Filthyrat

We have a locker avaialbale to us on our ranch that we normally hang our deer in. I will go usually ten days before butchering it. We normally field dress, skin at home, then hang bare by the rear legs in the open locker uncovered.

This has always worked great, but we do end up with a 'skin' on the deer that has dried out. We normally filet this off, not loosing much meat, but not only is a pain and time consuming, the ribs are pretty much junk because there is not much meat left after removign th dried out layer.

What experience do you guys have, any techniques or steps I may be missing. My backstrap this year is the most tender ever, wife cooked it up good last night. Got two nice three points in Nor-Cal two weeks ago. Good year.

1dahunter

I have quit hanging my deer 6 years ago when a friend of mine told me there was no reason to age wild life and I did notice that his deer always tasted better than mine, now that I dont age mine mine taste as good as his and no I mean NO gamey taste at all not even a hint. Just my opinion.

skeeter 7MM

Personally I find no benefit in aging game. Most often I will let hang for 24-48 if conditions allow to thoroughly cool and removal of rigor but if boned hot or fresh the only real difference I have found is a bit more blood when thawing nothing in way of taste, texture, etc.

If you want to continue to hang for 10 days then I would wrap in cheese cloth or the light game bags, since you have a regulated walk in you can use. I would do this after the meat has time to cool so next morning or day. As for the intercostal rib meat I would remove it and the tloins prior to wrapping. The backstraps, rears and fronts will have less impact in the skin over if you choose not to wrap the carcass.

RomanWild

Cornell did a study on this and the conclusion was gut it as fast as possible and get the heat as fast as possible.

My butcher told me about this and I bring mine to his cooler immediatley and he has it cut up in about 2 days. I have never had a gamey or tough deer, ever.

On the other hand Europeans wil let game hang for two weeks in warm weather because they claim it tenderizes the meat. I don't know if I would risk that. Those people don't even bathe everyday!

Filthyrat

It is very common practice to hang your game in our area. From this board I notice 'common' practice changes by your geography, usually tradition overrides suggestion. I always clean my deer thourougly from hair, guts, and fat to prevent gamey taste, but hanging makes a diference in my boo on tenderness and taste. Plus if you got a 800 sq. ft. locker sitting there empty you might as well hang it.

I will try wrapping our next buck in cheesecloth though, and I knew I should have yanked the tederloin and ribs, even flank, when I put it in the locker. Tenderloin dried out so bad it was useless. Of course backstrap is protected by spine and ribs so it fared well, but did have to skin all other exposed meats.

I wonder if I should keep the cloth wet as it hangs in there to keep the meat moist, or am I intoducing bacteria instead?

skeeter 7MM

Filthyrat(great name btw..LOL),

Any way I would not introduce water, the purpose of the cheescloth is to protect from the cold air(reason it skins as the cold air dry's out the exposed meat) but also allow it to breath to prevent rot or bacteria from growing. Please note as stated I don't hang my meat long enough to skin over so the wrap method is something I have others who do. I know it will not rot but what effectiveness it may have I am unsure of for your duration. T&E or talk with some processors is about the only way to find out for sure.

Just remove all the portions that have minimal protection as you stated. TLOINs can not get anymore tender, they are what they are and since it is the only muscle that does absolutely nothing they require no aging!