OK, No problem. First, you must field dress your deer. Field dressing means removing the animal's internal organs, also known as the entrails, which is necessary to preserve its meat. This process also helps cool the carcass, slow bacterial growth, and remove blood and paunch (stomach) materials from the meat.
Sportsmanship includes the responsible care and use of meat obtained while hunting. Some hunters have a meat pole or skinning shed where they hang their deer to remove the entrails. That's great, but most hunters field-dress their deer on the ground prior to bringing them home or taking them to the meat processor.
What should you do as soon as possible after tagging game? Take it back to camp. Hang it up. Allow it to cool.
If you don't want the backstraps and tenderloins to dry up on your meat and form a hard membrane around it, you should remove them right away – in 24 hours at most. If you don't, they will make processing the meat after its hanging time a bit more difficult. In warm weather – hang the meat for 48 hours and no more.
Without immediately [as soon as the deer is dead] dressing it out the meat will spoil quickly. If the stomach or intestines have been punctured you will more rapidly spoil the meat with intestinal bacteria and digestive enzymes. You get STRONG GAMEY FLAVOR, which is not the flavor of venison but that of spoiled meat .
SKIN IT TO WIN ITWhen winter hits—especially in brutally cold areas—this natural insulation is what allows the animals to survive. But when you kill a deer, that same protective sheath needs to be removed quickly so the meat can cool.
I would not want to have to trash the whole deer because of spoiled meat. In cold temps its a no brainer to let the deer sit overnight. Waiting only a few hours you definitely risk bumping the deer but if the deer is dead you can get him/her cleaned up and taken care of before and spoilage can occur.
you can let them hang if the temp. is just above freezing 35-40 if you have a cool dry place . young deer 2-3 days old bucks 4-5 days BUT THE TEMP HAS TO BE RIGHT! or YOU CAN TAKE IT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS A COOLER. some will skin it out and hang them for you or do the butchering job also.
Can you eat deer meat right after you kill it? You can eat it right after you kill it! I like to clean the animal right away, skin it,cut into major pieces and then put it in a fridge for a few days up to a week. This cold aging helps tenderize it.
So, the conditions of the environment and the deer both help determine the time between shot and recovery without spoiling venison. If the air temperature is 50 degrees, we have three to six hours to recover a deer after it dies.
The proper aging temperature range is between 32° F and 36° F; never higher than 40° F. Deer should not be aged any longer than 2 weeks. Hold the carcass at 40° F or less, but avoid freezing the carcass before rigor to avoid toughening the meat.
Bacterial growth increases when temperatures reach above 40 degrees and will spoil quickly when temperature reaches above 50 degrees. I have left deer hanging overnight in 60 degree weather but stuffed the chest cavity with ice.
Mike Bahr, WI: No, however the coyotes/wolves they attract definitely scare deer. David Pignataro, CT: It's not the gut pile that scares the deer. It's all the human scent around the gut pile that you put there while gutting.
In my experience, doe meat is more tender than buck meat. I'm not a huge fan a venison in general (I prefer elk) but I personally think doe tastes better. But like parabox1 said, where the animal is harvested and it's diet has a pretty big effect on taste.
For whole pieces of meat like steaks and roasts, you've got 3-5 days of freshness if you refrigerate. If frozen, that extends to 9-12 months. Some say that frozen venison will keep in your freezer for up to 2 years. Ground meat and sausages will keep well 1-2 days in the refrigerator and 2-3 months in the freezer.
Store ground venison in a freezer at 0°F or colder for 3 months for best quality. Venison roasts and steaks can be stored 6 to 9 months at this temperature. Meat quality and flavor will deteriorate in the freezer over time.
