Wanted to get the OB to weigh in on this. I am going hunting this weekend with 2 kids and we will all probably take a deer to keep our deer freezer full for the next year. Usually if the weather is warm-ish, I have either hunted somewhere that has cold storage I can hang the deer or I just quarter the deer and put it in game bags and cooler.

This weekend, we will not have any cold storage, so I have to rely on the weather or ice.

We plan to hunt Friday evening through Sunday morning and go to the processor on Sunday. Here is the forecast:

Day/High temp/low temp
Fri: 47/32
Sat 50/33
Sun: 52/42

I would rather be able to just gut the deer and take it in without having to skin and quarter three deer. So, given the weather, what do you all think? (Some of this is dependent on when I take the deer, I realize). I have gotten advice from do noting but hang them, to put ice in the cavity (double bagged so no water on meat), to you have to quarter them and put in cooler.

I figured this is a place where I can get several people to weigh in.

With those temperatures I'd quarter and put in a cooler with ice.

My personal rule is max 40 degrees for hanging and only hang over night….over that I skin, quarter and cooler. At those temps, you can probably hang afternoon kills, but not morning kills.

I would definitely quarter and cooler on ice. Not only is it the safest bet at those temps, you are teaching them kids to process the deer! Double win. 3x practice is a great start

My opinion, 24hr at those temps is fine. Wouldn't want to do multiple days.

Your risk is confined to Friday evening and Saturday morning kills. That is expected temps Saturday afternoon at 50.

Any fee taken Saturday evening or Sunday morning should be fine. I'd hang any deer I have by Saturday noon with ice bags in the cavities and should be good.

Why no water on meat?

Leg quarter in ice chest full of ice with the drain open is the standard go-to if you don't have an extra meat fridge or walk-in.

Recently I have used dry ice instead of regular ice.

YOU DONT NEED MUCH!! Maybe five pound max and double wrapped and under a towel to keep the meat from touching/freezing. But it keeps the meat water free from the melting ice.

Just a thought.

Show your kids how to quarter the first one and then drink beer and supervise the next two?

I don't think I've ever not quartered a deer I shot. What am I missing?

With a high of 52 during the day and near freezing at night, I will have to be the spoiler here and say you are good for hanging 2 or 3 nights, no problem as long as you gut soon and protect from flies. Have done it often, and this was the norm a few years back in deer camps all over the south. Just research some of the old stories and pics from the past.

Interesting read from Wisconsin:

Aging Venison In Warm Weather
Publication Date: 11/16/2001
Author:Ken Barnett, Field Crops and Farm Management Agent for Marathon, Lincoln, and Langlade Counties
Reviewer: No Reviewer, None
With the warm weather of the past two days, I have received a number of calls inquiring how long hunters can safely "age" their bagged deers in the current weather conditions. I wanted to provide you with some perspective on this in case you get some of these questions.

Aging is very important to improving the tenderness of beef, and may have a similar beneficial effect in deer. During aging, proteolytic enzymes that are naturally present in the meat breakdown or weaken muscle proteins, making the meat more tender. In beef, the greatest improvement in tenderness occurs during the first 7 days after slaughter, but beef is often aged up to 14 days in many of our smaller plants to improve tenderness.

I am not a deer hunter myself, but I work with a lot of small plants that process deer. I find that that some people believe that aging improves venison quality, and other feel that venison does not need to be aged. I guess it is up to the individual to decide for themselves, and this decision may be influenced by the weather conditions they face after the deer is taken.

Aging in a meat plant is done under controlled conditions of 35 to 40 F. In aging venison, hunters are at the mercy of the prevailing outside temperatures. From my experience, I would offer the following guidelines for aging venison.

1. If the temperature is between 32 and 40 F, deer should be able to be easily aged for 1 week.

2. If the temperature is between 40 and 50 F, aging should be shortened to 3 to 5 days. Since aging involves chemical reactions that go at a faster rate as the temperature getts higher, 4 days of aging aging at 45 F might be comparable to 7 days at 35 F. If the meat is frozen for a period of time, little aging takes place at this low temperature. Remember, it is the temperature within the muscle which determines how rapidly aging proceeds, not the changing outside air temperature.

