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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Bakes168 on November 27, 2009, 12:56:00 PM

Title: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Bakes168 on November 27, 2009, 12:56:00 PM: How long do you guys hang your deer before butchering? A book I have said that leaving them hang for ten days with temps 55 degrees or lower is best for the tenderest and tastiest meat.

What are your thoughts?
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Zbearclaw on November 27, 2009, 01:07:00 PM: I pull them down after they start twitching!

I put in the cooler with a bit of vinegar, quartered, and age that way. I have never been in an area where the weather was predictable enough to trust it.

Good luck
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Buckeye Trad Hunter on November 27, 2009, 01:15:00 PM: I don't like to leave mine hang in temps that are warmer than 40 degrees. I work in a food processing plant and 40 degrees seems to be the "magic number" for preventing bacteria growth for them. Coupled with the fact that my uncle used to be a meat cutter and he doesn't reccommend letting them hang in temps warmer than 40. I've never actually checked for myself, I just figured after hearing it from two different places that it must be a good rule of thumb.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Buckeye Trad Hunter on November 27, 2009, 01:16:00 PM: As for how long I like to leave it hang for at least three days if possible.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Horner on November 27, 2009, 01:20:00 PM: Quote
Originally posted by Buckeye Trad Hunter:
As for how long I like to leave it hang for at least three days if possible.
X2
If the weather is cool.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: vtmtnman on November 27, 2009, 01:28:00 PM: I think atleast three days is good if the weather is cool enough.

Hang at 55 and you're asking for rot.40 degrees is always what I've been told,as others have mentioned.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Mr.Vic on November 27, 2009, 01:53:00 PM: We had an ole chef help us for years. His theory was Kill it, hang it, skin it, cut it,take out all fat, freeze it. You wanted it tender, take it out day before you eat it. Soak the blood out, marinade it and eat it.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: sendero25 on November 27, 2009, 02:58:00 PM: I have the luxury of a walk in cooler, (can't hang one outside here in Florida!)
Like Buckeye said, it is set at 40.
I hang mine with the skin on for a week, sometimes a couple of days more if I get busy and can't get free to skin.
Always tender and never a problem with mold or rot.
Hogs I hang with the skin on for a 2-4 days at the most.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Landshark160 on November 27, 2009, 03:51:00 PM: I don't hang 'em, I shoot 'em. :readit: Kill it and grill it!
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: lpcjon2 on November 27, 2009, 03:54:00 PM: I hang mine 5+ days minimum no warmer than 40 degrees I wouldn't do 55 by no means strictly my opinion.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: ArrowAtomik on November 27, 2009, 04:04:00 PM: Last year in the late season I did 15 days in the garage as it generally stayed between 33-36 degrees with the door closed. Very nice meat. I kind of wish I had done one more week though.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Stykbowslim on November 27, 2009, 04:17:00 PM: I recently read that the optimum temperature is 40 degrees and the duration is 10-12 days, and if the deer’s hide has been removed, rub olive oil on the carcass and wrap with plastic wrap.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: mountainman on November 27, 2009, 06:06:00 PM: I use to work in a slaughter house and I skin mine as soon as possible to let the meat cool evenly and let hang at least 5 days temp permiting we kept our meat coolers at 42 I have a friend who has a walk in cooler if the weather gets to warm I did let one hang for a month one time to busy to cut it up It was one of the best deer we had it is hard to let them hang 5 days when the kids are standing at the door with forks in ther hand
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: bm22 on November 27, 2009, 09:56:00 PM: Whats the point of hanging the deer? Is it to drain the blood?

I hang it long enough to skin it snd cut it up, then i leave it in a ice chest for about 2 or 3 days letting the ice drain and refilling as needed, the meat turns real light all of the blood is gone and the meat slways taste great.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: JEFF B on November 27, 2009, 10:02:00 PM: about 5 to 7 days in a cool place
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: donnyjack on November 28, 2009, 06:31:00 PM: I dont hang at all. I skin, quarter up and put on ice for a week. Keep the water drained off and add fresh ice as needed. After a week, cut and wrap, very much like bm22. I've never had a bad peace of deer or elk doing it that way.

