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How long can you leave venison iced down in a cooler?

deerhunter10 said:
We have talked about it for years built a shed just for processing. We are going to add a cooler as well this year.
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I don't see how it couldn't be handy. Many times I kill deer when it's not cool enough to hang them so I'm in a rush. It's a whole lot easier to peel hide and take meat off the carcass after the deer has been hanging in the cold for a day or so. So for that luxury alone it would be worth building one. Any aging benefits would be cherry on top.
 
I do the cooler process. Making sure the meat never sits in water. And also has ice under it as well as on top. Leave the cap off so when the ice melts it drains out by itself. I do it for 3 days total. Come home from work add ice for 2 days 3rd day take out the meat and process it. 3 days is by far my favorite. Also doesn't make the meat turn a weird color. And is tender and flavorful as well like it. If I had a cooler that would be the best. If you don't a cooler will do the trick.
 
When I first started deer hunting over 3 decades ago, the guys that taught me what to do with a deer once I got one, all would quarter it up, put it in an ice chest, and then fill the cooler with ice and water and leave it for a week "to remove the blood and game flavor".

I quit doing this and instead I put the quarters into a cooler with ice, but I drain the water off at least daily and I make sure that plenty of ice is on the deer. I want it to stay as close to 32 F as possible. I will usually keep it iced 2 - 4 days — just until I have time to butcher it.

Backstraps, tenderloins, neck roasts that I trim off, and any trimmings from the body, I put in plastic bags or ziplocks — I don't allow any water to hit these parts, unless I need to wash off hair or blood. I will put these in the fridge until I can process it to the freezer.
 
Ski said:
I don't see how it couldn't be handy. Many times I kill deer when it's not cool enough to hang them so I'm in a rush. It's a whole lot easier to peel hide and take meat off the carcass after the deer has been hanging in the cold for a day or so. So for that luxury alone it would be worth building one. Any aging benefits would be cherry on top.
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I find it much easier to take the hide off when it is a fresh kill, it almost peals off. If I do a kill shed, I would hang it without hide on, silverskin usually protects the meat enough to keep it from drying out too much. Currently, I use cloth meat bags to hold the quarters, and even after two weeks the meat is not dried out.
 
Wrap meat in unscented trash bags layer with ice. Be fine for 14 days! I do this regularly never have issues. Just put cooler one slight angle and open drain. Replenish ice when necessary. Don't forgot to replenish bottom layer of ice!
 
Omega said:
I find it much easier to take the hide off when it is a fresh kill, it almost peals off.
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Same here. My skinning time always is faster when I peal it off within hours of killing the deer. If I leave one hang overnight, seems it's always tougher to pull the hide off and ends up taking me longer.
 
I shot a mature (4or 5 yr old) buck on Dec 12 one year. I skinned it and carried the cape and antlers to the taxidermist. It was cold and I let it hang in my detached garage for 3 weeks. It never got above 40 during the day and I would close the garage door at night so it wouldn't freeze. I had to trim off the outer layer that dried but that old buck was as tender as any yearling that I had ever processed. Aging is definitely the best way unless you're going to grind it all and then it really doesn't matter.
 
AT Hiker said:
Dry aging venison also allows for moisture loss that is usually associated with gamey flavors.

3-4 days might get you there, idk. A lot hinges on humidity, temps and air flow 70% humidity and 35 degrees is a good ball park figure.

As for concentrated flavors, much of those flavors have to do with the environmental molds in the aging area. These are good molds and as expected, each area can have different strains.

Tenderness can be achieved via dry or wet aging (I'm talking about placing meat in a vacuumed sealed bag, not in ice water).

If meat doesnt go through basic rigor it will be much tougher, so 24 hrs is the minimum anyone should "age" meat before processing unless it's going straight to the grinder. I'd guess and say 3-4 days in the minimum you should age one before things start to take a noticeable difference in taste and tenderness. In the beef world, 14 days is a bare minimum to achieve tenderness. Keep in mind beef carcasses are much bigger than typical deer, so in theory I'd think you could probably achieve tenderness in venison by day 7. Maybe on a younger and smaller deer you could get there in sub 7 days, idk but there isn't a truly designed study I'm aware of. Maybe in countries with high farmed venison consumption studies might exist, I haven't look but it would be interesting. I just know in the US most aging research is beef related.

