Hanging Deer

[bow4elk]

I don't age my meat unless I have a walk-in cooler at my disposal.  Otherwise, I cool it as quickly as I can, then proceed butchering when I'm back home.  I keep the meat on ice in large coolers.  I cut and wrap my meat and it goes right into the freezer.  I've never had tough, chewy, or gamey tasting meat - including caribou, elk, antelope, deer, bear, etc.  Works for me.   Proper field care is essential in the end product, so hanging isn't as important, in my opinion.  Cooling the meat, keeping it free of hair and debris, and not running it through a bandsaw are of key importance.  Why anyone would want to drag bone and bone marrow through their meat is beyond me.  Beef fat adds flavor; wild game fat taints it.  I also remove all silverskin, sinew, and pretty much anything "white" off my cuts of meat.  Again, cooking game with fat left attached will taint the flavor.

My young daughters love wild game.  I was a proud dad the night my five year old said (with a mouth stuffed full of elk stroganoff), "Dad, I like to look at animals but they are more fun to eat!"  I couldn't have said it better.

[Moosehunt]

I have always been a proponent of aging meat when I take it out of the freezer, not before i put it in (leave it in the fridge for a day or two and let the enzymes in the blood start working)...unless it's larger game like moose.  There was a handbook written a few years back by the folks at WSU.  In it they described the aging process for various game animals.  If I recall, hanging deer sized game for long periods of time was not necessary.  As decribed earlier....proper field care, cooling and cutting is the key.  And I agree.....using a band saw to cut wild game does taint the meat.  I debone everything.  I also do not cut pieces into steak sized pieces etc until I pull out the package of meat to cook.   Reason being is that you are less apt to have freezer spoilage.  We wrap in plastic and then in freezer paper.  Never have any issues.