Venison Vs Beef Controversy Ended

[tungularafishcamp]

We have the luxury of a 5 month deer season so can get the deer when weather is optimal. I prefer to hang my deer at least 5 days but go longer when weather permits. When we occasionaly grab one in august it is frequently too warm to hang longer than a couple of days the flavor is the same but the tenderness is noticeable. A quick clean kill and getting them before the rut seems to make the most difference in flavor. Dang all this talk about venison is makin me hungry for fresh liver, time for another bambi. Liver for dinner, tenderloins for breakfast yum.
Rick

 

[wolc123]

I hear you on the fawn liver. There is nothing I like better. I only keep fawn livers though, it aint so good from the 1.5 year and older deer.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Actually I call all our deer bambi's, (a jab at non hunters I guess) most of these sitka blacktails dont get that big except for the no-nutters and all their livers are great no matter what age, with the exception of seal liver I have never had anything better except maybe Flipper. (dolphin)

 

[brin]

Some years ago I was hunting on our farm on a Friday evening and shot a small buck..I saw him drop in the pasture but when I got to him ( about 150 yrds.) he was gone..I looked for about an hour..it was getting too dark to look further and my wife and I were leaving the next day for the Smokey Mountains for the weekend....so I called my father in law who lived next door and told him if he found the deer the next day to take it to the local processor...Guess what ..the very next morning after the wife and I were all dressed and ready to leave..bags in the car..my father in law pulled up with the deer in the back of his truck...So in the house I went ..changed clothes and I came back out and gutted, skinned and cut the deer into quarters and packed it into my empty refrigerator in my shop...went back in , took another shower, dressed again and off to the mountains we went. When we returned on Sunday...I checked the deer , moped up the blood in the bottom of the frig and then boned all the meat and we ground it all except the tenderloins...Despite the treatment...the meat was great...that was my experience with less than desirable handling.

 

[/pine]

...And the butchers who have that equipment,wouldn't hang a deer carcass in the refridgerator for days either....

this is ludicrous...!

any legitmate (professional) abattoir will have a "meat cooler" for hanging carcasses...they usually charge by the day...I do not know of any (and there are many) processors in this area that will not hang a carcass for as long as you want...

some of the processors in popular "deer country" (piedmont area of GA for instance) most abattoirs have room to hang hundreds of carcasses...and most are hung for at least a week...

many do not like to hang "hide on" deer unless they are wrapped to protect skinned carcasses from getting hair on them from non skinned deer...

 

[tungularafishcamp]

At least here in Ak. you have to have separate cooler for hanging and can't even use the same butchering facilities and implements at the SAME time as inspected meat so some butcher shops might not allow any game animals at all if they don't don't have much of a market for it.
Rick

 

[/pine]

At least here in Ak. you have to have separate cooler for hanging and can't even use the same butchering facilities and implements at the SAME time as inspected meat so some butcher shops might not allow any game animals at all if they don't don't have much of a market for it.
Rick

A lot of processors that sell or process for retail sales (regular USDA inspections) switch over during deer season...especially in locals where a lot of deer are harvested...it's much more lucrative for them...

 

[grnspot110]

I'll stick to "processing" my own deer! That way I know how it was done & that I have my venison & not somebody else's!

I prefer "yearlings", after all, if you're going to butcher a beef, you don't shoot an old bull!!! ~~ grnspot110

 

[/pine]

I'll stick to "processing" my own deer! That way I know how it was done & that I have my venison & not somebody else's!
I prefer "yearlings", after all, if you're going to butcher a beef, you don't shoot an old bull!!! ~~ grnspot110

99.9% of the time I process my own too (all boned out) no saws etc...but I do use an abattoir's meat cooler to hang my deer...

I've never really been a trophy hunter so I harvest a lot of does...the meat is what I'm after anyway and does almost always "eat better" than bucks...

I wish they would allow more early "doe days" rather than later in the season (i.e., before the rut) at least in regions where deer are not so prevalent...this prevernts harvesting impregnated deer....

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I too do all my own butchering and except for the ribs and rump roast don't mess with any bones. Gotta love those bbq ed ribs. All the deer on the island came from 16 deer originally and we now have a condition we call nonutters or steer deer. Bucks that don't ever sexually mature so they never go into rut and go into winter all fat and maybe not so happy. They get huge bodies on them (think eunich) and as an added bonus you can get some real interesting horns usually never come out of velvet. I try to look for these if I have time and am not just grabbing ez meat.
Rick