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hanging deer
I have meat, where the deer was dropped, gutted, and immediately sent to the butcher. It was never hung, or drained.
There is so much blood in the meat, it puts off my wife and kids. But I can't hang a deer on public land where I hunt, which is 3 hours from home. and I can't hang a deer in the middle of the city I live in. What do you city slickers do ? |
I have a fridge in my garage .. i skin and quarter my buck and let it sit in my fridge .
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if your garage has beams across the ceiling, i hung my deer from there and put a trashbag over the head to collect the blood.
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Most butchers have a walk-in cooler so if this one does, ask him to let it hang a few days. If he doesn't, find one that does. My ex and I had a butcher shop and we let them hang atleast a day. Some hunters specified how many days and we tried to do what they asked.
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Get one or two large ice chest, quarter the deer and cover the meat with ice, drain the blood out the bottom for about a week keeping the meat covered with ice the duration. Some people I know sprinkle the meat with salt before covering with ice with the idea it will help draw out the blood. Easy to keep clean and works like a top.
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I hang 'em on the porch and wrap a blanket around 'em. Them like others say, quarter up and place in fridge.
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I am not really sure you wil get any big amount of blood out of the deer by hanging it. Once you have shoot the deer and the heart stop there is not much more going to come out that will make that much of a difference. I have a fridge I hang my deer in and there is no more then a 1/2 cup in the bottom and that was over 4 days. I archery hunt only so maybe with and arrow the deer has more time to bleed out a little more then a gun shoot that drops the deer in the spot. Just my op.
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busanic is right - the blood stoops draining from the muscles as soon as the heart stops, hanging or not. There are several ways to soak it out however - both before freezing or after thawing. Soaking in milk is a good one.
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Personally I dond't "hang" it at all. A properly dressed animal will have all of the blood and fluids removed from it anyway other than what I think is supposed to be in the meat anyway. The flavor of meat is the dependant on the blood to a point. (I know it sounds kind of sick, but ask a chef about it.) I alsmost always soak the meat overnight in a big sink of cold water with a little salt. Many times the important cuts (to me) inner loins and backstraps) are frozen that night without a lot of soaking. Soaking the rest helps me the next day to clean as much of the fat and yucky stuff membrane off of what is left as I prepare it for the grinder or to put up a rump roast or two.Another reason I'm not real big on hanging is bugs. I don't have a walk in freezer/cooler and I have not done enough research on aging meat to be comfortable with the process. It's on my "to do" list. So far I am very happy with the results and we use venison here for a lot! It is a primary source of our meat, though not the only one.
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I always hang my deer with a 5 gallon bucket underneath it. Usually there is not enough blood to cover the bottom of the bucket. So if you are having issues with your deer there might have been some other issues with processing or butchering.
Is there an ordinance that says you can't hang deer in town. My folks live right on US 40 in Indiana and have a neighbor that processes deer. It is not uncommon for him to have 15 to 20 deer at a time hanging from his trees right down town. He uses the trees instead of the coolers if the weather is right. |
I debone the animal right away and put it in a cooler or fridge till i am ready to cut it up further.
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Hanging Meat
I am a hunter and cattle farmer. In addition to my deer annually I slaughter a steer. My butcher hangs the meat for me for 14 days. This is dry aging and you can google the benefits of it. It is my understanding that a week of aging can be done in a refrigerator, but to do more than that the humidity has to be controlled.
I cube all of my deer meat for burger, sausage and tamales. I have found that by immediately deboning and cubing then in the ice chest with water drained daily and new ice added. will lighten the meat considerably. Of course if you want steaks and chops you won't be able to do this. |
usually, after our first deer or two, once there is meat in the freezer, we will allow the deer to hang for at least 10 days if weather allows, but i've had them freeze on me before and they have hung for over a month with no problems.
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i hang it off my back deck.
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When I took my meat cutter training, we hung the meat for a week to 10 days. This helped to break the muscle tissue down, making the meat more tender. The meat was hung in a walk in cooler with the temperature just above freezing.
Hunting conditions vary considerably due to weather, time of year and available facilities. Some hunters leave the hide on until they can get near the proper facility. One main thing is to remove any damaged meat etc. as soon as the animal is harvested to prevent further spoilage. if flies are a problem, one can lightly cover the meat with pepper, then wrap in cheese cloth. The cheese cloth will still let air filter through. If the animal can not be taken to a butcher shop immediately, hang in the shade out of sunlight. |
idk but iv heard of ppl putting it in milk,or maybe that was to get the wild taste out.never tried it.
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