Aging Venison

[fklein]

In the past I've always skinned and butchered my deer right after I've killed it or if it was late in the day hung it and waited until the next day. I know this isn't optimal. How long can you let a deer carcass hang in 50-55 degree weather, if it is hung in a shady area encased in one of those mesh bags? Thanks

 

[Blizzard of '93]

no longer than a few hours less if it's damp. you need to get it cooled down to 45* and let it hang 12-18 hours - that's what is best for me.
or if colder then more hanging time.

 

[Little Wattsy]

In the past I've always skinned and butchered my deer right after I've killed it or if it was late in the day hung it and waited until the next day. I know this isn't optimal. How long can you let a deer carcass hang in 50-55 degree weather, if it is hung in a shady area encased in one of those mesh bags? Thanks

My fater was a professional meat cutter for Safeways and I have learned the trade as well.

Gut it and skin your game ASAP!
If the meat is DRY you can hang it for 4 or 5 days in 70 degree weather; the meat will glaze over witha dry "skin" and the meat will wil age nicely.
If the meat is wet (like hanging in a 50 degree rain) limit it to a day or two, Moisture will lead to bad bacteria.
If its nice and cold 36-ish degrees you can hang em for 6 to 10 days

Bottom line: the longer you hang meat the more mild and tender it wil be. As long as you breing the temp of meat up to 186 degrees when you cook it you will kill ANY bacteria that it might have contacted. You could litterally take rotten, been laying on the floor for 3 weeks meat and cook it throughly and it would be "OK"

Keep a game bag on it to keep the flies off, keep it dry, and let it hang for 3 or 4 days at least! You'll love it!!

 

[jtmattison]

Gut it and skin your game ASAP!
If the meat is DRY you can hang it for 4 or 5 days in 70 degree weather; the meat will glaze over witha dry "skin" and the meat will will age nicely.

:shocked2: 70 degree weather?

We always hung our deer skin on for 4-5 days only if the weather was in the 40-45 degree range day and night.

HD

 

[paulvallandigham]

You are going to get a lot of different opinions from people around the country. Most don't take into account the altitude they hunt, or the relative humidity, or night time temperatures.

Bacteria are active any time the temperature is above 37.5 degrees F. Above 45 degrees, spoilage becomes regular and progressive. Above 55 degrees, and the meat can be ruined in a couple of hours, Provided the air has moisture in it sufficient to support AIR-BORN Bacteria.

At high altitudes, as out West, where hunters are often hunting higher than 6,000 feet above sea level, the daytime temps can be in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s, while the night time temperatures drop into the low 30s. The air is dry at those altitudes, even when there is snow, because the air is so cold above the land temperatures that it cannot support Bacteria.

Conversely, if you hunt sea level areas, on the coasts, or at any altitude under 1,000 feet, you are likely to find bacteria active even in the 40 degree temperature ranges. If night time temperatures do not drop down into the low 30s, to kill all the air born bacteria, and much of the bacteria that is clinging to plants, and dirt, the bacteria will survive the cold nights( by our standards) and be there to feel on the meat.

Here is my recommendation, from the Flatlands of East Central Illinois. I have killed deer here, and down at the Southern Tip of Illinois in Alexander County, a few hundred feet lower in altitude than what I find here at home.

Keep the meat clean and dry. I use cheesecloth that I buy in the automotive sections of discount stores, because the stuff is made in the form of a " tube", like a stocking. It can be easily expanded and put over the entire chest and ribs of a deer. The same with the 4 legs, after they are removed. That keeps the meat DRY, and clean. I wipe the blood off with paper towels to dry it initially.

Then, I put the cheesecloth wrapped sections of my deer in plastic " Garbage" bags- those big, 3-ply dark green bags that line cans. Even in Southern Illinois, its gets cold late in the afternoon, and if you remove that hide ASAP, the meat will cool down to air temperature by the time you get the hide off, and the leg quarters cut away and wrapped.

