End of a great week!!

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Mike Koneski

Always vacuum packed. This doe will be backstraps and t-loins, trail bologna, hot dogs, maple breakfast sausage and regular country breakfast sausage.

I only need the T-loins and backstraps, thanks anyways.

[Big D]

Sounds to me like many of you guys are missing a good bet by not hanging the deer for 2-3 weeks. All your store-bought beef has been hung for a long while

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by John Dallas

Sounds to me like many of you guys are missing a good bet by not hanging the deer for 2-3 weeks. All your store-bought beef has been hung for a long while

By all means hang yours as long as you wish . Thank you just the same I’ll keep following my usual procedure . If I only killed one or two each year I might be more receptive , most years I take atleast ten with some years double that or close to it . You leave that stuff hanging for two weeks it could be six to twelve hanging at once . The fact that I don’t have an indoor place to hang them plays into that as well .

[Mike of the Mountain]

Taking deer during our archery season is not conducive to even hanging a deer overnight. Much too warm and the deer will spoil just overnight. If one has a cooler to hang them, then that’s a different story. That said, we have one in the planning stage. 😁

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Mike Koneski

Taking deer during our archery season is not conducive to even hanging a deer overnight. Much too warm and the deer will spoil just overnight. If one has a cooler to hang them, then that’s a different story. That said, we have one in the planning stage. 😁

I know a guy in southern MD that bought a straight truck that had a working refrigerator body on back but the truck motor was popped . He drug it home and parked it beside his shop where he could run a electrical cord to the the frig unit thing worked great . We were gonna buy one of those six piece deals four walls a roof and a floor with a small refrigeration unit . Mostly for June thru august but I know darn well we’d have crammed them in there and been in a situation where we had it filled and needed to get Uhm done before killing anymore . Actually it’s not hard to build one from scratch . Make a not to large box building of maybe 8x8 inside insulate it well I’d do it with white styrofoam then cut a window to fit a medium size air conditioner and you’re good to go . That would work well where your dog kennel thing is beside your house Mike .

[Tenth Legion]

Aging in a walk-in cooler has been a tremendous solution for our processing. A 12,000 BTU air conditioner and a CoolBot set at 37F. Fired it up mid September for moose and bear and it’s been running ever since. Located in daylight cellar with adjacent processing room. Solved so many issues and vastly improved our quality. We’ve always considered game processing “part of the hunt”, now it’s an enjoyable part. Yuengling seems to be the amateur butcher’s beverage of choice (not sold in Maine) so we rely on friendly southern smugglers

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

I know a guy in southern MD that bought a straight truck that had a working refrigerator body on back but the truck motor was popped . He drug it home and parked it beside his shop where he could run a electrical cord to the the frig unit thing worked great . We were gonna buy one of those six piece deals four walls a roof and a floor with a small refrigeration unit . Mostly for June thru august but I know darn well we’d have crammed them in there and been in a situation where we had it filled and needed to get Uhm done before killing anymore . Actually it’s not hard to build one from scratch . Make a not to large box building of maybe 8x8 inside insulate it well I’d do it with white styrofoam then cut a window to fit a medium size air conditioner and you’re good to go . That would work well where your dog kennel thing is beside your house Mike .

Craig, that’s the plan. Frame up, insulate, add an air-conditioner all in a corner of the lower pavilion. Already have electric in there so no biggie.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Jim Wescott

Aging in a walk-in cooler has been a tremendous solution for our processing. A 12,000 BTU air conditioner and a CoolBot set at 37F. Fired it up mid September for moose and bear and it’s been running ever since. Located in daylight cellar with adjacent processing room. Solved so many issues and vastly improved our quality. We’ve always considered game processing “part of the hunt”, now it’s an enjoyable part. Yuengling seems to be the amateur butcher’s beverage of choice (not sold in Maine) so we rely on friendly southern smugglers

I suspect if I had to deal with Bullwinkles or elk I’d have to rethink my practices a good bit . I used to drink one Bass Ale for each deer I killed after I’d finished making them into edible portions . Now since Bass was absorbed by AB they no longer see fit to import it into the USA .

[Andy]

I have read ad nauseum about hanging and aging deer and meat. I got a doe a week ago and the temps overnight in my barn were 34 and during the day in the shade were 40, she hung 5 days until it warmed up. Issue of course is skinning the damn things but I always hang and if I can't, I quarter it, wrap and place the hunks in a spare fridge for 1-2 weeks. I also hang pheasant, grouse and woodcock as long as I can. They do make little meat aging units but dang they're like $5,000. I have hung deer in temps up to 50 for 3-4 days without any issue at all. Try it, you'll like it. Of course my barn is north facing and in shade mostly and stays cools with air flow. The longest I've hung a deer was 15 days and it was fantastic, the weather was perfect. This will not be settled on this discussion I promise that. The non-hangers are close minded : )

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Andrew Sacco

I have read ad nauseum about hanging and aging deer and meat. I got a doe a week ago and the temps overnight in my barn were 34 and during the day in the shade were 40, she hung 5 days until it warmed up. Issue of course is skinning the damn things but I always hang and if I can't, I quarter it, wrap and place the hunks in a spare fridge for 1-2 weeks. I also hang pheasant, grouse and woodcock as long as I can. They do make little meat aging units but dang they're like $5,000. I have hung deer in temps up to 50 for 3-4 days without any issue at all. Try it, you'll like it. Of course my barn is north facing and in shade mostly and stays cools with air flow. The longest I've hung a deer was 15 days and it was fantastic, the weather was perfect. This will not be settled on this discussion I promise that. The non-hangers are close minded : )

I killed a rather decent 8 point buck the first day of the season a number of years back in the Poconos , temp that week never got above 15 . The morning I killed it I had it up in a tree behind the cabin within two hours of pulling the trigger and I’d say it was froze solid when I tied it off . Took it down five days later to head back to VA and it was a block of ice so to speak . I needed to use a hammer handle to get the hide off once back in VA . I caped that deer out to do a shoulder mount as well , without a doubt that was the most difficult skin/cape job I’ve ever done out of 370+ deer and ten bear ! Close minded perhaps , but you know not of what you speak until you put yourself in each individuals shoes .