Hanging a deer

By golly I think we have seen this topic once or twice before!!!!

Hang the deer head down, get the hide off if it is warm weather, and cool it as best and as fast as you can. I have not used the vinegar/water solution myself, but based on a whole bunch of guys saying it is the way to go, I will surely do so in the future. I have used ground pepper on the carcass to keep the flies off it, and that has worked for me, with no appreciable damage to the meat or its taste. If it is truly HOT (like a summer road-kill), that meat has to get into refrigerated or frozen storage ASAP. The meat will rot and maggots will be present in a matter of hours in hot temperatures. (Trust me on this one....)

Bow hunters do not, in general, leave their deer for long periods after the shot before they are recovered and gutted. While there may be some stories of game shot late in the day, then left overnight, and then recovered, I do not personally know of anybody who has done this. When I shoot a deer with the bow, I wait perhaps fifteen minutes before I go looking for it, less than that if it is clearly down and dead. That deer gets gutted right now, and hung (head down) as soon as I can get it to a suitable hanging spot. In our early season (1 Oct is our opener here), we might only be able to hang the deer overnight, HIDE OFF, before we cut it up or (less often) take it to a butcher where it can be hung in cold storage.

A deer that is butchered soon after it is shot is not as nice as a deer that hangs for a bit before it is cut up. The taste of the deer that has been hung is much better, and there is a lot less blood in the cuts.

I reckon I have butchered probably a hundred or so whitetail deer, and I have fairly strong opinions about this, but by golly, we have seen alternate ideas here from guys that have been at it as long as I have too!!!

Doug
 
Foxer said:
Oh i heard it a few places, then i got thinking about it.

Vinigar dries faster than water. I'm sure you remember from your highschool physics days that this consumes a lot of heat energy, so it tends to cool the meat faster. Plus, the vinigar is too acidic to allow bacteria to grow, so it reduces things that can make your meat go 'off'. I usually use a solution of 20- 25 percent vinigar to water and i boil the water in the feild from a stream or other handy source - that means you don't have to take much vinegar with you to camp. Then i use a cloth and just wash off the meat, which both cleans AND cools. After that - game bags and i might just spritz those with a bit of vinegar too.

You'll also note it greatly reduces the flies.
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I have heard that vinegar is a bad solution to fly problems, I used to do the same as you untill I was shown the results by a local butcher who specialises in game cutting. I normally do all our own butchering, but last year we shot 2 moose and a deer and could not possibly do it myself. We took two of the animals into be butchered and as soon as he saw/ smelled the meat he knew it had the vinegar and water solution on it due to the smell and texture. He said that this is not a very good idea because it actualy promotes mold growth on the meat and he asked us to come back in a week after it had hung in his cooler and see what happens. I was amazed by what I saw and will never do this again, basically you have to throw away the outer layer of the meat due to mold growth. The butcher said this is so common for hunters to do and sees hundreds of pounds of meat go to waste because of this, he said the best thing for flies is cheesecloth and pepper.
 
Well said Doug, except for hanging 'em upside down o'course :D
Flies are no concern at all during deer deason in central Ontario, unless you are a bow hunter, or, take road kills.
Summer road kill deer, seem to be a fly magnet.
The buggers appear as soon as the first drop of blood is spilled. Black pepper is indeed a big help.
I will continue to hang my deer as long as possible, usually, hide on, to deflect the snow, and act as an insulating blanket should it turn warm for a few hours. I have hung them outside for close to two weeks before, even through a couple of freeze/thaw cycles. Those deer were excellent!
Hang them were the sun doesn't get a good shot at them.
 
Big Guy said:
I never hang meat! I shoot skin right away, bone out into main pieces then pack it out of the bush. It then goes into the fridge for a couple of days to get good and chilled before I complete the butchering. Hanging is a waste of time IMHO.
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Hanging allows the enzymes present in the body fluids and tissues to activate which tenderizes the meat.
I hang in summer using a fly net as long as I keep the carcase dry it wont go bad, the darker the meat, the more blood has drained and the better it will taste. Hides seem to be easier to remove whilst warm but this really has little effect upon the flavour. If the carcase is bloody inside or a bullet or bone fragment has punctured the stomach then wipe out with a damp cloth and dry it again as soon as possible. The best hanging is about 3 weeks with the temp below 5 degrees C. Here people have made single deer coolers using old drink chiller display cabinets. Thy can be picked up for pennies on the dollar when stores get refurbished and with a little work can have your deer hanging for the right amount of time. Best thing is if made of glass you can see it age!
 
