Home butchering a deer

[tenrag]

A couple questions for all you hunters who butcher your deer at home.

If the temps are too warm to hang outside (or in a shed) how long would you let is rest in the fridge before breaking it down?
What is the ideal resting temperature?


Your comments and any other tips are welcomed.

[todbartell]

You probably could start within a day. We hang at 2.5c

[tinhorse]

Last deer I shot I butchered that day. Shot at 9:45, cut up, wrapped and burger made by 4:30 that afternoon. It was a young one and is nice and tender. No need to hang!

[mondostud]

I never hang my deer and they always taste fine. I've read a lot of conflicting opinions about this. Is hanging really an advantage?

[RugDoctor]

I'm no butcher, but the way I understand it is you hang meat to bring the flavour out. So beef hangs to make the meat more "beefy".....and you don't hang game, or it get's more "gamey". Just what I was told by my butcher.

[howa1500]

24 hours for rigor mortis to pass.

2-3 days to let hang. Hanging allows the collagen to break down via enzyme action (collagen is what makes me at tough) .

Old bucks need longer than young bucks, higher intermuscular collagen levels

[howa1500]

Ideal temp is around 3 degrees, but no higher than 8 degrees. Celsius of course.

[Xenomorph]

Ideal situation would be a week or two walk in 4C temperature, BUT, does anyone really have time for that?

I've done it up north where I've kept them in the walk in skinned and cleaned, hung up for 2-3 days, then 1 day travel back with them in coolers or just in truck bed in bags (outside temp under 5C). Soon as I've gotten home butchered them up and put them in the freezer.

At the same time, the last buck I got, was gutted, hung up outside the cabin for 24h, got home and skinned and butchered it asap, then freezer.

Does it make a difference in taste? Nope. Not for me

[Gateholio]

I'm with HOWA. Don't want to cut into steaks while animal is still in rigor, so an overnight hang at least is nice.

[Ride Red]

I'm with HOWA. Don't want to cut into steaks while animal is still in rigor, so an overnight hang at least is nice.

X2. My game usually hangs for 5-7 days, but weather will always dictate your timeline.

[Whonnock Boy]

Always a conflicting subject. I like to hang mine for a week to 10 days, others butcher asap. I find hanging drys it out a bit, and you don't get as much blood when thawing. Regarding taste, I don't believe it makes a difference, as it's all in the preparation, and final cutting. Fat and sinew must go, as should anything that looks suspect. Take your time, and you will be rewarded with great table fare regardless of season, rut or no rut.

[BRrooster]

Im with WB , I usually hang ours until the next weekend. When you cut your own , you know what you are getting. We are very picky with even our burger and sausage trimmings. It may be tedious to cut out the fat and sinew, but its all for the best. We like to cut our trimmings and freeze them in 5 lb packages so we can make whatever we want from them at our leisure.

[shuswapbear]

This is hopefully gonna be my first year to get a whitey but I am only able to do day hunts. I don't have anywhere to hang a deer, so what does one do in this situation?

[Mikey Rafiki]

Just bought a place with a nice walk in cooler in the shop so really excited to start testing these theories. Too bad we don't move in until December :(

[Barracuda]

I butcher as soon as is reasonable and with bear as fast as possible .

[seizuresalad]

I usually skin and quarter deer on the ground, right where they fell, or nearby if they ended up in neck-high brush or halfway down a cliff or something. I pack a tarp with me, which I lay down on the ground, and then toss the deer on top. Then I skin it, quarter it, cut off the backstraps, then cut open the abdominal cavity to cut out the tenderloins, and recover the heart and liver. If it's a big deer with some meaty ribs, I'll saw those off, too. Then I game-bag everything, hike it out, and do my final butchering in my kitchen. Never bothered to hang an animal; always cut it up same day, package it up and put everything I'm not going to eat that day in the freezer. I process it so quick that rigor mortis isn't an issue. Never had a problem with meat not being tender, but then again, most of the deer I get are young meat-bucks. Like venison veal!
If I'm way out in the bush and I'm not going to be coming home anytime soon, I process everything the same as if I was at home, except a truck tailgate takes the place of the kitchen counter for the final meatcutting. Then I store it in a 100L marine-style cooler that can keep ice frozen for about 3-4 days. You can fit a whole de-boned bear in one of those things.

[morris]

If I'm way out in the bush and I'm not going to be coming home anytime soon, I process everything the same as if I was at home, except a truck tailgate takes the place of the kitchen counter for the final meatcutting. Then I store it in a 100L marine-style cooler that can keep ice frozen for about 3-4 days. You can fit a whole de-boned bear in one of those things.

Hope you don't hit any game checks on the way home...

[ACB]

If you can get a couple of electric fans pointing on your deer hanging in your garage with a a window cracked open they should be good for at least a couple of days. You don't have to hang deer that long, it's not like their a beef with heavy mussel tissue. I know guys that hang their deer for up to 16 days, well it better be tender after that long. Because really all that hanging meat in a controlled temp.in a cooler is controlled decomposition. The fans just help keep the meat cool and dry and dry is very important. ( see mildew) The fans work if you don't have access to a cooler right a way. You have to get air to it, moisture is your enemy.

[Peter Pepper]

Hope you don't hit any game checks on the way home...

You just have to leave evidence of sex and some fur on one portion.

[300rum700]

I've been told that because wild game doesn't have the fat inside the muscle that beef or other domestic game does that it doesn't break down to the extent that beef does so anything more than a few days is just a waste of time.

[HarryToolips]

I never hang my deer and they always taste fine. I've read a lot of conflicting opinions about this. Is hanging really an advantage?
I agree, the ones I haven't hung tasted just fine...

[HarryToolips]

This is hopefully gonna be my first year to get a whitey but I am only able to do day hunts. I don't have anywhere to hang a deer, so what does one do in this situation?
You don't have a buddy around that can hang it in a shed for ya when the temps are a bit cooler??? If not I guess you gotta take it to a butcher...

[Peter Pepper]

I use a couple old fridges to age the meat. 5-7 days on racks to let air circulate.
Break down quarters to fit first. Check and rotate pieces if meat is touching other pieces.
Meat is much more tender than back when I didn't age it.

[Glenny]

This is hopefully gonna be my first year to get a whitey but I am only able to do day hunts. I don't have anywhere to hang a deer, so what does one do in this situation?

What I do is when I get it home I debone on tailgate and put big hunks into bags and put in fridge (Gotta make some room) and after a day or so I will start the fine cutting thru the week.

[SeaScene]

Past couple of years I went with the gutless field dressing method after seeing it on youtube. Just downed a nice BT buck 2 days ago and field dressed in 30 minutes gutless method. My lady and I had it butchered and in the freezer in an hour cutting along muscle lines for quarters. Same with last year's buck and the meat was just superb. I used to hunt whitetails in Ontario which we would hang up for a few days but I think the gutless method would work well there as well and I guess if you have success at hanging the meat ...well good. There are a few examples on youtube of the gutless method. I like and use this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwNVZXbbIuo

[Ohwildwon]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Venison-Cookbook-Webster/dp/0937552704

Click on this,^.

Click the book icon on the left and read the introduction...

Literally hundreds of years of experience processing Venison here..

You will notice the importance of, "still hunting", cooling and processing the animal, as soon as possible...

Aging the animal, in excellent conditions and technique is optional...

Oh, and buy the book from one of this sites sponsors if you can. :-)

[seizuresalad]

Hope you don't hit any game checks on the way home...

I keep the whole, unskinned head with the antlers attached until I get home. Then I bury it in my garden and dig it up after a few months. You end up with a pretty clean skull.