Processing deer in Condo

[JeremyP]

Hi, this is my first season hunting and I shot my first doe yesterday evening.

Here is the thing, I live in a condo in downtown Calgary. I put a hook in my kitchen so I could hang it, but I swung by a friends house on my way home and he offered to let me skin/quarter it in his garage. I took him up on this since it would be nice to not stink up my place!

Long story shot, it was still warm when I quartered it but not sure how to age quartered meat now. Reading more last night I now know you're supposed to wait at least 24 hours before butchering.

I'm fine leaving the legs hanging on my balcony, but won't the backstrap and loins dry out?

I know I should have figured this all out before harvesting the animal, rookie mistake only being fully prepared up to field dressing! Any advice would be appreciated!

[C & C]

If its warm I never wait to butcher. I cut wrap and get meat cold. If I can`t get the meat cold fast I take it to a butcher.

[TylerThomson]

Cut itv up and put it in the freezer. Aging is nice to do if you have the proper temps and facility to do it in but not required. It'll be fine

[denied access]

With a doe you are fine without aging. Buck can benefit a fair bit from hanging though. For reference planning what to do after the shot is as important as planning on what to do before the shot.

[honda450]

Years ago we put a moose in my buddies bathtub in his apartment. We bought a piece of plywood and a roll of plastic. The next day cut it up. That's all we had at that time. hehehe

[hillbillyreefer]

Originally Posted by JeremyP

Hi, this is my first season hunting and I shot my first doe yesterday evening.

Here is the thing, I live in a condo in downtown Calgary. I put a hook in my kitchen so I could hang it, but I swung by a friends house on my way home and he offered to let me skin/quarter it in his garage. I took him up on this since it would be nice to not stink up my place!

Long story shot, it was still warm when I quartered it but not sure how to age quartered meat now. Reading more last night I now know you're supposed to wait at least 24 hours before butchering.

I'm fine leaving the legs hanging on my balcony, but won't the backstrap and loins dry out?

I know I should have figured this all out before harvesting the animal, rookie mistake only being fully prepared up to field dressing! Any advice would be appreciated!

I like how you roll!:sHa_shakesho ut:

I’d leave it on the balcony for a bit, just to upset the neighbors.

Seriously though, there is no harm in cutting and packaging her today.

Congratulations on your first doe, savor the meals she provides.

[walking buffalo]

Cut it up if you have to....

I always try to let them have three days before butchering. This lets the meat get out of rigor mortis which really does make it more tender.

These temps are Perfect for storing on the balcony for a few days.
You don't need to hang it, just keep it cold.
Cover with a blanket to keep it warmer or colder as needed. Take it inside for a while if it gets too cold.

And no worries on it drying out in a few days. Uncovered the exterior will crust which can be trimmed off. Or you can wrap the meat in cloth or food grade plastic to keep the moisture in.

It's great to hear your doing it all from field to the plate.
Congrats and enjoy!

[CF8889]

Cut it up. I live downtown Calgary in a small place. For my mule deer doe.. Put the meat in my bath tub, closed the heat vent and opened the window. Next morning the meat was nice and chilled. I made coffee, put on a podcast, and butchered it up one quarter at a time. Cut up some garbage bags to cover your table. No worry about mess and easy to clean up.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by CF8889

Cut it up. I live downtown Calgary in a small place. For my mule deer doe.. Put the meat in my bath tub, closed the heat vent and opened the window. Next morning the meat was nice and chilled. I made coffee, put on a podcast, and butchered it up one quarter at a time. Cut up some garbage bags to cover your table. No worry about mess and easy to clean up.

Watch out for the garbage bags.
They usually are sprayed with products that are unsafe for human consumption.


I've done the bathroom/meat cooler conversion before too.
It works.

[CF8889]

Good heads up. I still have all my meat on cutting boards. Just put em down as a easy way to clean up any blood/scraps that get on the table.

[Twobucks]

Originally Posted by TylerThomson

Cut itv up and put it in the freezer. Aging is nice to do if you have the proper temps and facility to do it in but not required. It'll be fine

X2 - I butchered two blacktail bucks in a one bedroom condo in downtown Victoria once upon a time. It was the two pronghorn skulls I de-fleshed on the tiny balcony that created the issues with neighbours.

Don't overthink aging. It's nice but it isn't critical. It still ages (much more slowly) in the freezer.

Congrats on the deer!

