Hang at home or pay the butcher?

[docsven]

35ish is about the right temp but humidity is another factor.  If it is humid and 35, you can still get mold growing, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Most hanging is better at 35 and dry.  We built a dry aging cooler once for beef, and I can't say that it flavored any better than moist coolers do.  Make sure and release joint fluid, that will sour the hind quarters pretty fast.

[Jason]

Deer I hang at the most two days, but usually cut it up the next day, Elk I like to hang at least three to four days weather depending. If the temps are below 40 I dont worry to much about it, but if the temps are between 40-50 I will put a couple good fans on it, which works good. If the temps are above 50 I will pay a meat locker to hang.

[Heetor]

This is turning into a pretty good chain, interesting stuff on the DIY walk in cooler, I think I am going to start a post on ideas for building one of those.  It would be awesome to have a proper closet to hang a couple of deer in.

Made the sausage and burger this weekend and tried both, turned out really well.  The burger is pretty straightforward I trim the cubes to get every bit of fat and silver skin off of them and then grind them up with put 10% beef fat, only trick here is that I freeze them in .8 lbs packages instead of 1 full pound, as the burger you buy in the stores has about a lot of water in it so this gets me roughly the same size.

Making sausage is just fun, tried a new recipe this year which had basil and some dried romano cheese in it, came out really nice I might post the recipe here.  Tend to make a couple of smaller batches through the year as the meat seems to keep better in the freezer than finished sausage, and I am not sure about my stuffer operator, arm tends to wear out a little quick so smaller batches are better  

Jerkey will be next weekend, then I guess the off season officially starts  

[Blacklab]

lol child labor 

Great pic 

[Hawgdawg]

Hanging Deer is over rated. They age just as well in the freezer.

[csaaphill]

I guess whatever floats one boat. I hang at least over night I have also proccessed rightaway since the temps were warm. Deer I got this year was hung overnight and then taken to the butchers the next day. he let hang there for a week then boned and cut. tastes pretty good.

[lokidog]

Hanging Deer is over rated. They age just as well in the freezer.

WHere'd that freakshow deer come from?

[Elkrunner]

I never hang more than 24 hours.. I have cut up alot of deer warm and they were tender and tasted fresh.. Dont understand the whole let it rot for a week idea..

My dad always hung deer when I was a kid.  I started cutting deer up within a few days and can't taste any difference.

If I can't find the time, I just deboned them and put them in my extra fridge for a few days.

[swinters]

I never hang more than 24 hours.. I have cut up a lot of deer warm and they were tender and tasted fresh.. Dont understand the whole let it rot for a week idea..

My dad always hung deer when I was a kid.  I started cutting deer up within a few days and can't taste any difference.

If I can't find the time, I just deboned them and put them in my extra fridge for a few days.

I always hang them unless it's too warm.  A week is about right.  There's a natural enzyme action that'll tenderize the meat and give it a better flavor.  Your meat will be fine if you don't but the hang time makes a difference.  You want to protect the meat from flies, too - fly blow will ruin the meat.  I use all-cotton mattress covers (the ones that are full bags, not the ones that just cover the top of a mattress) but a lot of people say the synthetic ones are fine.  If you start to get a bit of mold it's not a problem - Just rinse it off.  I use a vinegar & water mix, something like 1/4 cup of white vinegar to a gallon of cold water, though I don't really measure it.  I have a well and pumphouse that stays around 40-45F inside and makes a perfect place to hang the meat when I hunt nearby and bring it home but wouldn't hesitate to hang it in my garage here (Thurston County) with our normal fall temperatures if I didn't have the pumphouse.   

[spin05]

Dad and I built a walk in (hang in?) cooler at his place. Its 5'x5' and insulated. We keep it cool with a window AC unit that I hotwired to run constantly and always cooling. It will go from room temp to 32° in less than 30min. I have to adjust the fin ice detector to get it just right. I can run it on low at that point and maintain 35°.

Thats  an awsome idea for a cooler............

[Tman]

I hung all mine at home this year, 6 days for deer in temps 25 to 45.  Meat is great, I actually got tender deer steaks this year.. If it was any warmer I wouldve had to have a cooler.

[jeepasaurusrex]

Dad and I built a walk in (hang in?) cooler at his place. Its 5'x5' and insulated. We keep it cool with a window AC unit that I hotwired to run constantly and always cooling. It will go from room temp to 32° in less than 30min. I have to adjust the fin ice detector to get it just right. I can run it on low at that point and maintain 35°.

Thats  an awsome idea for a cooler............

We put an electric hoist above the roof and fed the cable down though a seal in the roof. Easy to lift a deer up now.