Author Topic: How long to let a deer hang (Read 1844 times)

burntmuch · « **on:** October 25, 2009, 09:30:32 AM »

Last couple years Ive let my deer hang for a week before I take it to the butcher. The meat seems to be a little bit more tender. I got one hanging right now. But its getting warm this week. a high of 58 degrees. Is that to warm to let the deer hang. Its hanging in the barn. Any thoughts

Arier Blut · « **Reply #1 on:** October 25, 2009, 11:23:14 AM »

I wouldn't want to let it hang that warm. If the butcher has a cooler ask him to finish it off for you. I have the butcher hang mine 3 weeks at 34 degrees. I live in the south so that is not doable outside. The enzymes in the meat break down do to decay so you want the temp low so the meat does not spoil. The warmer it is the quicker they need to get in a freezer. I have hung them in the barn in the low 40's for a week. High 50's is pushing it for over a few days IMHO.
Good Luck

Swampman · « **Reply #2 on:** October 25, 2009, 11:52:36 AM »

Here in FL we can't let them hang due to the heat. We put them in a cooler full of ice with the drain open for a week. We just keep adding ice as needed.

mirage1988 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 25, 2009, 11:58:01 AM »

Is it skinned? How quick did you get it cooled below 40 degrees? Even if it gets to 58 for a few hours, as long as it has been cooled to around 37-40 degrees overnight it should be fine. I like to quarter mine and age them in the fridge for a week, just to be safe. My wife hunts too so she doesn't freak out when she opens the fridge, but the bear head in the freezer makes her step back a bit.

Drilling Man · « **Reply #4 on:** October 25, 2009, 02:34:31 PM »

Quote

How long to let a deer hang

Depends on how lazy i am. I do take the hide off them as soon as i get them home...

Sometimes when i get a buck on a morning hunt, i take a quarter off, and start cutting it up in my outdoor kitchen, as i watch for deer. I've shot a second buck that way, more than few times.

DM

yooper77 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 25, 2009, 02:50:01 PM »

58 degrees is too warm, you should have had it skinned/quartered on ice waiting for the butcher if you don’t process it yourself.

I let a deer hang long enough to skin it, and then I process it quickly. De-boned it and wrapped with butcher paper. I have had many people comment on how well my venison tastes, and wonder why others don’t taste as good. I tell them it all starts from when the animal hits the ground.

yooper77

INresponse · « **Reply #6 on:** October 25, 2009, 03:37:42 PM »

As soon as I get the deer back to camp I skin it and start cutting the meat off the bones. Rinse it in cold water, drop it into large ziplock bags and drop it into the cooler. When I get home I seperate the roasts from the stew meat or hamburger scraps and deal with all that accordingly before rebagging it and freezing it.

I never was a fan for hanging or aging the meat in the outdoors unless it is always below 40 degrees which is the normal temp of the fridge. Would you leave your $10.00 a pound steak sitting on the back porch for a week or two before you slapped it on the grill for dinner?

burntmuch · « **Reply #7 on:** October 25, 2009, 04:22:30 PM »

Just got off the phone with my butcher, hes picking up my deer tomarrow morning & putting it in his cooler.

mirage1988 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 25, 2009, 04:41:46 PM »

That 10.00 a pound steak was aged at least a week I assure you! In my experience a deer needs to hang at least 2 days to bleed out, otherwise the meat is just mush after it is frozen and thawed. In minnesota it usually is cold enough to avoid spoilage when hung outside, but the sooner you can skin them the better (they are also easier to skin right away.)

billy_56081 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 25, 2009, 05:03:17 PM »

Quote from: INresponse on October 25, 2009, 03:37:42 PM

As soon as I get the deer back to camp I skin it and start cutting the meat off the bones. Rinse it in cold water, drop it into large ziplock bags and drop it into the cooler. When I get home I seperate the roasts from the stew meat or hamburger scraps and deal with all that accordingly before rebagging it and freezing it.

I never was a fan for hanging or aging the meat in the outdoors unless it is always below 40 degrees which is the normal temp of the fridge. Would you leave your $10.00 a pound steak sitting on the back porch for a week or two before you slapped it on the grill for dinner?

That is because it was done for you before you bought it. The best deer I have eaten was mule deer aged in the dry creek basin of SW Colorado for a week. Being it was a dry climate, the meat dried and was very dark on the outside, we peeled of the dried outside cut steaks and yummy, fork tender steaks.

