Make sure you show respect this fall

[robby denning]

I'll try to be more preach-y next time. Maybe that'll fit better. And self-righteous; I forgot self-righteous.

This website is not a good place for you. Goodbye for a month.

@Ryan Avery


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[sndmn11]

Have you dry aged bears before? If not, I'd suggest caution, the fat can go rancid very quickly, even in the fridge. A couple years ago I let life (aka a pregnant vegetarian wife) get in the way of processing my bear. I lost 1/2 the meat by day 10 in the fridge, and it was on ice within 2 hours of being shot.

I have not.

This was an aggressive bear that CPW shot and they knew I was out of town for a week, so they quartered it and trimmed most the fat, and then froze it. It has been slow defrosting in the coolers and is pretty close to fully defrosted I think with maybe another two to three days to go. The coolers haven't gotten above 36deg.

Last year we cooler aged a deer and it was awesome. My phorn is on day 5 or 6 at this point, we thought we would try dry aging for no other reason to see what the result was.

I am totally open to not aging that bear, it would save me some money.

 

[Ucsdryder]

While I'm not trying to get involved in a wolf hunting debate, i've never heard that wolf meat isn't safe to eat. Where did you hear that biologist's say people shouldn't eat wolf meat and do you have any references/links that I can read up on it?

Randy new berg did a short video on it and the meat contains a lot of parasites etc. I’ve read a few places where it’s not recommended for human consumption. Of course, you can cook it very well done and make it safe, but edible is the question.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Just trying to piece together the logic or the breakdown thereof for your comments in your first post. Personally, I don't care why others hunt, kill, or process, or whether they respect it or not. That's their business.

I was trying to send a friendly reminder to all of those out there that if you’re killing an animal do yourself, your dinner guests, and the animal a favor and make sure you treat the meat in a respectable way. Nothing more…nothing less. I saw some guys parading around a dead animal in the middle of the day in the back of their truck and i thought it disrespectful. If you don’t like my thread you could have moved on a long time ago rather than continuing to come on here and tell me the sky isn’t blue when I say it is.

 

[keller]

When I walk up to an animal I have harvested. I say "thank you for your life"

 

[T28w]

Talking about aging birds, I always clean animals as quick as possible. Some guys we hunt with will shoot ducks early on Sunday and the not clean them till late in the day when we get home, possibly 10 hours later. I asked why once and he told me about how they used to put a nail through the bill and when it fell, it was aged. Said if you can do that, they can wait till the afternoon to clean them lol.

Seems similar to the hanging by the neck till they drop.
Are these birds gutted and then cavity rinsed?

 

[TomJoad]

I am going to dry age this year; I have a bear and a phorn at the moment in coolers waiting for the young man's portable trailer walk-in thing to be available.

I didn't care too much about hair and debris when skinning out the phorn because I (perhaps incorrectly) assumed all of the exposed anything would be trimmed off as the rind. I see @Ucsdryder meat looks like a new born's pristine cheeks. It looks like he cut it up within a few days.

So, when you are expecting a rind to be on the meat, does hair, sticks, make a difference?

So how clean your meat is has a massive impact on whether or not you can dry age successfully. Dry aging breeds mold. When meat is managed well and hung clean the is mold is a great natural part of the process. Impurities and surface contaminates breed bacteria and other non-healthy molds that can ruin a whole quarter. Generally the good stuff (mold) is white and grows flat over the surface, the bad stuff includes black spots, and green or blue growth. No one’s meat is perfect coming out of the field but I typically carefully wash it off and dry it EXTREMELY well. Then it gets hung in a stand up freezer I’ve converted for hanging, no shelves or drawers, aftermarket thermostat to hold it at 40 deg. And I put a massive sheet pan full of rice or desiccant to dehumidify, quarters put out a ton of moisture and moisture breeds bacteria.

I don’t know your timeline but if it’s only been in coolers for a bit, clean it up super well, dry it out and go for it. If it’s been days then go ahead and process it and save the aging for next time when you’re more prepared. As many have said it is TOTALLY worth it.

