How to store freshly killed deer meat.

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How to store freshly killed deer meat. (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:38:26 PM EDT

For those of us that hunt and dress our own game.

After skinning and taking off the meat off a deer, do you:

A: Refrigerate the meat for several days.

B: Ice down the meat in a cooler and let the water drain for a few days.

C: Let the meat sit in ice water for days.

D: Rinse and freeze immediately.

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:41:53 PM EDT

[#1]

A or DVD depending on weather

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:44:29 PM EDT

[#2]

In a cooler of ice. Drain water and add more ice for a few days. That will get a lot of the blood and gamey taste out. Some folks even add salt to the cooler.

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:47:45 PM EDT

[#3]

Usually throw it in a cooler with ice until I have time to fool with it. No reason other than there's more hunting to be done.

I don't fool with bones or saws. The meat is cut off the bone when the deer is hanging. Everything goes into a garbage bag. The last two we killed stayed in the cooler for 16 days.

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:50:09 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
Usually throw it in a cooler with ice until I have time to fool with it. No reason other than there's more hunting to be done.

View Quote

Pretty much this. Its usually not cold enough here to hang them for days at a time, so they get quartered and iced, then back out for another one until I hit my limit or run out of time. Then I process it all after my license expires.

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:50:55 PM EDT

[#5]

Here we hang them in a garage for 4-6 days (depending on temp), until rigor leaves, then cut them up (and grind the burger), wrap them in paper and freeze immediately.

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:53:56 PM EDT

[#6]

I generally get mine home and hang it, skin it and break it down to the individual muscles and place it all in the fridge, as I go. If I have time that same day I slice it up, vacuume seal and freeze it, if not first thing the next day.

Posted: 12/17/2016 9:56:30 PM EDT

[#7]

I only hunt in cold weather, 60* and cooler. usually lows in the 20's and highs in the 50's..

1. kill it. and gut it in the woods.
2. wash out with the hose, including the butt hole. to remove blood, and other funky stuff, etc
3. hang it in garage, for up to 2 weeks, with hide on. ( depending on temperature. )
4. have it processed.
5 freeze

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:00:41 PM EDT

[#8]

hang it for a few days to a week with the hide on.. Skin it and take the front quarters off, grind them freeze them, pull back straps freeze them, let the rears hang for a day wtih out the hide then cut/grind them.. If its warm ill hang, quarter and place in a cooler until I can cut them up..

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:01:04 PM EDT

[#9]

I quarter , take straps off and do

B.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:08:02 PM EDT

[#10]

Bleed in a cooler full of ice unplugged for 4-5 days.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:31:26 PM EDT

[#11]

Keep in a Yeti cooler for about week and either leave the plug cracked open or drain it daily adding ice as needed.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:39:03 PM EDT

[#12]

Gut it, skin it, quarter it, throw it in bags and put it on ice in a cooler. If it's particularly cold out I'll leave it hanging over night before skinning and quartering it. Drop it off with the processor on the way home.

Just picked up my meet from last weekend's kill earlier today.

Axis

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:41:07 PM EDT

[#13]

I kill about 12 deer a year and cannot remember the last time we bought beef. My wife calls ut my second job. I do all my own processing.

1. Field dress where I kill it. If the temperature is above the low 40s I will pack ice inside the deer. Many times I kill in the evening and don't have time to break it down that night.

2. As soon as possible I hang the deer in my garage, remove the hide and cut out the tenderloin, backstrap and rear hams. Everything else goes in the garbage.

3. The edible parts go in a refrigerator in the garage that serves as my meat cooler.

4. Over the next 2 weeks I butcher and package the individual cuts. I remove every bit of silver skin, tendon and fat. Every deer provides 2 tenderloin, 6 backstrap cuts and 10 roasts of varying size.

5. This is weighed, wrapped in butchers plastic, then butcher paper and labeled with the date, cut, and weight. All my wife has to do is pull out the size cut she wants and unwrap. There is no more processing needed.

