Venison....

[Jared77]

Ours usually go a week all depends on the weather.

 

[ourflockof4]

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Are you sure about the not freezing part? Im in north central OH it's teen's for lows and mid 20's for highs the next couple days.

5-7 days is what I usually do, thats plenty long. I know guys that do it the same day, and then others that go 3 weeks.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I have it in the barn so it's not really exposed to the elements. The outer layer is half frozen but it would be totally frozen if it was outside... I have two dogs that would just love to munch on a deer hanging outside!

Are you getting any of Lake Erie's wrath down there? Man we are getting hammered... looks like we may end up with about 15 inches after tomorrow afternoon. What a pain...

 

[aka Rachel]

I'm so jealous

I will be getting my gun license soon, and would like to hunt eventually.

I have a really kinda dumb question tho. When you kill a chicken you bleed it out right away...the faster after death the better right?

So what do you do for a deer? After shooting it, bleed it right away in the field?

And if you gather a deer that has been hit by a car and killed ( i suppose alive but immobile would be ideal?) would it be edible if it wasn't bled right away?

With all the deer threads this q has been bugging me lol.

 

[booker81]

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Usually shooting a deer results in a whole lot of blood loss in one way or another. When you field dress them (aka gut them), you will find that out.

Think like a good bucket or so of blood in there, which is why it's important to learn to gut a deer carefully, since you cannot see your hands, and it's MIGHTY slippery in there. Gutting accomplishes moving a LOT of blood out and getting the guts and other yuck out, along with speeding cooldown.

Hanging may move some blood, but not too much. Some folks swear by hanging by the hindquarters, some by the head. I like gambrel hooks because I find it easier to cut them up.

Road hit deer edibility is more based on muscle damage. Usually one side or the other is iffy, if it's hard hit, it's usually not salvageable. Guts are a concern too - internal rupture does more yuck that blood in the meat. I like to do the step test - if I step on the ribcage and it's super squishy, it's a total loss - it took a heck of a hit. If it's solid, I'll take a chance and ask permission to take (I stop for car deer accidents and wait for the police so I may legally tag it). I don't pick up deer that I didn't see get hit (or was close by when it happened).

ETA: A stressed deer (or any critter) before death is a tough critter. Stress diminishes meat quality. The "ideal" car deer incident would involve a quick death for the deer, and minimal damage to the car. The longer they stress, the tougher the meat.

 

[ourflockof4]

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Yeah that helps a lot then. One of my buddies picked up a road kill deer for us last night and cleaned and skinned it for me. Its hanging from his tree so I now have a deercicle to pick up after work

We are getting a little snow, but not too much. I'm just a little southeast of Sandusky, so it's not too bad. About 3-4" on the ground when I left for work at 5am, but only a dusking at work (further south and west) Hopefully you have an easy way to clear it. I would for sure be getting that 6' snow blower that I've been eyeing if a was a little further east though....

 

[Beth G.]

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Hi, My husband and I have been hunting and butchering our own for 10+ for me and 30+ for him. We have a cooler with a temp regulator. We never let them hang more than 8 days. After that they tend to get tacky meat and the cavity gets really dried out so one can not utilize the ribs. If we are going to let them hang more than 4 days we take the tenderloins right out b/c they are the first to get all dried out. Congrats on the big doe! My buddy shot a doe that dressed out at 170. She was the biggest doe I've ever seen!

 

[chicknduck]

My hubby got a nice buck, the first day He hung it and cut it into large peices 2 days later we cubed it and trimmed up some roasts and ground it. He is very pleased. It was much better that he started the process on his own. Last year was the first time I processed one with him. I dont like dealing with the hair and hoofs. lol

 

[Mervin]

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If it was cold enough, we used to let them hang for 3-4 days. I've seen then hang as long as 6 days.

I'm not as into hunting as I used to. But I do have one in the freezer that keeled over dead from acute Honda poisoning. It totaled my mom's car, but there was surprising little damage to the deer. I made the mistake of skinning it hung from a tree real close to the chicken run. The hens got pretty worked up over the tidbits I threw into them.

 

[Beth G.]

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Poor car!!