Aging
 

I’m new to this all and had a question. After field dressing a deer or hog. You would want to age it to lessen the “gamey” taste, correct? I have mostly heard of doing this in coolers of ice for 7-10 days. Would buying a old fridge and doing it in there he just as good?

is hog 7-10 days also?

Hanging Time

65-70 degrees 24-36 hours

50 degrees 3-4 days

35-40 degrees 7-10 days



I took these from a book on butchering. I’ve been following these guidelines for over 19 years as I do all my own butchering.
I've shaved a little time off what was reccomended to be on the safe side and hasn't failed me yet. I do pack the chest cavity with ice if it's above 40

I have my deer hung in a walk in cooler for 6 days. No need to age pork. Aging improved the flavor and tenderness, however there is no such thing as venison tasting Gamey, it tastes like venison, bad tasting venison was poorly handled after the animal was killed.

Agreed OT. I think hanging helps to tenderize the deer, elk and moose. I always take care to handle my kills and do all my own butchering so I control all aspects of the hang time to freezer.

Thanks for yalls input

I've heard the same thing about aging the meat before processing and putting in freezer. My deer usually sits in a cooler for a week before I can get it all processed because I do a little at at time. I would say some of my deer is aged and others is not. I have noticed no difference in taste or tenderness. I find that whether its a young one or an old buck make more difference in taste. The young ones taste much better and are much more tender. An old buck is going to be tougher regardless of what you do IMO.

The gamey taste is in the blood. The more blood you remove, the less gamey the meat tastes. Meat flavor depends a lot on the animals diet. Acorn fed will taste different than grain fed. Sage fed antelope tastes like sage.

I don't "age" my venison after the harvest. If destined for the grill or pan, I will soak meat in salt water prior to cooking to remove blood.

Worth mentioning is aging also helps promote tenderness. It allows natural enzymes to break down the muscle tissue and makes meat less tough. (This is distinct from rot which is the result of bacteria).

You certainly want to allow it to get past the rigor mortis stage.

I have always cut my own and hang them according to the outside temps. I did used to buy beef by the side when our kids were growing up. He hung them at 45 degrees for ten days before butchering them. He had stated that 45 degrees was the perfect temp for hanging. I have always used that to go by and let my deer hang for six days if temps allowed it to. Always tasted great using that method..

Not disagreeing completely oldtimr but yes there is such a thing as a gamey taste in venison. And it isn't all just from mishandling. It's from lactic acid in the meat. If a deer ran after it was hit, it will have a buildup of lactic acid that didn't have a chance to dissipate before it died. And yes lactic acid has a very distinct "sour" flavor often called "gamey". It is why most deer in general that were taken with a bow will have a bit of gamey taste to them. If every venison meal you have eaten has had that flavor you will of course assume that is the general flavor of venison. I have eaten meat from many kills that were dropped on the spot and do notice a difference in the flavor. It's not a huge difference but it's fairly easily noticed.

I have only eaten 2 deer that tasted gamey. My very first buck at age 14 or 15 went down with 1 shot. I had an uncle show me how to field dress it and help me drag it out. We hung that deer at camp and when we went home we hung it another few days. The temps back home weren't ideal and I believe the deer kind of soured. The only other one was a gut shot doe with my bow and I didn't find it until the next day. It had that same gamey taste and I ended up having to throw it out. I just couldn't get past that taste. I have shot somewhere around 100 deer with both gun and bow, some elk and a few woodland caribou and never had that any of them that taste bad. I always butcher my own and am careful to trim it properly and keep it clean. With regard to HL's post I shot a fork horn many years ago at around 7am. The shot wasn't good and the deer ran off but had a good blood trail in the deep snow. I followed that deer for over 5 miles off the mountain top where I was parked and tracked him down into the valley before I finally caught up with him. He kept bedding and I finally could get a good bead on him and finished him off. I was a long ways from my truck and it was around 3:30 and would soon be getting dark. It would have been a tough drag to get him up the mountain and the 5 miles to where I left the truck so I dragged him out along a secondary dirt road and luckily someone with a truck came along and drove me and the buck miles around to where I was parked. That deer certainly didn't have an easy ending and I figured the meat would be trashed. When I butchered it the meat was very dark and not the pink that a fresh deer has after you take off the skin. I was surprised though and he tasted great and was actually very tender. I don't doubt what HL suggested but at least in that 1 case the luck was with me and it was a good eater. I did feel bad that I didn't make the first shot count but as always I did give thanks to the deer for such a great hunt.
I'll add this since it is a cooking and game prep forum. One of the ways I enjoy cooking my deer steaks is to take a nice cut like a back strap about 3/4 inch thick. Heat up a cast iron skillet and put some course ground pepper on the steak and then throw it on the skillet. When the blood starts to show on the back side flip it over and pour a half cup of wine over it then cover and turn off the heat. In a couple minutes it is ready to eat and always very tender and juicy. The wine boils off so no alcohol and it sautes the meat.