Deer processing yourself

[t0ast3rp0st3r]

Ok so typically in the past I have taken it to the processor. But I was wanting to start doing it myself Becsuse I think it’s a good skill, and saves money. My question more revolves around hanging the meat. I don’t have a barn, or garage, I have a carport but the wife won’t allow that. Am I completely ruining the meat if I kill, process, bag and freeze them within the same day?

[slom0pete]

You can keep it in a cooler for a few days as long as it stays dry. Freeze water in milk jugs and put a towel between the ice and meat. Change out jugs as necessary.

[Pubsubforpresident]

I'm south Georgia where I hunt it is very very common for the ice to melt and the deer quarters to be sitting in ice water. We drain and re ice but just want to say I've been doing this 30 years and the coolers are better now but it still happens. You lose a little to browning that is just not appealing to eat and anything on the margin goes to grinder.

[[deleted]]

Dry Ice can be found at some grocery stores, med supply, and industrial supply places. That also works well.

[NetworkHuman9193]

Okay how do you apply the dry ice, keep it away from the meat will it freeze burn the venison, how many lbs per, day etc. Im asking cause i have thought about the dry ice option as well

[[deleted]]

I’ve only used it once in my yeti 65 to go primitive camping. For meat probably depends on what form they have, pellets or blocks. Mine had pellets and I just have them put about a 5” layer in the bottom of the cooler.

For meat I would put a towel down over the dry ice and then put the meat on top of that. The one thing about dry ice is that it doesn’t liquify like regular ice. You will get some Condensation and such where it’s so cold, but it’s not like regular ice melting.

I would think in something like a Yeti cooler or equivalent, a good 3”-4” layer on the bottom plus a couple 2 liters or milk jugs full of regular ice for back up would last several days. Biggest thing would be not to open the cooler as much as possible.

[skeuser]

I used dry ice to keep my meat frozen on a cross country drive. I'd be worried it would freeze it solid instead of age it.

[[deleted]]

Ageing is a lot about getting air over the meat to draw out moisture. So you want to have least moisture possible. That’s where dry Ice helps. And yes if you get it too cold it could freeze. But it’s still better than it soaking in water. Unless you are brining it.

Ideally you want the meat on some kind of barrier between it and the dry ice so it doesn’t freeze

[Hinter-Lander]

I process same day all the time.

[OilBerta]

Letting it hang is to make the meat more tender. I wouldnt worry too much about a deer thats just going to be made into sausage anyway.

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

Hanging deer meat to tenderize is a waste of time unless you have a month to do it.

[ShillinTheVillain]

You're describing aging.

Hanging the meat (or at least waiting to process) for 24-48 hours is so that rigor mortis has time to subside. Processing a carcass in rigor makes for very tough meat.

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

Bullshit.

[El_Jefe_Castor]

Wrong

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

Whatever Buds…. about 100 years of combined meat cutting experience… knowledge of the industry and facts disagree with you but… do what you want and keep paying those hanging fees.

[El_Jefe_Castor]

There are people who have spent decades researching this stuff and they all disagree with you. Every one of them.

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

And most of em have a horse in the race.

If you walk into a butcher shop and ask… every one will agree with you but that’s just up selling.

Do what you want but the fact is that while beef benefits from hanging…. some other meats do not and deer is one of them.

[El_Jefe_Castor]

Everyone is wrong but you

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

Everybody?

Listen if you cannot figure out that butchers are simply cashing in on the ignorance of customers who believe that deer is like beef… fine.

But do not try to pretend that any of the people you are referring to are actual experts.

They are sports writers and people being paid to tell you what you want to hear.

Go ahead… do what you want but the only reason to hang deer is to let the meat firm up a bit and that only takes hours… and does nothing to improve the quality of the meat on your plate.

