Will tis meat still be any good?

Yesterday evening at about 7:30/8:00 p.m. I skinned a squirrel out and stuck him in a bowl full of cold water, to soak for a little bit. My intentions was to let the blood soak out of it for a little while and then wrap him up and place him in the freezer. I got up at about 5:20 a.m. this morning and realized I had forgoten all about the squirrel still being in the bowl in the sink. So it has been in the sink for about 9 hours. The water is still cool but not real cool. Do you think it would still be good or should it become dog food?

[Grandmotherbear]

I don't like pepper but I would pepper h@ll out of this meat if I was eating it- pepper has demonstrated anti bacterial actions in laboratory tests.

[Explorer]

Eat it, you will be fine. It is common in Spain and I believe other European countries to let their game hang in the open air several days before cooking. Of course they do leave the skin on. Personally, I think game that is hung for a while tastes much better.

[Cyngbaeld]

I'd not eat it myself cause I detest and despise squirrel! However, soaking overnite in cool water shouldn't affect the edible qualities of the meat. You were going to cook it, weren't you? LOL

Yes, yes, yes, I was going to cook it for sure, as I like my meat well done! But I got to thinking that by the time I got home with the squirrel it had already lost most all of its body heat plus the fact that it was chilly outside when I skinned it out and then I completely submerged it in cold tap water. So the water should help keep out bacteria shouldn't it? So, it is a very young squirrel so I will probably fry the h@ll out of it anyway as grandmotherbear suggested. I guess I'll give it a try!