I’ve been a believer of hanging meat for a period of a few days.
Others have tried to convince me that cutting up meat and keeping the meat in a refrigerator for a few days has identical results. IDK.
What day you?

They tell me that hanging it in 38-40 degree temperature is what you need to age it properly.

Trouble is here, it tends to get a little warmer than that during the day, and if the sun shines on it makes the situation even worse.

So I debone the meat from the hanging carcass in a day or 2 after killing it, then age it in the frig where I don't have to worry about temperature variations, and sun on the hanging carcass.

I shot a doe earlier this month, deboned it after 2 days and aged it in the frig for 12 more days.

I then cut it into small cubes and my favorite lady canned it, it is excellent.

We hang out deer in our cooler for 2 weeks to 1 month.

I also believe meat ages as it is in the freezer as well. Fridge works fine too as long as you get some air circulation on it.

I keep mine in a cooler covered in ice and I drain the water everyday. I do this for a week and believe it makes a difference.

I've aged them 1-5 weeks in my garage (33°-35°) over the past decade. 3 weeks is what I generally go for having tested many criteria. If the weather isn't working I'll age them in a refrigerator but not beyond 2 weeks. Aged meat is always better. Anyone that puts their venison in water better stay seated.

Enzymes in the meat is what tenderizes them. It doesn't matter if they're cut up or not as long as you don't cut them until they're at least in rigor mortis but it's better if they're out of rigor. If you cut them sooner, the meat fibers will contract making them tougher.

Bugger,

What the enzymes Rock Chuck mentioned primarily affect is the "organized collagen" in muscles. Collagen is what makes meat tough, and tends to increase with an animal's age.

Pronghorns have very little collagen in their meat compared to deer, and hence don't need aging like older deer. This was proven years ago by the meat science department of the University of Wyoming, which has published much of the most useful research on wild game meat. They compared the meat of older pronghorn bucks with 6-month old domestic lambs, using a "shear test" with a sharpened thin blade connected to a pressure gauge, and the pronghorn bucks were more tender. So aside from waiting for rigor mortis to abate, there's no advantage in aging pronghorns.

So, if one kills a deer in the back country and needs to pack it out and can’t realistically let it hang until rigor does it’s thing, what’s the best procedure? I’d guess quartering it rather than boning right away even though you have to pack the extra weight. And with backstraps and inner loins they just get tough? Or will aging offset the toughness of the muscle contracting? Apologies if this is a high jack.

That is interesting. When we were hunting lots of antelope in SE NM it was obviously very warm most of the time, often in the 90's. We would try and have one skinned, quartered, and into the freezer in an hour and it was always some superb venison. Your information is likely why. Thanks for that tidbit.

JG,

Thanks! I ran across the information when a wildlife biology major in college, by using the old-time version of Google, the Index of Periodic Literature. That was just a few years before the Internet changed things considerably! Will add your info to the list of "tests" relevant to the UW info.

They do have a GREAT collection of research on game meat. Eileen includes much of it in her game cookbooks--which are not just the typical collection of recipes, but information both on field-to-table meat care and cooking techniques specific to game, due to how it differs from domestic meat AND from animal to animal.

Letting it come out of rigor is best but just letting it go in is a major improvement over cutting it hot. The elk I shot last week was in full rigor in under 2 hrs. No, aging won't counteract muscle contraction. It's worth waiting a couple of hours for it to stiffen up.
The current trend is to use the gutless method and bone them almost before they fall down. I've done that with a half dozen elk and a couple moose. Every one was very tough eating. I haven't had a tough one since I quit doing that.

Humm, Mule deer this publication states just the opposite about pronghorn. The bucks have more collagen that the doe. The paper also states that because pronghorn are usually more tender due to slow cooling of the carcass during warner hunting months. The shear test clearly shows that after aging pronghorn meat does get more tender but tends to get too tender or mushy.
The paper also talks about the odor of pronghorn meat an interesting ways to combat that odor some do not like,

Here is the paper Mule Deer is referencing : https://www.wyoextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B-565R.pdf

Thanks Rock, I’m gonna be careful about such things in the future.

