What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

I was wondering what I should do with the deer when it is warm too warm to hang. I dont have acess to a big cooler and often i hunt at night before I have to go to work so i cant deal with the deer untill the next morning.

So what should I do to keep the deer untill I cut it up?

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

cut it into chunks that will fit into a fridge, just small enough to fit.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Just me.....but if I didn't have time to quarter my deer......I wouldn't shoot it.

That's just MY opinion.I don't know of a method of keeping an entire deer carcass "safe" sans a meat locker. I always quarter mine....take out the backstraps and inners....and cooler it for a few days (aging). I then have it processed at my butcher shop.

If there's another way.....I don't know of it.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

If i shoot one on a warm day, not hot. after field dressing ipack the gut cavity with three bags of ice and get it checked in. get it home and hang it. It is usually pretty cool in my pole barn, its insulated, and i keep it closed. Butcher it as quick as i can. When its cold i like to hang it for a couple of days, but take the inner loins out first thing because they will dry out if you dont. If you can get an old refrigerator for the garage, get some plastic tubs from walmart, quarter the deer, place it in the tubs and refrigerate until you can butcher.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

If you cant butcher it right away, you probably dont want to shoot it. When we had warm weather we butchered the deer right in deer camp after a party member ran into town to register it. Justsome ice in the chest utill he got back.Problem solved.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Your not supposed to butcher a deer you have to leet the meat age at least 3 days for it to taste good.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

He's talking about "field"/"camp" care for the deer (and not "processing"), I think (when we say "butcher"). If the deer is in a cool place (be it cooler or a meat locker)....it'll "age" the same.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Yea I quarter it up and get it in coolers with ice or the fridge.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

I usually do all the cutting up pretty soon after the shooting is done, warm or cold outside. I'm not into aging it. If you saw an "aged" piece of meat in the grocery store most would filea complaint.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

WHOA, WHOA, WHOA big fella. Just what are you referring to? Perhaps you should PM Germ about this. He has a similar fetish :D

Seriously, I have thrown bags of ice in the body cavity and stuffed bags around the whole body to keep them cold. It has worked fine. If you have time to quarter and stuff in a cooler that is better.

Edit: Isn't aging the meat strickly for tenderness? That is what I have always been told any way.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

With cold weather we let ours hang a day or two before we butcher it ourselves. If its warm we'll quarter it and pack in ice for another day or do it the next morning just to be safe (all temperature dependent). We don't have any garage or shed, so it hangs in the backyard, and we generally want to get it done as quick as possible, incase someone throws a fit about a dead deer hanging from its neck. :D- Reminds me of the mail-lady's face this past year when she saw us string my buck up that morning - priceless!

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

i would stick it in the coolist place that you could.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

It doesn't take long to skin and quarter a deer out. I never let my hang, when i get home i hang them right up and get to work. Takes me 15 minutes to skin,quarter and stick in the ice chest.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

i get it to a processor as soon as posible

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

All meat you get no matter what it is is aged for atleast 21 days when you buy it at the store the enzymes in the meet need time to break down the meet. It adds flavor and tenderness. When you say I want a fresh piece of meet its never goign to be fresh and if it is it wont be as good as and aged one.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

If you quarter your deer in the field, and carried it out of the woods, once at the car you put it into the cooler with ice right? do you cover the meat with plastic or do you just put the meat next to the ice?

Thank you!

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

I do the same as BloodCreek and HuntingSon as I start hunting on Sept 15th I run into some warm days.

After field dressing Ipack the gut cavity with three bags of ice and two bags of ice for the rear hams (one for each leg.) Then I wrap it tightly in an tarp and place on the garage floor. 12 hours later the meat is still cold and 2/3 of the ice has melted. Then its off to the butcher of DIY.

HH

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

With all due respect, that is an oldwives tale .... If I have to butcher a deer right away, I butcher the deer right away ... I have never noticed a bad taste form one I have processed immediately ..... I do like to hang my deer if the conditions are right though ....

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Skin it as soon as possible then I shove milk jugs and 2 littre bottles filled with water then frozen into the body cavity. I do this instead of bags of ice so as it melts you don't have water running through the deer or sitting in the deer. another option is to skin and quarter the deer this should only take an hour or so at most, and put the quarters in large coolers with the same frozen jugs to cool down.
Good Hunting
Jeff

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

I turn my deer into cat food. I have a preserve around the corner. They love donations and told me to come back for a free tour. I'm not as interested in the tour but I do want to be there when they feed the big cats. This fall I plan on shooting a bunch of little bambies for them. I'll try to get pics when I do get to watch.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

You don't like venison?

