how long to hang a deer is best?

[bowchaser]

Is it best to skin it right away, or say within 24 hours, and hang it skinned? and how long?

Or do some hang it with hide on for a while, then skin it and leave it for a certain period?

What do you guys do?

thanks

[bunnyhunter]

ok...here's my 2 cents....i dont skin until cutting (always had cold weather for gutting), I find meat dries out, skin off.... I hang for 7-10 days...I have ended up with gorgeous tender meat, no problems ever. hanging temps for me have always been below 10 degrees centigrade. AAA steak grade cuts, but I have always had young bucks and does.
Skin on is a problem if the weathers been warm.

I have skinned portions before hanging, as well, you just have to trim the dried (black) parts off if you do your own butchering.

Jenn

[Vindalbakken]

I skin them so they cool faster. Then let them hang - the longer the better. Just above freezing if you can - if it freezes then there is no point to the hanging. If it is warmer then shorten the hang time. I have hung them for longer than 2 weeks and like at least 10 days. Hanging for 7 days in optimum temperatures does not make any significant difference in the meat in my experience.

[sjemac]

Skin on, hung head down for 7 -14 days depending on temps and shot placement. I like it to be cooler than 5 degrees and regulate that by opening and closing the garage door according to temps (might be getting a massive cooler at auction tomorrow to cure that rodeo) .

In warm weather I cut and wrap the next day.

[buckmaster]

Originally Posted by bowchaser

Is it best to skin it right away, or say within 24 hours, and hang it skinned? and how long?

Or do some hang it with hide on for a while, then skin it and leave it for a certain period?

What do you guys do?

thanks

Your best choice is to hang them in a proper meat cooler with the right humidity.Deer need about a week and moose 10 to 14 days.

[opencountry]

Take it from a butcher.. Beef require about 5 days at 4 degrees to tenderize.. the one most important thing to remember that the tenderness comes from the meat breaking down (rotting) the longer the hang the more bacteria grows in and on the meat.. If the meat is black it is already past the point of edible.. Some people like eating garbage but not me.. You never see black meat in a butcher shop right. Meat packers have the hide off in less than a min and into a cooler in about 5 min. The closer you can get to this practice the better meat you will have.. What ever you do don't let it freeze. If the suface freezes, skin the black dry portion off and consentrate on the good red meat under that has not frozen. Thawing frozen meat only accelerates the rotting process.
Butchers that claim meat has been aged 21 days are lying. at 21 days the meat is at the critical bactreia count and to keep from getting sick must be cooked thourough. I don't know about you all but i like rare steaks and the less bacteria the better!

Note: Wild meat will always rot faster than beef if you want to hang no more than 4 days at 4 degees. Less if the meat has been warm (ie skin left on)

[Justanotherbuck2]

We hang ours for up to 7 days with the hide on, and then take the hide off a day or two before cutting, hanging at 2-4 degrees above freezing. The hide comes off easily and we have very little dried wasted meat. I find it hard to believe that you would come out and say that 21 day aged beef is a myth and I think most people will oppose your view of that. Under temperture controled conditions this is the process for breakdown and tenderizing of the best meat in the world...Alberta AAA BEEF according to you this must be a conspiracy to deceive the world. I have been cutting my own game since High school and were all still standing! Our butcher advisor has been a full time butcher for more than forty years and he is the one that recommended hide on while hanging, up until a few years ago we used to remove the hide immediately it took a bit of convincing from him, but the proof is in the product. This season if you have two deer to work with hang one with hide on and one with hide off, watch how the hide off one blackens and dries up when exposed to the direct air...bet next year you leave the hide on if weather permits.
Link to beef sight that knows alot more than I do. http://www.wqmeats.com/about.html

[Waxy]

The best steaks I've ever had were dry aged for 45 days. Medium rare, they were absolutely unbelievable.

Aging beef in controlled temp. and humidity conditions is a huge part in getting optimum taste and tenderness. There was an interesting article on this subject in the Swerve pull out of the Herald a couple months ago - it talked about the lost art of dry aging beef and our shift towards "wet aged" or "fresh" beef. The reasons were not for health, taste, etc..., it came down to money. Easier to do, less time involved, and less volume lost due to moisture evaporation = increased profits.

