# To skin or not to skin?



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

finally tagged out Monday. Got the last one of the year hanging in the barn, skinned and hung out to age for a week. I got the hide and head off because that's what I always do, but is it best? What do you guys do and what are the pros/cons?


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

I skin and de-bone all as soon as I can. Then pack in a cooler with ice. Open drain and prop cooler so it will drain well. I add ice as needed and 7-10 days later I can take manageable pieces in to trim cut and vacuum seal at my leisure. This is a technique that has been used for decades in the south since they don't typically have temps to hang a deer like us. I was sceptical at 1st but I can tell you I have been doing it this way for maybe 8 years or so and would never do it any other way.


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

That's something I've definitely never heard before. Does the meat ever freeze? And you don't worry about the meat being wet or is it in sealed bags?


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

The only time that I skin a deer is right before I am ready to cut it up. The only time that I skin it earlier is if I am worried about it freezing. Not much worse than trying to skin a frozen deer.


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

I skin as soon as possible. It is way easier to skin a warm deer and removing the hide helps to cool the meat quicker. It is best to age a deer in a cool and dry environment. There would be no reason to put it on ice in this kind of weather.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

dsoy28 said:


> That's something I've definitely never heard before. Does the meat ever freeze? And you don't worry about the meat being wet or is it in sealed bags?


If I were to worry about it freezing I bring mine in the basement where I have a kitchen for game processing and let the cooler drain into the sink. You want the meat to drain also no bags the blood washes away with the melted ice water hence the propping of the cooler. This same question came up a few months back there are quite a few of us on here that do it this way. Without having a walk in cooler this way keeps the meat at a constant temp better than any other method and that is the most important part of aging it.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

as long as temps permit, i let the deer hang a few days , hide intact. One new thing that I do starting this year is when I shoot the deer, the second I open her up for field dressing, I cut out the loins and the heart right there in the field, and place them in Ziploc bags...take them back to camp and put the bags in the refrigerator or in a cooler...do not rinse off the meat with tap water. I usually eat the loins and the heart within a few days after the kill.. you can rinse them off right before you cook them . it makes a world of difference in the taste !


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

It never ceases to amaze me how different people do things so different. I'm starting to think that the small amount of rind loss is worth skinning asap to get the cooling process started, so I may keep doing it that way. The cooler idea has piqued my interest, I may give it a try next year. The more I read professional articles about aging, the more I read that constant temperature is key.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

9Left said:


> as long as temps permit, i let the deer hang a few days , hide intact. One new thing that I do starting this year is when I shoot the deer, the second I open her up for field dressing, I cut out the loins and the heart right there in the field, and place them in Ziploc bags...take them back to camp and put the bags in the refrigerator or in a cooler...do not rinse off the meat with tap water. I usually eat the loins and the heart within a few days after the kill.. you can rinse them off right before you cook them . it makes a world of difference in the taste !


I always carry a couple gallon zip locs or at least a couple grocery bags for this exact reason. Heart, liver, tongue, and inner loins come.out immediately and ate eaten fresh never frozen. The rest hangs for a week weather depending.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

dsoy28 said:


> It never ceases to amaze me how different people do things so different. I'm starting to think that the small amount of rind loss is worth skinning asap to get the cooling process started, so I may keep doing it that way. The cooler idea has piqued my interest, I may give it a try next year. The more I read professional articles about aging, the more I read that constant temperature is key.


You can wrap the carcass in various Comercial wraps to keep the meat from drying during the aging process after skinning. I've also heard sheets and cheesecloth works well.


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## ErieEye (Jul 16, 2007)

dsoy28 said:


> finally tagged out Monday. Got the last one of the year hanging in the barn, skinned and hung out to age for a week. I got the hide and head off because that's what I always do, but is it best? What do you guys do and what are the pros/cons?


If your going to skin a deer then leave it hang for a week I would recommend wrapping the entire deer with cling wrap. You need to have something covering the meat to hold the natural moisture in the meat.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

I skin them soon after the kill and hang in the cooler for up to a week. Water is an enemy of meat so we don't let the meat get wet. We don't wrap them in anything either. Just let them dry age for a while. There is a thin layer that we trim off before butchering the deer. The meat is not dried out so I never saw the need to wrap the deer while hanging.


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

I do have a habit of hosing it down when I skin it, learning now that's a bad idea I guess, picking all that hair off drives me crazy.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

Meat is 75% water? I don't follow ...? What's the difference if it gets wet?


