At my club we have a walk in cooler that was once a beer or ice cream truck. It is very spacious. I never butcher a fresh deer anymore. I skin and gut, then hang for two weeks. I have gone out to three weeks but my meat gets sticky, and when it is ground, it can be mushy. A strong fan makes a big difference. Two weeks seems to be perfect for deer with their hide off. I process five to ten per year, with most of it ground with beef fat. Prefer beef to pork. I never soak meat. I wash it well after gutting, and never wet it again.

What do you prefer?

Process soon as I can but have curious about the value of tissue break down by aging.

I feel aging is very beneficial, gotta have room though. I've heard of people quartering, wrapping, and keeping in coolers with ice. Never dun it tho.

I think dry aging is good. Not sure about other techniques. If you have ever tried to use a hand crank grinder, you will quickly know the difference.

No more then 7 days for me ill eat chicken before that dry aged stuff.

I do 3 days. Quartered or smaller. Put ice in 2.5 gallon bags and put in 96 quart cooler. Let water drain if bags break. Put deer in cooler. Plus I always shoot small deer. No bucks if I can avoid it.

We have hung our deer in a cooler for a week and we have processed our deer within a few hours of killing.

I really see no difference.

If I had a really old deer I might hang it.

A lot of good beef is hung in coolers for a fair amount of time.

You pick.

Let rigor set in and then release completely. After that most will not be able to tell any difference unless it hangs to long and starts to spoil.



Owl

Yes.

Let rigor release.

It is really all about how you field dress and keep the animal clean.

I always quarter or debone mine and let it age in a large cooler with bags of ice for 7 to 10 days. It makes a huge difference. We usually start grilling steaks from the backstraps as soon as I bring it home, the steaks we eat toward the end of the aging period dont even taste like they are from the same deer.

Under the right conditions, I have let deer hang up to two months. Lose some of meat trimming off outer layer, but it's good dog food. I've also butchered and in the freeze the day they were taken. Anymore, I take care of them when it's convenient if temps are ok usually 3-5 day and quick if it's warm. I never noticed a major difference in quality. Time of year and age/sex of deer is where the difference is for me. Also what they eating.

I just quartered and hung one today in a homemade cooler made out of an old fridge. Got that idea from FFG. I'll let it hang for @ a week unless I get another and need the cooling space sooner.

Thats a good outfit to have for October deer Marathon. Congrats on your opening day deer

We usually cut ours within a day or two of killing them. If delayed we quarter and store in a fridge till stiff enough to cut. Easy to cut when they are just a little frosty.

Vacuum seal and it's good for 2 - 3 years.

This would be a good time for my annual tip about vacuum sealing...

We cut and put the pieces in a vacuum bag but don't seal the bag. we put them in the freezer on trays till they are pretty well frozen or near to it. When they are frozen we take them out and then vacuum seal them. This process eliminates all the blood and juice from messing up the vacuum seal.

Moosetrot

X2 on vac sealing

Sure cuts better about two days later. More is better if you have a cooler to hang and air the meat..

I've done it every way imaginable and can't tell any difference, except hanging overnight seems to be easier to handle and lees bloody. As far as taste or tenderness zero difference.

Seems like sound advice (although I don't have a vacuum sealer).

We've had such good luck with ours I can't imagine doing deer without it.

Moosetrot