3. From a food safety standpoint, lower temperatures are always preferred. I would regard environmental temperatures above 50F as getting into a higher risk zone. If daytime temperatures get above 50 F for most of the day, and there are not good prospects for cooler weather coming, the deer should probably be processed as soon as possible, or taken to a plant where it can be stored under refrigerated conditions.

4. Unfortunately the storage temperatures this time of year can vary from day to day, and cause a person to wonder how long they should hang the deer. The above advice should help in that decision. Remember that bacterial growth and spoilage are a function of time and temperature. A chilled carcass can withstand a few hours of temperatures around 50 F, but maybe not several days of it. Carcasses held at a desirable temperature of under 40 F may develop signs of spoilage if held there too long. Use good common sense, and keep an eye on the carcass for signs of spoilage, and the changing weather conditions.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind: * Undisturbed carcass muscles are virtually sterile, and bacteria growth occurs on the outside of the carcass where contamination has occurred through handling. Careful removal of the viscera and clean up of the abdominal cavity are important. If the hide remains on the deer, bacteria growth can only occur in the interior of the carcass and other exposed areas. Bacteria need moisture to grow, so as the carcass surface dries out, bacteria growth slows down.

* Deer will usually get well chilled during the always cool nights, and this will carry over and provide some measure of temperature control during the warmer days. To help prolong the low temperature in the carcass during daytime hours, store the deer on the north side of a building, or in a shed that has windows covered to prevent sunlight from coming in. Check the muscle of the deer with a clean stem thermometer to see what the internal temperature actually is.

* If a deer is to be processed primarily into ground meat and sausage, there is no reason to age. The fresher the meat, the better sausage or ground venison it will make.

Good luck to all the hunters, and let's hope for slightly cooler temperatures for the remainder of the gun season. The Nov. 15 forecast for Madison is for nightime lows around 30F, and highs around 50 F for the next two days -- a little warmer than we would like, but not the worst. Hunters choosing to age their deer may want to shorten up their usual aging period by several days.

Dennis Buege
Extension Meats Specialist

This. Main thing is to skin them and hang, preferably with a game bag over them. Lots of folks prefer to skin them, bag them and hang a day or two to age the meat a bit.

The expert just posted keeping the cost on prevents bacteria growth on the meat. Yet you advise skinning.

Seems to me of you skin you should finish and quarter.

I always skin, quarter, ice and flood cooler with water a time or two to wash out blood. Keep topped up with ice until i get home. Process in the kitchen.

How many raccoons near your camp? They are the reason I always quarter a deer and put it in a cooler, regardless of temps.

We always gifts and hung in the shade. If it freezes overnight you're fine.

I prefer quartering myself, but as long as the deer are in the shade they will be fine at those temps.

It was done for years like that.

The post from SA Ag is spot on.

I will just add this. I manage a processing plant. Bacteria growth stops at 42.6 degrees F. It is still there, just not active. Above that, it starts growing again and begins degradation. It doesn't have much growth until over 50, then it grows exponentially. USDA requires all our stuff to get below the 42,6 as quickly as possible and stay there. During the heat of the summer, our process room will get close to 50, but the meat temps will stay low enough for 2-3 hours as they are chilled to 35/36 before processing.

As above, if it gets down to the mid 30s at night, it shouldn't warm too much if air temps don't get over 50.

just wait and shoot them sat evening and sun morning and you'll be good

Don't waste, bring a cooler and qtr it. Be sure what you kill is taken care of.

He said handling and moisture create the bacteria.
We hang in the cooler at 38 for 3-4 days skinned. As long as it stays in the mid 40's we have hung them outside skinned with a game bag over them. We think it makes the meat better. Just the way we have done if for 40 years with whitetails and exotics. We had a sausage and meat company owner (Mertz Sausage in San Antonio) who hunted with us recommend that.
To me it's a lot easier to skin when fresh than after 3-4 days of hanging with skin on.
Even if we quarter it out we let the meat age a bit in the cooler....
If a client comes to hunt and it's warm and he is going to leave that day or the next we will skin and quarter and put in ice chest as you say.