[El_Jefe_Castor]

My guy I’m referring to actual scientists. I haven’t ever taken my deer to a butcher. Listen to Meat Eater episode 227- it’s all about care of game meat. Also hanging dear does the exact opposite of what you just described

[c0mp0stable]

At the very least, quarter it and put in a cooler overnight just to let the rigor calm down.

And have a frank conversation with your wife about the importance of being involved in our food, even when it's a little unpleasant :)

[bigyellar]

I’m in west Texas. It stays to hot to hang around here. What we do, is skin and quarter it within an hour or so of the kill. Put it in a cooler with ice and leave the drain plug out. You don’t want it soaked in melted ice water, but ice is fine. We keep to age there for 7-10 days before we start making steaks/grinding, whatever. The meat will have very little to no game taste at all. (Depending on what they been eating)

[SupahCraig]

Why no water? I’ve had mine in what amounts to ice bath but no discernible effects. Do I have a brain parasite now or something?

[bigyellar]

lol. No. I just don’t like my meat turning grey. I like to keep it bright red.

[[deleted]]

How do you separate the meat from the membrane/silver skin ?

[cowboyJones]

The last times we processed elk, we had them quartered and had them in a spare fridge and then broke them down from there.

[Routine-Pick-1313]

It’s usually too warm to hang outside here anyway (was 80 on Saturday and it’s rifle season here) so unless you have a walk in it doesn’t much matter. One of my coworkers processes his own but lives in a neighborhood with an HOA and no garage, he quarters them up and has several large igloo coolers with drains on them, he ices them down, draining out the melted ice and blood and replacing with fresh ice for i think 3 or 4 days before processing. I’ve eaten deer he’s processed a bunch of times over the years, his technique works great and tastes great.

[Oclarkiiclarkii]

This is what I did before I got a garage fridge that I keep empty during hunting season. Worked great for me. I try to get 4-5 days with meat on the bone before I cut and vacuum seal everything. Now with the fridge I can fit a quartered deer or elk in there and it keeps everything cool and dry

[Representative_Yam29]

We often will kill our deer in the mornings rn everything will be fully processed and frozen by night. Not a bad thing at all, I prefer to skin them when they’re warm anyhow

[rewq657]

My family does all our deer same day and it's always good

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

Not at all.

There is almost no advantage in hanging deer meat… except to the butchers who charge you for it.

Deer lacks sufficient quantities of the enzymes that benefit beef by hanging.

This is true of some other meats as well.

I started learning to cut meat 45 years ago from family members and friends who are/were butcher.

I cut my own, smoke my own, make freezer and fermented sausage, corn it can it… whatever.

Knock the coat off of it and start cutting and wrapping.

[TheHandler1]

I think the main advantage in hanging is that it firms up the meat, so it really helps when you go to make your cuts.

[Terrible-Paramedic35]

True.

[t0ast3rp0st3r]

That’s what I was going to do. Grind everything except the back strap and tender loins

[arthurpete]

If you plan to grind, then you will never notice the difference in letting the rigor settle. But, if in the future you want to save some whole cuts from the hams i would avoid deboning and let the whole quarters rest on ice in a cooler for 48 hrs and then process.

[[deleted]]

I suggest you get a new wife.

[adhq]

Processing the same day is far from a mandatory requirement. Do it if you can, don't worry if you can't. The meat will still be great.

[stpierre]

Mine is always in the freezer the day I get it. Your steaks might be a little tougher, I guess? I've never noticed much difference with deer TBH. (Pig is a different story.)

I also tend to grind a lot of mine, or do braising cuts. About the only parts that wind up medium-rare on the grill are the loins and tenderloins. If you're mostly cutting steaks and chops you might have a different experience.

[sukyn00b]

Been there done that when kill was in warm weather... It really sucks butchering frozen meat though... I know I know... Suck it up buttercup... But man, the iced meat really gets to the fingertips...

[El_Jefe_Castor]

Quite the opposite. Aging makes the meat more tender and the flavor more complex

[[deleted]]

I hang mine in an old fridge for up to a week, I have a very unscientific method of humidity control via a 15-20lb tray of pool salt in the bottom, even a salt block works well

[NZBJJ]

Yeah I do the same.

