Crazy deer

[44man]

I had the dogs out this morning. I keep my little one on a leash but the other runs free, she is tiny, like a rabbit.
They always check the edge of the road and I seen some very large doe right across the road, gravel. Not more then 20 yards. I was coughing and talking to the dogs but the deer never bothered. There was at least a dozen deer. They just fed on what was there.
That means they would have passed my stand down in the woods long before daylight.
I could never shoot one like this, they are used to the activity at the yard. My dogs sat and watched the tails go up. They do not bark. The dogs in the pen barked but deer pay no attention to them either.
Then Carol seen 4 walk past the wood bin out back.
The deer have been hunted hard for a week, yet are calm at peoples yards. The wife talks to them all the time by the chicken coop.

[white eagle]

you are shooting her pets
shame on you

[44man]

you are shooting her pets
shame on you

Nope, I go down the road to kill other peoples pets!

[white eagle]

44
how long you leave yer deer hang before you butcher them
with or without the hide when hung ?
just asking

[P.K.]

<chuckle> Brings to mind a conversation I had with my brother last week. He's in a sunny patch of NC. He's been hard at it for a month now and no deer, then he's working in the garage one afternoon and his son taps him on the shoulder and points. A six pointer was peeking around the corner of the garage. #$@^%$$ he swears and the deer never moved. He and I concur they have developed some Jedi deer trick that lets them know when us silly humans are not armed.

[roverboy]

I don't know but it seems they expect to see, hear, and smell people around close to a house. But, when they're in their own "home" it freaks'em out bad. My $.02

[44man]

44
how long you leave yer deer hang before you butcher them
with or without the hide when hung ?
just asking

It has been warm but cool at night so I let them cool overnight.
I leave the hide on until I hang them in my garage, I hang at the barn first.
If it would stay near 40* I could let them hang a week but the temps have been changing too much.
It was very warm last night and today so I would not even hunt.
If the body temp leaves you can cut them. If it is too warm, skin them and put a cloth bag on it. You can stuff the cavity with bags of ice too.
I hate the rush to cut! Just get rid of the body heat.

[HammerMTB]

<chuckle> Brings to mind a conversation I had with my brother last week. He's in a sunny patch of NC. He's been hard at it for a month now and no deer, then he's working in the garage one afternoon and his son taps him on the shoulder and points. A six pointer was peeking around the corner of the garage. #$@^%$$ he swears and the deer never moved. He and I concur they have developed some Jedi deer trick that lets them know when us silly humans are not armed.

Boy do I know that feelin'
I hunted quite a bit this year, in antler only areas. There were antlerless all over, but the bucks seemed to know not to show up.
2 days before end of season, my buddy calls. He says there are bucks fightin' in my back yard. Well, his back yard is not legal, but right across the property line is OK.
So I go sit under one of his trees for the afternoon. Called. Rattled. Looked down in the trails and puckerbrush. I thought a doe was gonna walk up and sniff in my pocket.
Not a horn anywhere.
Within 5 in of my leavin' he calls and says, They're back out here at each other again.
Somehow they seem to know....

[fishnbob]

44
how long you leave yer deer hang before you butcher them
with or without the hide when hung ?
just asking

We used to leave the hide on and hangem for a week if we could keep an ice bag in the cavity with a canvas wrapped around it. Nowadays, we can kill so many, we just cut out the tenderloin or backstrap and cut off the hind quarters and throw the rest away or make coyote bait out of it. Then we hunt the coyote.

[white eagle]

It has been warm but cool at night so I let them cool overnight.
I leave the hide on until I hang them in my garage, I hang at the barn first.
If it would stay near 40* I could let them hang a week but the temps have been changing too much.
It was very warm last night and today so I would not even hunt.
If the body temp leaves you can cut them. If it is too warm, skin them and put a cloth bag on it. You can stuff the cavity with bags of ice too.
I hate the rush to cut! Just get rid of the body heat.

as far as aging how long in good temps would you leave them go
I have one that I just skinned today
was shot Sat.cool weather since then but just pulled the hide today
how long do you like them aged ??

[subsonic]

I have always been keen to get them in the freezer ASAP. I also remove as much silverskin and fat as possible when cuttin em up. But you weren't really asking me.

I notice that as soon as you get the hide off, the meat starts drying out. For that reason, when I field dress I don't split the pelvis, just cut around the bung and pull it through from the inside. I don't pull the hide off until I'm ready to de-bone.

Dry aging is really meant to happen in a cooler where conditions can be monitored and temp and moisture controlled. Since I don't own a meat locker, I opt for letting it age once it's in the freezer.

[Lloyd Smale]

only time i let deer hang any longer then overnight is if ive got to many of them backed up to process or if im at camp when i shoot one and at camp in deer season its cold enough there usually froze in a couple days. . I shoot probably 50 a year but still take the time to make sure none of the meat is wasted. It gets pretty busy around crop damage shooting time though. I sometimes cut and wrap 4 deer and still make it out hunting for the night. Fishbob its a dirty crime to waste those front sholders. I use all of mine for sausage and hamburger. Doesnt take 5 minutes to bone one out. Theres enough scrap on the rib bones and carcuss to feed the coyotes! As to hanging venison to age it. that comes from people copying butchers who hang beef. Beef has fat marbled in the meat and you want to hang it for a while to break it down. Venison doesnt need to be aged as it has no marbling and I cut all the conecting tissue out so theres nothing to break down. all ive ever seen aging do to venison is make it taste gamey.

