Aging Venison

[wtfooptimax200]

Do you guys age your venison? I live in New England and our deer usually hang 4-6 days this time of the year prior to butchering. Have any of you tried aging for a longer time period in a cooler or fridge? Can you successfully age the meat after it has been processed and packaged? Any insight is appreciated.

Branden

[Wolfer]

I always age mine. If the outside temps are getting around 30 at night and not much above 60 thru the day I like to let them hang with the hide on until the rigamortis goes away.
If its too warm I quarter them and leave on the bone and place in a cooler with just enough ice to keep them cool for 7 days
Once when the temps were running 30 to 50 I let one hang in the shed for 3 weeks. Possibly the best deer I ever ate.
If meat is processed while the rigor is still in the meat I don't believe it ever goes away. I also believe this is where some of the gamy taste people talk about comes from. My meat doesn't have it.
I killed one on opening evening and skinned it the following Friday. Killed one on Sat and skinned it a few minutes ago because it was 70 deg here yesterday and today.

[newton]

Yep. I let mine hang as long as possible. Or do the cooler, quartered up, thing. People have said that you can't leave them hang in weather above 45, but I have never had a problem as long as temps go low in the night and don't rise too much over 60 in the day.

I think 5 days is sufficient, but let it go as long as possible or the first convient processing date. I got one in the cooler from last Saturday and plan to take care of it this Friday. I know a guy who has a fridge just for this purpose. I hope to build a walk in cooler some day.

I have heard that as long as you don't freeze meat until rigor has gone away your fine. If your grinding it doesn't make much difference, except for the taste maybe.

[kbstenberg]

Well I'm at the opposite extreme. In the last 10 years all of my deer are quartered and in the freezer before the body heat is gone. An like Wolfer I do it because of the quality of the meat. The only reason I delay in skinning and quartering is because of shooting an animal in the morning when I am hunting all day, or I shoot the animal to far from home and it cools off before I get a chance to process it.
It sure is a lot easier skinning and quartering when the animal isn't froze stiff.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

BEcause of the makeup of game meat, there is little or nothing to be gained with prolonged aging.

Just make sure the meat is cooled out and firmed up.

Plus, all the rib meat is usable in sausage or jerky if you don't let it dry out.

Check with people like usda meat inspectors for the scoup.

On the other hand, freezing wild game too soon can also be a negative as per meat quality. I've heard the reasons, just don't remember the info.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[rush1886]

I agree pretty much with everything said by Newton, with the caveat that the meat is covered in some manner, and hanging in the shade at least, if temps exceed 50`.

Now as to what is mentioned by Crusty Dreary Ol Coot: I live in SE Idaho and next door neighbor is from Anaconda MT. 2 yrs ago she traveled to Anaconda for Thanksgiving and shot a young cow elk, near Anaconda, on Thanksgiving Day. She arrived back here to Idaho that Sunday afternoon, with the elk in the uncovered bed of her pickup. Froze solid is putting it mildly. Hanging in her garage, it took 5 days to thaw just to where we could cut and wrap. Absolutely the toughest and worst tasting elk I've ever had in my oven.

rush1886

[TXGunNut]

I've only aged one deer, lost a bit of meat to drying. Wasn't thrilled with the flavor. Generally here in TX we usually have to get the meat quartered and in ice chests or in a meat locker in a few hours after the kill. I've found that I like keeping the meat in a big cooler covered in ice for at least 24 hrs, draining water and adding ice as needed. Bucks and bigger hogs especially benefit from the "time out" in the cooler.

[OnHoPr]

I've never heard of aging after processing. I have read a few of Larry Benoit's writings and he wrote about aging for a month in certain conditions. I have let them age for a month and they can be very good according to my palate. I have heard three days is long enough and a week and a this and a that. Weather permitting start testing age times for your own palate. It is just like going to a steakhouse with a few people, one orders a ribeye medium-rare, one orders a sirloin well done, and another orders a T-bone medium. It's just different taste for different people. There's probably a psychological effect to different people. I have heard that it takes close to a week for the amino acids and enzymes to start breaking down.IIRC

[Wolfer]

I can't remember the name of the book I read it in but I remember the enzymes would do their work in two days at 50 deg and seven days at 33 degrees. At 32 deg everything goes into suspension.

I test mine with my dogs. When a deer is fresh they don't act too interested, after a few days throw them a scrap and they will inhale it.
That's when I know it's ready!

[TreeKiller]

I used to work in a slaughter house some people that they did custom butchering would let there beef age for 21 to 30 days, others wanted it cut up in about 4 days. knew a old lady rancher that never ate frozen beef. she would let the meat hang in a cooler till it was all eaten.

[M-Tecs]

Early on I had been taught that aging venison was the way to go so that’s what I always did for the deer taken during gun season as the temperatures generally allowed for aging. For archery deer it was generally too warm to allow for aging. I remembered that the archery deer tasted better than the gun season deer, but at the time, I thought this was due to the firearms season deer where more mature Bucks and or the archery deer bleed out better.