If aging meat was a myth, I'd be dead from all the bacteria I've consumed...

Waxy

P.S. I always hang my animals hide off, it's a cleanliness thing for me. I don't know any butchers that will let you hang an animal with the hide on - it's against health and safety codes. I like to get them cool as quick as possible, and then maintain as close to 4C as I can, usually for 4-7 days depending on how much time I have. Anything is better than nothing though, even 24hrs makes a difference in my experience.

[Justanotherbuck2]

I agree Waxy in a public cooler there is no way you will be leaving that hide on, the butcher shop operator will chase you out! But we hang ours in our own cooler or on a meat pole if weather permits. Fortunately we have a group of guys that don't mind helping in the cost of having our own cooler, and a lot of good used commercial equipment. Grinders, bandsaw and sausage stuffers and mixers. This has been accumulated over many years so we process everything ourselves from field to freezer.

[winged1]

I practice the gutless dress. with the portions hanging in cotton bags at the kill site for typically an hour, which allows for quick cool down. From there they'll hang for another 3-7 days in the garage depending on my work schedule, then into freezer cuts. These days, everyone in the family likes a deer supper.

[rottie]

Originally Posted by bowchaser

Is it best to skin it right away, or say within 24 hours, and hang it skinned? and how long?

Or do some hang it with hide on for a while, then skin it and leave it for a certain period?

What do you guys do?

thanks

Myself I like to hang for 4/5 days with the hide off. The reason I remove the hide imediatly is so that the entrance/exit wounds can be cleaned up and all the blood shot tissue/jellyied stuff removed.
If the temp hovers around the 0 mark I wil sometimes hang for up to a week

Hope this helps

Ian

[TangoKilo]

I hang all of my game with the hide on for 7-10 days. This requires a temperature of about 5*C

Naturally if the temperature is over about 7*C I will skin and butcher ASAP.

[bunnyhunter]

Originally Posted by opencountry

Take it from a butcher.. Beef require about 5 days at 4 degrees to tenderize.. the one most important thing to remember that the tenderness comes from the meat breaking down (rotting) the longer the hang the more bacteria grows in and on the meat.. If the meat is black it is already past the point of edible.. Some people like eating garbage but not me..

Note: Wild meat will always rot faster than beef if you want to hang no more than 4 days at 4 degees. Less if the meat has been warm (ie skin left on)

actually thats a myth, its the enzymes found in the muscle fibers and the lactic acid. everyone thinks of british style pheasant hanging, which can be......ripe as they leave the guts in.

the outside meat turns dark when it dries, not because its rotted! ever make jerky without colour added?

http://bbq.about.com/cs/beef/a/aa030301a.htm

before I had a gambrel, I had to quarter and hang my whitetails, still turned out good. The reason I can get away with skin on, is I gut immediately, in cold weather and have him hanging within 4 hours of being shot. and a cold north facing garage.

I have tried tasting the meat, from unhung portions, and I definitely prefer the richer taste of my venison hung.
but its up to you, you dont HAVE to hang. especially young animals.

Jenn

[whiskybaron]

Having worked as a butcher for 6 years doing a lot of wild game in the fall I have seen some pretty ugly stuff my 2 cents on the subject is everything boils down to preferance as long as you keep a couple of things in mind.

You can hang with the hide on as long as the temperture outside allow you to bring the temp of the meat down with in 12 hours or so of kiling it , only a marker here with time not a rule so don't jump on me. The difference is if you hang with out the hide you can expect to trim a layer off that will be dried out the longer it hangs the more trim. If you hang with the hidde on you need to accomadate air flow as much as possible especially in the fronts they will retain the heat the longest as air flow is the least in this area.

When you compare beef hanging to deer they are different the firast thing to brerak down on the animal is the fat and wild game has little fat in it, you also need tot keep in mind when beef is hung it is in a controlled enviorenment not only teperture but humidity, and bacteria let's face it is our goarage have less types and amout of bacteria than a clean buture facility?

Again this is only my opinion but Wild game need only be hung for a few days to let it set and cool off but can be hung as long as two weeks as long as wweather is permitting, warmer times I cut faster and colder I can take my time. As long as the principals of cool the meat as fast as possible and do not let it dry out it is nothing other than a matter of preference. Also keep in mind if you are not processing you're own that just because you take it in to a butcher after hung for two weeks does not mean he is going to get it curt that day need to keep that in mind if having someone else process (make sure you ask how far behind they are).

