Walk in cooler hang time

[00BUCK]

I recently harvested a blacktail deer and I have it hanging in a friends walk-in. My question is, what is the recommended time for hanging a whole carcass? Also, how long could I let it hang if I had to before butchering?

 

[2rocky]

My gut says 3-5 days minimum. More than a week or two and you will have a lot more outer surface trim because it dries out. As lean as BT's are, I'd say you won't gain much from an extra week of aging.

 

[Sask hunter]

If I had a walk in Cooler this is what I would do. After a day or two cut your neck, ribs and other trim like shoulders and tenderloins. Tenderloins are already tender. For me I use the shoulder for trim minus the flat irons so I would cut them out and throw them in the fridge for a few days. Once rigor is out you mine as well take the trim before it dries and lose some. My opinion any ways. After that I would let the rest go for 5-7 days total then cut it.

 

[cgasner1]

I just stuck a quartered up bull in my fridge and ratchet the door shut I won’t open it back up for a week

 

[Bryerific]

Yesterday I butchered a bull we had in hanging in the walk-in cooler for 11 days. Usually we shoot for about a week but it got some extra hanging time and I didn’t notice any significant difference in how much it dried out. There was a tiny bit of white mold starting on day 10. The bull we have in there now will get 7 or 8 days.

 

[buckbull]

We give deer 7 days.

 

[elkfanatic]

With whitetail I hang em in the walk in cooler at 35°- 38°F for 10-14 days with the hide on. I wash em down real good with cold water inside and out soon as I get home. If it's quartered I'll leave em in the game bags if they're not too dirty and throw the outside dried crust in with the grind pile.

 

[Jamen]

We process deer for people in the fall i have a few customers who let theirs hang for 2 weeks with the hide off. I am unsure how well that meat grinds up but it is like shoe leather on the outside. If it was me that is too long imo with the hide off, but everyone is different. not relevant to the OP but my grandpa would hang his ducks and geese by the head til they fell off then they were done aging.

 

[Steiny77]

I've had a walk in for 20+ years. In my opinion, anything more than a week is too long as you get a bunch of wasted dried crust on the outside that has to be trimmed off and discarded. A couple days is plenty long enough. You just need it too cool thoroughly and stiffen up for butchering.

I don't feel that longer hang time improves the tenderness or quality of the meat.

 

[Butcher]

The soonest I would butcher would be 24hrs because of rigor. I leave my deer hang with hair on in the walk in for a week but usually if the temp is consistent and the deer is clean, I am in no hurry. Any deer that are shot in the guts or less than stellar are washed out and butcher within a couple days. I used to use a fridge and just hang quarters in there, it worked well but like mentioned above I lost the outside meat because of it drying out.

 

[blueridge]

Hide on: between 7-10 days.
My neighbor has a walk-in and this is standard for all of our deer.

 

[redandwhite_72]

If you hang one with the skin off, are you supposed to discard the layer of meat on the outside? We always have but I didn't know if you had to. Have since hung them unskinned.

 

[Butcher]

My experience has been it dries out the outer layer of meat. I trim it off it’s usually minimal. I have however just threw it in ground hoping it would moisten up with the rest of the burger but I didn’t care for the texture. Just my .02