DJ
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: xtrema312 on November 28, 2009, 07:15:00 PM: Most of my deer are shot in bow season so it is warmer. If it gets down in the 40's at night I will hang overnight on an evening shot deer. I will let it hang a couple days max. if the weather is cold and I can be sure it will stay above freezing and below 42 where I am hanging it. Most of the time it is skinned and quartered within 12 hours. Then into the garage fridge at 40 deg. for a day. Then I cut it up and bag it. I let it set in the fridge another day before it is off to the freezer. As long as the rigger is out I cut it up. That doesn't take that long. How you field dress a deer has way more to do with meat quality then aging as far as I am concerned. You are way more likely to mess up the meat trying to age to long in too warm of weather than just get it in the freezer. The deer I shot are mostly under 3 years old and agricultural area animals. I find no need to age it at all for tender good tasting meat.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: SilverTip on November 28, 2009, 07:27:00 PM: I'm with DonyyJack, mine is cutup the first day and I put it in a cooler full of ice water and drain and change the ice water everyday for 3 to 4 days. the meat is almost as light as pork when I wrap it up. no game taste at all that way. but some people like it to taste more gamey than I do.

Billy
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Stone Knife on November 29, 2009, 05:21:00 AM: I take mine to get it cut up the very day I get it, it will hang there with the hide off in a cooler till they get to it. The quicker the better.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Don Stokes on November 29, 2009, 09:48:00 AM: The best beef is well aged, and I think vension benfits from it, too. However, it has to be done right. I hung one for 17 days in the hide when we had unusually cold weather, under a cedar tree where the sun never reached, and on two warmer days (over 45) I took it down, wrapped it in a tarp and covered it with leaves until the temp went back down. On the coldest nights, the hide kept it from freezing. The meat was better than usual.

Aging is particularly important if you're lucky enough to kill a mature buck in the rut. They can be pretty strong, but aging at least a week will improve them considerably, in my experience.

If you age hide-on, be sure to field dress immediately, and cool the carcass as quickly as possible. Ice bags in the body cavity will do it.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: pdk25 on November 29, 2009, 11:23:00 AM: I have been fortunate. I have never let a deer hang for more than 1 day and the meat has always tasted great. I trim virtually every speck of fat off of the deer, though. I read somewhere that oxidation of the fat is what gives the venison the gamey taste. I think trimming the fat helps it last longer in the freezer, also.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: shakeyslim on November 29, 2009, 06:25:00 PM: i work the kill and eat program here :archer:
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Butch L on November 29, 2009, 09:11:00 PM: I live on the south coast of RI. Our season runs from Oct.1 - Jan. 31. For 3/4 of the season the temps can get to high 50's (early season 70 +/-), so trying to hang the meat can get kinda sketchy. Have to keep a hairy eyeball on the forecast which is wrong better than 1/2 the time. As we say "Living in New England- wait 5 min. and the weather will change"
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: xtrema312 on November 29, 2009, 09:37:00 PM: Quote
Originally posted by pdk25:
I have been fortunate. I have never let a deer hang for more than 1 day and the meat has always tasted great. I trim virtually every speck of fat off of the deer, though. I read somewhere that oxidation of the fat is what gives the venison the gamey taste. I think trimming the fat helps it last longer in the freezer, also.
I am with you on this. I think it is important. No fat, bone, or white skin on my cuts when done. Taste better than beef any day, and no long aging process. No strong flavor or anything. Just nice mild rich venison taste that everyone loves who tries it. You know when they let meat set in the color for a couple weeks at the store and they throw it away. :biglaugh: I am sure it was aged a good amount before it got there.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Michael Pfander on November 30, 2009, 07:37:00 AM: What you are doing when you hang meat is letting controlled decomposition change its flavor and texture. What most, but not all people find is that there is an increase in tenderness and a decrease in "gameiness" with hanging. Of course if it stinks then its been hung to long. The Brits are great ones for letting it hang until the head falls off.

MAP
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: saumensch on November 30, 2009, 07:52:00 AM: Not only the Brits, French and Germans too ;)
I and all i know round here let em hang in their hide for at least 5 up to 12 days. Dont know in Fahrenheidt but around 5-7 degree celcius.
BTW Hide comes of easier afterwards.

