Venison done time5/10/2023 (Note: If you do this without a drain plug, you’ll get the opposite effect - deer quarters that are essentially marinated in bloody, dirty water. Do this for at least two days, checking the ice a couple of times per day in especially warm weather. This not only keeps the meat cold, but purges an amazing amount of blood from it. The idea is to let the ice slowly melt and drain from the cooler. I keep the cooler in the shade with the drain plug open and on a downhill incline. I line the bottom of a cooler with a layer of ice, add my deer quarters on top of that, and then cover them with more ice. That’s too warm to let a deer hang, so icing them down is my only option. The mercury rises above 50 degrees on most days of deer season in my area. I’ve been told that aging venison on ice is a mistake, but I don’t buy it.** If you want to shoot one and it’s legal, go for it. But I am saying if a deer for the freezer is your goal, young bucks from the early season are usually good eating and have more meat than does to boot. Am I saying to whack every young buck that walks by? No. That young deer had nothing to do all summer except get fat. Deer that spend a summer munching on corn and soybeans have an easier life - and more fattening food sources - than those that spend a lifetime wandering the big timber in search of scattered mast and browse. The tastiest venison I’ve ever eaten came from a 1 1/2-year-old forkhorn shot through the neck near a picked cornfield during early bow season. I usually make hamburger, sausage, and jerky out of such animals.įor steaks, you can’t beat a young, crop-fed deer. ![]() ![]() Same thing goes for an old doe that’s burned all her summertime calories producing milk to nurse fawns. An old buck that’s spent a full autumn fighting, rubbing, scraping, and chasing does will be lean. Muscles get tougher with use and stringy with age. Old bucks are perfectly edible but rarely the best. Given the chance, most of us want to shoot a mature buck with big antlers. We’ve learned of practices that contribute to the health of a herd, including which deer to shoot. Modern deer hunters are in tune with deer herd management. When I find my deer and get it field-dressed, I plan on having it skinned, quartered and on ice within the hour. I live in a warm climate, and most of the deer I shoot in a season’s time are during early bow season, so I don’t have that luxury. In especially cold weather, some hunters like to age a deer in such a manner for several days (more on aging in a bit). On a cold night - in the mid-30s or lower - a deer can be left hanging skin-on overnight. Removing those organs is the first step in cooling the animal down. Learn how to field-dress a deer, and get to it ASAP. This process is accelerated in warm weather. Internal bacteria rapidly takes over after death, expelling gases and causing the animal to bloat. The animal is killed instantly, and the meat is uncontaminated by blood and entrails from the chest cavity. Some of the best-tasting deer I’ve ever had have been shot in the head with a gun. The faster a deer hits the ground and can be field-dressed, the better the meat will be. ![]() Ever had a glass of good-tasting acid? I didn’t think so. And while we know not to “push” a deer that’s been hit marginally, realize that the longer it takes for the animal to die and the farther it runs, the more adrenaline and lactic acid builds up in the animal’s system and muscles. In the real world of hunting, things happen. And some things will ruin the flavor, too. Some things consistently make venison really tasty. I’m only a self-trained butcher, but I’ve been processing five to six deer a season for the better part of 20 years. When it comes to cooking, I’m no Scott Leysath or Michael Pendley, either, but my wife, kid, and I do eat venison in some form two or three meals per week, year-round. But I’ve eaten some really bad deer meat, too. That statement is usually followed by a qualifier: it’s tough it’s gamy it’s dry. I’m often amazed at the people, deer hunters included, who tell me they just don’t like venison.
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