New to ontario - curing deer?

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canx2k

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Hey all,
Just got posted to ontario. Ssk is always so cold I just processed the deer hanging before it froze solid.

How long to you let it hang/cure in the garage before processing at these temperatures?
 
Totally agree with 45ACPKING! In some states the deer limits are crazy, so hanging a deer for say, 28 days like the yutubers The Bearded Butchers do really tenderizes an animal, yes - HOWEVER, I am allowed only one white tail every year, and I am not about to cut off any hardened or unwanted meat than I have to so I gut in the field, and butcher the same day.
Cat
 
We hang them from 7 days down to the day they are shot. Depends on what day of the week it is, cut up day is always Sunday regardless. Can get tricky with the weather, last Nov was crazy hot. We ended up building a ghetto walkin cooler temporarily. Just keep them below 9° and you're good.
 
of the 4 butchers/sausage makers I know , or have known personally over the years....... only one of them ever hangs deer and only whitetails because he says whitetails do have that enzyme. On his count, he was a meat cutter/sausage maker and not a full time butcher of domestic and wild animals like the other 3.
Venison apparently lacks the enzymes that hanging/aging encourages in meats such as Beef. I've read this and been told this many many times. Meaning that hanging does nothing to improve texture and flavor in venison. It basically just serves to dry it out more unless your hanging room is humidity controlled.
So the one butcher of the 4 , also a retired sausage maker, insists that whitetails have those enzymes and mule deer do not...... The other 3 long time butchers just tell me that deer don't contain that enzyme so hanging is only done as long as it takes to fit it into the butchering schedule. They have humidity controlled coolers to facilitate hanging without meat loss due to drying out during busy times of the season. Otherwise, they process deer as soon as they can and there is no scheduled hang time.
 
It's not much of an issue with Does, or spike bucks, but the larger bucks have glands in their necks that enlarge because of the hormonal changes they go through during the rut.

These bucks commonly slurp up excretions and urine from the Does in Estrus during the rut, this causes all sorts of changes to their overall physical/mental status.

When you skin these bucks, the glands are easy to find in the necks, which are usually quite swollen from the fluid filled glands and the issues they create with the neck muscles.

One of the best things you can do is to remove these glands as quickly as possible, before they drain into the body of Deer, altering the flavor of the meat.

There is one large gland, appx 20cm long, and can be up to 7-8cm diameter at the center on each side.

Most folks don't even know they're there. Some folks say they aren't. Usually because they don't look for them or view the neck areas until they get the animal home, then it's too late.

If you get the Buck late in the season, I don't know if removal of the glands makes much difference.

I was shown the glands when I first started hunting, and depending on the age of the buck, they can be huge or the size of your pinky finger.

The best thing you can do for the flavor of your animal is to cool the meat down, by whatever means as quickly as possible, after bleeding it properly.
 
We did most of our deer hunting in Saskatchewan - South West in what is now Grasslands National Park; West Central near Unity; South East near Carndiff; East Central near Esterhazy; Central near Young /Watrous. Was "Dad's rule" to get the guts out at the scene of the kill - many evenings I "whittled" deer legs to skin the things - they had been gutted, but spent the day in back of 1/2 ton truck - we hung the carcasses until we had time to cut up the meat. I am not sure that hanging deer accomplishes anything except drying it out - and it can spoil if the hanging temp is too warm. Versus a guy I worked with who would hang a deer for months, with hide on - in a granary. Another farm lady that I knew would grind the meat for sausage mix while the meat was still warm. An extreme - a fellow from Carlsbad, New Mexico told me that he and his wife would head up into the mountains to get deer - slice it up and hang the meat on bushes - basically sun dried - is what they bring home and put in freezer. An altogether different approach to handle the heat and flies - which I did not experience.
 
Potashminer said:
We did most of our deer hunting in Saskatchewan - South West in what is now Grasslands National Park; West Central near Unity; South East near Carndiff; East Central near Esterhazy; Central near Young /Watrous. Was "Dad's rule" to get the guts out at the scene of the kill - many evenings I "whittled" deer legs to skin the things - they had been gutted, but spent the day in back of 1/2 ton truck - we hung the carcasses until we had time to cut up the meat. I am not sure that hanging deer accomplishes anything except drying it out - and it can spoil if the hanging temp is too warm. Versus a guy I worked with who would hang a deer for months, with hide on - in a granary. Another farm lady that I knew would grind the meat for sausage mix while the meat was still warm. An extreme - a fellow from Carlsbad, New Mexico told me that he and his wife would head up into the mountains to get deer - slice it up and hang the meat on bushes - basically sun dried - is what they bring home and put in freezer. An altogether different approach to handle the heat and flies - which I did not experience.
Click to expand...
😄 yuck on the grainery. It was 8c in my garage last year and it was hanging to long with the hide on at 5 hours for my liking.
 
