Slice and freeze?
 

Is it mandatory to have the deer aged in a cooled room for 48days or whatever. Or is it just as fine to skin. Quater. Wrap. Freeze.

It is not necessary. I know a lot of guys that like to let bucks and old does hand for a day or two to help soften the meat. A lot of does my friends and I have killed we will quarter then let it soak in water overnight to help get blood out and excess hair off of the meat.

Up here if we have the cool temps we like to let them hange from 3 to 5 days to help age the meat some. I have quartered a deer up and laid in a fridge over night and then cut up, wrapped, and frozen. This is to allow all the body heat out of the meat before cutting. This will help with keeping the flavor better. Cutting and freezing with the body heat still in the deer IMO ruins the flavor.

If the temp is over 40, I quarter it up and throw it in the freezer to "age". If under 40 I will let it hang after skinning. If the temp is 60 of above, I get it in the freezer as soon as possible. I am more concerned with safety than anything else. Mostly, my deer meat goes to the butcher to be mixed with beef and made into burger and other things.

Quarter and rough butcher. Leave the front shoulders whole. And don't forget the neck. Vacuum seal and freeze. Plan your venison meals in advance. Take a portion out of the freezer and stick it in the bottom drawer of your fridge for 10 days to thaw and age. It ages just as well that way...doesn't need to be hanging on a full carcass to age well.

To age properly you need a controlled temperature and humidity. Just hanging one in the barn doesn't cut it. I've seen deer hanging for days in temps that I know were not good yet the guys thought they were doing a great service by aging the meat.

I will let one hang over night in cold temps if I don't have time to clean it but otherwise I'll clean it ASAP. I feel the meat is in much better condition 99% of the time when done this way over just hanging it from a limb for a week.

Now if you have a meat locker where you can control the temp and humidity then that's a different matter. Most people don't however.

if you can:
you want to leave the animal whole and hang in a cool place until the rigor mortis lets go. it will stretch yer meat and make it tender.
its a chemical reaction in the meat. google it
as far as "aged"....ya have to have perfect environment as mentioned.

My experinece ... aging is not necessary. Certainly not 48 days worth !?! But "aged" correctly does not spoil the meat.

I am big believer in cooling ASAP. Certainly cold air temperatures help !!! Most of the time I gut the deer at the skinning shed and hang the deer in a walk-in cooler (set at 36F) immediately. I usually have it butchered, packed and frozen within 24-48 hours.

If I am not at my main camp and it is 35F +/- I'll gut and hang ... If warm I'll skin it and wash throroughly, then quarter and ice it down ASAP, draining the melt water off by leaving the cooler spicket open. Once the meat is cooled to near ice temp, I'll repack it. I have kept venison (and feral hog) under ice up to about 3 days before buitchering. No probelm with spoilage.

I always skin and rough butcher, then ice it down in coolers for a couple days and finish butchering and wrapping at my own pace. Always had good meat this way.

I live in the southeast. Most of the season, it's too warm to leave them outside hanging. I quarter my deer and put it in the fridge for 5 days to age. Each quarter is rapped individually in a trash bag. After aging, I butcher it down into roast size portions, wrap them in plastic wrap (to prevent freezer burn) and then into glad freezer bags and into the freezer. When in the mood for venison ( always) I thaw a roast and process it into steaks, burger, etc. This works very well, resulting a great tasting, quality eating experince.