Mark, my dad makes wild pig in the oven, and for about 14 hours he let's it chill in water with sea salt. No trash bag though. It helps tenderize the meat and keeps it cool in texas weather. Salt definitely helps keeping stuff cooler, and no, it won't freeze it. I think it's worth the try!!
Vinegar clean up afterwards inside and out. Spend time with vinegar cleaning the bloodshot areas. I will sometimes use a butane torch to remove any hair.
I live and hunt in Texas and other than this last winter, with the coldest temp where I live at -4 F, it normally doesn't get that cold. And any number of times during hunting season (rifle) it can still get up in the 60s. So, usually, the plan is to gather the harvest within an hour or so. and if are not going to the processor right away, you might just go ahead and quarter. Whereas, I plan to do it all. Skin, quarter, process. I really like venison and I will certainly shoot a spike. Now, the sidenote, the hat trick I want to pull off is get a spike with one on the left. Then, another spike with one on the right. European mount on both and then display appropriately have people look at it and say, "How in the ... ?" Anyway, hunting on public overgrown land and having a car, my option is to skin and quarter where the deer drops. Except for two weekends where I have to drag the whole deer to a check station. And then have my cooler full of ice in my car. Pull that out and start putting meat in as it displaces ice (we have a huge icemaker at work in the warehouse.) You can wet age meat as well as you can dry age meat and it is a lot easier to control temperatures. Especially if one hunts at the beginning of archery season in October, where it can be above 80 F. But that is what it takes if you want to catch one in velvet.
What a hoot. Ryan is the son of my cousin Ray. I grew up with Ray and his brothers Ron and Don. A real hunting family. Seeing a youtube video in Texas withe a shirt tail cousin in Montana.
Questions for the next Podcast on this topic: In the north east they hang deer in a tree during the cold temps, in the south east I learned from them they put the deer meat in coolers with ice and let the blood drain out the drain plug or soak it in the ice water or salt water for a week or more to "age" it in the cool water. Thoughts on that? If weight is an issue on the pack out, do you scrap the hide/pelt/antlers or make a second trip just for the hide/pelt/antlers? Great Podcast. Thanks for taking the time to share.
I use the giant zip locks from wally world. Can fit all 4 quarters of a doe in one and they're tough. They're actually for garments. Find them in laundry aisle. Come in 4 pack.
Gamey meat- I've heard that if you cut the scent gland with you're knife & use that same knife to cut the rest of the animal it makes it gamey. Not sure if true but I was like dang I can see that being a thing.
Does the caliber and terminal velocity make a difference in meat-losses? I've read both arguments.... Is it better to use a smaller high-velocity caliber like 6.5 Creedmoor, or a slow heavy round like .30-06, 44mag or even 45-70? Here in NJ, we're restricted to traditional buckshot ....or slugs if you have a scope or iron-sights. Muzzleloaders and bow-hunting also take lots of deer...but not enough. Plus IIRC you can't field-butcher and quarter, you have to take the whole intact gutted-animal to a State deer-check station...which means it might be one or two days before you can butcher. Lots of meat-loss and gamey-fat contamination. Yetch!! One reason I don't hunt here.
I wanted to answer your question but I don't know how applicable it will be. A friend whom we shall call John (RIP), because that was his name, had a lifetime hunting license in Oklahoma and always hunted his aunt's property for old does not producing fawns any more. He, like me, wanted the meat more than trophies, though trophies are nice and he once got an elk. Anyway, so, he hunted with a .50 cal black powder muzzleloader. And made his own .50 cal lead balls for ammo. I had visited with him and watched him smelt and form them. I don't know how much meat he may have lost but he was a good shot. However, .50 cal lead ball, it doesn't matter where you hit, it is a kill shot. Also, a .308 can go through a shoulder blade. And really it matters where you hit the leg. You may choose a different spot if close enough. For example, with a doe that you don't expect to mount the head as a trophy, you could take a head shot and not lose any meat, not even the neck. I hunt whitetail with .308 Win, the black sheep son of the .30-06. One of the best recommended rounds for whitetail is only travelling 2840 fps (Hornady SST 165 grain.) Not the slowest. I have shot Federal Nontypical Whitetail 180 grain out of my MVP Long Range at 2570 and it is extremely accurate in that rifle. Rob at deermeatfordinner, a youtuber, (check out his channel) got a moose with his Howa 1500 6.5 Creedmoor with Hornady ELD-X 143 grain at quite a distance. ruclips.net/video/CYQlws3xQpk/видео.html So, really, it is not so much the round as it is the placement of the shot. For example, John, hunting on just 20 acres, was super sneaky and got close enough or let the deer get close enough and he could hit the boiler room with a lead ball without damaging the shoulder. That takes patience and dedication. So, you can do the same with shot gun. You could treat a slug like my friend treated his muzzleloader. Or spray and pray with buckshot. Depending on the spread, you might get more bloodshot meat with 12 pellets rambling about.