I then find ICE- sold in 10 lb bags at almost every gas stations, truck stop, and stop and rob everywhere. Grocery stores also have it. I carry 2 qt. ziplock bags with me along with the garbage bags, and put a couple of lbs of ice in a couple of the bags, and put them into the gargabe bages with the meat, and close the bag up. That cools the meat and the air inside the bag.

I put several more bags of ice on top of the pile of meat after its places in my trunk, or hatchback, or pickup bed. That creates a cool environment for all the bags. Then I put a heavy wool blanket on top of the whole pile, as wool is another good insulator, and it will keep the bags of ice from being melted by direct sunlight, or ambient air temperatures during the ride home, not to mention the heat that surrounds the car from the car's engine.

Aging: I like to remove all the sinew and tendons and any fat from the meat, and separate the muscle groups. I clean off any deer fur from the meat, and wash the meat, before drying it. I then put the muscles and sections of meat in bowls and pots in the refrigerator, covered, to AGE for 7 days. I drain, wash, inspect,dry and rotate the meat every twelve hours( Morning and after work) for those 7 days. Lots of blood comes out. And its amazing how I still find deer fur on the meat after I thought I had it all removed.

The containers are washed and cleaned and dried before the meat is put back in and covered up again. I am trying to REMOVE bacteria from the bowls, pots, and meat, so that the aging is done SOLELY BY the enzymes present in the venison. There are bacteria present in the meat, but those tend to be " good " bacteria.

At the end of the week, I clean dry and then package the meat for freezing. Packaging may also include cutting certain muscles for chops and steaks. I BONE OUT all the bones from the meatWhen I first remove the muscles at home, because they contain bacteria and Enzymes that actually toughen the meat during storage, whether in the refrigerator or in a freezer. The same problem exists with fat, and sinew and gristle in wild game.

If you want tender, tasty venison, Get rid of anything "White" including sinew and fat, as well as that " blue " tissue that surrounds those tenderloins.

If you are up in the mountains in a hunting camp and days away from getting ICE somewhere, look around in the deep ravines and valleys to see if you can't find a cave, or even a bit of a snow drift that the sun can't reach. After wrapping your deer, you can put it in those colder caves, or snowbanks to keep the meat from spoiling. As long as you keep the meat cool, dry, and clean, and covered so that bacteria, bugs( and the bacteria they take to the meat) off the meat, spoilage should be at a minimum. Today, most outfitters can provide ice at camp, and a little bit of ice in a bag stuffed inside a carcass can go along way to keeping spoilage down to nothing.

Always hang meat in the shade, as the temperature can be as much as 20 degrees cooler than the air located in sunny areas.

I know some hunters leave the hide on for several days, but I don't recommend it. I have done it both ways, and the meat tastes much better, and will be more tender if you get that insulating hide off the meat.

I killed a deer at 7 A.M.one season, in Alexander County, Illinois. It was about 45 degrees, but the temperture rose into the high 60s by the middle of the day, when I was still struggling with a nice guy who offered to help me get the deer out of the ravine, and over the "hill" to where my car, and our camps were located. I took the deer to the check station in my car, bought ice, and then returned to the camp to skin out the deer. Light was fading at 4 P.M. when I finally got the hide off. The palm-sized area of fat on the rump of the old doe was STILL WARM to the touch, 9 hours after she died! I finished removing the legs using the headlights of my car to see the carcass, and to wrap the legs in cheesecloth for the trip home.

The meat was tender, to the last bite, and had very good flavor. I actually got many compliments from friends who enjoyed the venison with me on my meat. I still get compliments, and often questions on how I process the meat to get it that tender. Most important, my mother-in-law, who worked in a meat packing plant outside South Haven Michigan for 20 years, was happy to learn that her son-in-law knew how to handle and process wild game properly. She lived a block away from us, and came down the next morning when I was still trying ot sleep, to check out this deer and try to save the disaster she expected I had brought home! ( She of so little faith! But, I did say she was my M-I-L, NO?) :rotf: :v

I am sure that other hunters have different experiences, but I ask the readers to keep in mind where the hunts take place, what kind of air temperatures occur there in November, and December during hunting seasons, what the altitude is, and what the relative humidity is during the warm part of the day. High altitude hunting is very different from anything lower, because the air is so cold, and so dry that bacteria have a hard time growing at all. ( The Days when its warm are too few and too short!)

