Aging deer meat

I've never done it, but then again, most of my deer meat turns into sausage and ground meat, so I don't have a need to try.

But, I can't imagine deer meat sitting in water for any length of time would be a good thing. If you're going to try it, I would keep the meat as dry as possible.

I prefer to do as you do. I want water and ice touching the meat to bleed it out. I many times completely debone it so it can bleed even better. I usually leave it 5-7 days like this in an ice chest before final processing. When done like this it makes the mildest tasting deer possible. I give a lot of deer away to friends and continually hear back how mild it tastes.

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Related question: what's the longest one can keep raw deer meat in the fridge?

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Dry? or bagged/wrapped and "wet"?

I very much dislike meat having my meat submerged in water. I wash mine after gutting, then hang in cold storage for at least 10 days and often as much as three weeks. They hang at 35 degrees.

If it's drained and wrapped in paper towels/not sitting in juice, 2-3 weeks.

Probably depends on a temp and the humidity. I ate some blackstrap last year that was killed in Northeren Mississspi 2 weeks prior. The temps had been under 40 for those 2 weeks and the deer was hanging in a pole barn that stayed very cool. The taste was incredible

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Ideally you'd be able to keep it dry as well with air flow, but finding a space big enough to do that which is cold and dry is very difficult especially in LA.

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Koola Buck

If only these things were more affordable. Might consider it anyway for an elk hunt next September.

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Dry? or bagged/wrapped and "wet"?

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Tossed straight from carcass into zip lock.

Not trying to be a jerk regarding the E. coli comment but I have been doing this for over 30 years with a minimum of 4 deer each year , some years as many as 14-15 , hunting 3 states and have never had a sickness issue with this method. I do drain the chest each day and add more ice as needed but I prefer the taste of deer meat that has been bled. But to each his own

Came to post that link. He's the pic of the difference in soaking in water and letting stay dry.

Monroe friend won’t cook em till 7-10 days. They are delicious

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Not trying to be a jerk regarding the E. coli comment but I have been doing this for over 30 years with a minimum of 4 deer each year , some years as many as 14-15 , hunting 3 states and have never had a sickness issue with this method. I do drain the chest each day and add more ice as needed but I prefer the taste of deer meat that has been bled. But to each his own

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You're probably not gonna get sick, as you pointed out, but soaking in plain water does very little to change the taste of deer meat. Even after a week in ice water you can cut open the muscle and it will still be bright purple on all but the 1/4" around the surface. Nothing but that surface has been "bled", unless you use salt. At that point you're marinading more than bleeding. There's a lot of other factors that go into what it will taste like, like age, diet, and handling in the hours after being shot. I personally don't care what anyone does with their deer meat, but soaking is one of those weird things that people do because their dad did it and it doesn't really make a difference.