Aging meat down he'ah is done very cautiously. I have done it on game birds, but the trick here is to make sure it is cold enough to deter blowflies from "blowing" the meat, that is ... laying eggs on it. When that happens the eggs hatch and you have maggots. But, with the birds I aged I removed the entrails with a gut hook and hung them feathers on, by the head. I liked the result. As for deer, when I used to hunt them for sport I used local processors to cut them up and package the meat. I would always ask them to let the carcass hang in their cooler for about a week. Sometimes if they weren't real busy they would agree but other times, if they needed to get the carcass processed to make room for another, they would refuse. I really think it helps with venison.

Small game birds cannot be improved much by aging, IMO ... doves, quail, woodcock, etc. I love duck. I wonder if there is any benefit to aging ducks. I may try it.

The English were fond of hanging pheasant, a long time. I always loved the scene from Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, where he mimicked someone who said that the pheasant was "a bit high", or had been hung too long.


May God bless America and those who defend her.