I cannot stress enough that proper care and butchering is what removes the "gamey" taste many complain about. Not bleeding the deer, or ice water or milk etc. If you want the finest most tender wild game you have to handle it correctly on the front end.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:41:47 PM EDT

[#14]

freeze it

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:46:08 PM EDT

[#15]

If in the mountains, I skin and quarter and place on ice in cooler until I get home and debone, vac seal and freeze.
If hunting around home. Skin and quarter and place in frig for a day or two and then debone , vac seal and freeze.
Never had any gamey meat. I feel the quicker you get the meat on ice or in a frig the better.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:46:19 PM EDT

[#16]

We clean it and quarter it immediately. Put it on a raised grill in a 180 qt ice chest with ice under it. The meat doesn't touch the ice. The next morning, we de-bone and process.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:48:32 PM EDT

[#17]

Ice water soak for a few days, change water out as needed, then take to meat processor.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:55:24 PM EDT

[#18]

Age, with the skin on, hanging in a barn. If it's too warm, we tie a rope around it and throw it in the river.

Once it's aged, butcher and freeze it.

I can only get away with that in Arkansas because we're on top of a mountain, most areas are too warm.

Posted: 12/17/2016 10:59:15 PM EDT

[#19]

I store mine in an iced down cooler for about 2 days, keep the temp below 40 degrees. I'll then drain, dry and process. Once processed, I vacuum seal everything.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:06:49 PM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
2. As soon as possible I hang the deer in my garage, remove the hide and cut out the tenderloin, backstrap and rear hams. Everything else goes in the garbage.

View Quote

Sounds like you waste a lot of meat.

Like, almost half of it.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:08:49 PM EDT

[#21]

After they hang for a day or two, you need to warm them up so you can cut them.

I don't know of any deer that have excess water in their meat, though, just a bit of blood. Adding water or improper wrapping will get you freezer burnt meat, though.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:14:51 PM EDT

[#22]

I quarter game in the field, then seal them in fairly thick plastic bags and store them on ice in a cooler for 4 to 5 days. Then I debone, process, and freeze.

If I were single, I'd store it the same amount of time in the refrigerator.

I've tried storing the quarters directly in the ice water, I think it tastes better not soaked.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:15:07 PM EDT

[#23]

Nope. Not enough meat left on front shoulders after trimming to mess with and the neck is layer after layer of fascia. I would rather kill another deer than waste my time trimming a neck. But I do understand that many people dont live in areas with the limits where I am.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:16:06 PM EDT

[#24]

Gut, skin, cut, wrap and freeze within 2 hours of the shot.

Anything else is just playing with your food.

Rinse when you thaw if you must.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:19:19 PM EDT

[#25]

Throw in truck, take to processor. The end.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:20:42 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
Nope. Not enough meat left on front shoulders after trimming to mess with and the neck is layer after layer of fascia. I would rather kill another deer than waste my time trimming a neck. But I do understand that many people dont live in areas with the limits where I am.

View Quote

Take the whole neck and braise it for 5-7 hours.

Pull and Mix with BBQ sauce.

http://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/hunt-down-this-neck-roast-bbq-sandwich/

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:25:05 PM EDT

[#27]

B. Ice and drain. Never had a problem.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:33:26 PM EDT

[#28]

Quote History

Quoted:
Nope. Not enough meat left on front shoulders after trimming to mess with and the neck is layer after layer of fascia. I would rather kill another deer than waste my time trimming a neck. But I do understand that many people dont live in areas with the limits where I am.

View Quote

I can the good stuff for humans. The troublesome parts like the neck and shoulder with other scraps for my dogs.

I freeze the backstrap or tenderloin that was not cooked and eaten right away. Sometimes I make sausage. I prefer to can most of it.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:35:15 PM EDT

[#29]

Skin, then let hang 4+ days until I can get around to butchering.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:36:49 PM EDT

[#30]

As long as it's below 35F which is pretty much all of rifle season, it gets hung in the barn for up to 10 days then it goes to the processor. Well worth the $80 to me. ;)

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:41:59 PM EDT

[#31]

Poll fail

Nail it to the wall and make jerky.

if it's below 40 it gets hung in a shed or garage for a few days and then processed. Or sometimes overnight and then processed if we really want some fresh ven.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:44:48 PM EDT

[#32]

Gut it, skin it, quarter it, wipe it all down with cider vinegar. liberally sprinkle it all with black pepper, throw it in cheesecloth meat bags and hang it for a week or 10 days before I butcher it.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:47:01 PM EDT

[#33]

Butcher before it freezes solid, take out what we want throw in ice water until we are done hunting then finish cuts. It sucks cutting frozen deer and doesn't take long around here.

