How long do you hang your deer before processing it? If it's cold I let my deer hang at least 5 days. What do you think?

[buckhunter]

How long do you hang your deer before processing it? If it's cold I let my deer hang at least 5 days. What do you think?

[vtbluegrass]

I generally butchered the same day if possible. My main reason for doing this being that a week after I have taken a deer motivation to butcher is hard to muster. Since I have moved to Eastern NC the weather doesn't permit hanging a deer overnight in many cases and you pretty much have to get your deer quartered and on ice. Some people here will even let the meat soak in the ice water which ruin the flavors to me and turns the meat greyish.

[prairieghost]

if the weather allows, i prefer 5-7 days. i'm beginning to think i might want to stretch that out to 8-10 days next year. on antelope, because of time of year and weather, i have to butcher them the next day.

[T]

I hang them just overnight or maybe 2 days but usually during deer season here it's not warm weather but it's usually not freezing so I'm comfortable doing it for 2 nights, but much more may be pushing at times.

[koeka]

I'm in Conn. and if you can keep the temp between 35 to 40 degrees, 7 days would be a minimum upwards to 14 days. If you go over 7 days just keep an eye on it to check it for drying out too much. Depends on the size of the deer and how it was field dressed.

The longer the deer is hung, the easier it is to strip away the silver skin, or the connective tissue layer, from the meat. Also, the longer it hangs the more you lose more of the game-like taste.

The accepted guideline is that the more mature the deer, the longer the hang time needed.

[willkillsdeer]

I'm in MI and I'd let it hang 3-4 if its good and cool if its bow season cutt it up as soon as possble!

[Charley]

I live in northern Utah where I can hang the deer 7- 10 days in cool weather. If it is warm, I will quarter and hang it in the cool room for a week.
Remember, the best beef steaks are aged 21 days- that means hung for three weeks.

[herbie57_57]

I don't like to go over 5 days, but I also have boned a few deer out in the field just to get it over with and couldn't tell any difference.

[mutt]

Same day. If not the same day I would remove the hide first to help cool the meat.

[trailertrash]

depends on the weather. As long as it stays below 45 degrees and it's skinned I let mine hang 4-7 days, otherwise it's the the same day.

[Smitty77]

Under ideal situations my deer hang from 7-10 days. Usually during the archery season this isnt possible because of warmer temps and no access to a walk in cooler.

The whole reason behind aging meat is letting the enzymes in the meat break down which results in meat being more tender.

The taste for me does not change much. Why would you want to hide the taste of venison anyway?

[rjbedrock]

It all depends on the weather, use common sense.

[rjbedrock]

It all depends on the weather, use common sense.

[kjflorian]

Reference my post on walk in cooler. It definitely helps to age your deer, plus I can control the temp too. Several of the books I read on aging deer also states that you shouldn't let them freeze in the first 24 hrs, which causes your meat to be tough.

[Christian Emter]

I shoot mine gut it and let it hang about 1 or two days until I can cut it up.