ORIGINAL: skeeter 7MM
Elk, moose, deer, antelope has always been venison by my dictionary and as such always been treated in the same manner. Get it cooled asap, clean, relax when possible (rigor process which I have always been led to believe lasts upto 24 hours), trimmed. packaged properly andfroze thoroughly. I grew up in afamily of butcherswe never let our venison hang inthe cooler for longer then 3 days.I have experimented with hang times on my own and found no difference beyond the rigor process taking place. Basically boils down to time and temperature for my personal harvests. I also cut for others and have cooler accesswhich boils down strictly to time. Being a sideline I somewhat limited in my turn around when things get busy,though strive for 3 days and out the door. A lot of the quality is shape of the deer before harvest and care after harvest. I have seen some prettynasty carcasses come in and it's aweful hard to turn a pigs snout into a silk purse..[
]
I agree, but have only joined your side in the past 5 years, after seeing my own deer that were wrapped and frozen within 10 hours of death and compared them to another deer (same season) about the same age and size that was given a 4 day hang in perfect conditions (something nearly impossible for me to pull off). The difference was worth it, in my opinion.
But the part about condition before and after the kill is key...
A quickly cooled and clean carcass handled with care and in clean conditions is priority one for sure.