently it is.  Here's a link to a very light-weight fly trap (four ounces!) that supposedly works well.  I haven't used it.  < http://www.cleanairgardening.com/flytrap.html >

2.  Treat the game bags with citric acid powder.  Very similar to your recipe, actually.  Doug said that the dried mixture burned the flies when they tried to land on the bags.

I've never treated my game bags.  I use the heavier cotton bags (I get mine at Alaska Mill and Feed), and the weave is tight enough that fly eggs cannot get through unless there is a hole in the bag.  Cheesecloth bags are another matter entirely!  Fly eggs go right through that material and end up right on the meat.  But if I'm using the tighter weave, all I do is brush off any eggs that may end up on the bags.  If the meat is hanging in the bag properly it shouldn't be stuck to the bag, so there's little risk of maggots anyway.  Granted, loose meat such as neck meat, trim, backstraps and tenderloins just sits in the bottom of the bag and needs to be monitored more closely.  Still, I haven't had problems with not treating the bags.  

I've been hearing some things about the synthetic bags (the Trophy and Game bags; "TAG bags"); these bags are made out of a plastic material that will probably not hold this treatment very well because plastic is non-absorbent.

In the final analysis I think this method is a good tool in your arsenal, but it's not essential.  Just my opinion.

-Mike

Message Thread:

• Meat Care in the Field rost495 Oct 19 2005
  • Game Bags Kort Oct 22 2005
    • Notes on game bags Michael Strahan Oct 22 2005
  • North Slope Meat Cache John S Oct 20 2005
    • Meat Cache Michael Strahan Oct 20 2005
      • Thanks for the advice Mike John S Oct 21 2005
  • Meat and Trophy Care Akres Oct 19 2005
    • Meat Care Snowwolfe Oct 19 2005
  • Great Start - How About Some Pre-Shot Input? mdhunter Oct 19 2005
  • Here you go- Michael Strahan Oct 19 2005
    • More ideas on meat care. Michael Strahan Oct 21 2005
    • great post Mike. fullkurl Oct 20 2005