Not sure why you'd want to use the salt to keep the ice colder than freezing, as freezing (32°F) is already sufficiently low to preserve the meat during transport. To go into the physics, the way ice keeps a cooler cold is by melting, since the phase transition of ice to liquid water involves the absorption of heat. So long as there is ice remaining, that absorption of heat by the ice as it melts will maintain a temperature of around 32°F in the cooler. Adding salt will lower the temperature at which ice melts, so this salted ice will absorb heat and melt at a lower temperature, subsequently keeping the cooler at a lower temperature. However, this will create a greater temperature differential between inside and outside the cooler, which will lead to a greater flux of heat into the cooler. Since the total amount of heat the melting ice can absorb is the same (salted or unsalted), this greater heat flow will result in your ice to melting faster. Once the ice is melted both coolers (salted and unsalted) will heat up at nearly the same rate, so an unsalted cooler will actually keep the cooler cold (below 33°F) longer than a salted cooler. TLDR: Salted ice will make your cooler colder, but at the cost of causing the ice to melt faster. Since you do not need your cooler to be colder than 32°F for meat, I do not think it is a worthwhile tradeoff.
I still remember the awful taste of venison fat burger when I was 5. The only time I refused game meat. But what I think most people mean when they say “gamey” is “doesn’t taste like grain fed beef”. I know people that turn their nose up at store bought lamb and grass fed beef and say it’s “gamey”. Still got their child tastebuds (I shouldn’t say that, my 5yo is wild for game meat). People also don’t know how to cook different cuts and species. My brother in law killed and cooked a Rio Grande turkey, his family refuses to eat another one. I’m 99% sure he tried to cook it like a Butterball (which most ppl still screw up).
I was able to hunt for the first time this last season but I learned some things from others who have hunted. I live in Texas and one of my friends hunted in southern Oklahoma on his aunt's property. And his dad's place was about 20 miles away and they had a "deer shed." That is where you hang and quarter process. John liked aged meat. However, not everyone has a walk-in cooler. And John did everything himself, including grinding. Which has influenced me. So, I have a meat grinder with sausage fittings. And I have a dehydrator to make venison jerky. I have already tried it twice with t-bone and top sirloin steak. Very savory and succulent. Anyway, so, you can chill and age on ice. I take advantage of my situation. I work for a company involved in construction and we have a restaurant grade ice maker for the crews to fill up their coolers to keep cool water and gatorade for these Texas summers. So, I have a 54 quart cooler (but I may go bigger) and I fill it up with ice on a Friday before a hunt (usually hunting Saturday, maybe Sunday, because I live an hour away from public hunting land.) If I get a deer, I will be skinning and quartering in the field and packing it out in my backpack (that has a meat shelf.) And putting it in the cooler. Then, it can sit in ice water for a week and that will age it fine. The other advantage of wet aging is that you don't get a crust. Also, some of the fat and outer blood washes out. That is what gives the "gamey" taste. Deer fat has a higher melting temperature than beef or pork fat. So, it cools at temperatures where beef fat and pork fat are still liquified. Get rid of the fat and get rid of the "game" taste. Just remember to cook it like lean beef, as in, go easy. It is so easy to overcook venison and turn it into shoe leather (I have been there, done that. I ruined a back strap roast, which is a hanging offense.) So, really, that is the trick, get the meat cool, keep it cool. The reason is that you need a break down of the collagen in meat to happen but not to fast.
