Posted: 11/14/2016 12:30:01 PM EDT
| Got my first buck, nothing special infact he has one antler missing all together. lol. But it puts meat in the freezer. lol |
| Here is an article - suggests up to 17 days if you have the right conditions. Ageing venison |
|
We tried letting one hang 14 days in a commercial cooler.
I didn't see any difference in the taste or tenderness of the meat. After that, we pretty much shoot, gut, drive home, skin, cut, wrap freeze. Done. I don't think there's anything wrong with letting them age, I just didn't see the point in it personally. |
| I don't cut my own up bc I don't have the time or the space. The guy who does mine usually lets them hang a day or two in his walk in. Sometimes a little longer when he has a ton of deer brought in at the same time. Honestly the cleanliness of the shop and how you wrap/food saver the meat is more important to me than how long it hangs. |
|
Myself, I'd get the hide off, leave it on the bone (the meat stretches and tears as it dries out, which aids tenderizing), put it in a cheesecloth game sack to keep flies off, clean it really well - get all the hair and dirt off of it, and hang it for a week.
Pull the tenderloins asap, you don't need to age them and you don't want them to dry out. |
|
Quoted:
Myself, I'd get the hide off, leave it on the bone (the meat stretches and tears as it dries out, which aids tenderizing), put it in a cheesecloth game sack to keep flies off, clean it really well - get all the hair and dirt off of it, and hang it for a week. Pull the tenderloins asap, you don't need to age them and you don't want them to dry out. This... depends upon how warm or cold its out.. i let it hang for a day to get ticks off of it. If its warm i cut it up pretty quickly |
|
Quoted:
Its hanging outside in the barns, it might get up in the 40s today..its gutted and skinned right now and hanging, ive been washing it was cold water to clean it up some. I got the deer around 10:30am.. If the weather is ideal or if you have it hanging in a cooler normally somewhere from 5 to 10 days. Really anything but a tough old buck 3 or 4 days is fine. But in a barn where temps are likely to get to 50 during day I would be worried to let it go very long. |
|
Quoted:
I never can let a deer hang as its to hot out. I always quarter it up then put it in a cooler on ice for a week. Been doing this for 15 years no issues yet. This. Everyone I know that has good venison leaves it in the cooler with blackstrap and tenderloins still in for at least a week. Some keep it covered with ice and the plug out of the bottom of the cooler to bleed it out and some fill it with ice water and drain and refill about every day or two. I just did one with the ice water method and it was great. |
|
I don't hang mine because it is always too hot here. If I could hang it to age, I would only do it for about 5-7 days. If you're going to hang the meat, keep it dry. The crust that forms while it's hanging is what protects the meat. It gets shaved off during the butchering step.
The best way to clean the meat up is to pick at it. I've also heard of some people using a handheld propane torch to singe stray hairs off. I use the same technique to remove the hard to get feathers off of ducks. If a piece of meat is particularly dirty, you can rinse it but I personally would only rinse meat that is going to get packaged and frozen right away. Cool, clean, and dry is the key. I either cut and package mine the same day or if I'm too busy/tired I will fill the bottom of a cooler with ice, then a layer of meat, then ice, etc. Leave the plug out and prop the other end up to let it drain. When I do the cooler thing, I get to it when it's most convenient. 2-3 days is no problem. This technique runs counter to keeping the meat dry, but it's packed in ice so I don't worry about bacteria growing. Always cut the tenderloins out ASAP (I do it right after field dressing). That's your best cut of meat and you don't want them to dry out. Cutting the tenderloins out right away will also help to keep them clean if you need to drag the deer out of the field. Deer ribs don't have much on them in the way of meat and the meat that is there dries out quickly so I use it and the flank meat to make dog food but if I was going to keep it I would just trim it off the bones and grind it. 
|
|
Quoted:
I don't hang mine because it is always too hot here. If I could hang it to age, I would only do it for about 5-7 days. If you're going to hang the meat, keep it dry. The crust that forms while it's hanging is what protects the meat. It gets shaved off during the butchering step. The best way to clean the meat up is to pick at it. I've also heard of some people using a handheld propane torch to singe stray hairs off. I use the same technique to remove the hard to get feathers off of ducks. If a piece of meat is particularly dirty, you can rinse it but I personally would only rinse meat that is going to get packaged and frozen right away. Cool, clean, and dry is the key. I either cut and package mine the same day or if I'm too busy/tired I will fill the bottom of a cooler with ice, then a layer of meat, then ice, etc. Leave the plug out and prop the other end up to let it drain. When I do the cooler thing, I get to it when it's most convenient. 2-3 days is no problem. This technique runs counter to keeping the meat dry, but it's packed in ice so I don't worry about bacteria growing. Always cut the tenderloins out ASAP (I do it right after field dressing). That's your best cut of meat and you don't want them to dry out. Cutting the tenderloins out right away will also help to keep them clean if you need to drag the deer out of the field. Deer ribs don't have much on them in the way of meat and the meat that is there dries out quickly so I use it and the flank meat to make dog food but if I was going to keep it I would just trim it off the bones and grind it. http://i63.tinypic.com/2mzdr43.jpg I use the cooler method here as well because it's too warm to hang. Just keep fresh ice on the meat and you're good to go. |
|
Quoted:
Well, we decided to go ahead and quarter it, cut it up and rinse in cold water really good and then bag it up and put in fridge til tomorrow and then freeze it. Tonite we are cooking Deer Ribs, anyone got a good recipe.. Pics coming soon... we used to quarter it up and put the meat in large trash cans filled with ice water and some salt until we had time to finish the work. |
| If the temps are 40 or below I will hang them 7 to 10 days. I wouldn't say it's the aging but the excess water content evaporates. Burger made without the hang time doesn't bind all that well into burger patties. A hung deer is just dry enough to make the burger pack without falling apart in the pan. |
|
Quoted:
Where do you guys hang your deer? Just in the garage? I hang mine in an open barn area, only place I have. I did learn my lesson about letting a deer hang it Freezes. Took me an hour to get the hide off. I did searching and most ppl seem to "warm up" the deer that had been frozen to get hid off. I wasnt going to do all that, I jus messed with it, bits and pieces at a time, till hid came off. 
|