How long do you wait before taking your deer for processing?

[Dan_11]

I know this varies depending on outside temperature, but I was speaking to a sales rep at my job about hunting and he mentioned to me that when it's cold enough 30-40F he doesn't process his deer until the 7-8th day. He says it ages the meat and makes even the toughest old buck meat tender and delicious.

Is there any truth this? I know that beef is aged, but does that transfer over into wild game? Given the cold temps most of the US is expecting for opening day I'd be willing to try this if this is true. I've personally only waited 3 days.

Thanks,

 

[Gator89]

I hunt in the southeast, it could be 28 in the morning and 70+ by mid-afternoon. My deer go to the processor or iced down in a cooler ASAP.

 

[Wvfarrier]

However long it takes me to.get them home

 

[Aqualung]

We get it into the garage and start right on it. It's usually in the freezer by that evening...or, by the next day if we got it in the evening and it's cold enough out to let it hang overnight. In that case, we at least get the hide off before the night is over.

Aqualung

 

[contender]

When my family used to own a convenience store,, we had a big walk in cooler. I would hang my whole deer for 1 week before processing. Always tender. The idea it to allow the meat to age in a manner to let excess moisture dry out.
A cow,, having more fatty tissue,, takes longer. Expensive & choice cuts of "aged beef" have been aged for 21 days in a CONTROLLED temp of 38 degrees.
My deer get quartered, and "aged" in a refrigerator for 5-7 days now.

 

[beentheredone]

Yes, when I can find cooler space -- and am willing to pay for it -- I'll let them hang, field-dressed with skin still on, for up to a week. Doesn't make much difference with young does, but a rutty buck definitely benefits.

 

[Mobuck]

I don't 'hang' deer unless it's after closing at the locker. If it's going to be fairly chilly overnight, I just run a rope over a convenient tree limb. If it's going to be warmer or raining, I'll hoist them up in the dirt floor barn overnight--it's usually cooler in there anyway. Sure, I'd like to have a cooler van but just not worthwhile these days. The past few years, we fill our freezers with elk and donate deer to 'share-the-harvest'. We simply don't have time to process at home anymore.
Last year I passed the city cop on my way to the locker with deer legs sticking above the pickup bed about the same time each day for 3 days straight. Third day the city cop followed me to the locker. He ambled over, looked in the bed, and commented "How come you hauled these around for 3 days before dropping them off?" The girl at the locker looked at him and said "Huh? He's been in here this time of day 3 days in a row with another load of deer." City cop just mumbled something, shook his head, and walked away. Girl just winked at me and kept on writing donation slips.

 

[Hvymax]

I know this varies depending on outside temperature, but I was speaking to a sales rep at my job about hunting and he mentioned to me that when it's cold enough 30-40F he doesn't process his deer until the 7-8th day. He says it ages the meat and makes even the toughest old buck meat tender and delicious.

Is there any truth this? I know that beef is aged, but does that transfer over into wild game? Given the cold temps most of the US is expecting for opening day I'd be willing to try this if this is true. I've personally only waited 3 days.

Thanks,

Absolutely. I tell them to let them hang for a week or so unless it's cold enough to hang in the barn.

 

[Sapo]

Temps in Texas generally won't allow long term aging unless in a cooler.
Once dressed, my deer are cooled in a chest type freezer or if cold out, it may hang outside for a day.
Processing begins soon after the meat has cooled as chilled meat is easier to work. I do the processing.
Water touches the meat only if additional cleaning is necessary which is seldom. Ice or ice water....never.
Tenderized steak (backstrap, tenderloins, individual muscles from the hams) and ground meat are turned out after deboning.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

The processor I use lets the meat hang for a couple weeks before he processes it.
When I was a kid my Father would also hang the meat in a cooler for about 2 weeks before it was processed.
It also makes the butchering much easier when the meat is chilled to just below freezing.

 

[Mobuck]

'Hanging' a skinned deer carcass costs you a lot of meat-just my thoughts. No processor that I know of allows unskinned carcasses in their coolers.

 

[Hankus]

We have a walk/in cooler at my mother-in-law's place in GA and like to age it there before taking it to the processor. Unfortunately I'm only usually up there for a week so depending on time it might only age in the walk-in for a day or two before it has to go to the processor.

 

[jims]

Here many deer are brought in unskinned to the meat processor and that way for awhile. One had over 1200 for the season. Ohio/IN

 

[s4s4u]

In the early days we would let deer hang till the end of season, and then each member of the gang would take their share home with them. If it got unseasonally warm we would quarter them up quick. In later years we started processing the next day when everyone was back at camp after morning post. I can't say that I recall the venison that was "aged" back when, eating any better or worse than the venison that was promptly butchered as now.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I know this varies depending on outside temperature, but I was speaking to a sales rep at my job about hunting and he mentioned to me that when it's cold enough 30-40F he doesn't process his deer until the 7-8th day. He says it ages the meat and makes even the toughest old buck meat tender and delicious.

Is there any truth this? I know that beef is aged, but does that transfer over into wild game? Given the cold temps most of the US is expecting for opening day I'd be willing to try this if this is true. I've personally only waited 3 days.

Thanks,

No.

I start cutting it up the same day or next at most.

 

[XP100]

I talked t a butcher many years ago and he told me beef will get more tender after hanging for 7 to 10 day because the fat between the layers of meat contain enzymes the act to breakdow the maet. Deer don't have the fat so hanging them does not make venison any more tender by hanging it. WheN I was hunting and got a deer it was sjinned while still warm ( it is easier) and hung quartered and processed the same day. Never had tough venison.

 

[Bullthrower338]

I hang them for a few days if I can keep them warm enough, they get pretty solid, pretty quick in the barn during November in MT. Texas I used to put them in a cooler with ice and set on a slope to drain for a few days, it actually worked pretty good.

 

[nekvermont]

My grandmother told me a story about when she was young, she worked at an Inn that always had deer hanging in the cellar. The Inn served venison to its guest, and one of my grandmothers' jobs was to go to the cellar and get the venison. She said she would scrape the green mold off the pieces she was cutting off.

I think that would be considered well aged.

 

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Never had a deer processed. I bring them home hang them up and go to work within 24 hrs.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I like to let them hang for a few days, up to a week, before processing. If I don't have access to a refrigerated cooler and the weather is too warm, I will do the ice pack thing in a big cooler chest, draining off water and adding ice as needed. I have access to a big ice maker and don't have to buy it. I process my own if I'm cutting it into chops, roasts, etc.., only use the processor for burger and sausage, and I'm thinking about buying a good meat grinder so I can do that myself, too.