OnlyForNow said:

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Why no water on meat?

Leg quarter in ice chest full of ice with the drain open is the standard go-to if you don't have an extra meat fridge or walk-in.

---

Meat that has been submerged in ice water turns a grayish color and won't have the same flavor as either dry aged meat or meat that is protected while aging (either with a bag or some other layer between the meat and the ice/water).

I used to be in the camp of leave it in the cooler and drain it/add ice daily, but not anymore. I've found that the meat doesn't have the same flavor and gets, for lack of a better term, waterlogged. Something closer to a dry aging process is way better - either in a cooler but with the meat protected from the ice and water or in a fridge where you can either hang the meat or place it on racks for a week or so.

Let me ask you this - would you soak a ribeye in ice water for a week before cooking it?

SanAntoneAg said:

---

Interesting read from Wisconsin:

Aging Venison In Warm Weather
Publication Date: 11/16/2001
Author:Ken Barnett, Field Crops and Farm Management Agent for Marathon, Lincoln, and Langlade Counties
Reviewer: No Reviewer, None
With the warm weather of the past two days, I have received a number of calls inquiring how long hunters can safely "age" their bagged deers in the current weather conditions. I wanted to provide you with some perspective on this in case you get some of these questions.

Aging is very important to improving the tenderness of beef, and may have a similar beneficial effect in deer. During aging, proteolytic enzymes that are naturally present in the meat breakdown or weaken muscle proteins, making the meat more tender. In beef, the greatest improvement in tenderness occurs during the first 7 days after slaughter, but beef is often aged up to 14 days in many of our smaller plants to improve tenderness.

I am not a deer hunter myself, but I work with a lot of small plants that process deer. I find that that some people believe that aging improves venison quality, and other feel that venison does not need to be aged. I guess it is up to the individual to decide for themselves, and this decision may be influenced by the weather conditions they face after the deer is taken.

Aging in a meat plant is done under controlled conditions of 35 to 40 F. In aging venison, hunters are at the mercy of the prevailing outside temperatures. From my experience, I would offer the following guidelines for aging venison.

1. If the temperature is between 32 and 40 F, deer should be able to be easily aged for 1 week.

2. If the temperature is between 40 and 50 F, aging should be shortened to 3 to 5 days. Since aging involves chemical reactions that go at a faster rate as the temperature getts higher, 4 days of aging aging at 45 F might be comparable to 7 days at 35 F. If the meat is frozen for a period of time, little aging takes place at this low temperature. Remember, it is the temperature within the muscle which determines how rapidly aging proceeds, not the changing outside air temperature.

3. From a food safety standpoint, lower temperatures are always preferred. I would regard environmental temperatures above 50F as getting into a higher risk zone. If daytime temperatures get above 50 F for most of the day, and there are not good prospects for cooler weather coming, the deer should probably be processed as soon as possible, or taken to a plant where it can be stored under refrigerated conditions.

4. Unfortunately the storage temperatures this time of year can vary from day to day, and cause a person to wonder how long they should hang the deer. The above advice should help in that decision. Remember that bacterial growth and spoilage are a function of time and temperature. A chilled carcass can withstand a few hours of temperatures around 50 F, but maybe not several days of it. Carcasses held at a desirable temperature of under 40 F may develop signs of spoilage if held there too long. Use good common sense, and keep an eye on the carcass for signs of spoilage, and the changing weather conditions.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind: * Undisturbed carcass muscles are virtually sterile, and bacteria growth occurs on the outside of the carcass where contamination has occurred through handling. Careful removal of the viscera and clean up of the abdominal cavity are important. If the hide remains on the deer, bacteria growth can only occur in the interior of the carcass and other exposed areas. Bacteria need moisture to grow, so as the carcass surface dries out, bacteria growth slows down.

* Deer will usually get well chilled during the always cool nights, and this will carry over and provide some measure of temperature control during the warmer days. To help prolong the low temperature in the carcass during daytime hours, store the deer on the north side of a building, or in a shed that has windows covered to prevent sunlight from coming in. Check the muscle of the deer with a clean stem thermometer to see what the internal temperature actually is.

