Proper Aging of Big Game

Status
Not open for further replies.
Bobson

Bobson

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
4,294
Location
Kendall County, TX
So I'm trying to prepare for my first deer hunt this Fall. I've been reading up on how to prep the game for freezing (lots of "field to freezer" articles are helping with this). I've butchered domestic pigs and chickens before, but we never really did any aging of those meats. The animals were killed in the morning, and the meat was always prepped and in the freezer before bed of the same day.

The articles I'm reading say it's best to age venison for up to 16 days (but 7 days minimum) for best flavor and tenderness. My wife is going to be slow to try the meat as it is, so I want to do my best to ensure it's prepared and aged properly. I'm thinking of aging the meat for about ten days. The thing is, the articles all say it needs to be aged from 34-38 degrees F. Makes sense.

Except I don't own a walk-in refrigerator (who does?), and when the regular season comes around in early October, it won't be cold enough outside yet. If I hunt archery season (which opens September 1st here), and that is still a possibility, it definitely won't be cold enough.

So what do you guys do? I know I could just take the meat to a butcher and have them deal with all this, and there is a great local butcher in my town that many hunters use, but I really want to do it all myself this year, if possible. Any ideas?

I've got a garage where I can hang it, the storage isn't a problem. Just trying to figure out how to get the temp down to where it needs to be. I read that quartering the meat and stowing it in a spare refrigerator could work, but that seems like it would trap in a lot of the moisture - and I've been reading that there needs to be good circulation around the meat during the aging process.

Any help is appreciated, as always.
 
You can dry or wet age meat.

Dry aging results in better taste but more offcuts as the harder bits need to be removed prior to cooking.

Wet ageing you will want to vacuum pack the meat, failure to do so will result in soiled meat. It does not taste as good but as you rightly point out, probably the only realistic option for most.

Having said which, many take meat from field to freezer quiet successfully.

Personally my routine is as follows;

I identify and set aside the cooking meat. This is then cut into steaks / medallions and portioned suitably for a meal for my wife and I. I don't have a vacuum packer yet so I use Zip Lock bags and evacuate 99% of the air. This is placed in the fridge for 5 days and then sent to the freezer.

I do the same for the meat for jerky but it goes straight to the freezer. I store it un-spiced, I remove a 2.5lb pack at a time and spice it before hanging. I do this in order to be able to change flavourings and in order not to over make for just the wife and I. I used to spice and then freeze but frankly it is not the same.

All the offcuts etc. then get coarse ground in a mincer and go straight to the freezer. These are removed for later processing into whatever is required, ground beef or the makings for sausage.

It is a lot of work upfront but worth it later.
 
Last edited:
I have an old refrigerator in the garage that only gets plugged in when I've taken a deer. I skin and section it the day I kill it (or the next day), then wrap the sections in plastic cling wrap and store them in the old fridge until I'm ready to bone, pack and freeze the meat. That typically ends up being 5-7 days later. Pack the shelves with some paper towels because it invariably leaks a bit.

I do this more for convenience than for aging, but I suppose aging is an unintended side benefit. I tend to use venison in recipes that have a lot of spice, so I'm not certain if I can really tell the difference that aging is supposed to make. I also tend to take younger does that perhaps don't need the help nearly as much as an old tough, gamely buck.
 
I've done the extra fridge thing, and I've done the hanging in the garage when the weather cooperates. I liked the garage better because I feel the air circulation was much better.
 
Well, I'm in New England, and generally wait until it is cool or cold out before filling my deer tags. I have respect for guys down south that kill and handle meat in high temperatures.

Hanging or aging meat is essentially controlling the rotting process. I have heard that eating pheasants that have been hung for too long will give you gout...from a pheasant hunter with gout.

If it is above 35 or 40F i generally don't hang venison at all; but i brine or soak the meat in water, which gets some of the (game-y tasting) body fluids out through diffusion. If the meat is tough, you can freeze and thaw it a time or two, and the freezing will expand the fluid in the cells, breaking down the cell walls.
 
