Hanging deer with hide on.

[Walkingeagle]

Hey folks, my girlfriend walked into the room where I was watching a show and the fellow was just hanging his gutted deer, hide on, and was saying that tomorrow he would skin and start the butchering job. She then immediately looked at me and said, “he’s not gonna skin it now?”. Not sure how to respond because I too have never understood that practice, I just said, “it seems more so to be an Eastern thing.” She’s a farm girl and from a hunting family, I’m a bush guy who also spent a few years on a farm, but have quite a lot of bush experience (hunting, fishing, trapping, guide). I do understand keeping meat clean, but that’s what game bags are for, and proper meat care is absolute paramount to me. This includes cooling as quickly as possible, which means skinning. It is way easier to skin when warm than cold, which also translates to less hair.
So can someone please educate me? Is it an aging thing? A “my family has always done it this way?” Possibly a regional practice of “tradition?”
Walk

 

[The Crisco Kid]

We always hung the deer with the hide on in SE Alaska. It cooled off plenty fast enough at night and kept the meat cool in the daytime. It's a little harder to skin after a few days hanging but there's none of that dark meat on the outside that needs to be trimmed. I think it depends more on the weather than anything.
On the other hand, when I was a kid in Western Oregon I remember that the deer got skinned as soon as it got hung up at home.

 

[S.Kenton]

Hide on or hide off, all depending on the temperature on which way I decide to go. If it’s over 50 degrees I’m pulling hide and butchering the same day I kill. If it’s cooler like 40 or below, then I can relax a little and will either pull hide or leave hide on and let hang for a day or two. I’ve done it both ways for many many years. However, I do find it easier to pull a warm hide off rather than one that’s hung for a day or two with hide on.

 

[oldwood]

Here in central Pa. , we skin , and quarter , then plastic bags , to get the meat on ice asap. I grind the meat anyway , and if you are gonna stay at camp a few days , meat in bags , on ice has served us well through the years. When we git home , the meat is cleaned of silver tendons , and ground with 70 % deer and 30% beef. We like a little fat in our meat. Ground deer w/beef added in the grinder , is ready for meat loaf , soup , chili , spag. sauce , burgers , etc. . It now costs around $70 to get a deer processed around here. Too much for my wallet. .........oldwood

 

[Walkingeagle]

It’s well over $1 a lb up here! Plus bone disposal fees, boxing fees, etc.
Walk

 

[azmntman]

I firmly believe the meat tastes better the quicker it is skinned. If I am not right at the truck I gut and skin where the animal falls and get a cloth bag over the meat to keep it clean. If at the truck I either truck skin it or load it (gutted) and get to camp and hang and skin with a beer.

 

[deerstalkert]

i have always skinned as soon as i could get them hung. it is easier for me to get the job done than to get back to it.
I lost a deer to bone spoil once and came close with an elk so i like to get it broke down and at least a cut to the bone on the hind quarters.
if i am in back of nowhere i skin and bone the meat out only opening the body cavity enough to get the tender loins.
the last thing i would ever do is say my way is the only way. to each his own. and dumb as i am i know there are those that do it better.

 

[oldwood]

Pa. deer seasons , when I was a kid in the 1950's and 60's , dear old Dad used to take me to the camp with his old Army buddies , and one fellow , my best friend Albert , was a WW-1 veteran. We would kill deer , gut them , and hang 'em up at camp. After an extra day or so , the deer went onto the top of the vehicle , then a four hour trip back home. The deer would be hung in the garage , skinned and cut up. Our post Thanksgiving deer seasons were always cold , so spoilage was not much of an issue. Those guys would usually stay until the gallon jug of cheap , bottom shelf whiskey , sitting on the camp dinner table , was empty. Those were priceless times ,and I still miss my friends. Think I'll see them again , soon...........oldwood

 

[sheriff john]

Generally, our deer are gutted when they stop kickin', chest cavity propped open, hung, skinned, and deboned within a couple of hours after pulling the trigger. Backstraps on ice (not frozen). "Silver" and fat removed, , most will be ground into deer burger/sausage or jerky because most seasons are warm.

BUT ..if we want "cuts" (roasts, chops, etc.) that deer goes to a processor who hangs the deer just like a beef, in an operation cleaner than our kitchen. where it rests on hooks until tender. Meat is never mixed with someone else's gut-shot green roadkill for grinding nor sausage. An 80-mile drive, but vastly better venison in the end.

 

[TDM]

I've always heard of hanging deer without skinning were it's cold for a day or so. Down south you just can't do that, it can be 20 today and 70 tomorrow. I gut where the deer falls, then skin and quarter back at camp. I do keep the meat in ice chest for 3-4 days, draining and putting on fresh ice. Then I cut, grind, vacuum seal, and freeze. But it's getting to be too much like work now.

