If your planning to eat your deer, once it’s killed, treat it as consumable meat.
Here’s how: after gutting it your #1 priority should be to cool the meat down.
If you cannot bring it over right away, place 1 bag of ice between the back legs and 1 bag in the chest cavity. This is the best thing you can possibly do to protect the quality of the meat.
In a killing facility, cooling down the meat is mandatory and done immediately!
Hunters always ask what is a safe temperature to hang my deer? Tricky question!
The best temperature to store a deer is between 30 and 40 degrees this will maintain a higher quality of preservation.
If the temperature falls below this, the meat will freeze; this is not a preferred way of handling meat. If frozen through, it will lower the quality.
Now anything-above 40 degrees, it is still ok but the aging process is accelerated. So be careful, and use common sense when aging.
Any days or nights going above 45 degrees means the meat is in jeopardy of going bad! Use the ice trick. Do not wait for the last minute to bring it over. I want to help you on these warm days.
If you have it in a controlled environment maintained between 35 and 40 degrees, up to 2 weeks, provided careful care in maintaining temperature. Most people cannot do this! This would take a refrigerated walk in box.
"age your deer."
This was normally done when it was cold outside for longer periods of time.
Times have changed, but we can still maintain that old fashion tradition.
If that's what you like, then please, ask to "age my deer."
