When i skin my deer and hang it in the cooler at 40 degrees for a week, the surface layer of the meat gets extremely dried out. Maybe it doesn't matter, but i thought you might have a few easy tips to prevent this from occuring. If i leave the skin on, the problem is solved, but it is very difficult to remove the skin once the meat has hung. Also, in terms of cooling the meat rapidly, you are better to remove the skin.

Any ideas?

thx

You answered the question yourself. Skin it just before you cut it up. I skinned a buck out once and didn't get around to cutting it up for a couple of days. It had dried out a lot in that time. I never did that again. I've never found that hanging a deer for any length of time improved the quality or flavor of the meat. It just dries out. Some of the best eating deer were the ones that were cut, wrapped and frozen the day they were shot. I find that getting as much fat off the meat as possible works for improving the flavor.

I always skin my deer and butcher it within a couple of days to prevent from having the problem you’re having. Maybe next time you can just place Saran wrap on the meat just after skinning it for the Saran wrap to stick. This would stop some of the drying. Just a thought.

I have never hung one in a cooler, I hang them in a shed, they do dry a little bit after a week, but not too much. A cooler is a big refridgerator which draws the moisture out of everything in it, so sealing it up in saran wrap or cheese cloth would probably help.

The rind (dried meat) is normal. Just trim it off as your cutting. When you take your deer to a butcher he skins and hangs the meat. He will also trim it when he starts cutting.

One good thing about trimming is if there any dirt, hair, etc on the meat it will be discarded. Also you don't have the membrane on the outer edge of the meat that will make it tougher.

Try spraying down the floor of the cooler with water or leaving a slow mist going.

most of the drying of meat in a walk in , comes from the air velocity . you need to have a cooler designed for hanging meat . low air velocity , properly spaced evaporator fins . refrigeration system properly sized , etc. timbercruiser ,bad bad idea to introduce any kind of moisture into the box. thats opening the door to all kind of bacteria growth !

ever seen how dry beef is after 28 days in the cooler, its just part of ageing. one year we thought we would be smart and skin after 5 days, it was to cold out and they froze that skin was so hard to get off. DO NOT DO THAT

From what I've always been told, leave the skin on if you're planning on aging the meat. It's tougher to remove it, but worth the extra affort to save the meat. I've never had a problem from leaving the meat on in over 20 years of doing it.

I agree with Dave H. I hang mine in the garage with the skin on. It helps regulate the temp. and keeps dirt and dust off. In warm weather I use a cheese cloth bag to aide in air circulation while still keeping flies off. Never had a problem skining or with meat drying out. You just have to put a little muscle into it, although not as much as dragging it out.