# Deer Aging/Hanging



## svk (Nov 19, 2018)

If the weather is cold IE below 35 degrees, how long do you hang your deer?


----------



## yooper (Nov 19, 2018)

svk said:


> If the weather is cold IE below 35 degrees, how long do you hang your deer?


Only as long as I have to. Son shot one on the fifteenth and wish I would have quartered it up. Was 11°f Saturday night so it's pretty frozen I'm sure. We had to leave for the weekend. I did take its clothes off right away while it was still warm. That's a good thing.


----------



## wrx-snowdrift (Nov 19, 2018)

Used to hang for 2-4 days but now with time constraints and the fact that the last several years have been warmer than I'd like for hanging deer we skin and process the same day or the next. I've started aging on the back side, pull cuts out of the freezer and let them sit in the fridge for 6-8 days. 1-3 days of thawing, 3-5 days of "aging". I have definitely noticed a difference since I started doing this. I've read some guys let it sit in the fridge for as long as 2 weeks before cooking, I'm nervous about letting it sit that long.


----------



## svk (Nov 19, 2018)

wrx-snowdrift said:


> Used to hang for 2-4 days but now with time constraints and the fact that the last several years have been warmer than I'd like for hanging deer we skin and process the same day or the next. I've started aging on the back side, pull cuts out of the freezer and let them sit in the fridge for 6-8 days. 1-3 days of thawing, 3-5 days of "aging". I have definitely noticed a difference since I started doing this. I've read some guys let it sit in the fridge for as long as 2 weeks before cooking, I'm nervous about letting it sit that long.


I have heard if you vacuum seal it and put in a drawer and cover with a towel you can age it for a month. Never done it myself.


----------



## wrx-snowdrift (Nov 19, 2018)

svk said:


> I have heard if you vacuum seal it and put in a drawer and cover with a towel you can age it for a month. Never done it myself.



I've heard something similar that its a "new thing" to dry age meat for months in some cases over a year and when your ready cook you cut off the outer layer and grill it up. Search "extreme aged steak"

Yeah, don't think I'm talking the Mrs. into either.


----------



## stillhunter (Nov 24, 2018)

Years ago I shot a nice buck one evening and gutted it immediately as always. I got it home and hung it by it's horns. I intended to butcher it the next day but I waited, the temps were in the 40s daytime and 30s @ night. I loosely wrapped it w a tarp to keep the sun off it and let it hang for 5 days. Butchered the deer on the 6th, ate some backstrap and froze the rest. That was some of the best tasting venison I've ever eaten and nice and tender too. I checked it in the afternoons after work and the meat was much colder than the air. The hide insulated it and kept the cold from the nights in the meat all day when it was warmer. I have not had a chance/weather right to do it again but I will do it again when I can, maybe even 7 days.


----------



## ironman_gq (Dec 12, 2018)

Usually 3-4 days, have let them go as long as 2 weeks if it's cold out but they're pretty frozen by then. The best venison has always come from deer that have hung for at least a couple days.


----------



## rupedoggy (Dec 30, 2018)

I love venison and do enjoy sharing. People say mine is the best they have had. My rules:
1.Try to drop the deer in its tracks. A gut shot deer that you chase around for half the day will not be good.
2.Try to get a deer that is eating good stuff. Alfalfa, corn, wheat, apples even CRP etc.
3.Take off the hide while warm. It is easier to remove and starts cooling right away. Don't drive around all day with the deer "cooking" in the back of your pickup.
4.This is where people disagree with me but I always wash down the animal and get it real clean. That's what they do with the beef you eat. I go one step further and wash inside and out with a apple cider vinegar soaked clean rag.
5.Hang and age if you wish. I notice the longer aged deer is tender but gamey. The non-aged deer is tastier but a little tougher.
6.Cut off all the fat. That is where a lot of the "off flavor" comes from. If you grind your own try bacon in place of beef fat. The cheapest bacon has quite enough fat. I like 15-18% by weight.
There you have it from a 72 year man that has been eating deer all his life and killed more than 100 of them. Take a look at that avatar. That deer is in a CRP field and was 175# ready to butcher. That is a big mule deer! Great eating.


----------



## esshup (Jan 29, 2019)

Ditto on what was said above. The less that an animal is stressed before it's shot the better it will be. I learned my lesson a few years ago about shooting something that has been running for a while. We chased a herd of Elk that ran up and down a few canyons, and I shot a large yearling. It was tougher than anything I've had before.

I try like heck to drop them in their tracks, get them cleaned out and cooled down as fast as possible, then wait for the rigor to leave the carcass before cutting up. Even Pronghorn Antelope shot in 90+°F temps are great if you get them cooled down asap. We will fill the body cavity with ice as soon as they are field dressed and butcher them as soon as they get pliable after rigor and DON't shoot a buck that has been chasing does all over the place.


----------



## VintageMike (Jan 29, 2019)

I’ve got a field dressing and butchering video and the chef/hunter say to hang it for up to a month. 2 weeks by the neck and then 2 by the legs


----------



## muddstopper (Feb 5, 2019)

Best deer I ever eat hung by the neck for two weeks. You can get by hanging meat as long as the daytime temps stay around 40-45F and nighttime temps in the low 30F, at freezing or below. Temps going from 10f to 60f is very hard to judge. You really have to pay attention or you could end up with a lot of rotten meat. For pork shoulders that are going to be turned into sausage, we hang for two weeks in a meat house. If the temps start getting to warm, they are moved to a walkin cooler. It seems air hanging in the meat house just does better than cooler hung. We season side meat for cureing the day after the kill and let cure for two weeks, depending on temps and size. I then hang mine in a makeshift smokehouse and do a cold smoke for 4 to 8 hrs. How big the meat is, such as hams, its a matter of taste testing until you get the flavor you want. Big hams at least 3 weeks, really big hams a lot longer. Again, cureing is very dependant on tempertures. Temps start getting above 45f and the meat will really take on the salt. Meat that freezes at night can still be frozen near the bones and not take on any salt while the outside is so salty you cant eat it. No set rules as to how long to hang or cure, you cant hang it and leave it if the temps are swinging low to high.


----------

