doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com O.T. Aging game?

My deer hunt was rather short this year so I'm back home this morning with a nice-sized mule-deer doe hanging in the garage.

Since she was taken fairly close to the truck Wednesday morning (the opener) she is unusually complete (field dressed, but w/her hide still on). Before I go out this morning and skin and quarter her, i was wondering if there was any advantage to letting her hang for a while? Its been quite cool in Colorado of late, with snow on the ground here at the house and w/more coming this weekend (and next week). Normally, I'm pushed for time because of work and/or warm temperatures, but not this year.

What says the cognoscenti here?

Given proper cool temps in the garage (where I hang my deer), I like 3 days
Seems to break down the meat and make it better

Mike

Thanks Mike!

I'm reading 3 to 7 days with the hide on, depending on temperatures.

I have hung deer and birds a lot and I can't tell any difference until it goes too far and I do not like it at all. LL Bean expounded on hanging game in his legendary cookbook, and that is what got me to try it, though I never quite went all the way to hanging pheasants by the head until the head separates and the body falls to the floor. Apparently, that is a French thing and a ridge too far. But even before that point, I found pheasants took on a real "livery" taste that I do not care for. Now, when I am away from home, I shoot, butcher on the tailgate, vacuum seal on the tailgate, then flash freeze in my homemade ice chest in the back of the truck. At home, I do it pretty much the same, but in my shop. This year, I have been trying to eat more fresh game the day it is killed. Like fish, I think it is better that way.

Can’t argue with a few days temperatures cooperating. Larry Benoit, patriarch of the famous Vermont deer hunting family, liked to hang their bucks for weeks if memory serves me correctly. Thinking back, my personal average would be 3-4 days.

Brent: I've done it both ways.

With fish, no question, fresh is best. However, pheasants for me is now a no-brainer as they are much better after 4-5 days aging. I even age my ruffed grouse now (2-3 days in a refrigerator). As you mention, the Orvis cookbook (and even Rebecca Grey of Grey's Sporting Journal) argue for it in their respective cookbooks. I also performed a simple test last year to compare pan-frying grouse killed that same day with grouse that had been aged for a few days and it was no-contest. Both tenderness and flavor were greatly enhanced by aging.

Larger game animals are clearly different. Historically, I need to at-least partially process most animals in the field (deer/elk/antelope) in order to get them back to the truck (skinned & quartered) and...by the time I'm done with processing an animal the size of an elk, most of the meat has aged in the refrigerator for at least a few days anyway

This time I'm willing to try something different.

There are some guys over on the Hunt Talk Forum that are aging big game for a week or quite a bit more. Just not for me.

Nothing beats elk tenderloins cooked on an open fire while you are butchering out the animal minutes after killing it. Or a moose steak in a pan the night that you shot it. Like this one. The best steak I ever ate.



Location and context probably matters.

Aging removes moisture and concentrates flavor
Enzymes begin to break down the tissue

Do what you want, just be sanitary.

Some people get violent diarrhea from eating fresh venison.
Operative word being violent.

I've done some reading up on that Brent and, for fish anyway, it's better the day after you catch it, after the rigor has passed.

The Japanese, who I look to for everything fish, never serve fish as sushi the same day it's caught.

Now, I'm applying this only to saltwater fish, freshwater may be a different game. I would think fresh trout would not improve after a day.

Man, that moose steak does look good!

I shot my moose eight years ago and right now the very last piece, a 2 pound chunk of backstrap, is being cured in the refrigerator, similar to an Italian bresola.