That is one of the reasons people suffering from Tuberculosis were sent to rest homes in the Rockies, in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona to regain their strengths. The air might not kill the bacteria that had already damaged their lungs, but it at least made it more difficult for the bacteria to grow, or do more damage to their lungs. ( Doc Holiday, the famous western gambler, gunman and friend to the Earps, who participated in the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, suffered from either tuberculosis, or cystic fibrosis, and ended his days in a sanitarium in Colorado. History says it was TB, but only because that is what the diagnosis was( Consumption) in those days. It might also have been lung cancer, or a half other diseases of the lungs for that matter. )

If you hunt where the temperature never get down into the 30s, you want to take Ice in a cooler with you( for your own drinks, if nothing else) to help cool down the meat quickly. NOTE: The reason the manufacturer directions tell us to set the thermostat on our refrigerators at 38 degrees is because that is the temperature at which the water molecule is the most dense. That makes it very difficult for bacteria to swim around in fluids, ( think of swimming in a pool of gelatin) a reproduce. Its the reproduction and feeding of bacteria that turns good tasting meat into bad tasting --er-- waste! :barf:

You can age meat hanging it in a dry area in modest temperatures. As noted, A crust forms, that helps slow access of bugs and bacteria to the meat, while the majority of the meat remains good, and the sinew and other connecting tissues are broken down by enzymes. But that crust gets cut away. My way doesn't cost me any of the meat.

When I worked in a grocery store in high school, the meat market section was noted for its " aged " meat, which was only a portion of its sales, but called for and got a premium price. The aging was done in a corner of the meat cooler- 37 degrees-- under an Ultra Violet light. The UV light was thought to help break down the sinew and connecting tissue, but its primary function was to kill bacteria in the air in this plastic enclosed area of the cooler. NOTHING got cut away from those carcasses as spoilage, or crusting or anything else. The head Butcher told me about this when I was sent over to help them package chicken parts that were on sale. The boxes of chicken parts were stacked in the cooler next to the plastic area where the aged meat was being " aged".

I just saw a TV program on a famous Steak House in Chicago where they age their steaks in the basement, after giving the meat a seasoned rub. They do not use UV light, and the meat does dry out on the ends and crusts, which they cut off and throw away as " spoiled"! :shocked2:

I think I screamed at the TV! :rotf: :thumbsup:

 

[buttonbuck]

Paul I have boned out the body and left the legs front and back to hang in an old fridge and got good tasting meat and later while butchering it remove fat, sinew, and silver skin. I left it this way becuase the outside would get dried out and turn brownish and crusty in a fridge how do you keep it from drying out again? I am blessed that I hunt 12 minutes from home. I no longer have this spare fridge so I would like to try this if I can keep the meat from drying out recall my son and myself plan to take up to 4 deer over the gun weekend then I try for 2 over muzzleloader and one late season and 2 bow, my kids eat all that deer meat in sausage, and cured smoked vension roasts sliced like deli roast beef. Hey how about curing like hams right off.

 

[Black Hand]

I've aged some deer for up to 2 weeks with no ill effects. The temp was probably 40-50 degrees. I age them whole then butcher. No matter what you do, you will get some drying on the outside that needs to be trimmed, but the loss of edible meat is minimal.

 

[rabjr]

Cleaned up and deboned, in a frig dedicated just for venison 9 to 14 days at 36 to 38 degrees. Works for me.

 

[longcruise]

Most of my game comes home from the cool mountains only to be greeted by temps of 90 to 95 deg on the flats. That eliminates hanging to age but I might try Paul's Idea of using the fridge. Got an extra in the garage.

