OK your at your lease and you've killed a deer and quartered it along with straps and neck then you ice it down in a cooler. I generally like to keep the ice in bags and try to keep the meat out of water at the bottom of the cooler, other guys I hunt with have no qualms about just direct ice all over it and draining the bloody water and re-icing...using it as a way to bleed the meat. Is this OK? Any thought appreciated.

Personally i think its better to ice directly on it and drain bloody water. Usually do this 4 to 7 days then i take to processor

Second the ice directly and drain method.


But that's also just how I've always seen it done.

Pretty much this for me, too. Number of days vary by what my schedule is like, but it's a minimum of 3 days of direct ice in a cooler.

That's how I do any bigger game like deer/hogs. Quarter it out and keep ice on it for a few days. I usually drain the water at least once a day and put more ice on it as needed.

Lots of ice. Keep drain cracked so you aren't marinating the meat in water. Never understood the idea of soaking blood out. That's the fastest way to dry tasteless deer meat. I don't really think deer taste "gamey" either though.

I've always done the direct ice and drain the water daily for a couple days before processing it.

I'm lucky enough to have power and refrigerators where I hunt. I hate the brownish, pinkish meat after it's been on ice. That's how I did it growing up. I much prefer leaving it in the fridge for a few days then breaking it down. Makes for good looking red meat. If I have time, I'll bring it home and leave it in the garage fridge for a couple weeks. Cut off the funky outside and then you have lovely, dry aged venison underneath.

Just did the direct ice method in my yeti for 6 days. Deer meat came out frozen.

Lots of ice, meat on top of ice in top of cooler. Yeti, because I have lots of money and need to show this with my choice of coolers.

This brings up my question, do you guys trim the discolored meat or just leave it? I've always trimmed it but feel that I am wasting meat.

Thanks All. Icing it directly and draining the water and re-icing is what all the old-timers used to do at my place. I just never liked the idea of the meat sitting in water. Now I let the meat sit on a bag of ice and then put ice directly all over it and drain to keep out of water.

I don't like letting the meat sit in water and getting water logged.

I bought a section of wire shelving that fits in the bottom of my cooler, and keeps the meat about half an inch elevated. I put it in there, cover it with ice, and leave the drain open.

I could see making a brine and soaking the meat in that with ice, though.

Straps/tenderloin/"extra meat' go in zip-locks and the rest go directly on ice. I've gone two weeks before processing, but try to get it done in one week. Just keep it drained and iced. As someone said before, grab some wire racks to elevate the meat above the water in case you forget to drain the water one day.

once the meat has chilled, we quarter and place in cheap trash bags(not totally sealed) with a few frozen jugs. nothing worse than trying to work up slimey wet meat.

Since I am one of the "old timers" you speak of I have a 4x4 block I put on the end opposite the drain and leave drain open. Keep adding ice until you can get to processor. I suppose a big storage cooler or refrigerator to hold meat would be better. I am not fortunate to have one, so I use the ice. One thing for sure is make sure when you put it in first time you put ice/meat/ice/meat etc.
That way there is plenty to cool all the way through. Just putting meat in cooler and dumping ice does not work well. Need to layer ice and meat so it all gets cooled down.

Definitely trim it off. Even when you're losing meat it's better than having it waterlogged as mentioned above. A good SOP is don't keep anything on the meat that you would hesitate to cut off and throw on the frying pan and eat.

That's the biggest problem I find with the soak method. Water logged and slimy. You end up having to trim a lot off. It kind of can't be helped with the Texas climate and I don't see a lot of better options (other than a walk in cooler). So if I'm stuck in this position I'll bag ice and meat separately. When I get home I'll immediately put meat in fridge and let it firm up. When it's firm the meat is easier to Handle and you can control better the amount of waste you cut off when trimming.

At one point I had trays mad out of milk cartons that sat in the bottom of my cooler. It kept the meat elevated a few inches and just used direct ice. Probably what I will do again if I ever get around to it. Keep the drain open and your meat never sits in water.

