If you age it in salt water for 3 days, the outside of the ham will be white and not to appetizing to look at. However, that is just the exterior, the steaks you cut will look just fine, believe me.
First big buck I shot I did not age. He was tough. Second really big one I shot I lucked out with the weather and hung him for about 10 days, skin off. Turned out tender & delicious. Does and young bucks I don't age - they don't need it. Just getting them gutted, skinned & cooled quickly is enough for them.
When I was a kid, my dad killed a spike bull elk on Halloween. We hung that elk up in our meat cutting room in the barn. It wasn’t cooled. But that time of year kept a temperature of between zero and forty degrees. That elk never froze solid. We cut and ate pieces off that elk till about the first week of January, until it was all gone. Tasted great.
There's an old rule of thumb for how long you can hang them. For each 10 degree increase in temp, you cut the time in half
35F 2 weeks 45 1 week 55 3-4 days 65 1-2 days 75 eat it now
For what I do that is a pretty good guideline. I aim to keep it in the top two. Skin and cool ASAP, cover with a game bag, and hang. No water. Elk are usually quartered then treated the same. I have been known to hang the meat in my 4-horse trailer and park it (locked up) at the proper elevation on the mountain above the house to keep the temperature favorable during warm spells.
venison is not beef. aging does not make it taste any better or tenderize. aging helps beef because it has fat in the meat. deer fat fat should never be eaten.
skin and quarter as soon as possible place in a meat tube on a rack to drain goes in the frig until I get around to processing,usually 4-6 days this firms the meat for easier cutting and drains it well
soaking in water only opens it up to growing bacteria.plus water in the meet will make it freezer burn faster.
My fresh deer meat has acidic enzymes in it that break down the connective tissue in it.
The bull we couldnt chew killed in the big blizzard years ago in Colorado, where Leo was going into the mountain near Groundhog reservoir in helicopters and snowmobiles rescuing hunters was great after ten days. Aging worked pure magic on it.
In warm temps, fat turns rancid quickly.
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~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~ As Bob Hagel would say"You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong."Good words of wisdom...............
So, you cooled it down and aged it a day and the packer aged it another week. Sounds good.
No, I shot it at about 6:15 PM, dressed and skinned then packed to keep it cold overnight. Went to the processor first thing next morning.It was actually a little over a week before he got to it. Not classically aged but it pretty good. Based on past experience, we grilled some chicken when we first cooked it in case it tasted gamy. Our nights were in the 40's and days in the 60's. My in-laws were too damn cheap to pay so they ruined their meat to save money.
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I killed a 8yr old red stag a week ago.A couple of days after I killed it,I went ahead and ground up the neck and front shoulders and put that in the freezer.Today I broke down the hindquarters leaving the whole muscles intact.I can tell that week on ice has really helped.Muscles are relaxing and the meat cuts really easy.I may keep it a few more days yet.I used to be skeptical about ageing the meat,but not anymore.
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~ As Bob Hagel would say"You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong."Good words of wisdom...............