If the weather is too hot out just leave it for the coyotes and come back when it gets cold and shoot another one nothing goes to waste in the great out doors
After sunrise in the morning how long on average would you say you have before whitetail start heading back to their bedding? Keep up the amazing content
Totally depends on hunting pressure. Many a hunter has scored by waiting til all the other hunters had knocked off for the morning, cuz the bucks know the schedule too.
been hunting 40 years, very few people do what i discovered in my youth. shot a moose late in the evening just before dark, gutted it and pryed the rib cage open. the animal spoiled overnight. hind quarters went sour. from that day forward we started chilling the animals in rivers or lakes or in snow overnight. here in alaska cool water is never too far away. even my rutty bucks i soak over night in cold water. chilling the blood is so important, otherwise the blood stays warm for many hours and cooks and gets nasty! my rutty bucks taste like august bucks. try it sometime! you will be amazed.
I have also been conflicted. I could do gutless method and there is a way to reach in and get the tenderloins. But I also want the heart. And liver. I am one of the few people I know that likes liver. I will eat the heart and liver from a chicken. That being said, I suppose it depends on how easy it is to find a tree to string up the gambrel with. Also, depends on whether a doe or buck. People don't normally collect trophy on a doe but usually do on a buck. Also temperature. Since we can have warmer temps where I live, even on some days during rifle season, if you remove the guts, you get the meat cooling down faster. Maybe only a matter of minutes but it might help.
I like taking all those fatty, blood shot or slightly dirty scraps and once I'm done with all my other grinding, I grind all those scraps and make dog food.
Watching how a lot of people handle meat in the field honestly makes me sick. Absolutely no respect. Hanging hide on carcasses out in full sun, like Ryan said in the back of a truck, or drug through the dirt. It's outright sad, it's like they don't care, and don't care to learn.
NEWS FLASH!!! there is a thing called gameyness. deer will drink their own urin! this determines how foul they can be, sometimes there is nothing you can do.
Probably the most useful podcast I’ve seen on taking meat and preserving it, and your kit to do it. Props.
Mark, my dad makes wild pig in the oven, and for about 14 hours he let's it chill in water with sea salt. No trash bag though. It helps tenderize the meat and keeps it cool in texas weather. Salt definitely helps keeping stuff cooler, and no, it won't freeze it. I think it's worth the try!!
Vinegar clean up afterwards inside and out. Spend time with vinegar cleaning the bloodshot areas. I will sometimes use a butane torch to remove any hair.
He knows what he is talking about love the podcast great to listen to at work
I live and hunt in Texas and other than this last winter, with the coldest temp where I live at -4 F, it normally doesn't get that cold. And any number of times during hunting season (rifle) it can still get up in the 60s. So, usually, the plan is to gather the harvest within an hour or so. and if are not going to the processor right away, you might just go ahead and quarter. Whereas, I plan to do it all. Skin, quarter, process. I really like venison and I will certainly shoot a spike. Now, the sidenote, the hat trick I want to pull off is get a spike with one on the left. Then, another spike with one on the right. European mount on both and then display appropriately have people look at it and say, "How in the ... ?"
Anyway, hunting on public overgrown land and having a car, my option is to skin and quarter where the deer drops. Except for two weekends where I have to drag the whole deer to a check station. And then have my cooler full of ice in my car. Pull that out and start putting meat in as it displaces ice (we have a huge icemaker at work in the warehouse.)
You can wet age meat as well as you can dry age meat and it is a lot easier to control temperatures. Especially if one hunts at the beginning of archery season in October, where it can be above 80 F. But that is what it takes if you want to catch one in velvet.
What a hoot. Ryan is the son of my cousin Ray. I grew up with Ray and his brothers Ron and Don. A real hunting family. Seeing a youtube video in Texas withe a shirt tail cousin in Montana.
Questions for the next Podcast on this topic:
In the north east they hang deer in a tree during the cold temps, in the south east I learned from them they put the deer meat in coolers with ice and let the blood drain out the drain plug or soak it in the ice water or salt water for a week or more to "age" it in the cool water. Thoughts on that?
If weight is an issue on the pack out, do you scrap the hide/pelt/antlers or make a second trip just for the hide/pelt/antlers?
Great Podcast. Thanks for taking the time to share.
Thx guys! This was great content.
I use the giant zip locks from wally world. Can fit all 4 quarters of a doe in one and they're tough. They're actually for garments. Find them in laundry aisle. Come in 4 pack.
Gamey meat- I've heard that if you cut the scent gland with you're knife & use that same knife to cut the rest of the animal it makes it gamey. Not sure if true but I was like dang I can see that being a thing.
Definitely wouldn't recommend doing that!