——————————

Edit. Wrote this earlier and didn’t see your reply before posting. If it was me I’d pass on aging both at this point. On the bear specifically I read years ago science on freezing killing the dry aging potential. I’ll try to find articles and link them later.

 

[cod007]

I shoot tons of grouse and ducks here all fall and into winter. I almost never clean them that day. Of course it’s between 55* and 20* (or lower) here that time of year. I have deliberately let them sit a few extra days on occasion. Not surprisingly, a guy will notice some breakdown of muscle tissue etc and more tender tidbits after aging a few days.
One thing I noticed that I pay attention to however is the amount of bloodshot meat involved. If your game is shot up pretty well, it does not age well. Blood spots more or less messes up that portion for eating if let to sit too long.

 

[tdot]

So how clean your meat is has a massive impact on whether or not you can dry age successfully. Dry aging breeds mold. When meat is managed well and hung clean the is mold is a great natural part of the process. Impurities and surface contaminates breed bacteria and other non-healthy molds that can ruin a whole quarter. Generally the good stuff (mold) is white and grows flat over the surface, the bad stuff includes black spots, and green or blue growth. No one’s meat is perfect coming out of the field but I typically carefully wash it off and dry it EXTREMELY well. Then it gets hung in a stand up freezer I’ve converted for hanging, no shelves or drawers, aftermarket thermostat to hold it at 40 deg. And I put a massive sheet pan full of rice or desiccant to dehumidify, quarters put out a ton of moisture and moisture breeds bacteria.

I don’t know your timeline but if it’s only been in coolers for a bit, clean it up super well, dry it out and go for it. If it’s been days then go ahead and process it and save the aging for next time when you’re more prepared. As many have said it is TOTALLY worth it.

——————————

Edit. Wrote this earlier and didn’t see your reply before posting. If it was me I’d pass on aging both at this point. On the bear specifically I read years ago science on freezing killing the dry aging potential. I’ll try to find articles and link them later.

Definitely post the article on freezing affecting the dry aging process, if you find it. I personally haven't ever been able to dry age an animal that wasnt frozen first. I'd be curious to find out what I'm missing and how I can change my process. It might be the final push I need to build a walk-in cooler.

 

[TomJoad]

Definitely post the article on freezing affecting the dry aging process, if you find it. I personally haven't ever been able to dry age an animal that wasnt frozen first. I'd be curious to find out what I'm missing and how I can change my process. It might be the final push I need to build a walk-in cooler.

Well this was bugging me so I started searching, what I remember was the freezing effecting the microbes which are working to break down some of those proteins. I couldn’t find that article, but I did find something interesting and more recent studying this in Brazilian beef. In the end they concluded that freezing before was detrimental but for a totally different reason, accelerated moisture loss. it’s pretty heady but interesting if you’re into this stuff:

Dry Aged Beef Study

 

[Savage99]

Definitely post the article on freezing affecting the dry aging process, if you find it. I personally haven't ever been able to dry age an animal that wasnt frozen first. I'd be curious to find out what I'm missing and how I can change my process. It might be the final push I need to build a walk-in cooler.

A meat aging thread had some good info a while back.

Aging meat

Curious on what everyone does for aging their meat. Do you put it in a refrigerator for a few days? Store in the garage in coolers constantly packed with ice? What special techniques have worked out for you?

www.rokslide.com

Posted in that thread was a white paper on aging.

http://www.wyoextension.org/agpubs/pubs/B-513R.pdf

There is mention of freezing in the paper, but I’d probably “butcher” the explanation and the paper is short.


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[Customweld]

Yes! Had a buddy from England about punch me when I started cleaning the pheasants I shot that day. “Hang ‘em upside down until green stuff drips from their nostrils Bloke!”

I couldn’t bring myself but did start aging them in the fridge, guts in, for a week+ and it did improve flavor and texture. Also takes the pressure off at the end of a long hunting day to clean the birds.

Man, that just sounds wrong!