people using saws to cut the hams off of deer!!!!!

[Old Fart]

Aging game with the hide on serves only one purpose....To keep the meat from drying out.  Unlike beef or pork, wild game "usually" has very little in the way of a protective fat layer to hinder the meat from drying out. Kraig(and George) make a critical point...game is what it eats and no amount of aging or preparation can change that. The best wild game is usually the game that has been quickly cared for and frozen without regard to "aging". Unaged game is generally superior to improperly aged game. Without the proper facilities to do the job properly, why bother to age it at all. That's my 2 cents, skin it , bone it, and into the freezer as soon as possible. If you KNOW what you're doing, by all means age your game.

[hounddoggy]

The operator of the local "deer chop shop" once told me there was no benefit to aging deer past 4 days. I dont know enough about that to comment. I almost wish I hadnt started this post as The talk of venison is making me hungry!!!! 6 more weeks!!! Any of you guys have a "first deer celebration meal"? My wife has the kitchen smelling so good during october during deer deason. I cant wait for those days. An escape for this heat is also welcomed!!! 101 here in my part of n.c. today!! I usually prepare a few "backstrap steaks" opening eveing with a muscidine wine/ oinion/garlic/oregano/olive oil recipe along with mashed potatoes and some type of greens,and yes on this ocassion i will have a SMALL glass of muscidine wine from duplin winery. My kids love "deer tips" on rice with gravey. Also , they love country style steak with gravey but their favorite is the simple way of fried "pieces" with simply salt and pepper!!..My wifes roast are awesome and I CANT WAIT!!!!! i PICKED UP SOME INTERESTING TIPS AND I HOPE WE ALL HAVE A FREEZER FULL SOON AND LOTS OF MOUNTS TO DO......


GEORGE, HOPE THE FOOT IS FEELING BETTER!!

[Rebel]

seeing how you are live in the south like me i will tell you how we do it since it is so hot  after we shoot the deer skin and quarter and put in a cooler then fill with ice i usually leave mine in their for 5 or so days  i drain  every day and put ice on as needed                   oh and we dont field dress our deer and hardly ever gut them unless someone wants the ribs
i have had deer cleaned and aged many different ways and to me this taste the best

[buckfeverallyear]

  George i started cutting meat when i was 18. worked for most major gro. stores at one time or another and market manger for the best part of that.   I would think i know at least a couple of things about it. Note i didn't say all !.  I never said beef hung un-skent and aged whole in a cooler.  They are however or aged. most are processed as soon as slaughtered packed in a vacuum seal boxed and stored aka aging process beginning. Nothing is shot skin ed & shipped to your local store for you to buy  the next day. Those boxes will sit in there warehouse any wheres from a week  or 2. Then shipped to a distributor, these people sell to the stores. The same darn box may sit in there cooler a week or 2. Then it winds up maybe at a store were i know for damn sure it will sit a week. How many weeks is that? I would believe anyone  anywhere would call that ageing. That's the beef part, As for as the deer  reread post i didn't say hang with skin on either. I do let mine hang if at all possible. Gutted and SKINNED. I don't wish to get into pissing contest with you about something as stupid as what happens to a cow a slaughter house or the best way to handle a deer carcass. we don't all mount deer the same way, hunt the same way, or process or deer the same way. That doesn't make anyone here right or wrong just because you disagree, Just different. George your an older fellow like me. We both are set in our ways ,to old to change and don't really care to. maybe there are better ways to set eyes, skin deer, raise kids, etc. but my way has been good to me up to this point in life. Recon i stay with it.  Funny that  reminds me of two songs elvis- did it my way and joe walsh- lifes been good to me so far.




qote author=George link=topic=224517.msg1584909#msg1584909 date=1280018498]
BULL!!!

When is the last time you went into a slaughterhouse and saw a cow hanging in a cooler with the hair and skin still on? This is the same ignorance I see in hunters who think they need to salt the hide before they take it to the taxidermist.  That skin and hair form an insulation barrier that provides a wonderful environment for bacteria to grow. Stop playing with your ass, skin the deer immediately after recovery and THEN HANG IT if you must.  Better yet, take it to a competent butcher shop and let them do it without destroying half the meat.
[/quote]

[Porter]

I'm hungry.  It's deer season out here, but just in the coast.  We are way over crowded in cali, I saw 30 guys last weekend on the way to the most remore place I could get to.  2 weeks the mountains open up and that will be much better. 

[bullwhacker]

You only need a saw to get the rack off