a friend just called and told me someone was hunting on there land and a buddy of theres heard a shot and they went to check it out. They found a 5 pointer and she said i could have it. She dressed it and is hauling it to her house for me.
I am going to butcher it myself as it is free and why pay the 75 bucks. Plus it is cold. SO i am thinking about hanging it for a day or two. Should i or not. I know this is a hot topic and i have bounced back and forth on it. Can i butcher it and leave it baged in the fridge. Also if it will be frozen for a month or so can i just use zip locks.

ALLRIGHT Tim!! You got one!! Just let him hang a few days and start butchering.

If it stays under 45 degrees, you can hang them for a couple of weeks. I did that with my last deer and man that was good! This sounds sick, but its a good sign when mold starts to grow on the carcass... you just get a rag, put vinegar on it, wipe it down and it'll come right off. The mold doesn't hurt anything! You just don't want to have the temperature go from above freezing to below freezing, I don't know what it is, but its bad for the meat.

I would not put it in the fridge unless you have to! We did that with some antelope and it smelled so bad, it about made me barf! the meat was still good though.

I don't know much about the packaging part.

As mentioned above, if the temps 40 or under you can leave it hanging for day and it will be perfectly fine.

we cut it up and bagged it. I am going to drain and freeze it tomorrow. It hit like 45 or 48 today and 35 tonight. Tomorrow 50 and 25 tomorrow night. Some back straps hit the pan and then to the oven with some bbq on it. Going right now to eat it.

I quarter mine up and put in the a ice chest changing ice and water for a week, the last day I put in about a cup of salt. Then I process it, takes me about 20 minutes, because I cut most of it into roast. I then can do whatever I want with that chunk of meat.