Posted: 12/17/2016 11:51:39 PM EDT

[#34]

I shot one last Sunday , it hung in my buddys garage until friday night when I quartered , its been in garbage bags in a cooler with ice since . Ill break it down tomorrow , vacuum seal and freeze

Posted: 12/18/2016 12:17:38 AM EDT

[#35]

Quote History

Quoted:
I kill about 12 deer a year and cannot remember the last time we bought beef. My wife calls ut my second job. I do all my own processing.

1. Field dress where I kill it. If the temperature is above the low 40s I will pack ice inside the deer. Many times I kill in the evening and don't have time to break it down that night.

2. As soon as possible I hang the deer in my garage, remove the hide and cut out the tenderloin, backstrap and rear hams. Everything else goes in the garbage.

3. The edible parts go in a refrigerator in the garage that serves as my meat cooler.

4. Over the next 2 weeks I butcher and package the individual cuts. I remove every bit of silver skin, tendon and fat. Every deer provides 2 tenderloin, 6 backstrap cuts and 10 roasts of varying size.

5. This is weighed, wrapped in butchers plastic, then butcher paper and labeled with the date, cut, and weight. All my wife has to do is pull out the size cut she wants and unwrap. There is no more processing needed.

I cannot stress enough that proper care and butchering is what removes the "gamey" taste many complain about. Not bleeding the deer, or ice water or milk etc. If you want the finest most tender wild game you have to handle it correctly on the front end.

View Quote

This is the only correct answer. Where did this ice water and bleeding idea come from??????

Kill quick, cool fast. The nastiest thing there is is the taste of a deer that dies under stress. Chase a wounded deer and it will taste like hell. We built a walk-in cooler and did the refrigeration because of the the constant warm weather problems during bow season.

Remove tenderloins so they don't dry out. Eat whenever.

Hang with hide on for however long you want, I usually hang 7-12 days. Skin if its warmer where you are to cool the meat quicker.

Break down the rear quarters into individual muscle groups, no bone or connective tissue. Slice into steaks, leave whole muscles, etc. Remove backstraps and do as you want.

The rest makes stew meat for me or something else if you have a grinder. I personally don't spend a ton of time on this either.

Meat is excellent and not gamey or anything else.

Posted: 12/18/2016 12:23:43 AM EDT

[#36]

Option B or D dependent upon air temperature.

Posted: 12/18/2016 12:25:11 AM EDT

[#37]

FPNI

I've hunted in Florida my whole life, hanging game is rarely an option, 10 days minimum in the cooler with ice.

Aging is a critical factor in making red meat taste good.

Posted: 12/18/2016 12:57:26 AM EDT

[#38]

up here in the cold country.....

dress it out in the woods (leave the diaphragm intact till you get it home. this keeps the heart and liver in without carrying a bag)
when home finish dressing it out
hang it in the garage/barn for a few days (or the tree out back)
skin it
use a shop vac to remove any loose hair stuck to the meat
cut all the damn tallow off that you can
use a sawzall to 1/4 it
cut it up (de-bone everything but the neck, remove any remaining tallow you find)
cut steaks/loins
split neck and make a couple neck roasts
take all the rib meat, lower legs, etc. and grind into hamburger (add a little pork butt if you want hamburger patties, more pork butt along with spices , garlic and cheese if you want sausage)
paper wrap or vac seal the meat (mark the cuts and date)
throw in the freezer

make sure you cut up some cubes to cook in bacon grease to go with crackers when ice fishing.

Posted: 12/18/2016 1:07:00 AM EDT

[#39]

No idea on deer, but moose is easy.

Quarter it, and hang in the garage at ~35-40f for 1-2 weeks. Spritz with a solution of citric acid to form a 'skin' to keep it from going bad.

Chop, vacuum seal, and enjoy as needed.

