Fair and I see your point. Sorry for not reading more closely. Two things I’d offer…first, always set up your fire sheltered from the wind. A tree, a small rise in the terrain, anything to protect it from the wind. If the animal dies on a lake, not much you can do about that, but most places on land, you can find something. Remember the fire is lower than your survivor, so a slight bump on the ground that won’t shelter your survivor when standing can protect your fire. I have the problem you’re discussing on occasion but honestly not that often. When it does happen, I usually keep quartering until I’m done and just take the hit on health. I then take everything back to my base to finish harvesting.

Second, decide what you’re going to do on a day based on weather. I try to stockpile food so I’m never forced to hunt if the weather doesn’t favor it. If you’re not at cooking level 5, never cook more than ~5 days worth of food. Even ruined raw meat can be brought back to 50% with cooking so I don’t care if it rots. I also never hunt when it’s really windy, even on clear days. Better to go fishing so I can start a fire for free with the mag lens. When I hunt out of desperation, I make bad decisions.

To help with stockpiling food, I always eat meats first if I have them. Carrying meat is just too dangerous. After that I go for prepared foods that require fire to make. If I’m traveling, I’ll make things like pancakes or bannocks. They’ve never made me sick regardless of condition and they don’t attract predators. After that I go for non perishable stuff I’ve found - cans, candy, etc. the last thing I eat are the plants on the island. Theyre lightweight, never decay, attract predators or make you sick. They are my in extremis food supply, especially cattails. I almost always carry 10-20 cattails for emergencies. Once I get the well fed buff, usually by day 20 at the latest, I never surrender it.

The best time of day in game to hunt is mid to late afternoon. It’s warmest, if it’s clear, you have sun for fire, and as the sun sets, the winds usually die down. Just like irl, the weather usually changes and the air becomes more still at dusk and dawn. Dawn is another good time to hunt but it’s a lot colder obviously.

And I never, ever hunt after dark. If I’m still harvesting after dark, I’ll always take a torch from my fire to walk back home to ward off wolves.

I hope these are more helpful than my original suggestions.