[subsonic]

+1 on the gamey part an marbling Lloyd.

[white eagle]

Found this while searching ......
A Chemistry Lesson
Despite its different taste and lower levels of fat, venison is very similar to beef. It contains the same basic enzymes, particularly lactic acid, and goes through similar changes after the animal dies.

First, the muscles go into rigor mortis, a stiffening lasting at most 24 hours. Butchering a deer during rigor mortis is one of the worst things you can do. It can cause a phenomenon called shortening, where the muscles contract and remain tougher than if butchering took place a day later.

Proper aging begins as soon as rigor mortis ends-and this process is definitely not controlled rot. Rot is zillions of bacteria eating the muscle cells, their waste products creating the familiar stench of decaying flesh. Bacteria attack only after meat is exposed to the air, and bacterial rot is accelerated by higher temperatures. It doesn't happen at all if the meat is frozen. To properly age your deer, you must keep it at temperatures above freezing and below about 40 degrees. This holds bacteria (and rot) at bay, allowing natural enzymes to do their work.

[44man]

I have always been keen to get them in the freezer ASAP. I also remove as much silverskin and fat as possible when cuttin em up. But you weren't really asking me.

I notice that as soon as you get the hide off, the meat starts drying out. For that reason, when I field dress I don't split the pelvis, just cut around the bung and pull it through from the inside. I don't pull the hide off until I'm ready to de-bone.

Dry aging is really meant to happen in a cooler where conditions can be monitored and temp and moisture controlled. Since I don't own a meat locker, I opt for letting it age once it's in the freezer.

This is how I feel. I hate it when they dry out because I separate the muscles and bone the whole deer. All tissue and fat is removed.
Meat will actually age in the freezer so it always depends on the weather unless you have a walk in cooler.
I don't want the deer to freeze either so I will cut them once real cold or transfer them to the garage.
I also hate to cut a stiff deer but if the temperature climbs I have no choice but the garage will stay cooler then outside so I can wait some.
Lloyd and I agree on shoulders, they have some of the best meat. I don't bone them but I turn the whole shoulder into pulled BBQ. They are also great just roasted. Makes great burger too.
I hate to shoot them in the shoulders.
Deer fat is the worst and I won't even freeze meat with any fat on it. Once I rendered all the fat and put a huge round of it out for the birds. It did not last long and I kept my feathered friends warm.
Let me see if I can get this for you guys.

[Lloyd Smale]

dont know but i do know this. Ive butchred 100s of deer in my life and only maybe two or three of those deer which were huge bucks in rut were anywhere near tough and i dont ever let my meat age unless you count hanging overnight ageing. Its cut into chucks and vaccum packed and frozen imediately. 44man i love pulled pork. One of these days ill throw one in the smoker then the oven and make some pulled venison. I figure even if your fussiest butcher in the world your going to get 5lbs of good meat off the sholders and if you figure 50 deer thats 250lbs of meat id be throwing away. No thanks!

Found this while searching ......
A Chemistry Lesson
Despite its different taste and lower levels of fat, venison is very similar to beef. It contains the same basic enzymes, particularly lactic acid, and goes through similar changes after the animal dies.

First, the muscles go into rigor mortis, a stiffening lasting at most 24 hours. Butchering a deer during rigor mortis is one of the worst things you can do. It can cause a phenomenon called shortening, where the muscles contract and remain tougher than if butchering took place a day later.

Proper aging begins as soon as rigor mortis ends-and this process is definitely not controlled rot. Rot is zillions of bacteria eating the muscle cells, their waste products creating the familiar stench of decaying flesh. Bacteria attack only after meat is exposed to the air, and bacterial rot is accelerated by higher temperatures. It doesn't happen at all if the meat is frozen. To properly age your deer, you must keep it at temperatures above freezing and below about 40 degrees. This holds bacteria (and rot) at bay, allowing natural enzymes to do their work.

[clintsfolly]

One of my tricks is to take the bones (spine,legs ribs but remove all the fat if you can) and put in a large roaster cook at 300 for 4-6hours then remove bones and any grease. Make BBQ out of the rest!! You get all the meat that was still on the bones. It like free meat Clint

[Matthew 25]

It has never mattered how long a critter hangs for me, deer or elk. This year my buck hung for almost 2 weeks by the time I got done- it sure didn't stay below 40. If it hangs more than 6 hours it starts to dry out so I just count on it. I fillet off every square inch of the dark, leathery dry muscle when I process. This gets you down to perfectly clean meat. I haven't taken a gamey bite of meat in 14 years, ever since my old buddy showed me how to process.
Get this...my wife, grown in northern Alabama, a couple months ago ate a piece of left-over cold elk-steak right out of the fridge. That's some non-gamey meat.

No fat, no marrow, no silver, no dark/dry meat = perfection.