Thread: How long to let red deer rest?

A good clean kill and hygenically field dressed red deer stored in proper chilled conditions. An animal could be hung on the bone for weeks. A gut shot deer, with crap smeared about, fly blown stored at 25 degrees wont last a day.
Your methods will determine how long you can hang for. Personally, I don't have access to a proper chiller so I do pretty much the same as @Mooseman at home, But only for a few days. Natural proteolytic enzymes and some microbial enzymes are breaking down protein chains within the muscles. The enzymes and microbes that are mostly endogenous to the muscle vary between age, breed etc of the animal, thus effecting the rate at which they 'tenderise' Its quite cool really. You may have heard of dry aged meat/ beef before? Back in my chef days we would literally hang whole sirloins and ribeyes on a hook in the chiller for up to a month, rotating stock so we always had cuts ready to go. The meat would dry out significantly on the surface and be almost black, but after a small amount of trimming the meat would look a lovely deep rouge. And the flavour, oh man! Intensified beef, oh so tender.. Well worth the extra wait if you can age your meat under the right conditions.