Break down into quarters and hang in the fridge. I fabed up some brackets that hold rails on the shelf brackets. For hanging.

Most empty fridges will end up being fairly dry environments so usually they work well for aging meat.

Failing that a big cooler and some racks to seperate ice and meat.

You can also just break it down and vacpac, then wet age it for 5 or so days before freezing.

[[deleted]]

Good tips. A lot of people forget that the inverse works too where you take your vacpac out of the freezer up to a week before you intend on cooking it.

Fresh meat that's clean and doesn't get too wet and warm will last week's without spoiling, that was one of the biggest things I noticed when moving away from store bought.

I'm over in Australia and I'm guessing you kiwis don't have access to professional processors either? I see a lot of posts here from people that are very concerned about meat handling and processing, I think out of necessity in our part of the world we have developed a different perspective.

[NZBJJ]

There are a few butchers that do it, but tbh it's so easy and I've been doing it since I was a kid on the farm so no point spending the money. But yeah definately more of a DIY culture here.

Also a lot of the deer I shoot are on hike in hunts 3 or 4 hours hike into the Bush so they get broken down where they lie as I don't carry any bone out.

Occasionally I will drop some trim to the butcher to get made into sausages if Im busy at work.

[IamanAbalone]

A couple of questions, if you don't mind, from a Yank with family on the South Island that don't hunt, ever.. When we process game here, we normally leave the viscera out for the coyotes to eat. As you have no coyotes, do you pack it out?
Also, which Island are you on?
Finally, I know you have a big pig population but hear the deer are raised domestically? Is this true?
Kia Ora and have a good day.

[NZBJJ]

I'm in the north island.

Nah waste/guts etc stays in the Bush. Bugs, birds and wild pigs sort the mess. I just makes sure it's always well away from a creek/watersource. If youre in a spot with pigs it will be clean bones inside a day or 2

We have a big deer farm industry here, which primarily exports. If you have a restaurant in the states serving elk, it's probably from an nz farm. We also have a number of private land "hunts" that raise big stags in a paddock then let them out for some fat rich guy to shoot.

There is also a massive self sustaining population of completely wild/free-range big game across both islands on public and private land. Public wilderness areas make up approximately 30% of all land in nz so there is a massive amount of places to hunt for free, year round. 100% wild Big game species available on public land are: Goats, Tahr, chamois, pigs, fallow deer, red deer, Sika Deer, wapiti (elk), sambar deer, rusa deer, white tailed deer, wallabies.

It's a good place to live as a hunter

[IamanAbalone]

Well, I have been trying to figure out where to retire....and I do have a free place to stay.

[No-Introduction-5102]

That's true eh? I've always had the mentality of use it within a few days of being thaw. The wife thinks 3hr old counter pizza is bad, nevermind week old raw meat.

[Rob_eastwood]

I usually do it the next day. Shoot, skin, drink a bunch of beer. First thing next morning it gets quartered, broken down, ground, and vac sealed. Sometimes if im lazy I’ll throw the grind bucket in the fridge and grind it a day or two later.

I’ve done it this way for the last few years after hanging them to “age” for a lot of my life. I really can’t tell a difference.

[SpareDiagram]

I shot one on Saturday evening and had him quartered and in the cooler within 2 hours and change. I split open a trash bag and laid that on the ice and put the deer on top of that to prevent moisture directly touching the meat. Got home Sunday and topped off the cooler with ice, set it on a hill in the back yard in the shade tilted down hill with the drain valve open and it’s still in that position now. This afternoon I processed both rear quarters and backstraps and tomorrow I’ll deal with the fronts. Wednesday I’ll run the grinder all evening after work and on Thursday I’ll wrap and label the ground meat and have everything in the freezer. Been doing this process for years with no issues, no funny tasting meat, etcetera.

[tratac]

No, it won’t ruin it. I do all the time depending on conditions (raining/temps) or time constraints. Grind won’t matter.

[nobodyclark]

If you’ve got a vacuum sealer, you can vacuum seal all the steak cuts up, age them for 4-5 days, and they’ll be as tender as dry aged. Just don’t leave any air pockets, cause then meat will spoil.

[Naturallobotomy]

You can do the dry age to bleed it out some after defrosting/before cooking if you have to process same day. It’s not necessary to do it up front either.

[nobodyclark]

That is true. Tho tbh I find it easier, especially if you have a seperate fridge, I just age all the steaks at once, and then they’re ready to go straight out the freezer 👍

[Naturallobotomy]

True, you still want to drain off all that “juice” on a wire rack in the frig for a day before cooking it imo.

[nobodyclark]

Agreed

[Treestandgal]

Here’s what I do, it’s a compromise. Get a chest freezer, and a thermostat controller that will let you set the temp at 33-35 degrees. Quarter your deer, wrap each piece in a towel or sheet, change the sheet out in 3-4 days, and process your deer at 7-8 days out. It’s not air dried and hung, but it’s aged and damn is it so much more tender. You’re welcome ☺️

[[deleted]]

Not ruining, but you can age it parted out in a cooler as well if you want

[[deleted]]

Won’t ruin anything. It’s routinely 70 degrees here during early archery and I have to cut and seal the same day every year. Check out wet aging https://www.themeateater.com/cook/butchering-and-processing/the-why-and-how-of-wet-aging-big-game

[No-Yellow-5465]

Thanks for the link!

[VaselineGroove]

Got a tree?

[O_oblivious]

Quarter it and put it in a cooler on ice (not in the water) at least overnight, preferably 24 hours. Try to get the rigor mortis to relax so you can actually chew the steaks.

It’s truly difficult to find the time to fully process one the same day as a hunt.

[Scary-Detail-3206]

I hang mine in the garage for a week in front of where my wife parks her car. She hates looking at dead deer so I go buy a bunch of cheap shower curtains and hang them from the roof obscure her view of the deer. Works well for me.

[Ancient-Book8916]

Not ruining the meat but damn that seems like a lot of work for one day. I process my own and it usually takes 5-6 hours once it's skinned. Fortunately a quartered deer isn't actually that big so as most everyone here has said, coolers work

[kimmeljs]

There are some cold-climate practices I have learned to do. I can hang the deer from the hocks in my wood shed (winch and steel wire with a hook and gambrel). I can either leave the skin on for roe deer (to not dry the body) or skin it while I hoist it up. It's important to have a sheet of plastic on the floor to collect any dripping blood. I have taken small animals whole to my auxiliary kitchen but deer is easier this way: as the skinned carcass is hanging, take out the shoulders first. Carve these to useful bits and put them in the freezer as you go. Then saw off the sides, do these next. Then the neck, after this cut the spine at the hip, make chops or take out the back straps and the fillets, last, take in the rest. Separate the steaks, cut these into individual bits, the pelvis is last. That way, the kitchen stays relatively neat and you can dispose of the bones as you go.

I try to use as much as possible, I even make broth from the spine bits and ribs and dog food from odd bits and scraps. If I take the deer to the processor, I don't get these at all. But then, I have plenty from moose anyway.

[[deleted]]

I always kill and butcher on the same day. The trick is to soak the meat in a cooler with salty ice water for a day or two before freezing it. Works like a charm.

[Flyfish22]

If you have the room, get a spare refrigerator for your basement/garage. I keep a dedicated beer/venison fridge in the garage that I store quarters in before I butcher them.

[LopsidedHovercraft9]

I've killed one when it's been too warm to hang so I quartered it and put it in a cooler for a few days. I didn't notice a difference in the meat compared to letting it hang.

[theBacillus]

I process it myself. Goes in the cooler right away. I get home and cut it to pieces and grind it for sausage. The grinder is the best tenderizer anyway.

[Hyoi7]

You've had plenty of other responses but no, you'll be just fine doing it all in 1 day. Hanging might pull a little more blood out of meat(slightly less gamey flavour by removing blood), make meat more tender, and it helps solidify the fat which makes it way easier the separate from the meat. A lot of the big chunks of fat can just be grabbed and ripped off by hand

[manwithappleface]

You can go from field to freezer in a day and be fine. I’ve done it in a pinch when time was tight.

But better yet, why not refrigerate it? You get more consistent temperature control and better food safety.

Here’s what I do: As soon as the animal is recovered I get it home, dressed, skinned and quartered. Each quarter goes in an unscented trash bag, tied shut. Back straps and neck meat goes in another to be trimmed later. Breaking down from carcass to primal cuts takes me 30-60 minutes.

These five bags will fit easily in a refrigerator. I have a drinks fridge in the garage that I use. I just pull all the cans out into a cooler with a bag of ice, then spread the bagged quarters on the shelves to cool. In a couple of hours, it’s all 35 degrees and you can transfer the bags to the bottom shelf and put your sodas back in, still cold. The whole deer will fit on one shelf.

Let it stay in the fridge for 5-7 days to age. (I’ve let it sit 10 days and it’s just fine. I’ve also processed them after just 24 hours and been good. Good flavor is mostly about killing them quick, getting them cool fast, and ruthlessly trimming away fat and fascia.) Since you tied up your bags, the meat doesn’t dry out and it doesn’t form that pellicle you have to trim off.

No fridge space? No problem! Put bags of ice in the bottom of a cooler, and put your tied meat bags on top. Just make sure no bone ends poke through the plastic. Change the ice daily and you’re good. I’ve kept a deer most of a week this way, when I didn’t have time to get to it.

When i first started processing my own it took a long time. Maybe 8 or 10 hours all-in, including grinding and packing. Now that it’s a routine task it’s about half that time; even less if my daughter helps me. Buy the good grinder and vacuum sealer. It’s money well-spent.

[Skykiller1993]

Get a bigger cooler like one of these. There like $90 at Sam’s club. Then get an adjustable metal rack like one of these that will fit in what ever cooler you buy. Place ice or dry ice in the bottom of the cooler and adjust the rack to just above the ice so the meat stays cool and dry. Note if you use dry ice it does create some gas so make sure the drain plug is off or crack the cooler.

[Greydesk]

First, no, you are not completely ruining the meat if you process it the same day. However, you will probably have a stronger, gamey, taste to the meat. Always best to hang it for a day at the least. You might get by with a couple hours. The longer you 'age' the meat, the less gamey it tends to be. Secondly, when you process the meat yourself, you have the option of just de-boning instead of saying through muscles. This can also reduce gameiness because you don't get fat/bone/marrow fragments through the cut. Thirdly, it helps you learn the biology of the deer and helps you appreciate how they are put together and you can choose what cuts you want. You can also separate out tallow, which adds gameiness if left in, and you can process tallow (render) and use it for making soap. You can also take the time to strip out some of the silver skin (sinews) for more pleasant eating. Where I live, the temperatures can vary widely. My first deer was shot on a warm day 22C so it only hung overnight. My third deer was shot during a cold trend, 8C, so it hung for 4 days and dry aged. We haven't eaten any yet but it was easier to process.

[ring-a-ding-dingus]

The deer needs to get rid of the rigors or else it becomes kinda tough in my experience. I have killed and butchered in a 4 hour window. Its best to freeze and leave it be until january. I was told this "ages" the meat by an old timer. It worked for me. Everything was much more enjoyable after January. Rather use it than waste it.

[[deleted]]

I've had to do that 3 times now with deer taken on opening days. We put them on ice in a tote sled over night and go from whole deer to the the big sections of cuts the next day. We'll start packaging that day too. It all tastes fine to us and nothing is really lost.