WISCONSIN Way

We try and skin the first day.
Wash out the body cavity with several buckets of water.
Tenderloins get cooked as soon as possible. Don't wait or they dry out.
How soon we get it cut , ground and wrapped varies.
I never noticed a difference in taste.
We de-bone it all and remove ALL tallow and silver membrane.

1.Do not over cook.
2. Breading with bread crumbs in olive oil works great.
3. In a crock pot with an onion , beer , garlic and 1lb fresh mushrooms , 1tblspn dill pickle juice makes " hot shredded Beef "
Serve on a Kiser roll.
 
Wet ageing you will want to vacuum pack the meat, failure to do so will result in soiled meat. It does not taste as good but as you rightly point out, probably the only realistic option for most.
Click to expand...

I soak on ice water, don't vacuum pack, and have never seen a problem. I soak until the red is out of the water, dump water daily. I used to just let the ice melt over it for the water, but now I live 5 miles from the nearest store, use milk jugs from a spare freezer. I have a 120 qt ice chest to do this in. I suppose I could dry age with the sealed milk jugs, but I worry about the temp. It's hot down here well into December most years. We don't have the luxury of snow and even if it freezes, temps are up in the 50s or 60s in day time, usually. Keeping the meat on ice water assures me it won't spoil and it doesn't.

I even do my pork this way.
 
I have always gone from shooting to having my game on ice within 1 to 2 hours. I shot an elk last year at 0 degrees outside so it cooled quickly after field gutting. That took a few hours to get cut and on ice.

I think the "gamey" taste comes from poor handling of the meat.

Aging meat is for fatted beef. Wild game fat does not work the same as on beef and will become rancid pretty quickly. You want to trim the fat off and get your meat frozen as soon as you can.

Just my .02 cents worth but I have not had gamey tasting meat ever so I am doing something right.
 
I hang mine in my shop, hide on, to keep the meat from drying out on the surface for as long as Texas weather permits. As long as it doesn't get above the upper '50's or so in the shop for more than one day I leave it as long as possible which is usually about a week.
It must work because I've raised a wife and four kids on venison and not one of the five has ever complained! One of sons even griped at one meal because we had eaten all four of the years deer and were out of ground venison which forced my wife to buy (gasp) ground beef for her spaghetti!
I think aging the meat in a fridge is a great idea too.

Let me also add: venison, elk, etc. does NOT taste "gamey" any more than beef tastes "domestic-ey". Venison isn't supposed to taste like beef any more than pork is supposed to taste like chicken. Anyone who bites in to a piece of backstrap thinking it's going to taste like a beefsteak is in for a big disappointment. After 15 years of venison being the primary red meat in our home, I've grown quite fond of it. In fact I walked in the house tonight to the aroma of my daughter browning ground venison. Mmm.....love it!

35W
 
Last edited:
A butcher told me that venison is not like beef and aging doesn't do anything for it. It is usually cold here when we shoot deer. We field dress immediately after shooting. They may hang a day or two at most. If possible I take them to the butcher right away. We take them to our butcher and he debones them, and cuts away all the fat and tallow and membranes. Our venison is always very good. Even big bucks taste great, not gamy or tough.
It takes effort hunting and shooting properly as well as taking care of the animals to have good meat.
 
Season here starts on Nov. 1. We wash them out and hang them in the shop with the hide on. Might be a couple of days or sometime in January before we get to them. We bring them into a warmer area a day or two to thaw before we start to process them.
 
I gotta say I'm surprised to see so much variety in how people prep their game, from some aging to no aging whatsoever, but I guess it just goes to show this isn't rocket science and there's no magic formula I'm going to need to follow to the T. I guess as long as I keep it cold, there's no danger of spoiling the meat - whether wet or dry, circulation (garage hung) versus poor circulation (aging in the fridge), or even not aging it at all - just cool it quickly after the kill and keep it cold until I'm ready to freeze it.
 
d2wing said:
We field dress immediately after shooting. They may hang a day or two at most. If possible I take them to the butcher right away. We take them to our butcher and he debones them, and cuts away all the fat and tallow and membranes. Our venison is always very good.
Click to expand...
Does your "field dress" include skinning it? I've read that getting the hide off asap is important to cooling the meat quickly, but what do you do to keep it clean during transport to the butcher? Just throw it in a cooler with ice, like many others are saying?