Posted: 12/18/2016 2:27:01 AM EDT

[#40]

Right to Hamburger with crushed ice...... 50% deer 25% beef 25% pork.....

Posted: 12/18/2016 2:39:21 AM EDT

[#41]

A or B. I'll usually keep the quarters and backstrap in a cooler with an unopened ice bag on top and the drain open for a few days before butchering it.

Posted: 12/18/2016 2:41:12 AM EDT

[#42]

Quote History

Quoted:

This is the only correct answer. Where did this ice water and bleeding idea come from??????

Kill quick, cool fast. The nastiest thing there is is the taste of a deer that dies under stress. Chase a wounded deer and it will taste like hell. We built a walk-in cooler and did the refrigeration because of the the constant warm weather problems during bow season.

Remove tenderloins so they don't dry out. Eat whenever.

Hang with hide on for however long you want, I usually hang 7-12 days. Skin if its warmer where you are to cool the meat quicker.

Break down the rear quarters into individual muscle groups, no bone or connective tissue. Slice into steaks, leave whole muscles, etc. Remove backstraps and do as you want.

The rest makes stew meat for me or something else if you have a grinder. I personally don't spend a ton of time on this either.

Meat is excellent and not gamey or anything else.

View Quote

Hunting season starts in August in sc. It never really gets cold. We have no choice here, there simply isn't any other option unless you have access to a big cooker.

Gutting in the field isn't done here either. We aren't that far from civilization and there is nothing but dirt bugs flys and dirt, trying to drag an open carcass through the swamp.

I only ice mine 4 or 5 days at most.

Posted: 12/18/2016 2:41:40 AM EDT

[#43]

Don't trust that one Alaskan dude. He'll have you pack it in whale shit and bury it in soil for 6 months.

Posted: 12/18/2016 5:37:14 AM EDT

[#44]

I'd love to try some of the aged game folks are taking about. Around here, we kill it, quarter it and throw it on ice for a few days. You can't trust the weather to leave anything hanging.

Posted: 12/18/2016 5:52:26 AM EDT

[#45]

Gut where they fall, rinse out the cavity, hang and skin ASAP to cool down.

If it's above freezing but below 40F for the next several days, it hangs for a week or more in the barn.
If it's going to be above 40F, it goes in the chiller to hang for 10-15 days.
Old Does get even longer if possible. I hate it when you can't even stick a fork in the gravy.

Some guys are all worried about the meat "Drying out"', but the moisture loss is minimal and part of the process.
The steaks and chops come out more tender and with a deeper richer flavor, just like beef.

Posted: 12/18/2016 5:55:50 AM EDT

[#46]

Might vary a tad according to temperature and other circumstances, but generally, I just try to get everything packed and into the freezer ASAP.

Posted: 12/18/2016 6:54:19 AM EDT

[#47]

Gutted, skinned, and hosed ASAP.
Quartered and iced for several days- 5 to 7 - with melt allowed to drain off and ice added as needed, with a handful of salt thrown in each time.
All fat, tendons, and bones removed then ground or specific cuts made, vacuum packed and frozen.

Posted: 12/18/2016 7:00:43 AM EDT

[#48]

Temps are too high usually around here to hang so dressed, rinsed if needed, and ice packed. Usually to the processor the next day or sometimes I'll process it depending on time. This year had them done.

Posted: 12/18/2016 7:25:23 AM EDT

[#49]

I've butchered my own deer for over 30 years now. I've tried hanging the deer, skinning it, and letting it hang for up to 14 days as long as the temperature was below 40 degrees and above freezing. I've quartered them immediately and put them in trash bags in our fridge to butcher over the course of about a week. I haven't noticed any difference in the quality of the meat on the table either way. I'd rather pay to have it butchered but I'm particular about not having any fat or tendons in my meat. It's all ready to cook and eat out of the package. My wife likes to vacuum pack the meat with one of those vacuum sealing things. She claims it's best that way.

Posted: 12/18/2016 8:09:14 AM EDT

[#50]

Quote History

Quoted:

Sounds like you waste a lot of meat.

Like, almost half of it.

View Quote

Yep, that's ridiculous.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How to store freshly killed deer meat. (Page 1 of 2)

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