smell it when you butcher...does it smell like spoiled meat? 2 things to consider.
1 breakdown of the meat is good...within reason. It's why aged meat is more tender than fresh. The breakdown of tissue is time and temperature dependent, spoiled meat smells like spoiled meat, otherwise you've just accomplished overnight what you would have done hanging the deer in the back yard for 3 days at 38°.
Bacteria are different matter entirely. If you've got shot the deer...and by gut shot, I'm including stomach and esophagus, all bets are off. You've introduced enteric bacteria to the bloodstream and I'd be real careful. Otherwise, bacteria aren't as much of an issue except in the immediate vicinity of the wound. The majority of the meat is inaccesible to bacteria at this stage. Why is a rare steak a treat and a rare hamburger a trip to the emergency room...a steak is solid, the bacteria is on the surface where the surface of ground meat extends to the middle.
If it doesn't stink, and you didn't gut shoot it, but you're still worried. Consider any meat that could have come in direct contact with the outside environment and throw it out. You'll keep your backstraps, and hams.
My opinion...possibly worth a shiny nickel, but probably just a crudy penny.
