aging a deer..

[DanielB89]

this may not be the place for it, but I wanted to get some answers... I am wondering exactly how long you guys age your deer after a kill.  

weather here is in the 20's and she is in a cooler with ice on her.  How long will she be good for?

what is the "ideal" aging time?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The nose knows.... 4-5 days on ice should do it, but use your nose...

[mangonboat]

Commercial dry aging of venison is done between 33 and 37 degrees, typically 5-8 days. Wet aging is more variable depending on methodology.

There was an excellent article in Forbes online magazine this week about a Texas purveyor of antelope meat that described their aging process. Because they are a meat producer, not a hunting outfitter, they have a mobile butchering facility, drive it out into the ranch lands to where they are harvesting, use sharpshooting rifles to drop the antelope where they stood, no running, then immediately process the game on the truck before it goes to a combined dry + wet aging that involves a total of 25-26 days. Apparently their products are pretty tasty.

[Pat B]

I've aged venison for up to 14 days. I have an old refrig that I use for this.

[huntingarcher]

I always go 5-7 days in a cooler with ice.Drain water daily and add ice as needed.

[Krex1010]

I've never aged in a cooler with ice, but I would try my best to keep the meat from sitting in bloody water. If the weather seems right you could hang her someplace where the meat will stay cool but not freeze.  I've hung deer in my garage for up to 2 weeks.

[John Scifres]

Did you read this?:   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=141852;p=2#000023

Did you search for "aging"?

Among many other threads, you will find this:   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=132969#000000