Does the caliber and terminal velocity make a difference in meat-losses? I've read both arguments....
Is it better to use a smaller high-velocity caliber like 6.5 Creedmoor, or a slow heavy round like .30-06, 44mag or even 45-70?
Here in NJ, we're restricted to traditional buckshot ....or slugs if you have a scope or iron-sights. Muzzleloaders and bow-hunting also take lots of deer...but not enough. Plus IIRC you can't field-butcher and quarter, you have to take the whole intact gutted-animal to a State deer-check station...which means it might be one or two days before you can butcher. Lots of meat-loss and gamey-fat contamination. Yetch!! One reason I don't hunt here.
I wanted to answer your question but I don't know how applicable it will be. A friend whom we shall call John (RIP), because that was his name, had a lifetime hunting license in Oklahoma and always hunted his aunt's property for old does not producing fawns any more. He, like me, wanted the meat more than trophies, though trophies are nice and he once got an elk.
Anyway, so, he hunted with a .50 cal black powder muzzleloader. And made his own .50 cal lead balls for ammo. I had visited with him and watched him smelt and form them. I don't know how much meat he may have lost but he was a good shot. However, .50 cal lead ball, it doesn't matter where you hit, it is a kill shot.
Also, a .308 can go through a shoulder blade. And really it matters where you hit the leg. You may choose a different spot if close enough. For example, with a doe that you don't expect to mount the head as a trophy, you could take a head shot and not lose any meat, not even the neck.
I hunt whitetail with .308 Win, the black sheep son of the .30-06. One of the best recommended rounds for whitetail is only travelling 2840 fps (Hornady SST 165 grain.) Not the slowest. I have shot Federal Nontypical Whitetail 180 grain out of my MVP Long Range at 2570 and it is extremely accurate in that rifle.
Rob at deermeatfordinner, a youtuber, (check out his channel) got a moose with his Howa 1500 6.5 Creedmoor with Hornady ELD-X 143 grain at quite a distance.
ruclips.net/video/CYQlws3xQpk/видео.html
So, really, it is not so much the round as it is the placement of the shot. For example, John, hunting on just 20 acres, was super sneaky and got close enough or let the deer get close enough and he could hit the boiler room with a lead ball without damaging the shoulder. That takes patience and dedication.
So, you can do the same with shot gun. You could treat a slug like my friend treated his muzzleloader. Or spray and pray with buckshot. Depending on the spread, you might get more bloodshot meat with 12 pellets rambling about.
Not sure why you'd want to use the salt to keep the ice colder than freezing, as freezing (32°F) is already sufficiently low to preserve the meat during transport. To go into the physics, the way ice keeps a cooler cold is by melting, since the phase transition of ice to liquid water involves the absorption of heat. So long as there is ice remaining, that absorption of heat by the ice as it melts will maintain a temperature of around 32°F in the cooler. Adding salt will lower the temperature at which ice melts, so this salted ice will absorb heat and melt at a lower temperature, subsequently keeping the cooler at a lower temperature. However, this will create a greater temperature differential between inside and outside the cooler, which will lead to a greater flux of heat into the cooler. Since the total amount of heat the melting ice can absorb is the same (salted or unsalted), this greater heat flow will result in your ice to melting faster. Once the ice is melted both coolers (salted and unsalted) will heat up at nearly the same rate, so an unsalted cooler will actually keep the cooler cold (below 33°F) longer than a salted cooler.
TLDR: Salted ice will make your cooler colder, but at the cost of causing the ice to melt faster. Since you do not need your cooler to be colder than 32°F for meat, I do not think it is a worthwhile tradeoff.
I still remember the awful taste of venison fat burger when I was 5. The only time I refused game meat.
But what I think most people mean when they say “gamey” is “doesn’t taste like grain fed beef”. I know people that turn their nose up at store bought lamb and grass fed beef and say it’s “gamey”. Still got their child tastebuds (I shouldn’t say that, my 5yo is wild for game meat).
People also don’t know how to cook different cuts and species. My brother in law killed and cooked a Rio Grande turkey, his family refuses to eat another one. I’m 99% sure he tried to cook it like a Butterball (which most ppl still screw up).
Thanks, good video.
🤜🤛
Just getting into hunting good info. 👍
I was able to hunt for the first time this last season but I learned some things from others who have hunted. I live in Texas and one of my friends hunted in southern Oklahoma on his aunt's property. And his dad's place was about 20 miles away and they had a "deer shed." That is where you hang and quarter process.