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Water breeds bacteria. Hosing it off , packaging it , and freezing it doesn't hurt anything. However, Hosing it off and letting it hang gives bacteria a chance to grow.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

So if you accidentally pop gut you just toss it in the ditch?


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## ErieEye (Jul 16, 2007)

Here's what I do when I get my deer back to the garage. First I hose out the gut cavity. I let all the remaining water drain out. After water is all drained I hang the deer head down for around 3 days. After 3 days I will skin the deer and begin the butchering process where as the deer is deboned and put in totes. Given that I do everything my self and I take my time at it the entire process from hanging to packaging/freezing is typically spread out over a 7 to 9 day period. As far as skinning a deer the day you shoot it to promote/accelerate cooling of the deer is unnecessary. A whitetail does not have enough mussel mass to worry about spoilage from residual body heat.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

dsoy28 said:


> I do have a habit of hosing it down when I skin it, learning now that's a bad idea I guess, picking all that hair off drives me crazy.


As for the hair we use a propane torch and burn them all.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

It all goes back to temperature bacteria grow at <140 and >40 so more than anything keep at <40 all will be fine.


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

A dry aging process will give you a much nicer finished product than a wet aging process. Try it both ways and see for yourself. I don't like bloody defrosted meat. The dry aging process reduces the amount of blood and water in your packaged meat. Has anyone ever seen a butcher put a beef quarter on ice to age it?


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## Fishballz (Aug 15, 2015)

Hang it in the garage for 2 days then take it to the butcher and let him deal with it. Hide comes right off and meat tastes great


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## rhaythorn (Oct 27, 2007)

Kill it,ice it, take it to butcher, grill it, eat it.


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## chatterbox (Jan 7, 2013)

Skin as soon as you get home if butchering Yourself. The whole idea is to cool out the meat and have it case to make it easier to cut. If taking it to a butcher leave skin on and instruct to cape it out if You are going to get it mounted.


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

Just thought I'd post this so the difference can be seen. One package is from a deer taken in early October, didn't have the temps and time to hang, was butchered immediately. The lower package is my recent one taken the last week of the season. Temps were perfect so it was skinned and hung for 7 days. Both these ground meat packs have the exact same 10% pork mix, both were sizeable does at least 2 yrs old. On the recent deer that I aged, I cut round steaks and they are more tender than most strap steaks I've made....just a follow up. 

Side note: I did feel like silver skin and fat came off WAY easier after that length of time.


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## OrangeMilk (Oct 13, 2012)

Luckily I have access to a walk in cooler and was able to hang the deer for 2 weeks this year. Skinned right away because warm skin comes off easier. The outer layer was dry and had to be removed to the ground meat pile. I will look into wrapping it next year. 

Very tender meat, cut most of it with a fork. We even ended up cutting and cooking up the roasts as though they were steaks because they were just that tender.


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## mmtchell (Jul 9, 2014)

I bowhunt elk in Colorado ,,and like the gentleman said earlier about the cooler with ice ..that's what most do with there elk ,,and I do with my deer here in ohio if the temps are not stable.. the cooler keeps the meat a steady temp and you keep the drain pulled so it does not fill with water.When you are ready to process the meat its ice cold ,,and fresh as can be ..been doing this for years ....and if its to cold outside the cooler acts like a insulator from the cold and if so you can bring it in out of the weather ..its a nice method


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

mmtchell said:


> I bowhunt elk in Colorado ,,and like the gentleman said earlier about the cooler with ice ..that's what most do with there elk ,,and I do with my deer here in ohio if the temps are not stable.. the cooler keeps the meat a steady temp and you keep the drain pulled so it does not fill with water.When you are ready to process the meat its ice cold ,,and fresh as can be ..been doing this for years ....and if its to cold outside the cooler acts like a insulator from the cold and if so you can bring it in out of the weather ..its a nice method


Nice method, but if you have the temps to let it hang, then the cooler thing is more work than needs to be done for deer...just my opinion...let it hang for awhile to age then go straight to butchering it...if you have the temps there is no need to do anything immediately but hang it and age it.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

This is an age old debate, and just shows that there are lots of ways to get the job done. And miked913's cooler method demonstrates human ingenuity at it's best. 

If conditions are ideal, which is rare, I like to let the deer hang with the hide on. The important things are to get the guts, and as much blood as possible, out of it, and get it cool ASAP. Once the carcass is cold, the hide acts like a thermos bottle, and helps keep it cold. I hung one deer for 7 days, and it's the best venison I've ever had!