 

[deerstalkert]

I've always heard of hanging deer without skinning were it's cold for a day or so. Down south you just can't do that, it can be 20 today and 70 tomorrow. I gut where the deer falls, then skin and quarter back at camp. I do keep the meat in ice chest for 3-4 days, draining and putting on fresh ice. Then I cut, grind, vacuum seal, and freeze. But it's getting to be too much like work now.

once the smoke clears it is work. like you sometimes these last few years i wasn't sure i could do it. then i found a young eager beaver that wanted to learn what i knew in exchange for a strong back. boy did i get the best of that deal!

 

[TDM]

Amen to that. Both my sons are too busy making a living to hunt like they used to so I'm starting to hang back. Glad you found a helper.

 

[necchi]

@S.Kenton said it,,
It's all about the regional temp during the season. Northern clim's with cool temps, leave the hide on.(but don't let it freeze)
Southern and many Western clim's, better peel the hide quick. Both can be and are proper care of the harvest.
Where I grew up here in Minn, we can let'm hang hide on for a few days to age,, When I lived in Wyo,, peel the hide and ice'm.

 

[Eterry]

My dad taught me to leave the hide on and hang if it's gonna be below 40 a few days if you had time. Said the meat was more tender. Otherwise we'd cut it up asap. Hanging skinned meat in the wind is a disaster.

We went to Montrose and hunted elk. Had 7 elk hanging by 2nd day. They hung, gutted and skin on, until wey left 7 days later. Never got above 40. Best elk I've eaten.

We went to Hardin, MO. The deer are the size of yearling steers. Took my first deer to our friend's barn (concrete floor, tin bldg) and it looked like a meat locker. The neighbors used it for cold storage. About 20 deer hanging, owner said folks drop by and cut off a chunk.

Went on a draw hunt January in hill country, no electricity. TXP&W asked us to leave them with hide on hanging, gutted. They didn't want gut piles and carcasses in the camping area.

They had a commercial cooler of bagged ice, we kept the cavity filled with ice bags until the trip home. Was fine, no problems.

It absolutely depends on the weather, but I think a deer, ( or any red meat) does better if hung skin on a while to age.

 

[Ames]

I shoot most of mine in the last 15 minutes before dark. Not trusting old eyes gutting with a head lamp, I choose to drag them out whole. In the dark.
After getting them to the truck I drive to a back field of mine with an incline and field dress them there with the help of my plow lites.
Now, well after dark, I have to take it to a Maine tagging station to register the deer. Then back home to hang it from the beam off the barn.
Now its 8:30-9:00 at night and I want to clean up and eat supper. Last thing I want to do is get into butchering and skinning so....
They hang, hide on, temperature permitting.

 

[n3wyu]

I firmly believe the meat tastes better the quicker it is skinned. If I am not right at the truck I gut and skin where the animal falls and get a cloth bag over the meat to keep it clean. If at the truck I either truck skin it or load it (gutted) and get to camp and hang and skin with a beer.

I agree. In my younger days I ruined a lot of deer meat by leaving the hide on. It had a wild taste as some may describe. Started skinning as soon as possible much better.

 

[11Bravo]

I don't deer hunt anymore so rely on my younger friends to bring me my venison fix. Last season my friend Kenny brought me some venison he had hung for a full week I believe before he skinned and butchered it. He called it aged and I have to say it diffidently tasted different and in my opinion better.

 

[Dixieshedhunter]

You get a better hide if you get it off warm and flesh asap.

 

[LSB]

Here in central Pa. , we skin , and quarter , then plastic bags , to get the meat on ice asap. I grind the meat anyway , and if you are gonna stay at camp a few days , meat in bags , on ice has served us well through the years. When we git home , the meat is cleaned of silver tendons , and ground with 70 % deer and 30% beef. We like a little fat in our meat. Ground deer w/beef added in the grinder , is ready for meat loaf , soup , chili , spag. sauce , burgers , etc. . It now costs around $70 to get a deer processed around here. Too much for my wallet. .........oldwood

It is over $100 here just to get the deer skinned and ground up. Summer sausage, brats, sticks, etc. will run you another $3-$5 per pound. A nice sized buck can cost $350 to $400 to get processed if you go with the "good stuff".

 

[Walkingeagle]

I shoot most of mine in the last 15 minutes before dark. Not trusting old eyes gutting with a head lamp, I choose to drag them out whole. In the dark.
After getting them to the truck I drive to a back field of mine with an incline and field dress them there with the help of my plow lites.
Now, well after dark, I have to take it to a Maine tagging station to register the deer. Then back home to hang it from the beam off the barn.
Now its 8:30-9:00 at night and I want to clean up and eat supper. Last thing I want to do is get into butchering and skinning so....
They hang, hide on, temperature permitting.

I’ve worked to get moose home, hung, skinned and quartered until 2 or 3am before food and a shower. You are one tired boy come morning, but it is nice to see those clean quarters of meat hanging, all cooling very well!
Walk