Question on ageing meat

I can remember an old moose hanging in a controlled locker for just over 20 days.
We got some cut up after the first week and then got called out on a job.
As mentioned above a few posts, green it was.
Took some time to cut/wipe/cut/wipe the green fuzzies awf it, but the difference
in taste of the same critter was remarkable.
And more tender too.

The temp and clawk determith when.

Now, wutt'appendt to one awf our kawmradzs?
 
From my experience, most guys who hang their meat have no idea what they're doing and think the "gamey" taste is perfectly normal. None of my animals are hung longer than it takes to skin, cool and butcher them, and I've never had a single one with an off taste or tough meat.
 
We only hung them when we went to deer camp in Northern Ontario because we were there anyways for the week.
Now I only hunt them in southern Ontario and hanging isn't necessary, the taste difference is night and day due primarily to the abundant cattle feed available.
 
smokin'stoegie said:
We only hung them when we went to deer camp in Northern Ontario because we were there anyways for the week.
Now I only hunt them in southern Ontario and hanging isn't necessary, the taste difference is night and day due primarily to the abundant cattle feed available.
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Corn fed is my new favourite. They even smell better when gutting them
 
Get the hide and any hair off it especially scent glands, once it’s hung wash,wipe it with vinegar and water solution. Age it for as long as you can.... I prefer 2 weeks or more. Get the damn hair off it is the biggest worry, age in fridge if necessary, salt liberally 2-7 days befor cooking, draining blood daily. Won’t even know your eating wild meat aside from texture
 
Field Dress immediately, Hang & Skin same day, Butcher same day if timings allow.
Usual drill, not enough hours in the day, Butchering is done the next day..
 
sikwhiskey said:
Get the hide and any hair off it especially scent glands, once it’s hung wash,wipe it with vinegar and water solution. Age it for as long as you can.... I prefer 2 weeks or more. Get the damn hair off it is the biggest worry, age in fridge if necessary, salt liberally 2-7 days befor cooking, draining blood daily. Won’t even know your eating wild meat aside from texture
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Jeez, that sure sounds like a lot of work. What the heck are the deer eating out west that requires so much effort to have some good meat? For the last 10 seasons or so I have simply butchered and froze the deer a day or two after shooting them and the result is always mild, juicy, and fork tender steaks or roasts. Actually, I often find beef to be stronger tasting than most deer we've shot.


The majority of the time when you're eating nasty venison it's because the animal took a long time to die, was dead for too long before being dressed, the meat was contaminated by stomach contents/feces, the animal is senior and nearly dead of old age, or it got too warm during hanging. Unfortunately, many old timers are stuck in their ways and will continue to misinform new hunters and have them believe the only important part is aging the meat when it's really the least important part of the entire process.
 
daveyn said:
Most people tend to think they need to age venison because they hear the hype around things like" 21 day aged Kobi beef" or "aged to perfection" when prime beef is talked about, however beef and venison are different. Beef is marbled full of fat and aging assists in tempering that fat and breaking it down creating a more tender product. Venison on the other hand has almost no fat through the meat, all the fat is on the outside and venison does not improve with ageing. Venison should be trimmed of as much fat as possible and then cut and wrapped as quickly as possible to prevent the drying out and loss of the outer layers.
Kill your deer, get the hide off ASAP and get the fat trimmed and get it in the freezer, any longer than 48 hours for the whole process is time wasted.
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This is correct. Forget the old timer stories, they are bunk. We get an aging thread about 4 times a year... regular as the change of seasons ( which is not so regular, lol).
My father always tried to hang deer. as did I. Then my daughters worked at the Abitour/ packing plant down the road. And my son married into the competition; they both agree it's bunk.
Get the animal cool and cut it up.
The same Old timers who tell you to hang it, often have other wisdom that doesn't bear up under scrutiny... "WD-40 keeps arthritis away if you spray it on the affected joint" comes to mind :)
 
tokguy said:
This is correct. Forget the old timer stories, they are bunk. We get an aging thread about 4 times a year... regular as the change of seasons ( which is not so regular, lol).
My father always tried to hang deer. as did I. Then my daughters worked at the Abitour/ packing plant down the road. And my son married into the competition; they both agree it's bunk.
Get the animal cool and cut it up.
The same Old timers who tell you to hang it, often have other wisdom that doesn't bear up under scrutiny... "WD-40 keeps arthritis away if you spray it on the affected joint" comes to mind :)
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Lets not forget the guys that chuck a slab of prime venison into a frying pan and turn it into something akin to shoe leather by overcooking it.

Venison does not have the same enzymes in it that beef does, and deer do not store fat in among the muscle fibers, and both these characteristics cause it to behave very different than beef. It is not beef!

Of course, you could chase a cow through a swamp for a few hours, drag it out with a quad, chuck it on the hood of a truck, stop for a few beers on the way home, show it off to friends, and hang it in a garage in too warm weather, still covered in swamp muck, and get a very similar experience to what a lot of folks thing venison is like too....

But I would rather eat it for fine dining, rather than as a workout from chewing.

I was present when a guy got turned away from the butcher I used to use. Exact quote was "You are not putting that in my cooler unless it's clean!". Some folks. Yeesh. It was an experience which reinforced my liking for this particular butcher!
 
sikwhiskey said:
Get the hide and any hair off it especially scent glands, once it’s hung wash,wipe it with vinegar and water solution. Age it for as long as you can.... I prefer 2 weeks or more. Get the damn hair off it is the biggest worry, age in fridge if necessary, salt liberally 2-7 days befor cooking, draining blood daily. Won’t even know your eating wild meat aside from texture
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I bet you also clean your M14 in the dishwasher
 
Doogs said:
I bet you also clean your M14 in the dishwasher
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No, that Old dishwasher post was a good one though. What do you disagree with in my post? Hair ruins meat? Or ageing does nothing? In my family, only I like the taste of "wild" game. If you have picky eaters to cook for, try my method. Or not, don't care how you cook or age it, saying ageing does nothing is BS. Ever tried it? Anyone ever here ever try it for themselves?
Not alot of work in preparing steaks or roasts, or deer for that matter. The reason I wipe the skinned deer down with vinegar is to get rid of the stinking hair off the meat, especially Older bucks in Full rut. The Salt gets the blood out, in time, especially on animals that don't bleed out from being shot, Head, spine, gut shots etc.
Plenty of ways to cut up, age your own meat, when my family sits down and scrapes all the meat off the plate, its job well done. Strange, since using this method I've not had a single complaint, from friends to extended family, never hear ewwww is that Mule deer??
 
Doogs said:
From my experience, most guys who hang their meat have no idea what they're doing and think the "gamey" taste is perfectly normal. None of my animals are hung longer than it takes to skin, cool and butcher them, and I've never had a single one with an off taste or tough meat.
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That's pretty well my experience too.
 
If the conditions are right I hang and age everything including upland game and waterfowl. I like it this way some don't. It is important to emphasize having the right conditions. Trying to age game in too warm weather is not a good idea and will lead to waste.

Darryl
 
Let it hang in a cool dry place, and when it takes on that greenish tint, your meat is aged just right. Usually it's about 8-10 days for a moose shot in the fall, tastiest beef you'll ever have the privilege to eat.
 
I tried aging meat the first few years when I started hunting. I tried hide on and hide off. Yep NEVER AGAIN. Meat tasted gamey and nasty. Now when I shoot a deer, it gets gutted, deboned and put on ice ASAP. The meat tastes phenomenal. Friends don't let friends hang meat :(
 
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