Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Tough backstrap

As already mentioned, hanging or even ageing in a cooler on ice for at least 7 days is the ticket. Hanging skin on is better. But sometimes that is just not possible.

If I have to process one right away due to warm weather or just don't have the time, the whole deer gets ground into burger. Backstraps and all. we use a lot of burger so its not a problem. That grinder tenderizes them just fine.

Because I cannot control the logistics of proper aging, I have now used this tool for two bulls. They then go into a glass bowl of marinade for 24 hours. Whether it gets cooked on the grill, oven or broiler, it turns out to be very tender.

It's been chewed for you already.

Not for nothin’, I stopped using Italian Dressing in the marinade, found the back strap turned stringy (and tough)

The half dozen or so deer I've boned in the woods were not noticeably different than ones that hung for several days. Lucky?

I bought this old Hobart Steakmaster for $60 about fifteen years ago and I'm glad I did.If I have some meat that I want to make tenderized cutlets,I run it through the Steakmaster when I'm processing the meat.It really tames tough meat quickly.

Mom used to fry up cutlets like that when my brother and I were in grade school. We called them rubbermeats.

I have also heard that freezing breaks down cell walls and will make it more tender also. Have not tested it myself yet.

My processor told me to never cut one up before rigor mortis sets in and then comes out. A buddy of mine tested that once having shot a cow elk late the last day of our hunt and gutted and taken to the processor immediately. He told him to cut it and wrap and freeze to pick up the next morning as he needed to get on the road. The butcher cautioned him against that to no avail. My buddy said it was the toughest meat he’d ever had; blamed it on being an old cow. The cow was no more than 2-3 years old judging by her size and good teeth. That’s why when anyone offers venison I try to politely decline saying my freezer is full, but if they insist the pups are real happy.

The longest drag I’ll have is maybe a mile and a half. Most are 1/2-3/4. I’ve settled on jet sleds as the best means overall as I can haul in some helpful stuff and then haul everything out, keeping the carcass clean. With my knee as it is, my much-younger wife helped me pull all the deer out, a very welcome assistance. Still hoping for a bear, which oughta be interesting…..

Dragging on snow is a relative breeze, but that’s a rare event during the regular season.

I don't "drag" , I carry the out on my back. In 60+ years of hunting I have NEVER, had a backstrap that was anything but fine eating. Dress them fast , hang them up for a few days and start eating the tender, and smaller parts, before they dry out.

I killed a caribou big enough that I needed to make 2 trips with the meat- it was a 12 mile pack, a 2 hr drive each way, and I could only work weekends. The tenderloins came out first trip with some other meat immediately after the kill and, before rigor, got cooked on reaching home.

Shoe leather .

The stuff hung in the tree until the next weekend (frozen by that time) was fine.

I found, over 15 years cumulative in he Arctic and below freezing temps, with caribou, the tenderest were the ones that were shot, gutted, and left with the hides on for a week or more before processing. That few hours , slowly cooling and rigor allowed, makes a huge difference.

Some of the Eskimos I knew up there, liked to bury the ungutted caribou in a snow bank for a few weeks. Never tried it myself. But then, they tend to have somewhat different tastes in meat than I do.

For me, it starts with the shot. I rarely take a shot on a deer that I'm not absolutely sure of. I'm a heart/lung shooter and don't care if a deer doesn't fall immediately to the shot. Shoot right and they won't go far enough to make a fuss over.

Field dressing is the next critical step. Do a neat, clean job and get that deer hung with it's hide intact. Hang it where rodents and varmints won't get to it, and where the temps don't get much above or below 40 or so degrees for 3 days or so
This will be my biggest challenge going forward. Always hung my deer in a buddy's walk in cooler, but I recently moved 3 hours away. We'll see.

I bone everything, and sold my grinder. Pay attention to how you use what cuts and how it's cooked makes a difference too. I vacuum seal and label every package.

You goes know what “high” meat means? Used to be common in Europe to hang birds by the head until the body about fell off. Not sure I would do that but certainly hanging a deer for a week works wonders.

The full rigor cycle (muscles contract and then release) can take up to a day.

Being in TX I always rushed to get my game cut and on ice. Now, I go through the trouble to keep the meat on the bone for several days before I start to process. It’s made a world of difference in the quality and consistency of my meat.

Growing up, we always butchered the deer immediately and put it into the deep freezer. Sometimes the deer was fully processed within an hour of being field dressed. Meat was always nice and tender when we thawed it out.

I built a walk in cooler. I’ve found hanging with the hide on for 18-21 days is the best venison you will ever cut or eat. Without the hide I only hang 6-7 days or it dries outer layers bad and there’s a lot of trimming. There’s a reason they have 21 day aged beef