We have unpredictable weather here and there are times when I shoot a deer and it’s plenty cold, other times way too warm.

I tend to leave meat in the fridge for long periods of time whether it hung in my garage for a few weeks or not.

I half joke w/ my friends that I know venison is ready to be eaten when my wife tells me it’s going bad in the fridge.

i feel because i live and hunt in northern Minnesota one day it could be 40-50 degrees and the next day 0-10 degrees in late fall , so what we do is skin it warm because that`s much easier and leave it hang to cool down maybe over night depending on the temp in the shade . most of the time once its cooled down we either debone deer or quarter deer depending on how nasty it is outside , put the meat in a big cooler with ice or snow for a few days or a week when ever we have time to finish the meat but i don`t let it freeze tell we have all the meat finished and packed up.

At my camp, we always hang it right up and dressed it right there => take all the meat we can off the body, then stash/keep it on ice in coolers for several days. Pulls the excess blood and gaminess out of the meat. After 7-10 days, we parcel it up for sausage, grinding, and steaks.

Since I hunt in the farmlands north of Abilene, TX, deer camp temps can be 19-40 degrees for the week, or 55-75 degrees for the week. Not a fan of letting meat just hang in 60-70 degree weather - too easily blown by flies.

YMMV.

For whitetail, I never hang my deer. I get it stripped down and in the refrigerator and package it the next day and into the freezer. Hanging it doesn't just make it more tender, it dries the meat and concentrates the flavor. This is just my experience with eating venison over the last 30 plus years but in my opinion venison that has been hung and aged tends to be more "gamey". There is a world of difference between the meat I process and that done by a professional processor. I can never go back to having my deer processed. I meet people all the time that don't really like it but will eat burger and jerky. I know its because they ate some aged and more than likely overcooked venison and I would not eat venison either if that was my only choice.

I will vouch for Eileen's cookbooks as having much more useful information than just the wonderful recipes.

I have done it both ways many times. I have an old frig for when the weather is to warm to hang meat. When I hang it, its usually for 3 or 4 days. If its plenty cool I may hand it up to 7 days. I can't tell the difference in taste. "Gamey" to me, means spoiled meat. Get the hide off, and keep it clean and cool. Always comes out good.

You live in an alternative universe anyway. Anyone who would believe anything you have to say on any subject is a complete dullard

The septic is overflowing into other forums

Zero credibility Jimmy.

I am not sure what you mean. I have butchered 5 deer this year so far. Could you provide a bit more detail or are you simply floating in from another forum?

You couldn't find your asss with both hands on this, or any other subject actually. You're nothing but a gutless, cowardly, libtard.

He's also a faqq, you didn't even ask his pronouns JG.
Be more pc in the future bro.
Lol

Roger, Rafer!

Your advice above on cutting wild game completely contradicts every scientific study or book written on butchering. You know actual data and literature by real scientists and people who make their livings butchering and cooking meat. If that alone doesn’t tell you that your completely lost on this topic then nothing will.

Oops I forgot you’ve butchered 5 deer this year do your a pro. Well champ we did more then that opening weekend alone and our annual haul pails in comparison to many here some by 10 fold.

Oh and that foul taste you mentioned was probably just left over from you eating your boyfriends ass prior to supper as that’s about the only thing you appear knowledgable on.

I thought I could start my day with not reading anything more stupid than I read the previous day. JFT proved me wrong again! Now I feel stupid!

You don't actually say what I contradicted. Perhaps that is because you have never actually read anything on the subject. Nothing I said contradicts what scientists have said. I never denied the fact that the meat becomes more tender as it is aged. I never denied that the meat dries out and concentrates the flavors. If you actually read what I said, you would see that I actually said it. Of the people who butcher and cook meat for a living that you mention, how many are butchering and cooking wild free range venison for a living. I imagine you have no idea because you retrieved this information from your lower intestine. They do it in Europe but its not legal here. Europeans like rotting birds as well. No thanks, I'll pass. Wild free range venison isn't farm raised beef nor is it farm raised venison. I am assuming that you have eaten wild ducks based on your username. Does farm raised duck taste the same as wild duck? If you were to place the raw meat next to each other and showed it to someone who had never seen wild duck, would they even realize they were the same species? There are people in this world who like the flavor of well aged wild venison. I cooked some back strip for some friends once and one of them commented that they were disappointed because the meat wasn't gamier. He used to live in AZ and got to eat wild horse and was hoping the venison would be comparable in flavor.

