How long is it ok to keep a deer on ice before getting it processed?

I personally do a week. Keep it out of the water and keep drain plug open. Fresh ice daily

id say 2 days

We are close so it is usually only a day, but have stretched it to 2 days. Others will go up to a week.

We usually get them in done in a couple of days, but have stretched it over a week before too. Like landsurveyor said, keep it drained and the ice fresh.

Once quartered and deboned, I'll stick the meet in an ice chest full of ice/water/salt brine solution to let the meat bleed out. I drain the water once a day and replace any ice that has melted. I do this for a minimum of 1 week prior to packaging and freezing. The meat has always come out great, tender, and with very little "gamey taste" as my wife calls it.

I usually go about a week. Have gone nearly 2 weeks before. Make sure the deer is in contact with ice. Get down in there and move the quarters around if you need to. The meat should looks whitish/washed out.

Rotate meat, rotate ice, drain as needed. I leave them from 4 to 7 days. I have been doing it this way for 35 years. Nice flavor and helps tenderness. One side note, if outdoor temps get above 70. I put the cooler in my outdoor storage shed. It has a widow unit. I set the AC on 65 , just to help the process.

Like wise

I have done it from 4-7 days on many occasions and never regretted it yet. The key is to frequently drain off the bloody meltwater, and keep adding ice.

I get it to a processor as soon as possible....it's usually pretty warm out when I get one....and the processor will take a couple of weeks to get to it. Meanwhile it is hanging and being chilled.

sorry guys putting it on ice for days does nothing but keep it cold. doesnt even remove blood. walk in cooler is the only way to age it, the refrigerator removes humidity by nature its the only way to age it. ice water will not penetrate meat and if it did youd have water soaked meat, not good.

to each his own

copied and pasted.


“Dry aging is nothing more than the dehydration of excessive amounts of internal muscular moisture, (capillary blood and water). Without this moisture, these highly developed muscle systems lose their strength and eventually break down. Additionally, by removing the capillary blood, you rid the meat of the aggressive, so-called “gamey” flavor, often associated with wild game meats.

Capillary blood is found in muscles and it is basically the broken down bi-product of what that animal has consumed. The body filters all the nutrients from the food and discards most of the heavy waste. However, there is still the remaining residue from that food source within the capillary blood. So, when you harvest that big old buck, that’s been feeding on sage and bitterbrush for the past six years, that bi-product is very evident in the flavor of that meat.

Many folks want to soak meat in some ungodly concoction so the good stuff goes in and the bad goes out. Well, that simply doesn’t work. Yes, if you add enough of what I call, “culinary band-aides” you can mask just about any tainted flavor. But then you’ll never really experience the fabulous potential of properly handled wild game meat. I refer to this as the, “teriyaki, habenero, honey, sake/soy glaze syndrome”, where basically everything you cook tastes the same. Plus, when you soak a piece of meat, you are actually helping the fiber structure stay intact, so that big old buck will be as tough as ever and all your dinner guests will just keep thinking that all venison is tough! Both your guests and the meat deserve better.

the only way to age meat is in a walk in cooler or hanging outside in 33 to 40 dg weather. ice chests are a waste of time you aint doing nothing to remove moisture

Didn't know anyone was talking about "dry" aging meat.

You obviously never killed an antelope.

I have kept it in an ice chest up to a week, as long as some ice is in the chest doubt time is a big deal. My deer has always been fine.

Yea no doubt. I think his question was how long he could keep on ice before processing.

yes and i answered that, 2 days. then some chime in and say leave it in there for 7 days to age it. theres only one way to age meat, soaking in ice is not it.

But you can leave it on ice for more than a week before you process it. No problem at all.

Never said anything about aging meat. I simply am trying to bleed it out, to get the most blood out that I can.

I'll leave the aging process to beef, my venison isn't going anywhere but the grinder .

you all can do it however you want i will not soak meat in ice water or ice, its very difficult to maintain correct temps in a cooler full of ice, it melts.

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! tell me your not wasting the venison for sausage! lol jerky is fine

Actually if you want to get technical dry aging is a process and just sticking meat in a walk in cooler will make you sick.

fine but i do hate to dissapoint, you arent doing nothing to bleed it out. i dont care if you leave a hind in ice water for a week, take it out and start slicing, guess what full of blood.