Talk to me about hanging times for different kills

[pasotami]

OK - I'm from the school that you do not hang a deer (born in the deep south).
I'm not a schooled butcher and for years I hired a man to come and do all this for me - he is retired now so I'm left without a butcher. The closest ones are backed up for months and you never know if you get what you took and if it gets cut the way you want. SO....
My old butcher hung everything mainly because he was so booked up....
Small game (rabbits, birds, etc) - no hang time.
Deer - I did not hang - just processed as soon as I got him to the house.
Pig - no hang time.
Beef/Bison - I've been told that one should hang these for flavor (Talk to me about this)
Bear - butcher hung them - but there are not any right around me.... so I do not think I would hunt this but tell me anyways (I want to learn)
Anything else you can add...

[big rockpile]

Game hangs if we don't have time to mess with it or don't have Freezer space.I have killed Rabbits,gut them,let them freeze in the shed,when I wanted rabbit,go out get one pull the skin off,cook it up.

Deer have basically did the same,just cut off what I needed.I know one Guy that would wash his Deer out with a Salt Brine.I guess that would Cure it and give it an interesting taste.

big rockpile

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

we only hang till the end of the day then cut them in the garage that night
we used to hang for a few days till we could get them in to be proccecced
but we make no requirment of how long to hang

and meat has been good

what we do do is cut opening weekend and pack all the meat off bone in ziplock bags 1 and 2 gal untill thanks giving then grind thanks giving morn

opener is sat before thanks giving for us

both the proccesors i went to in the past started skining and cutting minutes afer you drug it off the tail gate and most were wanting you to be back for your meat in 2 days so their freezers wouldnt be full

[MELOC]

i prefer to leave my deer hang for 1-3 days. i have let them hang for as long as 5-7 days. as long as the temperature is in the 30's, i feel comfortable leaving them hang. i wish i had made it out the past two days as we have good hanging weather now. last week is was in the sixties and i had to process right away.

i know one processer who has refridgerated storage. if you give him a deer, you won't see it for at least 10 days...not my cup of tea.

[moonwolf]

Deer hang for a week with hide on. Ususally it's well below freezing at night when it's deer season and about low 30's daytime. If it's above 40, only hang for a couple days before processing.

[Steve L.]

My SO hit a deer with her car on 11/23. We blocked it out Sunday, 12/3 (10 days hanging). I shot a doe on 11/25, and blocked her out last night (9 days), because the forcast is for low enough temps over the next few days it have frozen her solid. These deer hung in the open, in a tree, the whole time. We had quite a bit of sun, and several days when the high temp was over 60°F. The meat is just fine. We're planning to finish cutting them up tonight. I've hung them for over a month, some years.

[pasotami]

Would this be the same if one went Bison hunting and Big Deer/Moose hunting?

[almostthere]

We have only had deer. Dh field dresses it and sticks a bag of ice in its chest cavity. Then at home he will hang it only long enough to skin and quarter it; it goes into the garage fridge for 3-4 days and then we process. My uncle hangs everything no matter what the weather, and my aunt has to go thru a lot of work to get out the gamey taste. Our deer have never tasted gamey and we have never had to do anything extra when cooking it except adding more liquid than we would for beef.

[big rockpile]

We had some squaters over by us,living in a small Camp Trailer.The bad thing going by there in the Spring was the skeletons of Deer still hanging in the trees that they had been eating on all Winter.

big rockpile

[pasotami]

I hope they ate what they wanted from them 'before' the flies came out.... you can't do that here - just the other day it warmed enough to have face flies on the horses and fruit flies in the kitchen.... I would think one could get really sick.

[Bearfootfarm]

I sometimes hang a deer overnight if its cold enough, but I prefer to do the aging in a cooler. I quarter them, salt it fairly heavily, put the meat in plastic bags, and ice it down for at least a week. I keep the drain open so it never sits in the water. This makes it tender and keeps flies out too. I put a thermometer in and try not to let it go above 40 degrees Small game I age a few days in the refrigerator

[PyroDon]

we seldom hang any longer than it takes to get the skin off . Then the meat is quartered and washed under cold water , Placed in the fridge overnight . The next day is devided up bagged or ground and baged and in the freezer .
We have never had complaints about the Gamey taste often found in hanging deer.
Our rule used to be two hours from dropping the hammer until it was in the freezer . Ive gotton lazy. I am however of the firm belief that cold water washing is a must.

[mink]

if its 40 or less here i like to skin them while their still hot , then cut the deer the next morning....i skin mine the same way as agmantoo posted earlier, works real slick...mink

[Hoosierdaddy]

Went to Quebec 4 or 5 years ago on a Caribou hunt. Placed the hide on quarters in the "Meat shack", basically a screened in shed. They had 60 penny nails sticking out of some logs on posts about 4' high, we just shoved the qaurters on the protruding nails. It got into the low 70's for an hour or two in the afternoon for 2 or 3 days, pretty cold at night. Somebody left the door open once and the flies laid eggs on everything that was still wet. We washed off the fly eggs in the nearby lake. Some of the first killed animals were in there for 7 days. We had zero spoilage and the meat was wonderful. I think it's safe to say, kept in the shade, 50 - 60 degree weather, as long as it gets cold at night, is no problem.

Brett

[mdharris68]

I think hanging an animal should directly correspond to it's age. Hanging allows a natural process to begin where the bacteria in the animal itself begins to break down the fibers in the meat. Older animals have tougher fibers and hanging for extended times will tenderize the meat. Of course you have to consider the outdoor temps, as everyone has mentioned. When you freeze your meat, this process is still happening, but at a much slower rate.

MY2CENTS

[travlnusa]

There was an interesting article in our local paper this past week. The writer stated that hanging deer does not age as beef does due to the lack of inter-muscle fat. He quoted a bunch of fact behind it that I dont recall, but it did make sense.

I will process that eveing, or the next at the lastest.

I also prefer to remove the hide as soon as pratical. I find it easier.

To each their own.

[hunter63]

I usually only hang them till dead.

Seriously, our deer are hung in ave 30-50 Temp for a max of the week season.

But have killed a large buck in at 8 a.m. and he was cut up in the freezer by 2 p.m.
Tasted just fine.

I not much for hanging, just long enough to get it cut a froze.