Anywhere from zero days to a month or more. Really depends on the weather, time, etc. I pretty much hunt solo and take care of all the processing myself, so there are many factors. I've never really noticed any difference in meat quality either way. It's more dependent on the animals diet, age and stress level when they took the dirt nap.
 
If you don’t have temperature and humidity control, just hang your deer till it is cooled down to ambient, or just before frozen(cold temps). All you are doing with a longer than needed hang, is drying out your meat, and possibly introducing bacteria.

For us that’s usually a day or 4…..

There isn’t the amount of internal marbling nor the same type of connective tissues and muscles in a deer, like there is in beef.

There is zero benefit beyond fully cooled.
 
I agree with 45ACP
There’s no benefit to hanging

I’ve been away on hunts and had venison hang less than 1 day because we were driving home the next day.

Because in Ontario we can party hunt- which means a party of 5 can shoot 5 deer, by the end of the week there will be deer that has hung a variety of time. We do 1 butcher day, not several. We distribute the meat equally among all so everyone will have meat hung a variety of time and from each animal.

There’s no noticeable difference

If there was people would comment.

Tell me how long each of those deer have been hanging….
 

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Bigbubba said:
I agree with 45ACP
There’s no benefit to hanging

I’ve been away on hunts and had venison hang less than 1 day because we were driving home the next day.

Because in Ontario we can party hunt- which means a party of 5 can shoot 5 deer, by the end of the week there will be deer that has hung a variety of time. We do 1 butcher day, not several. We distribute the meat equally among all so everyone will have meat hung a variety of time and from each animal.

There’s no noticeable difference

If there was people would comment.

Tell me how long each of those deer have been hanging….
Click to expand...
Yep, they hang as long as it takes to fill the tags or the season ends. No one ever notices the difference.
 
I should clarify when i say butcher right away.... i don't do it the day i kill it. I would say an honest average is probably 3 to 5 days only because that's usually how long it takes me to get home, prepare the space and get on with the work. I would definately hang them at least enough to cool them fully and then wait until rigor has passed.
Deer do actually share some enzymes that are the same as beef and from a butchering perspective, those particular enzymes will break down the layers between the silverskin and tendons ect. Whether they act to tenderize , that is the main difference of opinion between the 4 butchers i know.
Beef have other enzymes in the fat marbling in the meat that proper aging results in tenderizing and flavor enhancing. Deer don't have those particular enzymes. Hanging properly certainly won't spoil the meat but most guys aren't set up to maintain those conditions for proper dry aging to occur. By next summer I will have a temperature and humidity controlled hanging space finally finished and perhaps I can do a little test and see what the difference is between a 3 to 5 day hang and say a 10 day hang if i'm luky enough to fill 2 tags close together.
 
Was a thing here in the Prairies to find a Butcher with wild game experience - I think most made their living doing beef and pork for most of the time. Which I am not convinced are cut up the same. Old guy Ukraininan butcher near Hudson Bay, Sask. would hang bull elk and bull moose until they felt "sticky" to his hand - then time to cut and flash freeze. I am not sure that he counted days that the things hung. He had a "full meal deal" abattoir - he could hang about 30 head in his cooler - all on overhead rails from "skinning" area, weigh scales, through the cooler to the "cutting up" and freezer area. One year I had left an elk with him - my wife and lady friend went up to get it when cut and wrapped - his place passed the lady's "cleanliness" standards.
 
I've never found any difference between deer that were butchered after rigor's passed or those who have been hung in optimal conditions for 7+ days.

IMO, butcher whenever works for you as long as you let rigor pass.
 
Temperature permitting I hang with the hide on and rib cage split and spread open.

Leaving the hide on prevents the outer layers of meat from drying out and keeps the meat clean.

A young deer I hang at least until they come out of rigor. Older deer I hang up to 2 weeks again depending on the temperature.

If you are going to grind the whole deer for sausage cut as soon as it cools overnight.
 
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