[Norwest Alta]

I like these stories and ideas. Makes me laugh when I see some guy on Facebook boiling a skull on his kitchen stove.

[clarki]

I hang my deer in a friend's garage. I skin and quarter and get backstraps and loins and neck meat off. I then take it home in untreated garbage bags and put it in the bottom 2 shelves of my fridge. I process in my kitchen from there. hope this helps

[icehunter]

If you are going to hang it from a balcony MAKE SURE to hang Christmas lights on it first. I cant believe the above replies missed this very important step.

[JustBen]

Semi related: I always eat the tenderloins within a day of the kill. This will also give you an indication of the flavour of the particular animal. Then you can decide what cuts of meat you want or if it will benefit from aging.

[russ]

Debone it and age it your fridge for a few days, there was a great article on how to do this by Don Meredith IIRC a few years ago in the regs. An excellent method to use.

[roughneckin]

I know it’s too late for this time but I’ve started to quarter and almost completely skin everything except what is needed for identification right where it goes down. I live near DT Calgary too and hate having to find ways to get rid of all the remaining bits when everything is said and done.
I’ve also aged and not aged. I don’t notice a difference so I usually just buck it up that night or the night after.
Good luck man. Always fun times.

[h&t]

exactly
When I lived in condo, I skinned and quartered deer in the bush,
de-boned at home and froze it right away, no aging. It worked well.
Congrats on your harvest.

[Wiz]

Originally Posted by JeremyP

Hi, this is my first season hunting and I shot my first doe yesterday evening.

Here is the thing, I live in a condo in downtown Calgary. I put a hook in my kitchen so I could hang it, but I swung by a friends house on my way home and he offered to let me skin/quarter it in his garage. I took him up on this since it would be nice to not stink up my place!

Long story shot, it was still warm when I quartered it but not sure how to age quartered meat now. Reading more last night I now know you're supposed to wait at least 24 hours before butchering.

I'm fine leaving the legs hanging on my balcony, but won't the backstrap and loins dry out?
I know I should have figured this all out before harvesting the animal, rookie mistake only being fully prepared up to field dressing! Any advice would be appreciated!

Have any friends in town? I’d suggest not hanging it in your house unless it’s sub 4 degrees.

Also, do you own your condo? Does the condo board permit hanging meat on the patio (which is common property I’m sure)? Don’t want to get in ****

[thumper]

Have a look at the 'Gutless butchering method" videos on YouTube. For years now I've left every hide, bone and carcass - except the quarter with tag and evidence of sex attached, - out in the field. The meat goes into cheesecloth game bags, where it cools and then into the fridge until I'm ready to process it.

Very little scraps when you're processing, and they can be disposed of in a single trash bag - instead of driving around at night looking for a dumpster to get rid of a full skeleton/hide/refuse. It's also ecologically sound, leaving the parts you don't need in the environment from whence they came.

It takes a little more time in the field than conventional 'gut & drag 'em out' methods, and I don't take animals at 'last light' to avoid having to do the gutless method after dark. I'm a senior, and usually hunt solo, so I use a kids small, plastic sled that fits over my daypack (like a turtle shell), to slide my game bags out to the truck. I don't bust a gut loading a full-sized deer into the truck either! If I'm driving straight home, the cheesecloth bags will protect & cool the meat in the open truck bed. If I'm overnight, the cooled game bags will go into the truck box the next morning - until I get home.

I'll never forget cleaning my first deer - I was solo, with an Outdoors Life magazine held open to the "How To Gut A Deer' illustrations!

Good work Jeremy, by deer #3, you'll be an old pro at it!

PS
Great Tip FirstBen! I'll try that for sure!

"Semi related: I always eat the tenderloins within a day of the kill. This will also give you an indication of the flavour of the particular animal. Then you can decide what cuts of meat you want or if it will benefit from aging."

[DExplorer]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Watch out for the garbage bags.
They usually are sprayed with products that are unsafe for human consumption.


I've done the bathroom/meat cooler conversion before too.
It works.

Interesting, I never considered that.

[MinMoose]

This thread reminds me of when I breasted a bunch of ducks on my wife's 4th floor apartment balcony. Good times...

[gs100bert]

i shot a mule doe at 830am once got it home ,cut wrapped and in the freezer and dinner on the table by just after 5pm . the wife never new i left the house she didn't think i should shoot a 3rd deer cause we had 2 in the freezer and she did not eat deer meat . it was not aged at all and tasted great .