I never said I was a pro. I have butchered over 100 deer in my life. Not me and a bunch of people at deer camp or me watching a bunch of people at deer camp. Usually, its just me. It doesn't make me a professional and I never alluded to it but I have learned a few things when comparing venison that was hung for a week vs a deer that was butchered the same day it was killed. The one that was butchered immediately tasted better and there really was no real noticeable difference in the tenderness or I did not notice it because it tasted so much worse and I was having a hard time choking it down. I may have missed it but I read through the posts and no one except me mentions taste. They mention tenderizing, which again I never disagreed with, but they don't mention the effect on the flavor of the meat. Now for the people who strip down the deer and toss it in the refrigerator for a couple of days, its probably not that different than a deer that was butchered immediately. I doubt there is much of a difference in the tenderness of the meat. I have done that as well and I have not noticed any difference. Again, I am not a scientist nor am I a professional. This is just my experience from 30 years of butchering and eating deer. For those who have never eaten non-aged venison, you really need to try it especially if you have family members or friends who won't touch it or will only eat burger in chili or spaghetti.

When you practice doing something wrong, you become and expert at "wrong". You are definitely a shining example of a lifetime of "wrong". Congrats.

Different strokes, I guess. But this is exactly what I avoid at all costs (for deer).

I am a believer in aging. I have never aged them 100% by hanging. I would love to have a walk in cooler to age the whole carcass.

Lately, if the garage is cool enough I will let it hang for a day or two, then quartered and into game bags and a refrigerator.

Pronghorn is cooled immediately, as fast as I can get it done. Stored in the refrigerator for a max of 3 days before processing.

What are you trying to avoid at all costs? Not trying to get into an argument. I think people should be civil on this forum. There is another forum for insults. Unfortunately, it has bled into this one. I am just curious. Are you saying you avoid butchering deer right away at all costs or are you saying you try to avoid the gameyness at all costs? When you eat and compared the 2, what is it about the deer that you hung that you found preferable to the one that was not hung? Do you think the flavor is better or is it strictly the tenderness of the meat? What about diet? Where I hunt, the primary forage during hunting season is acorns. We do have some agriculture in the area. Primarily corn and soybeans. I don't know this for a fact but I have heard that deer that feed on sage can have a bad flavor. Is this true? If it is true, I would think concentrating the flavor would be the last thing you wanted to do.

I've eaten grilled venison that was was only a few hours post-kill and it was the worst I've ever had. (Fat doe, butchered in the backyard).

I age all mine on ice for 4-8 days, draining water frequently. A lot of my ice is in the form of frozen gallon jugs, which serve to keep the meat very cold, but not always sitting in water. I'd love to have a hanging cooler setup, but a few large marine-style coolers and a bunch of frozen jugs has worked for my last 20 years or so. I also pull the cooler up to the skinning shed and begin filling it full of cold water while I start skinning. By the time I'm cutting off quarters/straps, the cooler is nearly full and I'm tossing the meat in the cold water to bring the temperature down. After it's all done, I drain off the water and this also helps remove stray hairs. Then I ice the meat.

Hey dumbasss Biden lover from TN, that first quote above was specifically referencing very hot weather "lopes when you have no choice to hang/age but I'm sure you knew that.

Given all the insults you've inflicted here on 24HCF, and over on the cesspoool of AR where you love to mingle with all like minded American/Trump/Conservative haters, you deserve every bad word written about your sorry asss.

Everyone should say the same about you.

I have only eaten the heart the same day. It wasn't bad. Meat that was not hung pulled out of the freezer and cooked on the grill has always been fantastic. What was it that was so horrible about it? Didi it have a strong flavor of some kind? Which cut was it?

Its interesting that you soak the meat which is also considered a major no no in some circles. You are pulling blood out of the meat, not just the coagulated blood around the wound. It can pull out some of those flavors that hanging concentrates. You might find the meat disappointing if you get a walk in and you hang it without soaking it. I don't think it will taste the same but I could be wrong.