Mohawk · « **Reply #10 on:** October 25, 2009, 06:03:43 PM »

Despite how long it hangs.....just cook it slow

Wynn · « **Reply #11 on:** October 29, 2009, 04:11:08 PM »

We hang ours for a week in a walk in cooler at our hunting lease at 34 degrees. Makes for some tender meat. It will be in the high eighties here this weekend so retrieving them, gutted and in the cooler within a hour or two is critical for us.

burntmuch · « **Reply #12 on:** October 29, 2009, 04:15:01 PM »

My butcher is gonna let mine hang for a couple more days before he cuts it up.

mirage1988 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 29, 2009, 04:40:25 PM »

You cut the tenderloins out when you gutted it? please say yes!

burntmuch · « **Reply #14 on:** October 29, 2009, 11:56:05 PM »

Those were eaten that night

cooked over the fire

bobg · « **Reply #15 on:** October 30, 2009, 02:58:21 AM »

I know most people won't agree with this and i didn't either but i did it anyway. The guy that butchered it told me to let it hang in my poll barn with the hide on till it started to get a little mold on the inside. This took a week. Believe me it was warm that week. He come and got it and skinned it and butchered it as soon as he got it home. This was the best venison i have ever had.

bobg

mauser98us · « **Reply #16 on:** October 30, 2009, 05:57:44 AM »

We kill the mulies in the desert here. The key is to get the hide off as quickly as possible. I hang mine under a tree,then when the sun comes out I wrap it in a huge truck tarp. At nite, I take the tarp off and let the cool of the evening do it's job, next day rewrap it. They have hung for a week in these conditions and been just fine. I also demand my cutter ages the meat in the cooler for at least 20 days,. All my meat has been fine and tasty.

hunt-m-up · « **Reply #17 on:** October 30, 2009, 07:40:35 AM »

We let ours hang for a few days to a week in a machine shed with the hide on, depending on temps. If it gets above 50 consistently without freezing at night, we get it cut up. The shed with the doors closed will usually run several degrees colder than outside. The key for us is getting it gutted and hung asap. We used to skin them right away, but don't anymore to avoid the brown/black layer of crap you get on them, losing meat. Hasn't been a problem on 12-15 deer a year.

INresponse · « **Reply #18 on:** November 01, 2009, 06:55:38 AM »

Quote from: mirage1988 on October 25, 2009, 04:41:46 PM

That 10.00 a pound steak was aged at least a week I assure you!

Above or below 40 degrees? I believe the latter. Which gets us right back to my habbit of cutting it off the bone and putting it in the cooler. From that point is is usually in the cooler 5 to 7 days before I get the chance to cut it and store it properly.

Don't get me wrong, if any of you want to hang your deer a week or two at 50 degrees or so go for it. I wont mind one bit.

charles p · « **Reply #19 on:** November 01, 2009, 10:48:44 AM »

We have a walk in cooler at my club. It was once the body of a refer truck. We can take an unlimited number of doe deer in Eastern NC, so I have hung hundreds of deer. I've hung deer up to three weeks. At this point it starts to get tacky on the outside, but the favor is good. If you plan to grind your meat into burger (which is what I mostly do), hanging it a day or two is sufficient for it to cut good. If you want roasts, up to two weeks is OK.

Meat that is hung a long time and then ground can become mushy.

Emptypockets · « **Reply #20 on:** November 05, 2009, 07:17:54 AM »

You should let it hang at least long enough to get rid of the rigor mortis. Longer the better if temp is cool enough.

super mario · « **Reply #21 on:** November 07, 2009, 02:02:24 AM »

Ideal temps for aging is between 40 -45 dg. and takes about 5 days, lower than that the aging takes longer. At 32 dg and lower aging doesnt even happen.
You do not want to cut up meat immediately no matter what temp it is. The deer must go through rigimortis first. Even if its 80dg outside gut it skin it and let it get good an stiff, then cut it up and put on ice.
Putting on ice for days doesnt do anything, dry aging is totally different. Soaking meat in water is not a good thing, ruins the flavor.

spikehorn · « **Reply #22 on:** November 08, 2009, 10:02:48 AM »

Call me wierd but I don't like gammie taste at all! and the only way i've found to not get that is that I gut it and take it right to the processor. I have him keep the loins and back straps whole. Have never had a problem with it not being tender. It's all in how you cook it. The toughest piece of meat I ever get out of any deer is the heart.

INresponse · « **Reply #23 on:** November 08, 2009, 12:51:57 PM »

I have cut meat right off the deer and cooked it up in the pan for dinner, tender and tasted great. This year I took the liver while it was warm, sliced it up and fried it with bacon and onions and it was delicious. As for soaking it in cold salt water, that is normally with Lawreys seasoned salt, and it is to give it a flavor to make it acceptable to my wife. But after it soaks in the salt water the gamey taste is gone, oh, and tender too.

spikehorn · « **Reply #24 on:** November 08, 2009, 02:49:52 PM »

yeah first deer taken at camp is always camp meat and we do the back straps and heart fried in butter and some sweet onions a little bit of garlic and deffinately season salt. yum!