I usually ice mine over night... and then do our own processing the next day.

montanagriz said:

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Personally i think its better to ice directly on it and drain bloody water. Usually do this 4 to 7 days then i take to processor

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This. Except take to a processor part.

Put about 3 or 4 inches of ice in the bottom of the cooler, meat on top, ice the void space. Elevate the end without the drain on a 2x4, crack the drain cap open so that it allows water to bleed out. Top off with ice as necessary over the next few days, then process. No water logged meat, no slime. Just good clean meat that has been bled out.

I freeze milk jugs of water to line the bottom of the cooler, bag quarters separately, then fill void space with ice. I don't drain as the meat is being kept out of the water... Typically don't have extra ice to add and my 75qt Aggie Kuer has been up to the task. I'll immediately fry the ribs (delicious) the same weekend for a nice snack and package the loins/straps separately.

CS78 said:

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Lots of ice. Keep drain cracked so you aren't marinating the meat in water. Never understood the idea of soaking blood out. That's the fastest way to dry tasteless deer meat. I don't really think deer taste "gamey" either though.

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Agree with you on the soaking but I have had some river bottom deer that were gamey compared with corn feed hill country deer.

CS78 said:

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Lots of ice. Keep drain cracked so you aren't marinating the meat in water. Never understood the idea of soaking blood out. That's the fastest way to dry tasteless deer meat. I don't really think deer taste "gamey" either though.

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I agree with your method however if you don't think deer tastes gamey enough I have some Mule Deer backstrap I'm happy to donate to your cause.

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other guys I hunt with have no qualms about just direct ice all over it and draining the bloody water and re-icing...using it as a way to bleed the meat. Is this OK? Any thought appreciated.

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This is exactly what we do. I've done if for many years. If you keep the water drained fairly often it is perfectly fine for a long time. I keep them on ice for at least 5 days and often longer.

Quartered meat goes into open cooler with garden hose running over it & drain open. This cools the meat down to outside/water temp quickly. After 10-15 mins, cooler is drained and topped up with ice. I like to process at home within 2-3 days. Wish I had the setup to dry age for a couple days/weeks...

do any of you put anything on the meat. old timers I used to hunt with would put salt or seasoned salt in to "draw the blood out"

Even had one guy that put Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning over the meat...that was one good smelling cooler of meat. Anyone heard of doing this.

My dad told me that his dad used to put venison in a bucket of salt water on the back porch when he was a kid in Nebraska. I've never done that, but it's just brining the meat, which I do with chicken and pork all the time. If you have the salt ratio right, you won't get the same water logged result as just water, and it could make your cooked meat come out more moist.

All I know is some of y'all put way too much thought into this.

For me I :

Put ice on the bottom of the cooler
Put meat on ice and layer ice as best as I can
Drain the cooler when It needs it add new ice

When I'm ready to grind it up I drain the cooler and buy a brisket and put it in zip locks

5 - 13 gallon white trash bags.

One quarter in each bag, with the 5th bag holding the BS, tenderloins, and neck meat/trimmings.

Ice goes on top. Ice chest placed in cool shady spot with one end elevated and the drain open until I get around to processing it. I try to keep the water off of the meat, and top it off with ice as needed. I usually process it over 3-4 days (a quarter each evening).

reveille23 said:

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do any of you put anything on the meat. old timers I used to hunt with would put salt or seasoned salt in to "draw the blood out"

Even had one guy that put Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning over the meat...that was one good smelling cooler of meat. Anyone heard of doing this.

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The amount of blood left in the meat is minuscule. You're just drawing out the meat juices that keep the meat palatable.

Put deer in cooler. I would suggest putting bloodier parts on bottom. Fill cooler with ice. Liberally sprinkle salt salt over the the ice. Then pour vinegar over that cup or more. Fill cooler with water. Close and let set overnight or at least a few hours. Drain and pour water on top to rinse the meat. Refill with ice. Either keep drain or drain twice a day. Keep meat fully covered in ice. Put backstrap and good cuts on top, That way you can take them out earlier if you want to. At least 5 days on ice. And process or **** me cut steaks and cut rest up in pieces and bag and freeze them to make sausage later. From FIL- over 40 years ago. Great taste!