So I assume that if Im just making jerky and sausage hanging really is not a big deal. Both my jerky and sausage when finished rarely have any wild taste in them at all with all the spices and salts used and neither recipes call for tender meat.:)
 
When I got started hunting, here's a few tips I got from 'dear old Dad'. First of all, dispatch the animal as quickly & humanely as possible. The meat quality isn't enhanced by a lengthy flow of adrenaline. Field dress as soon as possible, especially in warm weather, taking care to minimize gut damage contact with meat. Again, if the weather is warm, skin as soon as possible to allow the meat to cool quicker. While skinning keep the hand handling the hide away from contacting the meat, especially on a male during the rut. Contact with residue on the hair, especially from the area of the scent glands will promote a wild taste. Cut & trim as much of the blood shot out as possible. These areas spoil quickly & will taint the meat. Washing down with water helps as long as you dry it off thoruoghly. A vinegar solution wipe down wasn't something Dad thought to be a benefit. The application of black pepper seems to help keep the flies off. Something else that appears to help is, especially when hung outside at your hunting camp, is to cut garbage bags (black usually)into strips & hang close by the meat. Even a slight breeze moving the plastic strips seems to scare the flies off. For a long trip home, meat sacks to keep the meat clean & lots of air flow space around the meat definately helps. Moose hunting when we lived in the interior, weather permitting, Dad used to advocate letting the quarters hang 10 days - 2 weeks in our wood shed before butchering. I don't recall any tough meat or very much in the way of tainted meat. When butchering, Dad used to trim all the fat and strip quite a bit of muscle sheath. Apparently the fat can flavour the meat and removal of the muscle sheath helps the tenderness. There are probably a few items I've neglected to mention but that the most of it. There are however, exceptions to every rule. A few years ago while on a Moose hunt, I shot a fat young two point Mule Deer at Quesnel. Clean head shot, cool weather, carefully field dressed, skinned & wiped clean, hung in a meat cooler for12 days, all the fat trimmed. Couldn't eat it! Could hardly stand the smell of it cooking! Ended up as 100lbs + of 'Canine Cuisine'.
 
My first deer this year is going to be shot, gutted, skinned, drawn and quartered before my rifle cools off...let it age in the coolers in cut, and wrapped pieces. :)
 
In my experience (and upon advice of the butcher who does my meat yearly) the most important thing is to gut the deer immediately, skin it, rinse and clean it as best as possible and then hang and let dry for min. 2-3 days. That way, it is much easier to cut; fresh meat is much more difficult to work with than meat that has been hung to dry and cure for a couple of days. Prolonged hanging does no benefit (ie: 10-12 days) and can actually be bad for venison. Following his advice, I haven't had a bad tasting or gamey piece of deer yet, and even the wife and kids love it!
 
Use a sharp knife from a butcher supply place...not some mall knife shop, and don't forget you are made of meat also. :D
 
scout3006 said:
In my experience (and upon advice of the butcher who does my meat yearly) the most important thing is to gut the deer immediately, skin it, rinse and clean it as best as possible and then hang and let dry for min. 2-3 days. That way, it is much easier to cut; fresh meat is much more difficult to work with than meat that has been hung to dry and cure for a couple of days. Prolonged hanging does no benefit (ie: 10-12 days) and can actually be bad for venison. Following his advice, I haven't had a bad tasting or gamey piece of deer yet, and even the wife and kids love it!
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Real tender prime beef, how long is it hung????
 
scott_r said:
or do you even need to if you use all the meat for sausage and jerky?
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No, it's just going to get ground up anyways, unless you're getting steak jerky done. Then that will still depend on the age of the animal and marinade's ability to tenderize it. But hey, it's jerky, it's supposed to be tough :D

Try and get the carcass cooling as soon as possible. Best if you have a butcher shop, etc. cooler available to you if your not cutting it up yourself.
 
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