was that a whole hind on ice or a cut up hind on ice the one on the right looks better than the one on the left. did you do a taste comparison

In my opinion leaving it on ice is fine if you don't have the time to get it processed... but if bleeding it on ice was "the way" to do it they would put beef on ice before they processed it too.

Ours get shot skinned gutted and either put in a fridge for a few hours to cool or iced for a few hours to cool. I hate cutting warm jiggly meat. Ours has no strong taste and the meat is as tender as the cut. Naturally on deer like any animal, loins tenderloins hams are more tender than shank etc.

[quote=redchevy]In my opinion leaving it on ice is fine if you don't have the time to get it processed... but if bleeding it on ice was "the way" to do it they would put beef on ice before they processed it too.

Ours get shot skinned gutted and either put in a fridge for a few hours to cool or iced for a few hours to cool. I hate cutting warm jiggly meat. Ours has no strong taste and the meat is as tender as the cut. Naturally on deer like any animal, loins tenderloins hams are more tender than shank etc. [/quote

So many things wrong with that statement. I was just telling my wife a colorful joke when I read this. Now we're really laughing.
As far as tender meat goes I beat my meat with a mallet!

I keep it on Ice 2-3 days

yeah but your mind was already in the gutter. Give me a few beers and tell a dirty joke and all of a sudden I can turn anything dirty.

Haha. I hear ya. We're trying to get the holiday started.
Back on the topic. I just bought a chest freezer yesterday for 20 bucks. It was a bait freezer at a place that shut down. I cleaned it out and will repaint it. Thermistat works so it will become my new cooling locker.

It was the whole quarter, deboned, but in 1 piece cut up after the fact. Your statement was ridiculous - what exactly do you think turns the water during ice run off bright red? If you'd like a picture of that as well, I can provide.

Funny, I bleed my deer for at least a week on ice while others I hunt with don't. When they eat my deer somehow it tastes better than theirs.....Guess I've just been lucky year after year. To answer the OP's question 1-2 weeks on ice is fine as long as the meat isn't sitting in water.

In all fairness I have left whole quarters on drained ice for up to two weeks because I couldn't do anything else with it and once you cut in about 1/2 inch or so from the surface exposed to ice it was as red as anything.

If I shoot a deer and drop it and it's dead within 30 seconds, I only keep it on ice a day or so.

If you lung or shoulder punch one and it runs a few hundred yards in a panic before expiring, the blood is exactly what's going to flush the lactic acid, etc that creates that "you could tell it ran a ways" taste. The blood is what carries everything throughout the body including waste, etc. Yes, I'd rather it be gone given the choice.

And the blood very clearly continues to bleed out as long as there's still gravity and path.

The extent of how much the blood drains depends on how intact that quarter is. I debone the deer while they're hanging and there are a lot of cuts all over the muscles.

It's also another reason not to leave the meat suspended in water. Meat that has the pressure of a bunch of ice pushing down on it will bleed out more than meat that is basically floating in icy water.

I aways leave a brick under the non drain end and leave the drain open with the chest full of ice. I always debone them hanging. Ill still pass on the science of how to do it etc. there is no benefit to me. I ice it til I can get it taken care of or just long enough to get it chilled. Ive left it on ice as described above for up to two weeks and if cut it up still warm and honestly in the end cant tell a difference other than the exterior of the stuff that sat on ice is pale in color. It still tastes the same to me.

this is what ive been trying to explain. water cannot penetrate a hind thats ladened with silver skin. the pic above was a deboned hind, now water may penetrate it as its been filleted wide open. but why anybody would want to soak meat in water in the first place

Because I want the blood out of it.

So then why does meat that has been iced for a week not have the red appearance that fresh meat has? What is all the blood that comes out of the cooler every time it is drained?

exactly

I've gone up to two weeks (no choice) - usually try for 1 week.
This was a quartered deer, kept covered & suspended in ice (drain open), cooler kept out of the sun, and I did the final processing.

Going over a week, I do notice a change in the 'smell' of the uncooked/unprocessed meat - so I wouldn't go longer on purpose; however the 2-week stuff has always been better than anything you'll buy at a Walmart or Grocery store!!

If you are 'getting it processed', you really need to take into account how much longer it could possibly 'sit' before being processed/frozen. Then again, you might not even be getting your own meat back, so it may/may not matter ?!?!

I do hope to try 'dry aging' some day (as some thread hijackers have already suggested as the 'only way') when funds will allow, but till then family and I are 110% pleased with the results from 1week in ice (drained) and ME processing!

like its been said depends how intact your quarters are, completely intact it does very little, yes your going to see some bloody water, which is mostly water and probably more from that gaping hole in the shoulder.

you have to cut it up or off the bone to really make a difference but then thats not exactly what i want, i just done want water soaked meat.
best way and ill say it again, hang it in a walk in cooler for 7 to 10 days unskinned deer

check with a processor in your area they offer cold storage for a few bucks a day, shouldnt be more than 50 bucks to hang it for a week.

Guess we are going to have to agree to disagree, as I've done it with ice and without and with always tastes better. Especially the straps and loins. Maybe its a mental thing, maybe its not. I don't soak my deer in water either. Its suspended in ice and constantly rotated/re-iced.

You do realize that leaving skin on slows down the cooling process? And can cause meat to spoil. Even in a walking in cooler. Better hope your cooler is in tip top shape or a processor that gets to 33-34degrees

Seen it happen...ruined cap and bad meat even at 40-45 degrees

I say its mental.

I can tell you this i would much rather have my deer meat done ASAP and not let set there for a week and i know this because like i have told many before i have been doing this since i was 12 years old at my grandparents processing shop and i know first hand the difference in letting them set in the cooler or ice and it make the meat not so good at all. There was a lot of crazy people that would come in and want it to hang for a week or so and then when they got the meat home and cooked they would call back and say it was no good and that was on 90% of the ones left in ice or just in the cooler .The thing you have to realize deer meat does not break down like beef does and that is a fact no matter what anyone tells you are shows you i know it does not !
And i know i will get my balls busted for saying and that i dont know what i am talking about but when you have processed as many as i have and been around meat like that you learn a lot from it .We did not have 1500 deer a year come in like a lot of places but we did an average of about 200-300 a year for about 24 years and this year is the first year they are not opening it up.

yes im not talking about 60 dg weather its got to be cold outside to allow this, or it has to be quartered and put on ice. but you make it sound scary if not done with utmost precision. it aint all that, you have a big window to get it into cold storage, for one a deer must hang for a bit to go through the rigor mortis cycle. even at 60dg outside you can kill your buck hang it, gut it, put in back of truck drive to meat locker and hang in storage. you act like every processors cooler doesnt work jeeeez. might as well never get a deer processed because theyre cooler doesnt work. come on man quit being a drama queen. processor have to meet guidelines and cooler temps is one
and its 33 to 38 dg your looking for