A friend tagged it but did not want to clean it so he gave it to me,
Never cleaned one before, so this is all new.
How long would you hang one in ideal weather, IE upper 30's.
I have heard 2 to 21 days.
A friend tagged it but did not want to clean it so he gave it to me,
Never cleaned one before, so this is all new.
How long would you hang one in ideal weather, IE upper 30's.
I have heard 2 to 21 days.
I helped my brother and nephew process four or five deer about three years ago. The carcasses had been hung up for no more than one week. However, the temps there had been below freezing. So...a day or two before butchering time he put a kerosene heater in the room to thaw out the deer.
The results were just fine. That was my first opportunity to process deer completely, which meant skinning, quartering, cutting steaks and other bigger cuts, a pile of smaller pieces which went into burgers. We then cut and weighed each burger and separated them with wax paper.
Each package was clearly identified with a dark magic marker as to it's contents and weight.
Later, my brother made jerky, too, using his newly bought dehydrator.
Well, first. has it been field dressed? (all the innards removed). this is very important. do this as soon as possible after a kill.
generally, hanging the meat I allow 3 days, to maybe 4 days, with temps from 33 - 40 degrees (actually a lot depends on temperature. if it is hovering around the freezing point I may leave it hang a bit longer, if temps stay 45-50 degrees I'll process in 2 days). you want temps above the freezing point because the whole purpose is to get the meat fiber to break down (deteriorate) which tenderizes the meat somewhat. temps too high for extended periods (above 45 degrees) or hanging for too long above the freezing point can lead to spoilage. (keep out of direct sunlight, preferably in darkness)
__________________ If I need more than 1 shot, I need more practice.
im from alabama and we rarely get a week long of ideal hangin weather, but what we usually do is quarter them up the put them in a cooler with the drain open and let it roll around in the back of the truck for 5 days or so keepin new ice on it every day as the blood saturated water seeps out the drain. Go to the grocery store and look in the meat department, i would wager that it says somewhere that beef is aged 12 days before processing, then it has prolly sat on the shelf a few more days before anyone buys it, i usually only buy (when i buy beef which is very rare on a high venison diet) when it goes on "manager's special" which is a day or two before the sell by date, its cheaper and has been properly aged at this point so actually has a much better texture and if cooked right can be cut with a fork, or at most a plastic butter knife. plus i usually hang on to it atleast another day before cooking it, so i figure the freshest it gets around my house is an animal that has been dead close to a month. with the exception of the occasional back straps that are still warm from body temp that get smacked on the grill as soon as it gets home.
Temperature is everything as far as allowing the deer to hang for seasoning. Ideally, with the temperature in the low to mid forties, I let a deer hang for five to seven days, and then process it, which means to quarter, and cut up the goodies, then bag and freeze them! The longer you can allow it to hang, within reason of course, the better it will be when you partake of the reward of your labor! Good eating!
Deer are very lean with little to no marbling in the meat. Hanging them more than a week is not necessary as the meat will break down quickly.
You mentioned that your friend didn't want to clean the animal and gave it to you. I would make sure that the deer is gutted and skinned as quickly as possible. Rinse the carcass inside and out and try to clean up as much of the blood shot meat as you can. Cover the deer with cheese cloth if possible and hang it in an area that is out of direct sunlight and can maintain a temp between 35-40F. If you can't maintain the temp then you should try and process the meat.
When I worked at my father's meat plant they would have a refridgerated trailer set up each year so the guys could process Elk and deer (FDA inspector wouldn't allow them in the plant). They were hung for two to three days at most.
Gut it out..... asap. You never know what kind of damage was done to the internal organs. Lots of negative fluids in there. Next up comes the cut-up. By you or others. ASAP is a relative term.
He gutted it before I got it. It's hanging in garage,heat is off. Temps in low 40's Sons friend is coming by Sunday to show me how to cut it up. Heck, he is even bringing his own electric meat grinder.
So to sum up.............. someone shot and dressed deer
A friend tagged it but did not want to clean it so he gave it to me,
Never cleaned one before, so this is all new.
How long would you hang one in ideal weather, IE upper 30's.
I have heard 2 to 21 days.
Long enough to clean it, then in the deep freeze or to the processer.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THINK ABOUT GAME IS TO GET IT COOLED DOWN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!
__________________
An armed society is not always polite, but it is a FREE AND SAFE SOCIETY!
Darn Jim, you popped out the MOST important point, while we were jumpimg all around it. LOL! When I shot one in the Sierras, I stopped and bought four bags of ice, and stuffed them into the cavity to cool it down while headed to the processor. It was freezing cold in the mountains, but warmed up in the valley. The butcher said it was a pretty good idea ,and helped to cool the deer. That was one of the best Iever ate!
Being originally from FLorida, we used the ice bag trick a lot and the only people who hung their deer to age were ones who had access to a walk in cooler. We always gutted them immediately to get the heat out, stuffed them with ice if it was a hot day and we had some ice on hand, and then got somewhere to hang and quarter them as soon as possible. Then we would put the meat in a cooler and ice it down. Sometimes it may be in the cooler on ice for a few days depending on where we were or when we had time to cut and wrap it. Other times it would be cut and wrapped the same day. I never noticed any discernable difference in the quality of the meat.
Since I have been living "up north" I still clean the deer right away. If shot in the evening when weather is cold, I gut the deer and leave it in the truck overnight (usually it freezes slightly, but not completely through) and hang, quarter, and process the next day. If shot in the morning in cool weather, I clean it that day and at least get it either quartered and iced down, or wrapped and frozen.
Mostly, I clean them quickly becuase I am busy and may not have time to "do it tomorrow", or another day. Plus, I would just as soon get it over with and be sure my meat isn't going to spoil.
Last year my friend who was born and raised up here in KS and does not share my fear of spoiling meat, had a whole deer get spoiled becuase they shot it one evening, found it the next day, and were waiting another couple of days to clean and process it.
Meanwhile, we had an unexpected warm up where it was sunny the temps got up around 50 and the deer spoiled becuase everyone was at work and no one had time to get it cleaned during the week. If it was me, that deer would have been cleaned right after being found the the next morning which was a Saturday and that would not have happened.
The best I have ever ate were aged 2 weeks or more even up to a month at temps less than 40 degrees but above freezing. An old refrigerated truck body as used by dairy companies such as Bordens, Foremost, etc will provide you with a temperature controlled environment to do that. (a cousins has one) The outer surface will dry out and need to be trimmed away before butchering and packing, but the resulting meat is priceless. He will hang beef for as long as 45 days.
3Likes