Not big enough for an elk though :shocked2:

At one time my uncle had a walk in cooler that we could use. It was kept at 40 to 45 deg. The way we did it was to skin and or bone out immediately, get it into the shade and once at home hit it lightley with a heat shrink type head on a propane torch. If any flys have gotten to it, you can hear the eggs popping in the heat. The torch also burns off any hairs stuck to the meat. Then, hose it off and wipe it dry before hanging to age.

A guy in the meat business once told me to hang it at least as long as it takes for the rigor mortis to completely leave the muscle tissue.

 

[Bountyhunter]

5 days at 70 degrees will have the vultures circling.

I am particular about my meat. I have a good backgrounds in commercial meats. I consider the most important part of meat management, getting the guts out of the animal as quickly as possible. I pride myself that I dont like to have more than 5 minutes between the shot and a steaming gut pile. We usually hang our deer at least a week if the temperature cooperates and stays under 40 degrees. I will open the butcher shed at night and cool it down as much as possible then shut it up tight during the day to hold the cold.

I have tried aging it boned and on carcass. Meat will be more tender if kept on the carcass so it cannot shorten the fiber. If it is boned out, then it will shorten the fiber or shrink which makes it tougher. I age it as long as possible on the carcass, then bone it and cut it and vacuum package it as quickly as possible. If the temperature is 60 or above, we wholesale cut it, and let it sit in an old refrigerator (running) for a couple of days then finish cut it and pack it and freeze it before coming back here.

Tamale meat, and jerk meat doesnt benefit from being aged as it is so spiced and smoked that it doesnt make any difference.

I agree about flaming the carcass to get rid of the hair. If you hang the carcass in a game bag, then flies arent a problem. I like to keep the hide on as long as possible, and will sometimes leave it on for 5 days, then pull it and let the outside dry down----providing the temp is under 40 degrees.

 

[paulvallandigham]

When I age meat, its in covered pots, bowls, covered in plastic wrap, and other covered containers. The moisture does not escape, and therefore there is no drying out of the meat. I rinse off the meat, as the bottom always has blood on it that has drained out over the past 12 hours, and the rinsing tends to put some water back into the surface. I pat the meat dry with paper towels, before putting the meat- rotated- back in the bowls and pots.

From the bowls and pots, the meat is either cut up into roasts and steaks or chops, or goes directly into plastic wrap, and then into ziplock bags for freezing. The plastic wrap keeps air away from the meat during freezing so I don't get freezer burn on the meat. If I had one of the vacuum bagging machines, I would use it for this purpose, too. If you keep air away from the meat, only the enzymes in the meat, and whatever dirt you allowed on the meat during that final handling provides bacteria to spoil the meat during storage.

A wild Boar I shot in Tennessee was processed -- if you call it that-- by a local meat shop there. The meat was delivered to us the next morning wrapped in white putcher's paper, and stamped or marked with what kind of cut of meat it was suppose to be. When I got home and left some " chops " to thaw out, I found that they had used a band saw to cut the chops, leaving blood, hair, and bone chips( and a little sawdust off the floor apparently) on the meat when it was wrapped! All that debris introduces bacteria to the meat, and speeds spoilage. I had to soak the chops in cold water with salt to get the blood all out, then wash and actually scrub the chops to remove all the hair, sawdust, and bones chips from the meat. I soaked the chops for two hours, in salt water, then soaked it again for another 2 hours in rinse water, to pull the salt out of the meat. By the time I was patting the chops dry, they were pink in color, like the pork you buy in your grocery store, rather than the blood red they appeared when I unwrapped them. I removed the bones, fat, and gristle from the chops before cooking them. That turned out to have saved the meat, as the bones and white meat holds lots of enzymes, and make the meat tough and bitter. Since then, I have decided that I don't want to be freezing and storing bones. I bone out all my game, including birds. It improves the flavor of the meat noticeably, and is therefore worth the extra work up front. ( You are going to remove the meat from the bones before you eat it, anyway, no?)