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## Northern Reb (Jan 3, 2012)

Great thread! We butcher all our deer and generally outdoor temps determine how soon we need to get it done.

I just got a big doe yesterday morning. I hung it and packed it with ice to try and keep cool, but since it was so warm we decided to cut it off the bone last night. I have the meat in sealed plastic tubs in the fridge. Would it help the aging process to let is set for a few days before hitting the grinder or vacuum sealer? Or is it already too late?


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

I'd just cut it up. Sealed in a plastic container won't do much for aging it properly.


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

How does it not age because it's sealed up? I've Saran wrapped meat after deboning and let it age in the fridge multiple times, I get the same results.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Proper temps, time and good air circulation are keys to aging. I don't want the venison laying in a pool of blood sealed up. Do whatever works best for you.


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

Makes sense about blood not draining out. I've had to age it in the fridge quite a bit merely because it's tough to get consistent air temperatures, last January I let one hang and the first 5 days were perfect, then the whole thing froze while I was away at work.


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

I let mine sit in a tote or trash bag for 3-5 days. Drain blood daily to prevent any funky smells. I don't see it getting less airflow this way than a carcass would with skin or wrap or just the dried outside. All you need is a little oxygen to be breaking down those proteins. Of course hanging with skin on is preferable for me but I won't ever chance it with the flies again.


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## miked913 (Feb 29, 2008)

miked913 said:


> I skin and de-bone all as soon as I can. Then pack in a cooler with ice. Open drain and prop cooler so it will drain well. I add ice as needed and 7-10 days later I can take manageable pieces in to trim cut and vacuum seal at my leisure. This is a technique that has been used for decades in the south since they don't typically have temps to hang a deer like us. I was sceptical at 1st but I can tell you I have been doing it this way for maybe 8 years or so and would never do it any other way.


 keep the meat in the ice not laying on the bottom, no flies, all the blood drains away and beautiful aged meat when you're done


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## HappySnag (Dec 20, 2007)

Northern Reb said:


> Great thread! We butcher all our deer and generally outdoor temps determine how soon we need to get it done.
> 
> I just got a big doe yesterday morning. I hung it and packed it with ice to try and keep cool, but since it was so warm we decided to cut it off the bone last night. I have the meat in sealed plastic tubs in the fridge. Would it help the aging process to let is set for a few days before hitting the grinder or vacuum sealer? Or is it already too late?


in this week temperature,you can have deer hanging for 3 days with out ice.
main think,clean that from blod with rag,blod start spoiling first,and keep that in garage protect from fly.
I had deer hanging in barn in this temperature for 5 days,it was fine.
main think it was clean from blod.
I never used ice in 30 years deer hunting.


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

miked913 said:


> keep the meat in the ice not laying on the bottom, no flies, all the blood drains away and beautiful aged meat when you're done


Here's an old Indian trick in hot weather...
Take a milk crate and cut it about 3-4"s from the bottom. Turn it upside down with the cut end facing down and put it in the bottom your cooler making a rack. This helps keep the meat off the bottom and leaving the drain open, let's the blood/water drain freely. My coolers hold two each of these racks.
And if you want to decrease the temp. even more on a very hot day, plus help remove blood from the meat, sprinkle a couple cups of salt evenly on the top layer of ice.
As has been said, in perfect weather, I let mine hang. When the temps are pushing 80, they get skinned, the few hairs burned off with torch, rinsed and cooled with water, quartered and iced down in the cooler.


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

How did the Indians cut the plastic milk crates back in the day?


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

bobk said:


> How did the Indians cut the plastic milk crates back in the day?


Hmmm...everyone knows that they would heat the blade of their Buck knives and melt the plastic. 
Then in the late 1800's they used cordless sawzalls..geeesh.


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## kickinbass (May 25, 2009)

Hang for a 2-3 days then skin it n cut it


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

With the temps like they've been so far, I haven't been hunting once! Been waiting for the temps to get right. My buddy and I butchered his deer last year, and that was my first time. I liked it, and it wasn't all that hard! 

He had to take the grinds to someone to finish into ground meat, but now he has a grinder! So we won't be hunting until it cools off quite a bit! Where we hunt, the deer are still out there.


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

I've been butchering my own for a few years now. It's fun, satisfying, and I like things my own way. That being said, I have a nice grinder and stuffer, and I still hate that part. The butcher shop up the road will grind all my deboned and cubed meat, mix it with 10% pork, and vacuum pack it for about 29 bucks per deer, I can't turn that down.


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