I know you were thinking this was going to be a Naughty thread, go on admit it.... Keep it zipped buddy.... this thread is about preparing and processing game animals...

There is method to my madness... the fact is unless its small game and your going to eat it right away you should always hang your meat...

HANGING:
Most Game is best after hanging - that is leaving or hanging in cool conditions before plucking or skinning. This should be for a minimum two days to a maximum of three weeks in winter.... as long as it is above freezing but no warmer than say 50F... I would tend to settle on three to 5 days provided the weather is not hot. Game tends to be tougher than other meat or poultry as the animals were wild and muscles were used more in the process of survival.... Hanging will help tenderise the meat and develop a characteristic gamey flavour.... This is caused by enzymic and bacterial action. The longer you hang it the stronger the flavour.... hang it to long and it spoils so you have to pay attention!

For Deer Depending on how cold it is where you hang the deer is the biggest determining factoris temp. You don't want it so cold it freezes the carcass, really want it the temp to be right around 40 degrees or less. I hang my deer- skinned, head down for a minimum of 3 days to drain a lot of the blood from the hind quarter. Place a bucket underneath the neck to avoid a mess. You'll notice the deer meat goes from black cherry colored to a peachy color...

Special Note: Deer fat is Nasty... so when your ready to make your cuts remove all the fat... trust me on this, if you don't the meat will have a sour flavor.....if it's going into the freezer it is okay to leave the silver skin on... helps protect form freezer burn...

I'm not going to go into the mechanics of how to field dress a Deer, or make your cuts... that has been covered in many threads before... but I will take a moment to talk about game birds and what to do with them....

SKINNING:
The easiest way to prepare a Chicken, Duck, Turkey or pheasant is to skin it.(Same rules for rabbits and squirrels) is after hanging ( a couple three days) separate the feathers along the back of the bird and cut the skin along its length, lift and pull it off feather and all....

The disadvantage of this method is that you are left with a skinless bird -ie not suitable for roasting without coating with fat/ bacon to prevent drying out - but it does avoid the messiness of plucking - the feathers get every where!

PLUCKING:
1 Dip your hands in water

2 start plucking from the breast working towards the neck pulling the feathers in the direction they grow so that the skin does not break.

3 Turn the bird around and pluck away from you

4. Cut through the middle wing joint to remove it : Stretch out the wings and and pluck the feathers

5. Pull out leg and tail feathers

6. The small pin feather along the back bone are best removed by tweezers.

NOTE: If the feathers are too hard to remove you can try this... boil water then set aside... dunk your bird in that hot water for... 30 seconds or so... let it rest for a minute then try again... should be a whole lot easier but if you do this you need to cook the bird right away...




DRAWING


Having hung and plucked or skinned the bird/s the next stage is to draw it, namely to remove the innards... yes Innards is a real word...

The object of this exercise is to attempt to remove the intestinal sack intact.... if you don't you risk spreading salmonella... can for say food poisoning???

Removing the neck & head

If you have plucked the bird place the bird on its back and cut along the neck skin the the point where it joins the body. Leaving plenty of skin to cover the neck cut through the neck of the bird removing it and the head....

Strip out the gullet, crop and windpipe, insert a finger and loosen rotate it gently to break all attachments and free organs particularly the lungs...



Removing the innards

With a sharp knife cut through the skin around the vent (anus) of the bird until it comes loose. Insert your fingers into the body cavity and draw out the innards. With practice you can pull them out in one, at first attempt you may need to scrape around a bit... No rude jokes please...

Wash and dry the body cavity and salt it.... if you table salt works for this part

The liver minus the green gall bladder can be kept and eaten... personally I like to deep fry the livers but to each there own...

Well there you have your lesson for the week... How to hang your meat... see that wasn't all that dirty
everyone has there own way of doing this... I cant say my way is best... only that it works for me... still if you know an easier or better way... let me know... I might even give it a try myself!

That's all fine and good if you like the gamey flavor (BLECK). I don't. I, if ever getting meat from a hunter, soak it in salt water overnight to rid it of that "gamey" flavor. So If we kill it and don't hang it, will it be less gamey flavored? this is good to know that if that's the case. But, I think you gotta hang it to drain the blood anyway, just not for so long right? I am interested even if TS doesn't HTF because I actually like deer meat and with food prices, well I may be doing some hunting myself. I already am growing the vegetables and fruits and I can't go without meat lol. I have bows and arrows that would work for hunting...just gotta practice pulling the bow because it's been a while and I have gotten weak (I am a woman,lol) and I don't like guns. I may make it a family thing the hunting too, since my son will be 17 and his sister will be 16 (I don't think she'd be able to stomache it though) but definately me their father and my son could.

