Looking for deer processing advice

[MMD]

Hi all,

I am a new hunter, and hope to get my first white tail this bow season. I don't know many experienced hunters, so I am asking for tips on a few things I'm unsure about.

If I manage to get a deer in the early season and its still warm, I plan to dress and skin it on site, and bring to to a butcher within a few hours. If its later season, I may hang it in my garage skin on. But if the butcher is closed, I don't want to let the deer spoil. If I quarter it on site and bring it home in game bags how do you recommend aging it? Cooler on ice? hang the pieces in the fridge? Butcher it and 'wet age' it?

I'm interested in this part, and I may try it even if the butcher is open.

Thanks

[Skoaltender]

I typically always have 6-8 2L pop bottles I keep frozen and just bring them on every day trip to help keep meat cool during transportation.

[patrol1957]

I would carry milk jugs filled with frozen water also when camping it works good for the coolers of food much cheaper then paying for ice .

[Ackleyman]

After the animal is gutted I pull the hide off right away. Although i only hunt mid November and later. let it cool lying on tarp and with typical Nov weather she tacks up pretty quick , then i give her the tarp mummy wrap and tie off with 1/4" rope. Try to keep it hair free and clean and the butcher is your friend , hair all over and dirty he may tell you to get lost.

[obsessed1]

I butcher all my own game.
If animal makes it home in one peice.
Gut in field, skin once home. My game rack is in a shady area with good air flow but if it's too warm butcher the next day/ evening.
If doing gutless meat comes home without skin. Treat game bags same full carcass. Keep it as cool as possible weather dictates how long you can hang.
I treat all my game bags in citrus acid to keep flies off.
I have an insulsted room in my garage that is often cooler than out door ambient that I sometimes use to get an extra day of hanging or I'll heat that room to keep game from freezing later in the season.
Either way biggest thing is getting the meat cooling as soon as possible. Get the hide off, good airflow,( I always crack the brisket and pelvis to allow it to open up as much as possible), no direct sun ect and you will be fine at least until the next day.

Backcountry hunters sometimes keep bagged meat for days before getting picked up/ packed out ect... lots of ways to get that meat cooling if you use some ingenuity.

[MMD]

Originally Posted by obsessed1

I butcher all my own game.
If animal makes it home in one peice.
Gut in field, skin once home. My game rack is in a shady area with good air flow but if it's too warm butcher the next day/ evening.
If doing gutless meat comes home without skin. Treat game bags same full carcass. Keep it as cool as possible weather dictates how long you can hang.
I treat all my game bags in citrus acid to keep flies off.
I have an insulsted room in my garage that is often cooler than out door ambient that I sometimes use to get an extra day of hanging or I'll heat that room to keep game from freezing later in the season.
Either way biggest thing is getting the meat cooling as soon as possible. Get the hide off, good airflow,( I always crack the brisket and pelvis to allow it to open up as much as possible), no direct sun ect and you will be fine at least until the next day.

Backcountry hunters sometimes keep bagged meat for days before getting picked up/ packed out ect... lots of ways to get that meat cooling if you use some ingenuity.

Thank you. How do you know when to take it down from hanging? if my garage is 15C inside, how long do you think I could hang it?

[dshot]

Originally Posted by MMD

Thank you. How do you know when to take it down from hanging? if my garage is 15C inside, how long do you think I could hang it?

Ideally you want between 0-4 degC for hanging, anything more and you start to getting too warm and into the danger bacteria zone. If its that warm I would just butcher it, wrap, and freeze right away. Another option is to buy a spare fridge off kijiji and pull the racks out to hang/cool the meat.

Like stated previously, get your kill cooled ASAP, skin it, quarter it, de-bone it, chill, or get it into a shady spot with some breeze.

[obsessed1]

Originally Posted by MMD

Thank you. How do you know when to take it down from hanging? if my garage is 15C inside, how long do you think I could hang it?

If it's a constant 15c no more than 3-4 days. If night is cooler and meat can cool down overnight it wont heat back up as much as ambient rises. Here daytime temps might get up to 18 or 20 but night time temps dip down to 2-5 which helps cool it off quick. I hang split and head down which allows for the best heat displacement. If the meat is steaming or warm/ hot to the touch especially in the crease areas you need to cool it down better. I generally don't have any issues going 3-5 days in temps from +10-20 as long as it's well shaded and temps drop down overnight usually around that +3-5 range.
With day temps in the 5-10 range 6-12 days is totally fine.
The biggest thing is getting that heat out as quick as possible down to the bone.
As a side note all the studies I have read states that bone sour or meat spoilage from heat usually starts in the warmest part of the animal...the neck. Specifically the back of the neck from shoulder blade forward to head. Splitting the meat clean down to the bone and wedging something inside to allow that heat to dissipate will greatly reduce the cooling time of the entire carcass. Simply slice meat clear down to the bone length wise from shoulder to head and put a sticknor something in to keep it spread open. The meat will cool much faster. I used this method last year and it seemed to work...I know of a few guides and other hunters who swear by the method as well.

[Simplefarmer]

Originally Posted by dshot

Ideally you want between 0-4 degC for hanging, anything more and you start to getting too warm and into the danger bacteria zone. If its that warm I would just butcher it, wrap, and freeze right away. Another option is to buy a spare fridge off kijiji and pull the racks out to hang/cool the meat.

Like stated previously, get your kill cooled ASAP, skin it, quarter it, de-bone it, chill, or get it into a shady spot with some breeze.

Have to agree.

[Roderek]

Originally Posted by dshot

Ideally you want between 0-4 degC for hanging, anything more and you start to getting too warm and into the danger bacteria zone.

4 to 60 is the bacteria danger zone. should be under 4 degrees for refrigerated food, and over 60 for cooked food. If it is above 4 degrees for more then a few hours it would be recommended to throw it out.

People will tell you its fine, I do it all the time, good for them, there is a lot of info about the bacteria danger zone and no way I would eat meat that hung at 15 degrees for hours let alone days.

[obsessed1]

Originally Posted by Roderek

4 to 60 is the bacteria danger zone. should be under 4 degrees for refrigerated food, and over 60 for cooked food. If it is above 4 degrees for more then a few hours it would be recommended to throw it out.

People will tell you its fine, I do it all the time, good for them, there is a lot of info about the bacteria danger zone and no way I would eat meat that hung at 15 degrees for hours let alone days.

You would not do well as a backcountry hunter then.

[Roderek]

Originally Posted by obsessed1

You would not do well as a backcountry hunter then.

That is your opinion. The bacteria danger zone isn't something that is made up, there is a lot of science behind it..

Coolers will hold Ice for Days. Mother nature helps 90% of the time since hunting season is in the fall. Lots of ways to be a back country hunter and remain food safe!

[Smokinyotes]

We generally hunt moose the first week of October. Most years it is barely freezing at night. After we have camp set up and before we go hunting we put up 2 meat poles. The first one is high for skinning and quartering on. The second one is lower and generally long enough to hang the quarters from 3 moose on.

Location of your meat pole is critical. We generally try to put it in the blackest darkest muskeg we can find where the sun isn’t going to get at it. The south side of an east west cutline in a muskeg works well. Immediately after killing an animal it is gutted, hauled to camp and skinned and split. The next morning it is quartered put in game bags and hung on the lower pole.

In 42 years of hunting moose there has only been 2 years where we packed up camp early because we were worried about our meat spoiling. We haven’t had one spoil yet. This has worked well for us.

When we come home from hunting we have a cooler lined up to hang our meat in.

[MyAlberta]

Originally Posted by MMD

Thank you. How do you know when to take it down from hanging? if my garage is 15C inside, how long do you think I could hang it?

Ideally, no time should be spent at 15. If it was a long night and you need sleep, get that first, but then I’d be cutting and packaging. I started gutless years ago and like that for quick initial cool down.

[canuckelkhunter]

I havent hung any of my meat for more than 15 years. Always do gutless method (see youtube instructionals) and then bring home and cut up myself within a day or two. Often its straight into the freezer within 24 hours and always turned out great. Wife and 4 kids love it. I also backcountry hunt as well though and we take longer on those hunts. Often leave it 2 days before packing out and have done 3 before. The key is cool evenings and shade during the day and keeping bugs off. Have never lost meat.

I'd highly recommend learning to cut and wrap it yourself. Fairly simple once you give it a try and you can even get a small meat grinder for not much more $ than you'd pay the butcher for one deer. I simply cut what i can into steaks and roasts and then grind the rest.



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[Mike_W]

Best bet if you don't have proper facilities is to get it butchered ASAP. Quartering it and putting it in a cooler with ice will work for a couple days.

Aging should only be done under specific conditions IMO. 3-4 degrees with slight airflow. Wet aging can be done but must be vacuum sealed and kept at the same 3-4 degrees.

If you can't do this then just butcher it ASAP.

[marlin1]

we always hang as long as temps allow , hide on . Mind you its november when we hunt . Last years muley buck was the tenderest I've ever had . Hung for 21 days while awaiting CWD results . Temps were perfect . Hung it head down as it was removed for testing . I think we are hanging all our deer this way now

[rottie]

Here is a link to a University study on aging wild game, its a interesting read. Hope it helps some http://www.wyoextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B-513R.pdf

[aragor764]

get a big ass cooler, a bunch of frozen milk jugs, gutless method, game bags, get home and butcher yourself right away or within 24 hours.

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by MMD

Hi all,

I am a new hunter, and hope to get my first white tail this bow season. I don't know many experienced hunters, so I am asking for tips on a few things I'm unsure about.

If I manage to get a deer in the early season and its still warm, I plan to dress and skin it on site, and bring to to a butcher within a few hours. If its later season, I may hang it in my garage skin on. But if the butcher is closed, I don't want to let the deer spoil. If I quarter it on site and bring it home in game bags how do you recommend aging it? Cooler on ice? hang the pieces in the fridge? Butcher it and 'wet age' it?

I'm interested in this part, and I may try it even if the butcher is open.

Thanks

Have you checked around with local abattoirs to see if you could hang your game in their cooler? If not, it might be worth making a few calls.

I have a local abattoir that can, and will hang wild game for you for a price. It hasn't been necessary yet thankfully.