John liked aged meat. However, not everyone has a walk-in cooler. And John did everything himself, including grinding. Which has influenced me. So, I have a meat grinder with sausage fittings. And I have a dehydrator to make venison jerky. I have already tried it twice with t-bone and top sirloin steak. Very savory and succulent.
Anyway, so, you can chill and age on ice. I take advantage of my situation. I work for a company involved in construction and we have a restaurant grade ice maker for the crews to fill up their coolers to keep cool water and gatorade for these Texas summers.
So, I have a 54 quart cooler (but I may go bigger) and I fill it up with ice on a Friday before a hunt (usually hunting Saturday, maybe Sunday, because I live an hour away from public hunting land.) If I get a deer, I will be skinning and quartering in the field and packing it out in my backpack (that has a meat shelf.) And putting it in the cooler. Then, it can sit in ice water for a week and that will age it fine. The other advantage of wet aging is that you don't get a crust. Also, some of the fat and outer blood washes out. That is what gives the "gamey" taste. Deer fat has a higher melting temperature than beef or pork fat. So, it cools at temperatures where beef fat and pork fat are still liquified. Get rid of the fat and get rid of the "game" taste. Just remember to cook it like lean beef, as in, go easy. It is so easy to overcook venison and turn it into shoe leather (I have been there, done that. I ruined a back strap roast, which is a hanging offense.)
So, really, that is the trick, get the meat cool, keep it cool. The reason is that you need a break down of the collagen in meat to happen but not to fast.
If the weather is too hot out just leave it for the coyotes and come back when it gets cold and shoot another one nothing goes to waste in the great out doors
Great video guys. Who is selling goat knives in Australia?
This is a great channel.
We appreciate that - thanks for tuning in and for being a part of Vortex Nation! 👊
High-end content that studo is not a cheap set up
After sunrise in the morning how long on average would you say you have before whitetail start heading back to their bedding? Keep up the amazing content
Totally depends on hunting pressure. Many a hunter has scored by waiting til all the other hunters had knocked off for the morning, cuz the bucks know the schedule too.
Here to tell you that it does not matter. I saw a doe crossing a road from one property to another after 9 am.
How about an episode on product testing (what does Vortex do and how you do it)?
been hunting 40 years, very few people do what i discovered in my youth. shot a moose late in the evening just before dark, gutted it and pryed the rib cage open. the animal spoiled overnight. hind quarters went sour. from that day forward we started chilling the animals in rivers or lakes or in snow overnight. here in alaska cool water is never too far away. even my rutty bucks i soak over night in cold water. chilling the blood is so important, otherwise the blood stays warm for many hours and cooks and gets nasty! my rutty bucks taste like august bucks. try it sometime! you will be amazed.
I have also been conflicted. I could do gutless method and there is a way to reach in and get the tenderloins. But I also want the heart. And liver. I am one of the few people I know that likes liver. I will eat the heart and liver from a chicken. That being said, I suppose it depends on how easy it is to find a tree to string up the gambrel with. Also, depends on whether a doe or buck. People don't normally collect trophy on a doe but usually do on a buck.
Also temperature. Since we can have warmer temps where I live, even on some days during rifle season, if you remove the guts, you get the meat cooling down faster. Maybe only a matter of minutes but it might help.
When people say it's "gamey" they just mean it doesn't taste like chicken beef or pork.
Use rock salt with ice. It's like making homemade ice cream. Same idea.
The crust can be rehydrated and makes good jerky to carry next season. Mine has never made it that long.
Does anyone ever carry black pepper any more?
I like taking all those fatty, blood shot or slightly dirty scraps and once I'm done with all my other grinding, I grind all those scraps and make dog food.
Always gotta think of the pups! 🙌
Black pepper will keep the fly away
Canopy of trees? You've been hunting the wrong side of Washington 😂
Watching how a lot of people handle meat in the field honestly makes me sick. Absolutely no respect. Hanging hide on carcasses out in full sun, like Ryan said in the back of a truck, or drug through the dirt. It's outright sad, it's like they don't care, and don't care to learn.
NEWS FLASH!!! there is a thing called gameyness. deer will drink their own urin! this determines how foul they can be, sometimes there is nothing you can do.