I forgot to add one more Benny to hanging meat...
At this time of year small game, rabbits squirrels, ground birds like quail... can be teeming with wee-beasties...
mites fleas and ticks... if you try to skin them right way you might get some pretty painful bites...

the thing about wee-beasties is they don't like cold bodies so if you hang at least overnight most of them will hop off in search of another warm bodied victim....

Another note about hanging in the field... don't hang your game in camp... look for a nearby tree,,, hang it high... to keep bears and coyotes from getting it... if you do hang it in camp don't be surprised if you get late night visitors...

by the same token if I smell you cooking BBQed rabbit I might be your very hungry visitor

I always enjoy your posts Daddybare. I can tell you are a man that has spent some time in the field honing your skills/craft.

My family always hung deer head up, I know most people do it head down because it is easier, but we always found that the blood drained better head up and not getting caught in the rib cavity.

I have really been looking into Drying/salting meat for long term storage...maybe up to one year. You seem like the type of guy that might know a thing or two about that process.

If you have some details on it, i would really like to get your take of that process, as I have read several of your posts and tend to agree with 99% of what you say and the other 1%, well that is just a minor difference in what I would call "style"...six and half dozen the other way type of things.

So we are in the midst of civilizations melt down - and you have a freezer, lucky guy

Nice thread OP!

Although, I was always taught to skin my deer ASAP, as the glands can taint the taste of the meat if not done timely.



LOL @ the title too!

Stay tuned for tomorrows topic on plumbing: "how to lay some pipe".

Originally posted by havok

I usually decapitate deer and hang it by the hind legs.
Drains much better and seems the round steak tastes better too, IMHO.

Same here. Hang by the hind legs, remove skin and decapitate. I also try to get this done before rigor mortis sets in; that way I can work the legs a bit to help drain the blood out of them as well.

So you have to hang your medium/big game field dressed, but birds you hang whole? Do you squeeze out their feces before dressing them? Are coyotes edible?

Originally posted by Darce
So you have to hang your medium/big game field dressed, but birds you hang whole? Do you squeeze out their feces before dressing them? Are coyotes edible?

I know it sounds a bit confusing... but...
Hunter's field dress mostly to make packing out the animal as easy on us as possible...

Why I remember one year up in Wyoming I took a huge bull Elk! Naturally I was thrilled...but I was on my own and it took me three days to pack all the meat.... down that mountain and back to the truck then back up the mountain...My Pack loaded to over flowing... a backbreaking hike too...

we field dress to lighten the load as it were... birds and rabbits... there not that heavy so they can wait... get it now????

Very good information OP.

Just want to add that plucking small fowl is not difficult and taste better plucked and not skinned,

But never pluck a duck.
Ducks have special tiny feathers that are more than difficult to remove.

And with other fowl singeing with fire can eliminate the small downy feathers.
Singeing can also be used on wild hogs.
It does create a terrible oder but worth it when you cook the meat.

Nah Daddy bare, I knew it wasn't a dirty thread. I have hung my meat out too many time to not know what you meant.

Last year was a VERY large cow Elk.

A lot of work to dress and haul out yourself.

We actually had a nice Elk roast tonight for dinner.

Elk roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, gravy, fresh baked wheat bread (ground yesterday) & iced tea!

I'm not so much a fan of hanging meat due to flavor. I do it however and then soak the cuts in milk in the fridge for about 6-8 hrs.

I found the reason that I do hang a carcass is from day one I have time to get ready to prepare the meat properly at my own pace. If its warm weather I bone the quarters right off the skeleton and cover with damp cheesecloth. If one was going to slice thin, salt and dry. Then hanging is the way to go, as you remove it as its processed.

Used to can in gravy when I had my can sealer. Made things very convenient and added a bit of oil to the mix. Now its just me an the dog so no teenagers means I need to be very careful in only storing canned goods that I will use up, and the giant american pressure canner has gone to a worthy home as well as the can sealer.