As my archery and hunting skills improved I started taking more mature Bucks in early season so I purchase a fridge just for aging but due to travel issues some would get cut up without aging. I couldn’t tell the difference so one year I halved one. I aged one side and cut the other without aging. I aged the one half at 42 degrees for seven days but I took sample cuts starting at three days. At three and four days I could not tell any difference when compared to the un-aged cuts. Started at day five the aged cuts started tasting stronger. Worse on days six and seven. Also the cuts seemed to be drier and possibly even tougher.

I have had formal meat cutting classes so I am aware of and understand the bacterial process of how aging benefits something like beef but I no longer see a benefit for something as lean a venison. I believe the drying of the lean venison offsets any benefit of tenderization from the bacterial break down of the meat.

When I purchase a ¼ or ½ of beef I still have it dry-aged but my venison get cut as soon as possible.

Surprisingly good info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_aging

[M-Tecs]

More good info on home game processing http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ighlight=aging

[Bob Krack]

My former hunting partner was a meat cutter for a large retail grocery chain in Northern Kalifornia.. Sacramento and north.

Marvin retired after 40 years of cutting meat a couple of years ago.

When we hunted the high desert, we field dressed and skinned the deer and put them into large cheesecloth bags and hung them in the shade. From 2 to 5 days, depending on our hunts. Nights low to high 30's and days low to high 50's.

The meat was always terrific eating.

Bob

[Lloyd Smale]

the correct answer

BEcause of the makeup of game meat, there is little or nothing to be gained with prolonged aging.

Just make sure the meat is cooled out and firmed up.

Plus, all the rib meat is usable in sausage or jerky if you don't let it dry out.

Check with people like usda meat inspectors for the scoup.

On the other hand, freezing wild game too soon can also be a negative as per meat quality. I've heard the reasons, just don't remember the info.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Mooseman]

I dont agree at all. We hang a moose in pieces for 3-4 weeks and let it age at 40-45 degrees with a fan blowing on it and let it get Moldy on the outside. What happens is the meat looses water and the enzymes in the blood break down the meat and tenderize it and add flavor. Other wise it is tough and less tasty.
I learned this from PK Smith who owned a famous ranch in Florida. He hung Beef and kept it in a cooler year round and he would cut big moldy steaks, cut the moldy rind off and throw them on the grill. It was the most tasty and tender steak you ever ate.People paid big money to hunt his ranch and eat his Steaks. They were prime aged beef steaks.The mold doesnt hurt the meat at all.
We also learned we can control the mold with red wine vinegar but the dry rind gets cut off when its butchered anyway.If you never had a true aged steak you wont know what flavor is all about. Deer could be aged faster due to being smaller , like our Caribou only get aged 2 weeks.
It does make a difference but it must be done right.
We also vacuum seal it and freeze it...good for 4 years or more.

[akmac]

Mooseman, that is the same way I was taught to age venison. We left the skin on in the cool garage until the chest cavity turned green. We would wipe out the chest cavity with vinegar just before we butchered it. It was always very tasty and tender. For moose we have always let it hang a week or more when shot late in the season. The best caribou I have had was aged 10 days and given a vinegar wipe before packaging.

[**oneshot**]

I usually process mine within a day or so. I let one hang in my near freezing garage for 3 days and it froze solid. Worst ever mistake. I ended up taking all that I had sliced up and ground the whole deer into hamburg.

[x101airborne]

I have a large walk in cooler to hang game and will usually ice my kills for 3 days then hang for a week or so at 35 degrees. This has always worked well and the quality of meat is good to say the least. BUT,,,
When I came home from Iraq, my dad picked me up from the airport and said that I needed a steak post-haste. He took me to the Longhorn Steakhouse for beer and a steak. The owner himself came out and asked what I would like to eat and without being educated on meat back then I said I would like the best steak he had. He brought out an entire porterhouse with green mold all over it. It smelled WONDERFUL. I got to see him wash it in red wine vinegar, cut the outside off, rinse it again and season it for the grill. It came to me rare and was so juicy and tender I ate that entire cut. Then he was so nice, he comped my meal and 2 beers. He just charged my dad for his meal and I think he cut some off of that as well.
I will never forget that man. Or that steak. That place had coolers FULL of green meat and I would love to learn how to make my own.

[Mooseman]

Thats It !!
The Flavor is unbeatable.Store bought meat tastes like cardboard and the so called "Aged" beef that is done under refridgeration in a plastic bag full of blood is NOT aged beef.
Tough and tasteless.

[reloader28]

For our taste buds we let it hang for 2-3 days, but thats partly because we can only hang 6 at a time. After 2-3 days, we need more room. But it always tastes better (I think) with this amount of time.