[hunt_and_fish]

Here is the best (and most scientific) info I have found on the subject:

http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B513Rpdf.pdf

[bonedogrocky]

My butcher tells me that deer does not need to hang at all. Personally, the deer I shot saturday morning was butchered sunday afternoon.

[bunnyhunter]

Originally Posted by hunt_and_fish

Here is the best (and most scientific) info I have found on the subject:

http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B513Rpdf.pdf

great article!! explains why my deer age well, they are usually fat little whitetails porked out on the local grain fields ! and its freeeezing outside

thanks that helps.

[reelhooker]

Originally Posted by bonedogrocky

My butcher tells me that deer does not need to hang at all. Personally, the deer I shot saturday morning was butchered sunday afternoon.

I may be uneducated on the subject, however I am stubborn. I would walk if a Butcher told me that. Maybe I dont know better.

[Dark]

We have our own walk in cooler, temp. is most important put with the hide off humidity is cruicial to not having that black dried skin on the animal. With the proper humidity we do not get the dried out skin on our meat, but with that being said we have had to much humidity and have had the odd case of mold on the meat, we cut the mold off and still ate the animal the taste was still good.

[Buckhead]

I would not recommend trying to age meat with the skin left on. IMO the animal should be skinned as soon as possible in the field and the meat cooled as quickly as possible (The animal would be gutted as well) Leaving the skin on means the carcass may take 2 or 3 days to cool and on larger animals never.

That equals not aged meat but ROTTEN meat......gross, yuck, stinky, do not eat.

Once the skin is off, I hang the carcass to age about 10 days as long as the temperature does not go above 6 degrees C or the carcass does not start to freeze. Too hot means the meat is going to rot and too cold (freezing) means the aging process will stop.

You do not have to trim meat that is aged properly. It will dry out on the outside and develop a kind of skin on the outside of the meat. This means it is aging perfectly.

On beef I have aged anywhere from 14 to 21 days, but only on lean animals. If the animal is too fat there is no point in aging this long. The fat just goes rancid and the meat does not age properly.

[Dark]

Originally Posted by hunt_and_fish

Here is the best (and most scientific) info I have found on the subject:

http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B513Rpdf.pdf

Hunt, great post.

[pope]

You need a controled environment to hang meat (cooler) to have any good results. A garage usually wont work because of temperature swings. Whats more important is cooling the animal as quickly as possible, and keeping it clean.
I've seen too many deer hung in someones garage with the hide on, then the temp goes down to -30 and you have a rock solid deer and good luck getting the hide off.
I hang it for a few days if I get it cooled down immediately, but mostly of out of convenience - to cut it up when I have time.
A million hunters wil give you a million different opinions on this one.

[Cordur]

I hang my deer for exactly as long as it takes to skin it. I've never had deer meat that wasn't tender enough or didn't taste good. Read the articles some time ago about the reason aging deer meat is almost pointless. Of course if you compare a two year old doe to a buck in the last year of his life ancient life then of course there will be a difference.

[fickell]

I like to hang my game untill it stops kicking

[MKD]

Here is some research for you that discribes what you whould do and the parameters you should consider.

If you do a WEB search you should find the whole article on line. If not let me know oyur address and I'll send it to you.

TITLE: B-513R - Aging Big Game
AUTHOR:by Ray A. Field 1 and Warrie J. Means 2
Agricultural Experiment Station
James J. Jacobs, Director, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wyoming, Box 3354, Laramie, WY 82071.

[hunt_and_fish]

Originally Posted by MKD

Here is some research for you that discribes what you whould do and the parameters you should consider.

If you do a WEB search you should find the whole article on line. If not let me know oyur address and I'll send it to you.

TITLE: B-513R - Aging Big Game
AUTHOR:by Ray A. Field 1 and Warrie J. Means 2
Agricultural Experiment Station
James J. Jacobs, Director, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wyoming, Box 3354, Laramie, WY 82071.

Yep - this is the same one that I posted above:
http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B513Rpdf.pdf