Which way do you hang your venison and why ?....

lildave

lildave

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Sorry have to different camps doing two different things :confused: , can you guys share your thoughts please.

Which way do you hang your venison, and why head at the top or at the bottom....
If you have any links to articles posted on the subject please do share.

Thanks,
lildave
:)
 
Hi - I hang mine by hind legs, head down - a book I have recommends that, states it is the way they hang beef, lets the blood flow more from the choice hind quarters.

The book is "Hunting & Fishing Library Dressing & Cooking Wild Game", I find it a great book.
 
If I am hanging the deer to age I usually hang it by the neck - reason: Easier to loop a rope around the neck and rain (if hung outside) sheds off the hair better and doesn't run into the gut and chest cavity.

After aging I cut off the back legs at the knee, skin out the back leg tendon and rehang the deer with the head down - Reason: less hair gets on the skinned meat which means less time needed to pick all that hair off. I have skinned with the head up or the back legs on which makes picking hair off the skinned animal a endless task because everytime it moves more falls onto the meat.

I am not sure if one way or other allows for better blood drainage but I don;t really think much blood drains out once the animal is dead and field dressed anyway.
 
hanging

I asked this question to my butcher some time ago...

Eh said that , during the aging of the meat, it keeps the fibers more relaxed ...and that it's important to keep both heel tendons intact for that purpose.

Again, it might only be for the ease of using the space between the heel articulation and the tendon found only in the hing legs.
 
We've always done it head down. It easy to hang and easy to skin afterwards. If you field dress properly, there will not be much blood left in the cavity to drain, and the little there is finds its way out anyway.
 
steve'sdeer.jpg
 
I've always hung them head down... I've also noticed NO change in meat flavor if you left the tarsal glands on a buck or doe and I have left the "balls" on a buck...

Both of which makes the "old guys" heads spin... They claim it taints the meat, but I have never found that to be the case!

Cheers
Jay
 
Since it's easier to skin a deer from the head down & the rope is already around it's neck we hang them from the head. Never seen any diff in the taste or anything else, just easier that way we do it:D
 
Always head down, gambrel through the rear leg tendons above the knee, and once it is hanging, I cut the breastbone down to the neck and take out all of the windpipe. I find it easier to skin them head down, go figure! But I also find it easier to butcher them head down. First off come the front legs, then out come the t-loins (if they are still there!), then I fillet out the loins (backstraps for some of you folks), then off comes the front half. I cut the rear into the two hind quarters, then de-bone them one at a time. Job done.

I also understand that the "head down" does improve the flavour of the hind quarters via blood drainage, and it is for this reason that butchers hang carcasses head down.

One guy to ask on the forum, who cut meat for a living for twenty years or so, is Supercub, and I think his answer might be definitive........

Doug
 
I've always hung by the back legs because its easier to put my spreader bar in there and skin out. Had to hang one by the head for the first time yesterday because my buddy shot its back legs off, I hated it, found it way harder to skin.
 
rkaine said:
Hi - I hang mine by hind legs, head down - a book I have recommends that, states it is the way they hang beef, lets the blood flow more from the choice hind quarters.

The book is "Hunting & Fishing Library Dressing & Cooking Wild Game", I find it a great book.
Click to expand...
i do the same thing it makes it easyer to gut and for the blood to drip.
talk to ya all later
Riley
 
Our camp is the head up 1st, then down 2nd for all the same reasons as Kenny G2 states. Beef handling is a little different - with all the equipment available in the big slaughterhouses and busy abatoirs. Clean & cool is one thing, skin and age is quite another.

Seems it's a draw as to which is the preferred method !

Now, which end do you start from when you peel a banana ??? Ha !

( Trivia: Most humans start at the stem end - however, most monkeys (and apes) start at the other end
- go figure ! )
 
Head up
We hang outside, and leave the head on until we take the deer out. If you hang a deer by the hind legs, the hide will fill with snow and ice. (Tried it, never again!) Keeps the rain and dirt off too, when they may hang for the full two weeks. This year it hung for a week and a half.
Hanging head down has only one advantage, spliting the spine.
I hang the roadkill deer I get from the hind end for that reason. They get taken out imediately.
Taste references regardless of wich way you hang are bull in my opinion.

If we were butchering imediately, at deer camp, we likely would switch, and that may happen, as we're thinking of butchering at camp. Soon as we get a freezer.
 
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Tarps at Canadian tire are about ten dollars...:p
If you have a trophy that you want to cape and mount... you should never hang by the head or horns.... it stretches the cape and makes for a crappy shoulder mount.:eek:
Unless your deer has commited a capital offence... hang it head down:D
 
BIGREDD said:
Tarps at Canadian tire are about ten dollars...:p
If you have a trophy that you want to cape and mount... you should never hang by the head or horns.... it stretches the cape and makes for a crappy shoulder mount.:eek:
Unless your deer has commited a capital offence... hang it head down:D
Click to expand...

Tarps may be cheap but the hide on the deer is FREE and is a custom fit :p

Good point about the mounting, although our hunting party is doing it for the meat, not trophy mounts (just bragging rights) so hanging by the head works well for our purposes.
 
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