The French are known also for letting game-birds hang with feathers and guts for up to 6 days to get the so called "Haute-Goute", higher taste. Not for me though....
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Roy Steele on November 30, 2009, 01:04:00 PM: bm22 your really leting the meat rot.Which tenderizes it.You do this a cool temps.out of the sun and skinned.At 50% in a building out of the sun you can leave it hang 5 days it need be.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Roy Steele on November 30, 2009, 01:13:00 PM: Sorry about that the colder it gets the longer you can leave it hang.At 30% in the shade you can leave it 2 weeks easy.The loner you leave it hang the tender it will be.
I've let lots of mature 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 old bucks for a couple weeks.And I can't tell them from a young doe.And neither can you.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Doc Nock on November 30, 2009, 02:48:00 PM: Sounds like a wide range of thoughts on this issue. :eek:

I've read and had the personal experience that if a animal is cut and FROZEN before rigormortis is out of the meat, it will be tough when you eat and still so when you're done in the bathroom!

What I read w/ interest was how many cut and then "age" in a cooler. I don't like to let my meat get water logged, or soaked, but in a pinch, I've used double-bagged ice in a cooler with boned out meat to "age."

Being a bachelor, in VA at the time, I've put all my frozen and fridge food in a big cooler and took all the refridgerator racks out and stuck 2 dead deer in there skinned, legs and neck off to "age". Looked like something outa Friday the 13th!

I am fortunate of recent years to have a friend with a small cooler. 36* temp. I skin right away to evenly cool meat. Cut out all blood shot meat and then coat with Crisco to seal moisture in meat and not get that hard dark "crust".

I age 3-4 days in cooler. I don't have to hang. I stand them up on their stumps of cut off legs..long as air circulates.

Shot a fawn-of-year as first trad kill. She tool 3 steps and keeled over dead. NO trauma. Skinned her within the hour...and cut her up within 10 hrs and froze. That sweet li'l doe was as tough as boot leather. I panicked cause it was warm. Same with a fat spike 2 days later... also tough as rawhide!

I've since aged grey-muzzled 160# deer 3 days and it cut with a fork.

Agreed, Roy, if you "age" at above 42*, it's really starting to rot. Same if it was frozen and thawed. The enzymes in meat that break down the connective tissue during the "aging process" die when frozen so all that is happening is decomp once thawed.

Good thread and neat to see so many varied ideas!
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: Don Stokes on November 30, 2009, 08:03:00 PM: I once shot a yearling doe with my bow in warm weather, and my wife, who did our butchering, put the quarters in the bottom of the fridge in a plastic bag, "just for a day or so". Bad idea. A week later, the smell in the fridge got really bad. I figured it was totally ruined, and asked her to get rid of it while I was at work.

I got home that afternoon, and found her at the kitchen sink, cutting up that doe. The house literally reeked of corruption. She would cut off a piece, and if she could sniff it without gagging, she kept it. If she gagged, she culled it. I thought she had gone stark-raving mad, but when she cooked it, it was the best venison I ever tasted!

I won't go that far now, but I sure don't worry any more about a little odor associated with aging.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: JDinPA on November 30, 2009, 09:10:00 PM: Quote
Originally posted by Mr.Vic:
We had an ole chef help us for years. His theory was Kill it, hang it, skin it, cut it,take out all fat, freeze it. You wanted it tender, take it out day before you eat it. Soak the blood out, marinade it and eat it.
This is what I do. I quarter and debone asap.
We don't have to marinate any vension,it's tender and tasty enough this way.
Title: Re: How long do you hang your deer?
Post by: T L on November 30, 2009, 10:03:00 PM: My father in law tought me this, he was a butcher & resturaunt owner his whole life.
Skin the animal ASAP, then temperature will dictate how long it should hang.
You can process the ribs, shanks, neck etc. when you can before the thicker hams and shoulders, since these cuts don't need to age as much, especially if they go into the grind for sausage, etc.
I will then cut out the back straps when they cut off the bone easily. You can tell by the smell of the meat , it almost has a sweet smell when it,s aged. You can work on the shoulders and last the hams. Don,t let it dry out as you will lose meat, and never wrap in plastic or anything that dosn,t allow air to flow.