Deer questions- Graphic

[JulieNKC]

I'm not sure where to ask, but guess this is as good a place as any.

I was taking hubby to work this morning and about a mile from the house I saw a car pulled over and a deer on the side of the road twitching. Dropped hubby off and came back. The police were there so they wrote me a statement, told me I could have it.

No sense letting a deer go to waste. I have eaten deer, but it's always been taken to the processor and I've never personally hunted. I don't have the money for the processor right now, so hubby is going to do that. I removed the guts

and have it hanging now. From my kids swingset, and I had to drag it up there with my truck. Pain in the butt with only my mom and 2 year old to help, lol. How long can/should it stay there? It's cold out, and supposed to stay in the 30's until this weekend I think. I remember being told to take out the scent glands, but read that's an old wives tail and they can stay in until it's cut up. True or not? Any tips or anything I should know? Recipes for deer summer sausage?

Thanks!

 

[big medicine]

With weather staying in the 30's you have time. I might hang a sheet or someting if the sun is getting too bright on it. You will likely do more harm than good messing with the glands. You might have issues with dogs or critters hanging that low over night.

 

[JulieNKC]

Quote:
That was the only place I could find and actually get it up to so it wouldn't just be sitting on the ground. Hubby can move it once he gets home.

I did the nasty part, the rest is up to him, lol. Thank you, we have a couple of extra tarps, I'll go put one over it.

 

[TinyChickenLady]

I agree with big medicine.
My Dad does a lot of critter cutting and usually that's all he does. He guts it then hangs it for however long he wants. As long as it's cool out, the deer will be fine but I would also bring it up higher so that it can drain better. You're gonna want most, if not all, of that blood gone before cutting.

 

[JulieNKC]

Oh, I forgot to add that it's still hanging in that spot but by it's neck now. I wasn't going to field dress it so I just hung it and was letting it bleed out. Then I figured hubby hasn't ever field dressed a deer either. I have at least processed chickens ( he hides, says he is busy, but he hides cause he's a softie and doesn't want to watch chickens die, lol) so I figured I was a little more familiar with the insides of an animal at least. Plus sooner's better than later as far as getting nasty parts out. So I took it down and gutted it, then hung it back up by the neck. There are taller trees he can hang it from if he doesn't get to cutting it up tonight. I can't reach them, and I'm not all that strong ( I had to use my suv to pull it that high even), and I had a 2 year old "helper", so that was the best I could do at the moment.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We never removed the scent glands, and would hang them for up to two weeks - deer season was 9 days long so if you got yours on the first day Saturday, it hung on the meat pole till you went home the next Sunday and then processed it the next weekend. As long as it still has the skin on the meat shouldn't dry out.

You should prop the back legs apart with a stick, and wash it out with water to make sure you got all the nasty out. Leave it hang with the body cavity propped open. That will allow the meat to cool down faster - warm meat will turn rancid fast.

I don't know if that picture is before or after you gutted it, but make sure you got the lungs and heart out from behing the diaphram - some people don't go into the chest cavity. You should have it split all the way to the ribcage.

There may be alot of bruised meat on a road kill, anything that looks bruised/blood clotted will taste bad and should be tossed.

 

[Darin115]

Looks like you did fine. You removed the internal organs. The guts will hold the heat in and make the meat spoil. If you get them out and the temp is in the 30's you are good to go. I may have draped something around it. The hide will keep everything unwanted out. Just make sure there are not dogs or other animals get to the deer.

I generally skin and quarter the deer that I kill. I then place them in large stainless steel pans and let them set in the fridge 3-4 days with a garbage bag over them. I push the bag down tight over the meat pushing as much air as I can out. This lets the meat drain and leaves you with less blood in the meat.

If I grind burger I will cut it all up one night. Let it sit again in the fridge another night. Grind the next night. Let it sit another night and package the 3rd night. It is amazing how much blood comes out of the meat each night.

Darin

 

[wyoDreamer]

Quote:
That was the only place I could find and actually get it up to so it wouldn't just be sitting on the ground. Hubby can move it once he gets home.

I did the nasty part, the rest is up to him, lol. Thank you, we have a couple of extra tarps, I'll go put one over it.

Don't tarp it too tight, you want to have room for the air to flow around it. Right now you want it to cool down, so if you can hang a tarp in front of it on the sunny side that will keep the sun from heating it up and still let the meat cool down.

 

[geoff40]

Julie
Hang it head up first of all (when you can get some help with it, no dire emergency). As for how long to cure, the meat you buy will spend a week or more curing in a cold room. As long as the temps are in the high 30s low 40s, you can cure the venison for a week and it'll be fine. Keep it out of the sun, keep it high up away from opportunist creatures. Try to get it up higher off the ground if you can. Or inside something like a shed, which will both keep the sun off it and keep animals away.
I have a metal pulley I bought at a hardware store, similar to a clothesline pulley, but it'll hold 600 pounds. There is a looped hole off the top of it, which is for placing it on a screw in hook, which is attached to a tree I use to cure venison. A couple of people with a nylon rope can easily pull the deer up several feet off the ground.

 

[big medicine]

Quote:
That was the only place I could find and actually get it up to so it wouldn't just be sitting on the ground. Hubby can move it once he gets home.

I did the nasty part, the rest is up to him, lol. Thank you, we have a couple of extra tarps, I'll go put one over it.

Don't tarp it too tight, you want to have room for the air to flow around it. Right now you want it to cool down, so if you can hang a tarp in front of it on the sunny side that will keep the sun from heating it up and still let the meat cool down.

Agreed, a tarp, especially a dark one draped directly on the carcass will do much more harm than good. Provide shade, while still providing air flow, allowing the carcass to cool and prevent solar gain as it were.

I believe there are some decent videos on home meat cutting out there.