good points by ILNH, I might add avoiding glands can't hurt, also a deer shot that has no idea it was ever hunted and dies qiuckly never has a chance to dump hormones, like a deer being chased or needs to be shot more than once. beef in good steakhouses is aged way more than 14 days but exact humidity control is essential. we used to hang deer 5-7 days in the garage with the hide on (to help keep it from freezing) and skinning then was very hard. skinned and put in a big walk in would be best, but who has that. 1/4's hung in a second/spare refrig works pretty good.
These are all great tips which I will try in this fall when I get my deer. The temperature in the past few years has been well above average, in the 50 range I would say, which myself and hunting partners thought was way too warm to leave a deer hanging more than a couple days. We would then hang in a walk in for 3-4 days prior to having it being cut up. Never in my wildest days would I have waited 2 weeks to have it cut up. We have never used iced up coolers and to be honest never heard of anyone ever using them. This is why I enjoy forums so much, sometimes I get great advice; however, there are times when it is not so great. Either way, I am going to try this in the fall as so many people can't be wrong.
Thanks again for the tips.
Cheers and safe hunting
Rob
The walk-in cooler is the ideal, but most of the viable alteratives have been mentioned. An ice chest, tilted toward the open drain will work as good as any thing, it doesn't freeze the meat but keeps it cold, the water drains away, might be a little bit of bleaching of color as the ice melts but doesn't seem to effect taste. When we use a big ice chest we usually put down a couple of inches of ice then lay the shoulders in 1st, then the back straps and last, the hams are placed in the stack. At one end of the chest a large stainless steel bowl to hold all the trimmings, neck, rib meat, even the tender loins are aged here. Cover everything, except the trim bowl, with all the crushed ice the chest will hold. As it melts down, you only need to add a little ice every couple of days till time to process Bambi. Outside air temperature obviously effects how often you need to add ice. An extra refrigerator in the shop or barn works just like a walk-in except rather than being able to age the carcass whole, it must be quartered so it will fit on the shelves, also a container to hold the trim for the sausage meat can be coverd with alum. foil to keep it from drying out. This is the time and place to share our thoughts and ideas, as CanadianBlackBears said, so we will do a better job next season. It's time for you turkey hunters to share some processing tips with us that only know how to fry a breast meat and feed the rest to the dog. Treefarmer
Well i bake my whole turkey. Then i debone everything left. Feed it thru the meat grinder. Add mayo onion ,celery ,salt and pepper to taste. Now you have turkey spread or salad what every you like to call it. Sandwiches for lunch.
My question how many pluck there birds. I skin the whole bird take less than a minuet to have a complete skinned and gutted bird.
With feathers on. Hang by neck-head
Open skin around neck (break the ends joint part of wings) pull skin down slit bottom open cut bottom of leg at joint.
Remember for us 50 is cold weather. We're hunting deer in the 80 and 90 temp range when Archery starts. Possibly during hurricanes- best to be on the ground at that point. Also the game wardens want to run you off and say your crazy. I am like come on i have a blood trail. I know hurricanes are for for surfing well they use to be when i was younger.
I used to pluck birds. Daddy had this bright idea of plucking after scalding. It worked but was time consuming. One of those habits I got away from after he died. I do like Ted, and hang them by neck and skin them. I cut out each 1/2 breast and vacuum seal and freeze for cutting into strips, battering and frying. the rest of the bird I take it and put the entire carcass(including heart/gizzard/liver) in pressure cooker and cooking it till it falls off the bone. I drain all the liquid off and freeze stock in gatorade bottles. better than any chicken stock you will ever buy. I freeze all the meat in bags for later use for chicken and rice, etc
And don't forget to save the wing bones to make your turkey calls