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

I don't have time anymore. I travel so much and I'm on the go. It's too much trouble. I've also found myself eating less red meat in the last few years. 5 years ago I would eat steak every night. Now very little. In fact, I ate prime rib for the first time in I don't know how long. I guess I've been eating my seafood. If I lived on the coast, I would shoot a few for crab pots. Steamed Blue Crabs beats deer any day of the week. Second place I would give to lobster.

But I still like shooting deer with my bow![8D]

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Does your husband like eating red meat?[8D]











Just playin' :D

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

No and my husband doesn't think I'm gay either.

Tony your a dirty dog but I did get a laugh.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

So all of the packing houses and the placese my families resturaunt gets cow and wild game are wasting their time ageing the meet????????????????????????

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

No sir ...... it is proven with the right temperature and humidity, the cells in the meat will break down, creating a more tender cut .... not sure about flavor though ....

hall .... did you know that in the old days and in some places even today, they will hang meat until it molds ..... cut away the mold and you have one tender piece of meat .....

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Here's some good info for ya ....

The nearly lost art of the great steak
Once upon a time you could go to your corner butcher and buy an aged USDA prime cut of beef. If you have had a good, aged steak, you know it is more tender and flavorful than what you typically buy in the store. The reason for this is that aging allows natural enzymes to breakdown the hard connective tissue in meats and for water to evaporate away concentrating the flavor.

Dry Aging
The old method of aging meat in known as dry aging. Dry aging is done by hanging meat in a controlled, closely watched, refrigerated environment. The temperature needs to stay between 36 degrees F and freezing. Too warm and the meat will spoil, too cold and it will freeze, stopping the aging process. You also need a humidity of about 85% to reduce water loss and to control bacteria and you need a constant flow of air all around the meat, which means it need to be hanging in a ventilated space. The last and most important ingredient in this process is an experienced butcher to keep a close eye on the aging meat.

There are many reasons that butchers don’t typically age meat these days. First of all the cost of aged beef can be very high. Because of the weight loss of aged beef, the price per pound can be pretty outrageous. If you add in the time, storage space, refrigeration, labor that price just keeps moving up. For aging to properly improve the quality of a cut of meat, it should contain substantial marbling. This means that there is fat evenly distributed throughout the meat. Only the highest grades have this kind of marbling and make aging worthwhile. (there is no marbling in deer)
Because of the high price and the space necessary to age meat, dry aging has become very rare. Actually only a few of the finest restaurants buy aged beef. Many in fact, have taken to aging their own beef.


Wet Aging
The less expensive alternative to dry aging is called wet aging. Meat is shipped from packing plants to butchers in vacuum packaging. Butchers can set this packed meat aside in their refrigerators and allow them to age. Since the meat is packed in it’s own juices the enzymes will breakdown the connective tissues and make it more tender. However, because there will be no fluid loss the concentration of flavor that you get from dry aging won’t happen.
So why not save yourself some money, and age your own beef? Take that vacuum packed primal cut (from which market cuts are taken) from the butcher and put it in the refrigerator for 2 weeks and you’ll have a really tender piece of meat, right? No. Aging needs to be done and precise temperatures under controlled circumstances.

zSB(3,3)

[/align][/align]The average family refrigerator just doesn’t have what it takes to properly age beef. It is very easy to get a good colony of bacteria going in that meat during the couple of weeks it takes to age a piece of beef.
Worse still is this recipe for a trip to the hospital that’s been floating around the Internet. Take your prime or choice steaks, unwrap them, rinse with cold water, wrap in a clean kitchen towel and place on the coldest shelf of your refrigerator. Every day for 2 weeks take the steaks out and change the towel. At this point you are promised a fantastic steak, provided you live though the digestive process after eating it.
[/align][/align]

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Use the gutless quartering method, it takes 10 minutes to do a deer including the backstraps and tenderloins. Take any working older/extra fridge, remove the racks, stack the "quarters" upright in it and put a couple towels in the bottom to soak up anyblood. I have had to do this in the past with early season archery elk and deer. (90 + temps) You'd be surprised what you can stack in an oldfridge like thatif you have no other choice and dont want to lose your venison.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

Quarter it up an put it in a freezer.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

not a good idea IMO..... I like Shed's idea with an old fridge ...

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

I thought that response was to simply,the fridges we use are actually fridges that have had the divider between the fridge part an the freezer part removed an they are older. I would be willing to bet we have some that are 40 years old. The meat is wrapped an frozenbefore the trip home. My camp is about 1 1/2 hours from the house.

RE: What do you do with the deer when it is warm?
 

i always process mine right away and haven't noticed a loss of flavor . When i don't have a lot of time and it is warm out i debone into large cuts and put in the refrigerator till the next day so i can process it further






[/align]