For deer and antelope which are usually killed and hour or less from home, I skin, wash down with a hose and let drip an hour or so.Then I wrap it with Saran Wrap which keeps it from getting a crust on it.Let it hang for a week if temps are OK.If not I have a walk in cooler available to me.
Although antelope do not need aging, I find letting them hang a day or two lets more blood drain out, helping the taste

I’m a believer in aging, best results for me come after 2 weeks and up to 3 weeks.
The worst venison I’ve ever had was a mule deer doe that was in the pan before the meat was done twitching.

I should have clarified - and I should also caveat that our temps during hunting season are generally cooler than much further south.
When feasible, I like the hide to stay on for a day or two - drainage etc happens and the hide keeps the meat from drying out.

The only gamey venison I've eaten was stuff that went from field to freezer almost immediately.

Like I said, different strokes.

Thats interesting. I have never eaten venison that went from field to freezer almost immediately that had any gameyness at all. I eat it around 3 times a week. I also debone and clean up the meat completely of silver skin.
I wonder if it has to do with diet. Like I mentioned, I have heard some of those western deer eat allot of sage and the meat sometimes isn't all that great.

I have a walk in cooler. 10’ x 6’. I hang deer with the hide on a minimum of 2 weeks and prefer 3 weeks. Without the hide 5-6 days 8 being the max because of drying exterior layer becomes wasteful. Flavor and tenderness really show up on a 21 day aged animal. My target temp is 38 degrees. 18 kw AC unit running off a cool bots controller. Rail and trolley system with an electric hoist outside the door on a track system and floor anchor for skinning leave no back work involved. My cooler is my pride and joy come fall. It also gives me time to butcher when it works for me.

That sounds great. I'm very close to doing likewise

if i was younger i would or should have put up a smaller building with one window , insulate and used a small air conditioner in the window to cool and keep my quarters of meat hung and cool while it ages . now when i look back that`s the way i should done my wild game , so if your young think about that ?

I usually butcher my deer and moose within a day or two, I don't make a habit of hanging them for any length of time and gaven't for over 35 years.
I have never had a complaint about tough or gamey meat either.
Cat

Yeah, it was a backstrap we grilled right after cleaning the deer. It was extremely gamey tasting, just terrible. Prior to that, we had the game processor hang our deer for a week or 10 days and then we'd go pick them up. Now I just use the coolers. I do get a fair bit of blood out when I drain the water off each day or two. If I have the time, I do my butchering one night and my grinding/packaging the next night. The meat stays in big washtubs, back in the cooler overnight. A lot more blood settles out then, due to the fact that the meat has been deboned and partly trimmed.

Deer I usually hang skinned for a few days, depending on whether its cool enough. Antelope are usually shot in warmer weather and and cooled in a ice filled cooler and cut up as soon as they seem to relax from rigor. Not scientific but works.

This is how I first aged a deer by accident. Year was 1997. I shot a very nice whitetail buck while out elk hunting. I finished my morning elk hunt and went back to the buck. I got it skinned and broken down. This was before I had a dedicated refrigerator for aging.

Everything went into coolers on ice. I did not have time to process the deer, as I was still elk hunting with a very hard to draw tag. Drained and added ice for 9 days. I finally got my bull and processed the deer. Simply the best deer we had ever had up to that point. We became serious believers in aging and been on a learning curve ever since.

I also take the tenderloins from every deer I shoot and soak them in saltwater in the refrigerator for a week, changing water daily. They are some the best venison I have ever eaten. Mild, but flavorful and can cut them with a fork. If I cut them into bite sized tips before cooking, they melt in the mouth. Absolutely fantastic.

We kind of figured it out by accident too, bringing back venison in a big marine cooler from a Texas hunt back in the 90's.

I sometimes will cut up meat one night and them grind/package the next night. I put the cuts in plastic tubs, top them off with cold water, and then put them back in the coolers overnight. The ice in coolers serves to keep everything cold (a spare fridge works too). When I get ready to grind and vac-seal meat, I drain off the ruby red water. This gets out a lot more blood.