 

[Vaino]

When deer hunting in Wisconsin, the deer are hung whole in the garage and most years become frozen. Hunting elk in Colorado, the elk is skinned, quartered ,wrapped in game bags and hung in the shade.Sometimes the daytime temps are in the low 70s but the meat is always good because of the lower night time temps. I don't purposely hang deer or elk....it's more out of necessity because of the long seasons. If I had my druthers, I'd process the deer or elk the next day....Fred

 

[jethro224]

If the weather is cool, high not more than 50 degrees, I usually let 'em hang for 2-3 days. I cut the legs off at the knees, remove the tenderloins, and leave the hide on. The tenderloins get soaked and washed and are eaten for supper the next evening. :thumbsup: I leave the hide on to prevent the meat from drying out.

When it's warmer out, the deer gets processed the same night it was shot. Or at least quartered and refrigerated. Or dropped off at a processor's shop.

I read somewhere, several years ago, about a method of hanging called "the tender stretch". The deer MUST be properly field dressed and clean! Do not split the pelvic bone! Do not skin the deer! Hang the deer by the neck for 4-5 days at below 50 degrees. Then lower it down and tie a rope around/thru the pelvic bone and hang the deer by that rope, head down, for another 4-5 days. Finally, skin the deer out and process as usual. This method stretches the muscles both directions while the meat ages and does make for very tender meat.
Unfortunately, it also makes for very tough skinning... I only did it once, hardest skinning job I ever did.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Gut it and skin your game ASAP!
If the meat is DRY you can hang it for 4 or 5 days in 70 degree weather; the meat will glaze over witha dry "skin" and the meat will will age nicely.

:shocked2: 70 degree weather?

We always hung our deer skin on for 4-5 days only if the weather was in the 40-45 degree range day and night.

HD

Wont critisize that but remember its the skin/hide that keeps the heat in....
IF I had the option of a walk in cooler I would take it. GOOD Beef, for example, should always be aged in a cooler for two weeks.

But as a member of the county butcher team the 4 or 5 days outside in the shade in October counted for 100's of deer and several elk. NEVER lost an ounce of meat worth eating! And the longer the ageing the less "gamey" the meat, ALWAYS! :grin:

just :2

Last note: You can always check in that if the meat becomes even a little slimy (you've felt meat spoiled in the fridge) then it needs to be delt with right away! the "slimy" is the bacteria. A good cooking will kill it though :wink:

 

[buttonbuck]

how about us folks who prefer medium rare game? I gut and skin asap hose out the body cavity hang as long as we can below 50-55 deg. f. the locker costs 20 per animal. I think this year we will hang 3 or 4 days or longer if weather lets us and then butcher as time permits in the evening. Most important in my mind is removal of fat and connective tissue. like Paul said if it is white cut it off. I like his method and have used it for single deer but we hope to get 4 at first gun season. Bummer on the Boar Paul I used a bandsaw once on deer it tasted yucky

 

[Little Wattsy]

how about us folks who prefer medium rare game? I gut and skin asap hose out the body cavity hang as long as we can below 50-55 deg. f. the locker costs 20 per animal. I think this year we will hang 3 or 4 days or longer if weather lets us and then butcher as time permits in the evening. Most important in my mind is removal of fat and connective tissue. like Paul said if it is white cut it off. I like his method and have used it for single deer but we hope to get 4 at first gun season. Bummer on the Boar Paul I used a bandsaw once on deer it tasted yucky

how about us folks who prefer medium rare game?: Thats a good question; Always note that eqoli is found in hamburger where the meat is ground in on its self...NOT on steak to much though. Bacteria has a VERY HARD Time getting IN the meat; It resides instead in the surface...Point is you can kill the bacteria and still enjoy a pink medium cook on yoour steak.

I used a bandsaw once on deer it tasted yucky: One of the worst "spoilers" of wild meat is "bone sour" venison bone marrow (and fat) isnt good tasting. Butcher entirely with a knife, remove ALL BONES, and as much fat as possible and you will have a tastier critter.

