So this is something I have never had to deal with up in NY. Normally when I kill a deer it can hang as long as I want before I process it due to temps being quite low. But since NY instituted a early season I have a question for all you warm weather guys. How long and at what temp is it allowed to hang a deer before you ruin the meat. Recently I hung my deer after I killed her at 7am until 6pm in my barn but it was 77 out and I am really questioning the meat. Before I get the judges, I got stuck doing something that should not have taken more than 2 hrs and it ended up taking a lot longer. I knew I was playing with fire so I don't need the don't kill ones if you aren't going to process it right away comments. In Venatione Veritas
All depends on the temps, I have no set temp ranges and durations. What I do is as soon as I hang it I pack the chest cavity with ice or frozen water jugs. Then wrap with a tarp to hold in the cold. If I'm not cutting up right away. I try to have the deer in a fridge by 24 hours. I quarter the deer up and put into a fridge set at 35 degrees. Then leave for up to a week. If I have a deer that is questionable, here is what I do. I quarter up the deer and put it in a cooler, then put in ice. I leave it over night sealed in cooler. Then next day I will open the cooler and stick my head in. If it's starting to go bad you will smell it. It will get that sweat smell and not just smell like raw meat. By leaving in cooler over night it builds up the smell. That is my test when I question if it's good or not. I think in the last 10 years I have lost 3 deer. 2 because they layed over night, and one because I believe the deer was sick and had a funky smell. That was confirmed for me after doing the test I stated above. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Since it stays warm down here so long and the temps fluctuate up to 30 degrees through the day, I quarter and drop in a cooler, keep the ice fresh and let the blood water drain daily. I only go about 2-3 days at most though. I really need a hanging cooler, I've let a lot of deer walk because of the weather.
Meateater had a podcast with an actual meat scientist that was super interesting about a lot of topics with butchering to include temps and times. I can’t remember which one but I would give it a listen it was last year at some point. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For you early season guys I got a perfect solution and this all I do. I actually had a customer give a small chest freezer, so it was free. I then bought a extension cord and a $15 temp controller on amazon. I wired it up and plugged the freezer in. I can now control the freezer temp and turn it into a fridge. I can put multiple deer in there quartered up for a week no problem. Never need to put ice in there. Also the deer get very tender after aging for a week. This also helps as I can cut up the deer in stages through the week, so I'm not doing it all day. Also I don't run it until I shoot a deer, then unplug it when I'm done with the deer. I store the whole thing in the shed when not in use and bring it up to the house garage during deer season. Works great, like a tiny walk in! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
How did it turn out? I bet it was still okay. Bone sour is generally the first thing that starts to happen if meat isn't cooled. You'd be able to smell if it was going bad once you started cutting the meat from the carcass, the inside portion of the meat that wasn't exposed to the air would definitely have an odor to it like Holt said.
I cut her up and it didn't smell. I will not wait again. Lucky for me NY isn't warm often In Venatione Veritas
My biggest issue was flies and yellow jackets when skinning and quartering. it drove me crazy!, flies landing on it. It went directly into the deer freezer and I froze it because of this. I then brought out what I planned on canning and canned it right up. I have the shoulders defrosting to can on the 7th. I can't tomorrow it is our grandsons birthday and our 42 anniversary. It makes me think getting an early deer would be much better if taken late day. We do not have an indoor place to hang and skin
Made my own walk in. 35* for a week. All starts with cleaning cleaning the meat before it goes in. Then take the time to get the silver gone. Best tasting venison you will ever have regardless of sex or age.
