As soon as you get your deer to campsite or home, hang the deer to allow the venison to cool quickly and completely. If you did not thoroughly clean the inside of the body cavity when you field dressed the deer, do so as soon as you get the deer hung up. Soak a clean cloth in a saltwater solution (1/2 cup salt in 1 gal. water), wring it dry and wipe the inside of the cavity of the deer with this damp cloth. If the inside of the body cavity has been contaminated by the contents of bladder, bowel, intestine or stomach or with unclean water, mud or dirt, thoroughly rinse out the body cavity with water. When the cavity is clean, thoroughly dry the inside with cloth or paper
toweling.
Deer can be hung from the antlers, the neck or the hind legs. Research has shown that it makes absolutely no difference in venison quality whether you hang the deer by its hind legs or its head. If you wish to have the deer mounted, however, hanging it by its hind legs avoids rope damage to the hide on the neck, head, ears, etc. It is also much easier to butcher the deer and save the head and cape for mounting if you hang it by the hind legs. |
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To hang a deer by its hind legs, slice the hide between
the leg bone and the large tendon on the back of each leg
and insert a sturdy branch, board, wooden dowel or metal
rod as a cross-bar through these openings. If you wish,
notch the branch, board or dowel or bend the ends of the
metal rod up to ensure that the deer does not slip. Attach
a rope to the middle of the cross-bar to hang the deer as
desired. |
The major reason for hanging a deer carcass is to allow the meat to cool further and to make the subsequent
butchering process easier. Hanging, if done properly, may also help tenderize the meat if that is necessary. Because the majority of deer in Michigan are less than 2 1/2 years old when killed by hunters, there is absolutely no reason to allow most deer to hang for more than one day. If, however, you have your deer aged by a DNR biologist and you're told that it is 2 1/2 years old or older, you may wish to allow the deer to hang for more than one day.
Aging meat means holding it at 32 to 38 degrees F for as long as 10 days to allow natural enzymes to tenderize the
meat. Aging is a time and temperature relationship as the temperature is raised, the aging process occurs
faster. Any temperature above 40 degrees F not only ages the meat faster but, because of the potential presence of
pathogens, may lead to spoilage. Therefore AGING ABOVE 40 DEGREES F IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
If you hang your deer for 1 to 3 days, or if it is simply not possible or convenient for you to process your deer or
have it processed for several days after the deer is killed, then it is vitally important that the deer be hung
properly. If a deer hangs for more than one day, the body cavity should be thoroughly cleaned as previously
described, and THE MEAT MUST BE MAINTAINED AT A TEMPERATURE BELOW 40 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, preferably between 35 and 37 degrees. If the temperature of the meat exceeds 40 degrees, then it should be taken immediately to a commercial meat cooler or be processed and frozen.
If the inside of the body cavity of the deer is contaminated with stomach or bowel contents and the deer
is allowed to hang for several days, the venison will most assuredly have a gamey flavor and begin to spoil.
Hanging the carcass for more than one day during which the meat temperature exceeds 40 degrees F will also cause an objectionable gamey flavor or spoilage, even if the carcass is thoroughly cleaned.
It is not necessary to remove the glands on the deer's legs before butchering it, but if you prefer to do so,
thoroughly clean the knife you used to cut off the glands or use a different knife for cutting the meat.
Any knife used to cut off the glands will surely be contaminated with the substances contained in these
glands.
Also check out Field dressing a Deer and Skinning and Butchering a Deer
