Hanging Deer

Far from scientific but we have hung deer for 1, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 3-5C and low humidity. Longer hangs tasted better.
Really though, do what makes you happy to serve guests. Thats the true test.
 
track said:
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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I'll agree on the alfalfa deer, but I've experienced little difference in aged vs. cut right away deer. My vote is for not the same as beef, cooling time, deboning and diet seem to be the biggest factors in how your deer turns out, in my experience anyway. And for those demanding all bucks be ground up for sausage, try to get a setup next to a winter wheat field. Even the antlers were tender on that one...
 
two-dogs said:
you are wrong my friend, it does not apply to venison.
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have you tried?

1-start with a steak from a fresh kill
2- steak from one butchered within a day or two then frozen and thawed
3- steak from one hung for 21 says at proper temperature and humidity
4- now finally a steak from one hung for 21 days then frozen and thawed.

This is my result from best to worst 3,4,1,2.

Interested to hear others real world findings
 
One of the issues with trying to single out a factor that guarantees good flavour in wild game is that there are just too many variables, including diet, time of year, rut, did it run before it was shot, did it die instantly, did it run after, how was it handled in the field, did it bleed out properly, how was it prepared, etc, etc. With beef the abattoir takes most of the variables out. I'm not sure how anyone can argue that proper aging doesn't make meat (domestic or wild) more tender as it does but whether it ensures better tasting meat is another subject controlled by a whole host of variables besides hanging time. Add to that the fact that very little wild meat is actually aged properly and it becomes nearly impossible to determine.
 
trevj said:
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
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I agree with this ^^^^
I've had my deer butchered after one day and after 10 days...... no improvement in texture or flavour or tenderness , actually I found on ALL the deer that I've let hang (always with hide off) for more than a day or two developed more gamey flavor from the bone.
I butcher my deer myself now whenever possible and 2 days max on the hooks and I like to see around 5/6 degrees C for temps in my hanging area.
works for me and all those that eat what I kill ;) should edit to add, I am only talking about my experience with black tails and mule deer. white tails are around but elusive to most hunters in these parts of BC
 
Brian46 said:
have you tried?

1-start with a steak from a fresh kill
2- steak from one butchered within a day or two then frozen and thawed
3- steak from one hung for 21 says at proper temperature and humidity
4- now finally a steak from one hung for 21 days then frozen and thawed.

This is my result from best to worst 3,4,1,2.

Interested to hear others real world findings
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1. yep, and it's oh so good
2. nope, not frozen and thawed, but left hanging for 2 days and then eaten, still very good
3. nope, have no previsions to do that
4. nope " " " " " "
5. cooled in the field as much as possible and skinned right-o-way as soon as getting home and cooled some more, hung over night, butchered the next day, some eaten right-o-way and some vac pak'd and frozen, then thawed and eaten shortly later on, awesome, as good as #1.

I've been at this for over 50 yrs. I know what works for us.
 
There seem to be as many opinions on what to do and how to do it as there are hunters. In my case I don't even necessarily really "hang" deer unless I'm camping and want to hang it while my buddies keep hunting for another few days. I've hung a deer 3 or four days that way

Mostly I skin and cut the deer up into four pieces right in the field. ie. The two shoulders, the neck and chest. The back and hindquarters. I put them in cotton meat sacks and cool them on small logs if I'm staying the night, though I've hung the bags in trees. Then I take them home and put them on milk crates in the basement so by then they are usually about 2 days dead then I cut them up on day 3 and into day 4 if it takes that long.

I put two deer in a commercial cooler for a week when was up-country one time , then it was a day's drive home after I picked them up , then I laid them in the basement and kept them cool while I cut them up.

I never noticed any difference in the meat with these different methods. Hygiene and temperature from the time of shooting to the time of butchering are probably more important than whether you hang it for 3 days or two weeks.
 
Can't polish a turd...if you look after your venison from the start than hanging will help. If you treat your venison like garbage from the start hanging isn't going to help at all.
We hang for up to fourteen days as long as the temperature is perfect.
 
I have tried a bunch of methods of hanging. I have settled on skinning and butchering the same day. From the kill to the final meat prep usually takes 6 or 7 hours. It's one heck of a day but it sure is nice having it all out of the way. The meat tastes great and you don't get as much waste. If you prepare the meat properly you likely won't get much more "tenderness" out of a whitetail that has hung compared to not hung.
 
Just like in the other thread (or is it threads...there are so many I'm getting confused), I don't hang deer or any other game. This year I might try it for a day or two to see if that cuts down how much liquid I end up with in my grind.
 
two-dogs said:
1. yep, and it's oh so good
2. nope, not frozen and thawed, but left hanging for 2 days and then eaten, still very good
3. nope, have no previsions to do that
4. nope " " " " " "
5. cooled in the field as much as possible and skinned right-o-way as soon as getting home and cooled some more, hung over night, butchered the next day, some eaten right-o-way and some vac pak'd and frozen, then thawed and eaten shortly later on, awesome, as good as #1.

I've been at this for over 50 yrs. I know what works for us.
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I can understand if you don't want to or don't have the ability/place to hang controlled but if you ever do you should try it.

50 years hardly trumps the science behind what hanging does for the meat/venison or those who have done it for generations.
 
I have one hanging in the garage that I killed three days ago and it will stay like that until I have time to butcher it (like not now, I'm too tired to mess around with knives.) If it doesn't get too warm it can hang a lot longer before it gets worse. Until then I think it probably gets a bit better but I believe how I cook it makes by far the biggest difference to how tender it will be and how it will taste. I have butchered some the same day they died and they were good to eat.
 
Brian46 said:
I can understand if you don't want to or don't have the ability/place to hang controlled but if you ever do you should try it.50 years hardly trumps the science behind what hanging does for the meat/venison or those who have done it for generations.
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learn it, beef is different, it ages and benefits from hanging, venison is not the same, it does not benefit any from hanging to age the meat.

I have tried it, during my 50+ years of experience do you think I have not tried it? There is no benefit, in fact there is less benefit of ending up with quality meat! You are more likely to end up with far inferior meat the longer it is hanging around, especially with the hide on. Hanging venison for lengthy times does nothing, absolutely nothing to improve the quality of the meat! It is not like beef, it's totally different! You hang yours, and I'll butcher and prep and freeze mine A-SAP.
 
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two-dogs said:
learn it, beef is different, it ages and benefits from hanging, venison is not the same, it does not benefit any from hanging to age the meat.
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Google could really be your friend here......the science behind it is pretty clear.
 
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Hanging deer meat dosn't do much but dry it out. Had a elk at a butcher and he couldn't get it cut up for weeks due to a injury and got maybe a hundred pounds of meat back when he got it done. He still charged us for the whole thing even thou he threw most of it away. Any good butcher will cut a deer up fairly soon so as not to have to throw so much away that dries out . That and since wild game is killed and gutted in very dirty situations the hair grows back on it pretty quick unlike beef which is done in the plant and kept clean all the time.
We can google it all we like and still get the same answer that wild game dosn't hang like beef does.
 
I said this to my older brother once, that I heard hanging the meat, in my case moose. Helps make it more tender. He said I was full of it. Then told me stories of where it was so cold during hunts that the quarters of meat froze solid on the way home, but the moose tasted just as good. No hanging required. So I dunno if he is right or not.
 
two-dogs said:
thanks anyway, but I will go with hands on experience over some many decades................
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you already said you do not have the means to hang in temp and humidity control, so what is the experience you have other than the method you have decided works best for you with the equipment available to you?
 
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