How long do you age your deer meat?

[John3]

From one weekend to the next or longer in our walk in cooler (36 degrees)... Meat is always as good as it gets..

[Hess]

Let it hang...mold is a good thing.  And I appreciate SpencerL's journal article.  A must read.

[ksbowman]

I cool and get the hide of as soon as I can. Quarter, bag and get in the fridge at 35 degrees +_. I have let them go up to 9 days with no problem, but I shoot for 5-6.

[Roughrider]

How long the meat is aged depends primarily on the temperature at which it's aged.  Fresh meat may keep 48 hours in 70 degree weather, and 30 days or more @ 34 degrees.  If it's cold enough to freeze, it will keep for weeks - though it will dry out and doesn't really "age".

I love the taste of fresh venison, and also of well aged venison.  Proper aging changes the texture of the meat and the taste.  I would say the texture is like a fine aged beef filet, the taste is like fine aged cheese - a slightly enhanced, smooth, mellow, taste.  

As the meat ages, the color will also change - it will be more of a deep merlot red, rather than fresh meat red.  The meat will also loose some moisture.  

Take some well aged venison, dip in seasoned flour and fry in a hot pan.  Serve covered with butter sauteed mushrooms and beverage of choice.

[Cootling]

I don't know how many deer I've processed and eaten... lots and lots: some very good, some not so much.  And I've tried to find some common denominator that separates the best ones from the others.  I can't.  I've come to believe there is enough individual variation among deer that aging is a fairly minor contributing factor to quality of the final product.

[graybarkhunter]

i've let'em hang for up to three weeks before... honestly, i forgot that i had one hanging in our walk in cooler(37-38 degrees) for that long and mold was growing on it. i decided, what the heck, and cut the mold off and threw the backstraps on the grill cooked to medium rare and you could cut it with a fork it was so tender. i at least let it hang a week, two weeks at best

[Friends call me Pac]

Well my deer are still walking around in the woods and have aged about 2 months.    

When I do finally get one I like to let them hang about 4-5 days with the hide off.

[Mick]

Once upon a time in my twenties, I hung a hock in the garage and visited it every couple days with a plate and a boning knife.  Scrape the mold off and cut a steak or two.  It was all gone after about 2 1/2 weeks.  The temp was perfect though.  Never over 40 and hardly freezing at night.  YUM!  I'd do it again if the temps were right.  I have also paid a processor to hold my deer in his walk-in for a week to age before I took it home and cut it up.  Yum! as well!  

[sagebrush]

Deer and elk that I kill get cut up immediately. I carry a cooler full of ice in my truck. If I can manage it I will put them in the freezer the same day. They taste good to me. Gary

[Cottonwood]

Originally posted by Jeff Strubberg:
I've quit ageing venison.  We package two or three a year for family and friends and if the meat is clean and well-drained, I don't find any difference between aged and non aged meat.

Beef we hang for two weeks.  Deer we cut up immediately.

   

[madness522]

I grind all but the back straps so if I have time the same day I'll do the grinding if not then the next day.

[Ray Hammond]

We keep ours at LEAST a week in a walk in cooler it definitely tastes better

With hide on you don't get a bark on outside

[Bonebuster]

If temps are right, I keep them hung for about 5-7 days. If not, they go on ice for at least a couple days.

I personally believe it makes for better eating, even if it all gets ground up.

[longbowben]

About 4 1/2 to 6 years just depends how smart he is, or how lucky i am.  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

dont shoot and you dont have to age  :rolleyes:    

[Longspur77]

I recently got one out of the cooler(38degrees)that had been in there for 21 days. It had mold growing on it about an inch thick. I proceeded to trim the mold off and throw it on grill and in crock pot with the hind quarters. The result was unbelievable. I cut the strap with a butter knife it was so tender. THis is the only way i will do a mature bucks back strap.

[FAV 52]

I have been a Meat cutter for 40+ years so have had more than a little experience with this subject. Each person has a different taste in meat so ageing is more a matter of taste . In a cooler that is kept at a constant temp of 38 degrees the chemical break down of the meat is over 72 hours any thing after that is decomposition or ageing of the meat. Ageing will alter the taste and texture of the meat . To me personally meat of any kind is better fresh by that i mean when the meat is cooled completely through it's time for some hot grease .

[Boone the Hunter]

had one freeze on me last year in my garage when the temps got in the single digits in december.  Didn't get to it till it thawed in february, my wife was a little bothered by the headless skinless animal hanging upside down next to her car all winter but it tasted delicious!

[SOLDIERII]

At least three days in ice water

[South MS Bowhunter]

How bout them Mississippian's! A little mold never hurt anyone