Ageing deer

Do you age your deer with the skin on or off?

There are positives and negatives to each way. I've done both and really no difference, just a matter of preference.

All I know they skin a lot harder when cold. JMO

I've heard deer don't benefit like beef when aged. Keep your meat clean and process asap.

Sprung & Rusty
I have never heard that before!

One to two days hide on. That is if the temps are low enough

Off 30 day

Rut buck the hide comes off as fast as I can to help reduce the smell of the glands or urine possibly contaminating the meat. A doe or buck not during the rut completely depends on weather if it is warm I skin and get them in the cooler if it’s cold I sometimes leave the hide on so the meat doesn’t dry out.

I guess you could say that I "age" mine sometimes, if you consider leaving it in the fridge for a few extra days because you're lazy as aging.
I can't tell the difference one way or the other.
I do know that I would be mighty disappointed to sink my teeth into rancid deer hung to long.

I hang 5 days gutted with hide on, if the temps top out at 45 degrees during the day. Warmer I cut sooner, colder wait longer.
Pinch the meat and smell it, it will tell you when it’s ready.

Osky

I age mine when I cook Chilli, a pot usually last about 5 days.....

If canning I dont worry about aging. For all others, Ill go two to three weeks if weather permits. I prefer hide on for longer aging, but beware as someone else mentioned, getting the hide off a nearly frozen deer is not my favorite thing. It sure is worth it though when you can cut them steaks with a fork

No ageing here, shoot it one Day hangs over night.

Cut it up the next.

Just like pork and lamb, it's how locker plant do it.

Beef is different it's got fat marbling in it so it benefits from age.

But each to there own.

Aging and marbling have nothing to do with each other. Aging is allowing enzymes to break down connective tissues, making the meat tender. Venison benefits from aging every bit as much as beef. But as you say, each to their own.

If you cut out the ligaments, tendons and silverskin as you should in deer, there won't be much connective tissue left; and if you don't, no amount of aging will render it edible.

give me a guess???

Not bad for a deer in WA

Nice Vinke

Yes; it looks aged long enough

About 3 to 5 days if 45 degrees or less, no freezing till wrapped. Always rinse the cavity, prop open to dry. Most important to me is hang from both rear tendons, upside down.

Skin on, otherwise the outer layers of meat dry out. I like to age my deer 7 to 10 days temperatures permitting. And it absolutely, without a doubt, improves the quality of the meat.

About the same for me.Then I pull the hide off with the winch on my four wheeler.

Huh? Folks really ought to read a little about what aging does and how the enzymes break thing down....again, nothing to do with ligaments, silverskin and tendons...or marbling.

If it's warm, I skin, buck it up and get it in the fridge asap...leave it for a couple days then debone, cut and wrap. If cold, it can hang skin on for a few days, then process

Aging breaks down the muscle tissue,,making the meat more tender.Nothing to do with tendons and silver skin.

4 1/2 years tops. Good sized rack for its age.

I live in the deep south. Needs to be less than 3 hours from shot to fridge/cooler.