Hanging An Animal
#1
Hanging An Animal
How long do you hang your animal after he is skinned and gutted? What is a good temperature to hang in? What temp would be to HOT to hang in. I don't have a meat locker so the only choice I have is in my garage. I was living in an apartment 2 years ago when I bagged my bear. I had to hang him in a friends garage for three days. Problem is the weather turned warm the last day. I cut him up and put him in the refrigerator at home while I processed the meat. I finally got around to the last cut, the ribs, about 4 days later and they were covered in mold. I ended up throwing them out. I blamed the hot weather on spoiling the meat. All of the other meat was good and in fact we are still eating it. We had some bear roats the other night. My wife is wanting me to get another one this year. So how long do you hang meat and at what temperature range?
#4
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 129
RE: Hanging An Animal
a good temp. to let him hang over night or possibly two days is around 32 degrees or colder, we did that when i lived in missouri, but when i moved to georgia, i will kill it and cut it within the hour, you can still let the meat sit just put it in a cooler with plenty of ice and keep changing it out. to hot would be anything over 40 (that is my opinion, my aunt and uncle own are butchers, they do not agree, they think anything over freezing can go bad, but i havent been sick yet) good luck
#5
RE: Hanging An Animal
Down here it is almost always too hot to let meat hang. I always quarter my deer and put it in an ice chest. I used to be antsy about getting it processed, usually within a day or two, if I was still out hunting. After seeing people letting meat stay on ice for 7-9 days, I don't worry about it anymore. Just keep the water drained off, and add new ice when needed, and it ages the meat, and allows the blood to drain out too. It's about the same as hanging it for a while.
#8
RE: Hanging An Animal
I also hunt in the UP and it is usually plenty cold to let a deer hang for a day if it needs to. I have never been a big fan of letting the deer hang for days on end before butchering it. We do all of our own processing and it is really not a hard process. In a different post, someone had mentioned that you would never think of hanging a t-bone outside for days...so why do it to a deer. I have to agree with that post. I think that "gamey" meat can generally be blamed on the handler. A properly cleaned and trimmed animal is the best way to deliver quality meat to the table. Processing when still warm is best way in my opinion and then removing all silver skin and fat.
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location:
Posts: 208
RE: Hanging An Animal
We will usually hang the deer for about 12-14 hours before it is cut. The deer will get skinned the day - usually within a few hours - of being hung up, and then the next day it will get cut up. South Dakota in November is usually pretty chilly so heat is not really a problem.
#10
RE: Hanging An Animal
ORIGINAL: WARedBear
How long do you hang your animal after he is skinned and gutted? What is a good temperature to hang in? What temp would be to HOT to hang in. I don't have a meat locker so the only choice I have is in my garage. I was living in an apartment 2 years ago when I bagged my bear. I had to hang him in a friends garage for three days. Problem is the weather turned warm the last day. I cut him up and put him in the refrigerator at home while I processed the meat. I finally got around to the last cut, the ribs, about 4 days later and they were covered in mold. I ended up throwing them out. I blamed the hot weather on spoiling the meat. All of the other meat was good and in fact we are still eating it. We had some bear roats the other night. My wife is wanting me to get another one this year. So how long do you hang meat and at what temperature range?
How long do you hang your animal after he is skinned and gutted? What is a good temperature to hang in? What temp would be to HOT to hang in. I don't have a meat locker so the only choice I have is in my garage. I was living in an apartment 2 years ago when I bagged my bear. I had to hang him in a friends garage for three days. Problem is the weather turned warm the last day. I cut him up and put him in the refrigerator at home while I processed the meat. I finally got around to the last cut, the ribs, about 4 days later and they were covered in mold. I ended up throwing them out. I blamed the hot weather on spoiling the meat. All of the other meat was good and in fact we are still eating it. We had some bear roats the other night. My wife is wanting me to get another one this year. So how long do you hang meat and at what temperature range?