Venison advice needed

[ShencoSmoke]

I dropped a deer this weekend and need advice on keeping the carcas cool. Was a clean kill, deer was recovered, hung, and skinned within an hour or so. Problem is that it has been 60 in the day and 55 at night. I have the chest cavity packed with 4 bags of ice and it is hung in a clean environment. Can I wait another couple of days until I have time to butcher? Thanks in advance

 

[RICK Allen]

Buck it up with those temps flies will be around rather have clean meat than blow fly eggs on my meat

 

[Rockycoon]

We always quarter ours up in this weather and put it in a ice chest or fridge. I have also put ice between hind quarters to keep those cool. A old farmer friend has told us that if you sprinkle black pepper all over it that it will keep the flies off of it. His son in law told us it works well. Just rinse it off when your ready to start processing. Hopr that helps

 

[mikeleonard81]

If you quarter it and put it in coolers over ice it should be fine. Keep a tarp or towels over the ice so it dosen't get water logged. If you can age it at least 5 days that would be best IMO.

 

[NRA4Life]

Penn State University has a Venison 101 course, here is a .pdf regarding Proper Care and Handling of Venison from Field to Table. In a nutshell, if aging the carcass, do so at 40 deg F or less.
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uk066.pdf

 

[ShencoSmoke]

Thanks, I slammed at work so I think I'm going to drop it off at the butcher so they can handle it. It's been a while since I paid to have a deer processed but I'm not going to mess around with this warm weather.

 

[toadhunter911]

Thanks, I slammed at work so I think I'm going to drop it off at the butcher so they can handle it. It's been a while since I paid to have a deer processed but I'm not going to mess around with this warm weather.

Smart choice. It'd be a shame to waste all that good meat. :wink: