Late Season Blacktail Archery 627

[fishnfur]

Way to go man!  Good to see you got it done.   Hard to tell how much she weighs from the photo, but she looks mature, so the range could be from 100 ish to maybe 140 max.  If you weighed all the meat that you took off her, you can find calculations to determine the pre-butchering weight through a Google search.

[Lefthook]

Good job! Way to hang in there and not let your guard down at the end of the day, literally. She is definetly a mature doe, a trophy with a bow for sure and a great amount of meat. Hard to estimate her weight from the pic, 130 maybe, just a guess.

[Satyarain]

Thanks! I've been loving the experience all the way


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[Tbob]

Nice job man! Those are not easy to take with archery equipment! Way to stick with it and get it done! That will be some good eats right there!

[Tbob]

Being this is your first deer, how did the process go for gutting and breaking her down? Just curious.. Did you do it solo or have an extra hand?

[pd]

congrats
kitsap is not easy

 

Welcome to the Kitsap blacktail club.  It can be a frustrating experience, let me tell you.  Savor this hunt, but do yourself a huge favor: Put your boots back on, and start scouting right now for next year.  Why?  Now that the leaves (especially the broad leafed maple) are down, it is much easier to find game trails.  Put in a lot of hours between now and March---look for trails, but especially for where trails cross other trails.  Also look for rubbed brush---this is where the bucks will be come late October next year.  Get to know 2 or 3 completely different areas (Plan A, Plan B....).

[huntingbaldguy]

Nice work.  Kitsap is a good unit, tons of deer.  Problem of course is lots of people too.  Peoples every day schedules effect many of the deer on private property and what time of day they will be out and about.  That said blacktail aside from rut time, are just inherently nocturnal.  You stuck with it though, and that's what it takes.  Can't get one if you don't spend time out there.

[Satyarain]

I had a buddy help me with field dressing (who's property I was hunting)

My dad and I skinned it in our daylight basement hanging up. He had never done it either.

I hung it for 4 days at about 42 degrees and the meat dried out a  bit more than I would have liked. Especially the lower legs/shanks.

Any suggestions for hanging time without meat drying out?
I ended up cutting a lot of roasts, some steaks, and burger meat, along with pieces of blackstrap all frozen.


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[Encore 280]

If the temp is cool enough when hanging just leave the hide on if it's only going to be a short time then only the inside of the rib meat dries a bit but cut the tenderloins out so they don't dry.

[bur04024]

No need to "hang" wild game meat, I was taught this from a gentleman who was a professional butcher and an amazing hunter. His garage was like a professional meat processing facility each year with his game animals harvested and those of family or friends who dropped by to get help processing theirs. He explained that since deer and elk have little to no fat marbleing in the meat, the meat will not have the same amount of enzymatic breakdown that takes place from hanging. The highly marbled livestock have greater amounts of natural enzymes along with the proper meat structure to benefit from hanging and or "dry aging". So bottom line, just hang to cool the meat then process it. Hanging it just dries out the meat more because the lower fat content can't protect the meat from drying out (which makes it more tough).

[Crunchy]

I typically hang meat for at least few days just to get organized prior to butchering.  Usually for late season archery, I can hang it outside or in the shed.  This year's deer I hung for 10 days, and the meat cut just fine.  I have never noticed the meat drying out, and it seems very tender to me.

[fishnfur]

Here's the recommendations from Clemson University, which follows pretty much every other recommendation I've ever seen:

Aging Meat: Aging meat is the practice of holding carcasses or cuts of meat at temperatures of 34 to 37 °F for 7 to 14 days to allow the enzymes in the meat to break down some of the complex proteins in the carcass. Aged meat is often more tender and flavorful. Do not age any game carcass if it was shot during warm weather and not chilled rapidly, if the animal was severely stressed prior to the kill, if gunshot areas are extensive, or if the animal was under 1 year of age. Aging is not recommended for carcasses with little or no fat covering because they may dry out during aging, and are more susceptible to deterioration through microbial growth. If the meat will be ground into sausage, aging is unnecessary.

-Leave the hide on and maintain the proper temperature when aging a carcass. Aging game that has been skinned often results in drying and high weight loss. For this reason, properly chilled game should be aged with the hide on unless it is to be aged in a cooler where humidity is high. If you do not have the proper cooler space, spoilage or dehydration may result.
-Do not trim fat from game meat before it is aged because the fat protects the meat. However, fat should be trimmed after aging to avoid undesirable flavors associated with the fat.
-Limit aging to a maximum of two weeks at 34 to 37 °F. At this point tenderization slows down, and bacterial slime develops which then must be trimmed.
-Cold shortening, which causes meat to be tough, occurs if the internal muscle temperature drops to 32 °F within 12 hours after the kill, such as if carcasses under 100 pounds are slaughtered when the temperature is below freezing. Frozen carcasses should be thawed and aged at 34 °F for 14 days.

[Satyarain]

It went well;I had varying degrees of help
 Some of the meat dried out. I hung it at 42 degrees F for 4 days in my basement with an industrial fan running for airflow.

Any suggestions for how to hang it better/differently.
FTR the skin was off


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[BlacktailBowhunter]

Congrats on your deer.

I sent you a pm before reading the entire thread.