I keep hearing good things about our local butcher, and we have several family friends who take their deer there and are always happy with the result, so I might do that...
 
I agree with #11, gamey or wild taste is caused by poor handling.

Our family always preached to get it skinned ASAP. When we processed our own, aging was weather dependent. I've seen temperatures from 80 to zero during deer season. I've never noticed much of a difference either way.

We now take ours to one of 2 butchers. Both hang them in their coolers for a couple of days before they cut them up. One guy generally skins the deer while I watch. I like that because I get to see how the bullet performs etc.

Laphroaig
 
Bobson said:
Does your "field dress" include skinning it? I've read that getting the hide off asap is important to cooling the meat quickly, but what do you do to keep it clean during transport to the butcher? Just throw it in a cooler with ice, like many others are saying?
Click to expand...

Slip it I to mutton cloth, it was invented to put sheep into so should be good for game.
 
There is not a butcher here that I know that will take a carcass with hide on due to health regulations. In fact there are bylaws that prohibit the transfer of skins, hoofs and horns depending on the species and the province.

Are you guys the same?
 
My routine is to put it on ice for several days before butchering, especially older bucks.
Click to expand...

We do the same. Quartered and in a large cooler with a fresh bag of ice or two each day on it for several days, sometimes a week.
As long as the temp is ice cold, there are no worries.

There is not a butcher here that I know that will take a carcass with hide on due to health regulations. In fact there are bylaws that prohibit the transfer of skins, hoofs and horns depending on the species and the province.

Are you guys the same?
Click to expand...

I've never personally taken a deer to a processor, but I'm 99% sure that you can just shoot them, load them up and take them to the butcher as is.
Now even if I were going to use someone's services, I would still field dress ASAP.
 
If I can't get to them right away I will let them hang if it is cold enough (near freezing) for a few days, otherwise I try to get them in the freezer as soon as I can.
 
Wisconsin Way
We try and skin the first day.
Wash out the body cavity with several buckets of water.
Tenderloins get cooked as soon as possible. Don't wait or they dry out.
How soon we get it cut , ground and wrapped varies.
I never noticed a difference in taste.
We de-bone it all and remove ALL tallow and silver membrane.

1.Do not over cook.
2. Breading with bread crumbs in olive oil works great.
3. In a crock pot with an onion , beer , garlic and 1lb fresh mushrooms , 1tblspn dill pickle juice makes " hot shredded Beef "
Serve on a Kiser roll.
Click to expand...

I'm originally from Wisconsin and this ^^^^ won't do you wrong...
 
We field dress meaning we remove all the internal organs. Usually it is below freezing so skinning isn't as essential as in a warm climate. The butcher normally skins the deer and removes the head and legs. In our state the game laws require the deer to be largely intact until processing.
 
My great grandfather just hung his deer (usually several) in the pump house at the farm. My father mentioned his childhood memories of watching grandpa head out the farmhouse door in his long johns with a cast iron skillet in one hand and a butcher knife in the other. He would just carve off what he needed and head back to the house to fry it for breakfast. I here the old man loved his deer and would eat them all winter long. Me, I carve them up the day they are shot and get them in the freezer, stew and chili meat don't need to age.
 
From 1hr to 5days ive never seen a differance in tenderness or taste.
Click to expand...
This. Aging game meat is a waste of time and meat. Aging is for beef. It doesn't benefit game.
Aging meat is for fatted beef. Wild game fat does not work the same as on beef and will become rancid pretty quickly.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

Field dress, skin, and cool your game as quickly as possible, then get it cut and wrapped and into the freezer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

thomis
  • Locked
freezer temps
Replies
13
Views
611
double bogey
D
A
  • Locked
Smoked Venison Bacon Roll
Replies
4
Views
1K
alemonkey
A
H
  • Locked
Kosher
Replies
2
Views
428
Hoshua1
H
Armored farmer
  • Locked
Getting set up to process our own game.
2 3
Replies
70
Views
3K
Armored farmer
Armored farmer
Bobson
  • Locked
On Field Dressing & Wasting Meat
2
Replies
37
Views
2K
buck460XVR
buck460XVR
Back
Top