How long to hang Moose????

[dunbartr]

We have 8 quarters hanging from two cow moose that a group of us got on October 17th. We hung them overnight, and came home Sunday. These were young animals and probably could have been processed right away, but we were all bagged from the trip and no one seemed that keen to do it in the evenings. We mutally agreed that we were all free to team up and process on the 30th, which is longer than I normally hang any game, but didn't see the harm.....

I have been hanging and cutting my own meat for the last 10 years or so now. A friend of ours built a shop with a a cooler unit at his house. So far all has gone well. I checked on the meat today again (10 days) and it had a bit of an odour, and one quarter seemed to be getting a bit of white fuzz on the outside only.

I have seen this white fuzz on a few of our deer before, but it cuts off easily, and never seems to have affected the meat. It was still cold in there, and the fan was working, the meat seems to have set-up nicely and all is ok, but there shouldn't be much odour from two cow moose??? not like when you hang a rut buck that just has that "meat smell"

In hind sight, we should have done it all up this past Sunday. Now we all work this week and can't do it until Friday. Will it be Ok until then???? Or should I try to round the boys up and start Wednesday night. Would hate to lose that much meat!!!!

[3kills]

there is lots of opinions on here bout how long to hang game for..my opinion as a meat cutter is i hang my meat for 2 to 3 days usually at the most..my moose this year i had to late hang for a few more days longer then i like but it turned out okay u just get a more meat loss off of it the longer it hangs...as for the white fuzz well i have never had white fuzz grow on any more my meat..to me that would be mold growing..what kind of odor does it have? if it is a sour smellin i would cut it asap... get right in there and smell it around the shoulders and other boney areas and see if it is gettin bone sour at all...

[Blainer]

Remember bone sour rot's from the inside out.
If you see any green,it's lost.
How long before it was skinned and how long before it reached the cooler.

Bone sour has a distinctive rancid smell and a turquoise or greenish color at or in the meat and bone.
Bone sour usually starts in the neck, front shoulders and rear quarters. Once bone sour starts it is hard to stop. Cooling the carcass will help to slow the bacterial growth but will not stop it entirely.
Once the entrails are removed, the animal should be skinned within 3-4 hours. The hotter the weather and the larger the animal, the faster bone sour will occur.

[sawmill]

Seperate the shoulder from the ribcage and have a smell in there ,if it`s starting to go off then get to work.10 days is a long time unless the cooler is set around 34%ish.

[sawmill]

Sounds like you might have a dampness problem too if there is mold on it.The weather is wierd this year,my deer was frozen rock hard in 2 days a few weeks ago,now the next one might get moldy like yours cause it`s warmed up and gotten damp.Vinegar wipe down.

[leadpillproductions]

i think if you dont get it done you may be screwed

[dunbartr]

Both animals were skinned within a few hours and it was a cool rainy day. yes we did have a moisture problem, it was hard to keep things dry.

The shoulders are all hanging seperate from the ribcage already.
We cut and packaged up the backstraps last thursday and everything was good then.
Will try to get out of work tomorow, or tomorrow night at the lastest and at least get the meat off the bone. We probably still won't have time to make hamburger, or cut & wrap until Friday. Should have just done it Sunday damn it!!! hopefully things will be OK.

[dunbartr]

Meat was in the cooler within 30 hours of being shot. From what I could tell tonight, it doesn't look like bone sour.

[hotload]

Move the meat man. The green is definitely moisture. Any sour smell, means, move the meat man. Even if you froze it until you could get to it. Contrary to popular opinion meat can be refrozen.

[hunter1947]

I have had them butchered up in a few days and then also 12 days latter can't tell the difference.

[d6dan]

My cow moose only hung for 3 days. No steaks taken , just roasts,ground ,stew meat and trim for sausage. Can tell you the roasts are excellent.

[guntech]

Most bulls need to be well hung. ;)

[Ltbullken]

No hanging required. Cut and into the freezer as soon as possible. Otherwise it will dry out and you will lose meat volume. Domestic meat does not dry out the same way hence you hang it. But there are as many opinions on this as there are hunters. Some like the dry gamey taste that comes from hanging :x while others prefer the mild and tasty version of not hanging :p. But why don't you try some cut up soonest and let some hang and compare to ultimately make up your own mind to satisfy your taste.

[guntech]

Ltbullken,

Your experience is opposite of mine. Correctly aged meat is not dry and gamey, but more tender and tasty...

Well you did say there are as many opinions on this as hunters... :biggrin:

[ufishifish2]

Maybe you guys should just take camera's next year and save the wasted effort. You probably have a union job with descent pay and either the comfortable option to take a day off, or stop being so damned cheap and take them somewhere to be done properly. Damn Tolko Rookies!!!

[Caveman]

Wild game can be processed right away, or hang for whatever length of time your comfortable with. As mentioned the white fuzz is a mold that will be forming on an exposed dry area usually due to poor air circulation which should be trimmed off and I'd process the game now. If the smell is a bit on the sweet side, it may be the neck starting to turn bad. If so trim and remove, from the room, the smelling meat, until you no longer detect it. If the smell is just the musty smell inherent to wild game, no worries

[dunbartr]

It's all good. Glad to have so many opinions, except that BS from ufish, but I expect that from him!!!

In the end I over reacted a bit I think. Out cooler room isn't that big and we have always had a bit of humidity problem with it. Having two moose that were quite wet to begin with didn't help with all the humidity in the air these days either. I might try and extra fan next time to help things out. Either way, two cows didn't need to hang that long. There was no bone sour as some suggested, just bit of white mold on the outside skin that was exposed. We just wiped each piece with vinegar, and then "fillitted" a thin layer off where required. None of the meat had any smell when we were cutting, just all together in the cooler room. I think it was mostly blood sour on the floor and maybe the neck/carcass portion.

In the end we didn't lose much meat at all... probably not much more than 5-10 lbs beyond the normal waste. Personaly I still prefer to hang my meat for at least 3-5 days, to help it "set" as it makes cutting much easier once it has firmed up.

So freezers are full. Time to antler hunt!!!

[riflebuilder]

I always hang at least two-three weeks myself, as long as you get the meat cooled fast it should be ok. Your meat will be ok. the longer it hangs the more tender it will be. good luck and let us know how it turns out.