Meat handling after the kill

[Loneaggie]

Used to do direct ice, now I do everything dry. I put a layer of ice in cooler, wrap each quarter/cut in a plastic back and lay it on ice, then I place a layer of cooler shock packs on top of that (phase change in the 20s instead the 32 of ice). If my cooler shock packs have thawed I'll just do ice over the top.

[Smart]

Interesting the way this thread has gone. I'd be willing to bet the keep-it-dry crowd also wear gloves to process deer because of "bacteria" and the ice crew does not, just a guess. I think a little dirt and bacteria are good for you. [emoji2]

At the end of the day, as long as you're not wasting your game meat with your process, it's all good!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I ice and wear gloves. [emoji41]

Not for bacteria but to make hand cleanup easier.. got tired of diggin **** out from under my nails and in the cracks of my skin.

[AntlerCollector]

When we first got our place in Rocksprings we had shot a couple axis does one winter evening, and decided to just let them hang all night. Being from down on the coast, we are not used to freezing weather that is common to Rocksprings in the winter time. We came out the next morning, and they were frozen solid. LOL. They stayed frozen the rest of the time we were there, and we had to quarter them up with a Sawzall.

Didn't need any ice for that ride home.

I hunted in Brady many years ago during a very cold snap. Left a deer hanging in a tree 3 days. It froze solid every night, and never thawed enough to bleed during the day.

[Reaper]

I ice and wear gloves. [emoji41]

Not for bacteria but to make hand cleanup easier.. got tired of diggin **** out from under my nails and in the cracks of my skin.

I'm not completely stubborn, I have adopted gloves for working on anything with motor oil, otherwise the cracks in my hands are black for a week, no amount of gojo removes it.

Honestly I've considered gloves for dove. Their blood is like super glue in my nail beds [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Tom]

if you have only one way that you will use then you don't get very far off the road.

[Tom]

[QUOTE=AntlerCollector;14438962][QUOTE=Smart;14438188]So you are placing your deer in sterilized bags you get from? Or just regular ol trash bags? That's not very sanitary...

No thanks......too much effort and bones poke though bags too easy anyway.......90% of it will be burger, sausage, or jerky so I'll just keep doing it until it kills me I guess..







They are only "trash" bags if you put trash in them . Nothing unsanitary about a clean plastic bag. I don't recommend trash bags though

These are the best type of bags below. Also if you can use dry ice in your cooler it's much better to keep the water off the meat.





Have you actually used these??? they are not water proof so throwing you game in here and then putting it on ice will not keep them dry.

[Smart]

Meat handling after the kill

I'm not completely stubborn, I have adopted gloves for working on anything with motor oil, otherwise the cracks in my hands are black for a week, no amount of gojo removes it.

Honestly I've considered gloves for dove. Their blood is like super glue in my nail beds [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Same. I keep a box in my truck all the time. I use them if I need them. They shine while dove hunting ..[emoji23][emoji23]. Take the gloves off and go back to drinking beer.

[critter69]

Much of your grocery meat is wet aged because it takes less time and has less loss. Both have there place. Some of our game is dry aged and some is wet aged. it just depends on the circumstances and how much room we have. True dry aging is a long process of at least a couple weeks and likely a month with temperature control and air circulation. If there's time I'll do that but usually I'll either let some rest in the fridge and turn it every day for a week or leave it on Ice for a week. Our deer here aren't that big. If you do a true dry age you'll have a significant loss of meat.

Now ducks and pheasant, hang for 2 to 4 days depending on the birds age, pluck, gut and then process.

You don’t have to age venison, it does not have the fat content beef has, and is as tender as it’s going to get as soon as rigor mortis sets in. Within 24 hours. We have done numerous tests and aged from 1 day to 14 days and no one could find a difference. And that’s people that eat venison regularly, and some that have not eaten venison before. But it’s not going to hurt anything, other then drying out some and loosing some meat to that. Or becoming “ bland” if soaking in water. We all get accustomed to different ways of “processing “ them. I have tried the water, ice a lot of times, and it would have to be a bad situation for me to do it again.

[Skinny]

I spray mine off when I finish skinning it to get rid of any hair or dirt that might be on the meat. Then I put it in the cooler and put ice on top of it. I pull the drain and keep ice on it for 3-7 days.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

This is what I’ve done with deer, pigs, antelopes, yaya yaya. It works.

[Bear Charge]

Just keep it cool

[Hunteraudit]

Probably get bashed for this but people that say putting it on ice / washing it are almost always people that have easy access to a walk in. I do have access to a walk in and I don’t care if it’s on ice or not. There are people that try to justify hanging one in a Texas climate by saying “it’s junk if you ice it”. Common sense meat care does the same either way IMO.

Absolutely pull the drain plug and check to see if it needs ice daily.

[Antlers86]

Mine has been in ice for 13 days now. Deboning this wknd. Never had an issue and taste great.

[Skinny]

Probably get bashed for this but people that say putting it on ice / washing it are almost always people that have easy access to a walk in. I do have access to a walk in and I don’t care if it’s on ice or not. There are people that try to justify hanging one in a Texas climate by saying “it’s junk if you ice it”. Common sense meat care does the same either way IMO.

Absolutely pull the drain plug and check to see if it needs ice daily.

Huh?

[critter69]

Freeze a bunch of water bottles and line the bottom of your cooler with them.

Won’t get your meat wet like melted ice will and will allow the blood to drain without your meat sitting in it.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This way works great ! Then just keep replacing with frozen ones and freezing the ones as they thaw. And you can quarter them in the field and have the cooler in the side by side or truck. And get them cooled down so much faster then transporting them back to the house, camp.

[critter69]

Probably get bashed for this but people that say putting it on ice / washing it are almost always people that have easy access to a walk in. I do have access to a walk in and I don’t care if it’s on ice or not. There are people that try to justify hanging one in a Texas climate by saying “it’s junk if you ice it”. Common sense meat care does the same either way IMO.

Absolutely pull the drain plug and check to see if it needs ice daily.

Huh ?