Also, your cooking methods matter too. I wouldn't go through the whole aging process to later grind up most of the deer and/or use wet cooking methods. Or, if you put ketchup on your steak.
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All this really makes me want to invest in a small shed to be able to hang in here at our place. In Ohio I would hang several kills in a barn and process them all at the end of firearm season. I think I could get away with it here with the exception of the usual short warm spells during MZ. When I finally do get moved I'll invest in a homemade/cold bot type cooler that will hold several deer. I could even hunt more by having flexibility on choosing days to process.
 
I left the hide on 1 for 4 days and temps were less than 30 the whole time, that was the worst skinning job I have ever had, have tried to age several times for a week and only thing different is more dried out meat to trim off. These days skin 1/4 into the fridge for a day or 2 to get right at freezing to trim and slice up. Then everything gets vacuumed and into the freezer.
 
mike243 said:
These days skin 1/4 into the fridge for a day or 2 to get right at freezing to trim and slice up. Then everything gets vacuumed and into the freezer.
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Currently that's about how I do it. Due to outside temps normally being too warm to hang, I skin & quarter the deer right away and put tubs of meat in the fridge to cool off. Next day I butcher one tub of meat at a time and vacuum pack for the freezer. I can't really complain about tenderness or flavor. My deer taste good and are plenty tender. I've killed deer, stripped tenderloins or backstraps on the spot and cooked immediately, and it's good. Very good in fact, hard to imagine it being any better.

So my interest in all this aging stuff is mostly curiosity in what everybody is talking about. Am I missing something? Am I blissfully ignorant? I don't think so but I'm willing to give it an honest effort to experience it before making a judgement. All this rigor mortis and enzyme breakdown talk has me curious. If it turns out to be a waste of effort then at least I'll know from personal experience. But hopefully there is something to it and maybe I'll enjoy venison even more than I already do.
 
Ski said:
Currently that's about how I do it. Due to outside temps normally being too warm to hang, I skin & quarter the deer right away and put tubs of meat in the fridge to cool off. Next day I butcher one tub of meat at a time and vacuum pack for the freezer. I can't really complain about tenderness or flavor. My deer taste good and are plenty tender. I've killed deer, stripped tenderloins or backstraps on the spot and cooked immediately, and it's good. Very good in fact, hard to imagine it being any better.

So my interest in all this aging stuff is mostly curiosity in what everybody is talking about. Am I missing something? Am I blissfully ignorant? I don't think so but I'm willing to give it an honest effort to experience it before making a judgement. All this rigor mortis and enzyme breakdown talk has me curious. If it turns out to be a waste of effort then at least I'll know from personal experience. But hopefully there is something to it and maybe I'll enjoy venison even more than I already do.
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Backstraps and tenderloins will be tender without aging, where you will see the most difference is with cuts from the back leg quarters. Cooked venison is too subjective, with how it's cooked and spices used, so the best way is to process one quarter your normal way, and age the other, freeze both, thaw, then cook two steaks from each side and decide for yourself if it's worth it to you.
 
I got an older refrigerator I use.
Course most of the year it holds a variety of cold adult beverages 😬😬😬
I keep it between 38-42 degrees
Quarter the deer and start deboning after 5 days. I've had some go 10-19 days before getting done. No problems so far
 
archer19 said:
I got an older refrigerator I use.
Course most of the year it holds a variety of cold adult beverages 😬😬😬
I keep it between 38-42 degrees
Quarter the deer and start deboning after 5 days. I've had some go 10-19 days before getting done. No problems so far
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I would drop it a couple degrees for deer, best to keep below 40°.
 
DeerCamp said:
This is a really informative read:

www.themeateater.com

The Science of Aging Meat | Wild + Whole

There is a phenomenon that frequently occurs in the world of gastronomy in which food that was once considered lowly, crude, or simple is transformed into the prized fare of the rich and well-heeled. What was once referred to as "peasant" food often finds itself, many centuries later, on the...
www.themeateater.com www.themeateater.com
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Great article. Thank you
 
I've always heard "Dont soak it if you can help it". While this doesn't answer your question of "how long" , it is interesting on the "taste test"

 

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