 

[musketman]

I guess the easiest way to age venison would be to not shoot it, then it would age naturally. :haha:
However, then you couldn't have those tasty deer steaks and roast. My father always let it age overnight in the barn with the hide on.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree. Bone out the meat, with knives. Leave the saw for lumber! All those bits of bone dust not only carry tissues, marrow, etc. but also are a host to lots of bacteria. Because the bits are sharp, they can stab the flesh of the meat, and help the bacteria get into it.

If the meat is cared for properly, as I described, there is no spoilage that can lead to botulism. I always cook my wild game Medium rare, because that is how you get the most tender, and most flavorably taste of the meat. I have to begrudging admit that my late Mother-in-law knew her stuff about processing meat, and she had enough horror stories about hunters dragging in carcasses of animals that were clearly spoiled and unfit not only for eating but even saving the hide for any use, to convince me that she should be paid heed. To her credit, she also understood that certain practices CAN be done at higher altitudes out West, because the air is thinner, dryer, and night time temperatures kill almost all airborn bacteria. These same practices cannot be done at lower elevations. We talked about this, because I had read so many conflicting stories in Outdoor magazines over the year.

MY M-I-L had spent 2+ years in a Detention Camp near Poston, Arizona, along the Gila River, in the high desert plains, during WWII, as one of the unfortunate Japanese-Americans who was imprisoned during WWII. She had completed a Degree in Accounting in 1941, just before the war broke out, and was studying to take her CPA exams. Her whole family was taken from Monterrey, CA, and sent to the camps in early 1942. The family lost everything.

Life in the camp was difficult, and storing meat was a concern because of totally inadequate facilities. However, the high altitude allowed some preservation of meat to occur even without refrigeration.

A monthly ration of meat for the entire camp might be a traincar load of liver, with no refrigeration in the car, and no refrigerator available at the camp until they had been there at least one year. Families learned to smoke meat to preserve it, or to can it. The men gathered mesquite bushes(?) to use as fuel for the fires for both heating the uninsulated shacks, and cooking the food. They were allowed to grow their own vegetables in gardens beginning in late 1942.

We are no longer taught how to process our own meat, from the kill site, to the table. We all worry about reports of food poisoning, and recalls of everything from beef, to dog food, to peanut butter. You can learn these things, now, mostly on internet sites, but its no longer taught in our schools. More is the shame.

I enjoy processing my kills, even if its a lot of work. I enjoy being able to do so correctly, and competently. And, I enjoy cooking wild game and sharing it with non-shooters, and non-hunters-- city people!--- who haven't a clue. If they are bothered by the fact that a LAWYER has learned to do all these things, that is their problem. :wink:

 

[buttonbuck]

I have always processed my deer for the most part, I had the locker make summer sausage for me one year I was horrified when I found a chunk of lead in a piece of sausage, I thought at first I had lost a filling. I used the bandsaw once but agree it is best to bone out deer, really just use a fish fillet knife to process deer, I just have to keep em sharp so I keep 4 handy and sharp.

 

[Greenmtnboy]

Coming from a generational hunting famley, my Grandfather said shoot your animal hang it over night to bleed than butcher it.
He told me all you get from hanging meat is loss of meat and coming from a post deperession generation I am in full agreement.
You hang your animal for longer than over night you get a crust on it that will need to be cut away losing precious meat.
The longer you hang it the deeper the waste goes.
If you are worried about tender meat or a rank tast all you have to do is pull your meat out of the freezer the night before, thaw it than in the morning marinade it for the evenings cooking.
tougher meat, front quarter and some parts of the hind you can tenderize it with a little vinigar and a tenderizer you can get from Cabela's.
I use a tbl spoon per lb of balsamic vinigar.
Tast wise you can combat that with many different seasonings.
If interested PT me and I'll give ya a couple of Blanchard seceret recipts.
:thumbsup: