The gentleman that processes deer for me lets them hang in his meat locker for 3-4 days before butchering. He's been doing it for years and does a really nice job on the cuts. I wish I could hang mine here at the house and do the processing myself, but it stays fairly warm here into late October/early November. Plus, I don't have a privacy fence and some of my neighbors would have a stroke seeing a deer hanging in my back yard. I really missthe family farm back home sometimes.