Hanging Deer

timandkimandshea

timandkimandshea

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Hi GunNutz,
I just wanted your opinions on hanging whitetail deer. I know with beef, if it definitely required for the best results, sometimes for as long as four weeks. I was talking to a butcher today, who emphatically stated deer do NOT need to be hung at all, it makes no difference.
What do you guys say?
Tim
 
timandkimandshea said:
Hi GunNutz,
I just wanted your opinions on hanging whitetail deer. I know with beef, if it definitely required for the best results, sometimes for as long as four weeks. I was talking to a butcher today, who emphatically stated deer do NOT need to be hung at all, it makes no difference.
What do you guys say?
Tim
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One of the reasons your butcher doesnt want to hang a deer for 28 days is that it would take up space in it (the cooler).
The longest I have had a meatcutter/butcher hold onto my game animals was 10 days from dropping it off and come and get it.
there are others who have the storage space available to allow it to hang longer, but I do not and am the mercy of the cutter.
I too would like to hear what others are doing when it comes to hanging wild game.
\Rob
 
I'd say for the most part your butcher is right. Perhaps if you hung them in a climate-controlled locker for a couple weeks it may help but otherwise I doubt it.
 
hang the skinned the deer overnight while celebrating the success of the hunt, then butcher it the next morning, hopefully without a hangover. Hanging a venison any longer does absolutely nothing in any way.
 
There's a reason why they hang beef- same applies to venison. The longer it hangs the better within reason. We hang ours around 1 week. Has to be temperature controlled. If it freezes its not going to age. Fridge temperature.
 
Outwest1213 said:
There's a reason why they hang beef- same applies to venison. The longer it hangs the better within reason. We hang ours around 1 week. Has to be temperature controlled. If it freezes its not going to age. Fridge temperature.
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you are wrong my friend, it does not apply to venison.
 
two-dogs said:
you are wrong my friend, it does not apply to venison.
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Absolutely it applies to venison as well....all aging does is breakdown the muscle tissue. It doesn't matter if it's beef or deer. The problem lies in that it takes a fair amount of time to age properly and you do need a climate-controlled locker to achieve optimum results. Hanging for a week in the garage isn't likely to achieve the desired result.
 
No marbling in the meat - it will not become more tender. Anything longer than 36 hours is silly.

Might as well package and get it in the freezer. Butchers will BS you because they want to stack up the work.
 
i like to hang my deer til they firm up as i only have a fan cooled shed i cant tell the difference also if it is cold enough i leave the hide on this saves me the trouble of trimming up dried out meat
 
I believe it does make a difference, but it's very little. If temperatures are cool enough for a longer hang, go for it. But for me, it's more of a question whether I have time to butcher it now or later. I prefer to just do it the next day and am happy with the result.

Two extra minutes cooking can make way more of a difference in the taste and tenderness than two weeks of hanging.
 
NaviDave said:
No marbling in the meat - it will not become more tender. Anything longer than 36 hours is silly.

Might as well package and get it in the freezer. Butchers will BS you because they want to stack up the work.
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Marbling of the meat isnt the case here, it is the connective tissue ....
but, alas, we are all coming to the same conclusion, a few days and get er done.
Tender Steaks all.
Rob
 
NaviDave said:
No marbling in the meat - it will not become more tender. Anything longer than 36 hours is silly.
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I'm with two-dogs and NaviDave, in that the venison does not age the same way beef does.

Not that it matters if you are freezing it anyway, where the ice crystals break down the cellular structure when that happens. Whole different game than taking an aged side of beef out of the cooler and making fine cuts out of it that are served without ever being frozen!

I was told by both a game biologist, and a trained butcher, that the enzymes that work their wonderful magic on a side of beef, are not present in Venison, and with the different structure of the deer musculature, as well as the different way they store fat, that you are essentially adding to the trim pile, the longer it hangs.

That's what I work on. Have hung deer for a week and more, and have had them into the freezer fast enough that they should have still been twitching, and have never noticed a difference. It'll be made, or ruined, by the cook.

Cheers
Trev
 
A Google search will turn up about 10,000 articles on the fact that beef and venison age in the same manner....here's number one on the list h ttp://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/other/recipes/2006/01/deer-hang-time
 
timandkimandshea said:
Hi GunNutz,
I just wanted your opinions on hanging whitetail deer. I know with beef, if it definitely required for the best results, sometimes for as long as four weeks. I was talking to a butcher today, who emphatically stated deer do NOT need to be hung at all, it makes no difference.
What do you guys say?
Tim
Click to expand...
I believe that aging the animal for a couple of weeks would help with the tenderness, moreover; I know in my experience, that alfalfa feed deer were tender and tasty over others.
 
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