How long in a walk in?

How long will you hang a deer before processing?

Ive never hung deer in a walk in, but ill go 2 weeks on ice or in a fridge.

We used to hang beef up to 30 days at about 36 degrees when I worked at the meat lab in college.

I'd prefer a max of two weeks on deer.

The real key is the temp you keep it at. Most refrigerators are kept around 42-44 degrees.

I typically process my deer or antelope within 24 hours of taking them, so never worry. Elk will take me a little longer. In late Fall and Winter here in Idaho, my garage shop temps will stay between 30-50 degrees, so I am set up to hang 2 elk, or up to 4 deer from eye bolts in my ceiling.

Two weeks is the longest we've hung them.

I will hang them 2 weeks.

My uncle hung one for 3 and he said it was the best meat from a deer he has ever eaten

Jealous!

I typically go 1-2 weeks in a walk in or on ice (same difference). Longest I have gone is 3 weeks on deer & pigs.

Our retired processor always said he wanted at least 5 days in the hide - the meat was always good. I got busy this year and my pronghorn spent 16 days on ice in the cooler and the meat has been spectacular. If I home-age any more like that, it will be a minimum of 10-12 days. If I had a walk-in that could stay 34-38, I'd try 2 weeks and see what happened.

Is it better if it hangs for that time? I always heard it helps to make it more tender. The reason that I ask is I have a cooler/freezer trailer about 5'x5'x4.5' tall. If it is warmer than 40 degrees outside I put the field dressed deer inside on the floor with the temp set at 34-36 degrees. It is not tall enough to hang a whole deer but I am thinking about putting a rack on one side for hanging quarters. There are removeable shelves on each side now. Once processed I turn the temp down to 24 degrees to keep the meat frozen....

Same here

In my opnion the meat is better, hung in a cold walk in. 2 weeks is great, if it goes another week I think it's even better.
Bronco if you can get those hangers done for your quarters, meat is always better hung, then it gets 360 circulation.

21 days is a standard in the meat business and your good up to 26 days for beef. However, after 28 days your going to see some liquidation as the cell wall breaks down and moisture is released.

38 degrees first day of a week long doe hunt. It makes them a lot easier to quarter after they hang for a week.

Take the rear legs off with a lopper just below the hock, and take the head off and I bet you could hang them in 4.5 feet.

Cooler is properly equipped with tasty adult beverages too!

At least a week. Gotta let those muscles stretch.

Honestly, I try and never hang them in a walk-in cooler for the simple fact it just makes them more difficult to process.

We have though left some in a cooler for up to 5 days with big groups of hunters so that once they all have their buck for the hunt we can then move them out into a nice setting for group photos.
I hate skinning them after they've been in the cooler for more than 24 hours for sure.

Typically we will skin and quarter them up and put the meat into ice chests and move the ice chests into the cooler with the lids open and let the meat chill down a few hours and then close the lids up to keep it from drying out the outer layer of meat and turning it dark.

We used to hang them in the walk-in for 5 days with the skin on...then took it to the processor who skinned it and left it in his cooler for 5-7 days. I had a guy who wanted a couple of does one time but did not want to come shoot them. He asked me to leave them in the walk-in for 2 weeks with the skin on them...never done that but he said that is how they did his whole life.
Now I skin mine(no walk-in), quarter and put them in an ice chest full of cool to cold water for an hour. Then drain the water and add in ice in layers. Let it set for 5-7 days if I can then process myself or take it into town to the processor.

We usually skin them before hanging them but after hanging for a week with skin on we use the "air compressor" method to get them out of the their skin. Processing the meat seem much easier after hanging them to me.