* If a deer is to be processed primarily into ground meat and sausage, there is no reason to age. The fresher the meat, the better sausage or ground venison it will make.

Good luck to all the hunters, and let's hope for slightly cooler temperatures for the remainder of the gun season. The Nov. 15 forecast for Madison is for nightime lows around 30F, and highs around 50 F for the next two days -- a little warmer than we would like, but not the worst. Hunters choosing to age their deer may want to shorten up their usual aging period by several days.

Dennis Buege
Extension Meats Specialist

---

This is good and I will ADD a couple thoughts.
When you kill the animal he is going to be about 100 degrees.
Leaving skin on will protect the outside.
Without a mesh bag you can use fresh pine branches to keep birds other critters from messing with.
Hang in the shade and put stick in chest cavity to prop open.
The higher the elevations the better for higher temps and or longer times without risk of tainting.
Second not using water or ice that can melt unless you have to.
Remember humans have been eating meat for a lot longer than ice was available.
Have fun.

Yes and then deep fry it…

We both walked into that one.

Thanks everyone. Some good tips. Can always count on OB.

P.S. I appreciate people suggesting I teach the kids to do it. Great advice. My kids have helped clean plenty of deer over the years but anyone who has not done that yet, should teach theirs. The reason not to quarter is because gutting and hanging is way less work than skinning and quartering 3 deer.

schmellba99 said:

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OnlyForNow said:

---

Why no water on meat?

Leg quarter in ice chest full of ice with the drain open is the standard go-to if you don't have an extra meat fridge or walk-in.

---

Meat that has been submerged in ice water turns a grayish color and won't have the same flavor as either dry aged meat or meat that is protected while aging (either with a bag or some other layer between the meat and the ice/water).

I used to be in the camp of leave it in the cooler and drain it/add ice daily, but not anymore. I've found that the meat doesn't have the same flavor and gets, for lack of a better term, waterlogged. Something closer to a dry aging process is way better - either in a cooler but with the meat protected from the ice and water or in a fridge where you can either hang the meat or place it on racks for a week or so.

Let me ask you this - would you soak a ribeye in ice water for a week before cooking it?

---

No, but the big difference is you don't have many cut surfaces on a quartered deer, save for the back strap and tenderloins, and the fat layer and fascia will help slow water absorption.
The real key is to periodically drain off the water so the meat doesn't sit in the water. If you can put a rack in the bottom of the cooler to keep the meat off the bottom, that's even better. You have to do this a lot in the beginning while the meat is still hot, but once it's chilled and you keep the cooler in a cool place, you won't get much ice melt.

To the OP, I would have zero problem hanging a deer outside in those temps if I shot one in the evening. Once it is chilled overnight, as long as the sun isn't beating down on it, it will be fine. In the morning, and especially if I have to hold it for a couple of days, I'd be going to ice and cooler route.

Legend said:

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Wanted to get the OB to weigh in on this. I am going hunting this weekend with 2 kids and we will all probably take a deer to keep our deer freezer full for the next year. Usually if the weather is warm-ish, I have either hunted somewhere that has cold storage I can hang the deer or I just quarter the deer and put it in game bags and cooler.

This weekend, we will not have any cold storage, so I have to rely on the weather or ice.

We plan to hunt Friday evening through Sunday morning and go to the processor on Sunday. Here is the forecast:

Day/High temp/low temp
Fri: 47/32
Sat 50/33
Sun: 52/42

I would rather be able to just gut the deer and take it in without having to skin and quarter three deer. So, given the weather, what do you all think? (Some of this is dependent on when I take the deer, I realize). I have gotten advice from do noting but hang them, to put ice in the cavity (double bagged so no water on meat), to you have to quarter them and put in cooler.

I figured this is a place where I can get several people to weigh in.

---

I asked this of my processor, an Aggie butcher with an Animal Science degree. I was surprised when be said anything under 60 is fine.

Thanks for the info.