Hanging deer

[gcs]

As sort of an add on, to WCF30-30's formal hunting attire thread, how do you hang your deer?
The right way, head down, or the wrong way, head up?

I hang them head down, just like every other critter in the meat industry, it also keeps the good parts away from the dogs.

What say you?

[Borregos]

Head down is the way to go.

[TedH]

Head down.

[marlinman93]

I hang them the right way, head up! How do you get all the chest cavity cleaned up with the head down? Do you hang them head down to clean, and then turn them back when you're done?

[rost495]

head down, cut em all the way to the front teeth.....cleans out well.

[AJMD429]

Head down. A good hose and nozzle cleans them well; we make sure we cut the trachea far enough forward to drain the chest cavity quite well.

[Old Ironsights]

Head Down, on a Gambrel.

The chest cavity is already clean by the time I hang it.

[Tycer]

Gutted and rinsed where they are dropped.
Hung head down to butcher.

[dr walker]

We always hang them head down. Well by the time we hang them we have already cut the head off.

[Jeff Quinn]

I shoot mine.

Hanging seems cruel, and the antlers make it hard to get the noose around the neck.

[WCF3030]

I hang them the right way, head up! How do you get all the chest cavity cleaned up with the head down? Do you hang them head down to clean, and then turn them back when you're done?

Yes.
In the pic he was head up to clean and wash out.
Then I took him out to my sisters where he hung upside down over night before he was butchered.
This year it was cold enough to let'em hang but for the past 8-10 its been to warm so you need to cut them up quick or pay the $80+ dollars to have them processed.

[44LVR]

Head down, split 'em all the way down to the throat and give them a bit of a washing to make sure all the residual goo is gone.

44

[BenT]

Head up and take a 5 gallon bucket of warm water and splash up into the chest cavity and let drain. Once they're hung I don't move them. Skin and quarter them where they hang.

[coyote nose]

Bucks, head up. Does, head down. Why? I see no difference...but it is easy to hang a buck by his antlers.

[JerryB]

I gut them where they drop, then hang head down to skin and quarter as taught by my daddy. I am 70 now and it still works for me.

[Slick13]

Head down. Once up they are skinned, decapitated, chest split, cavity hosed out, and left to hang for a couple days in a steel building that keeps the meat just above freezing.

~Michael

[rost495]

amazed so many wash their deer out. Water has lots of bacteria, and I'll only wash if I have to, we clean and wipe the cavity out with a clean towel or rag instead and then let em hang.

[nemhed]

What I was taught when I was growing up was to hang them head up to be washed out and drained. If it was cold enough outside they would hang for a day or so when time permitted processing. We would then hang them head down from a gambrel, skinned, quartered and cut up. My dad never cut the backstrap out whole, but split the deer down the spine and cut up chops like you would a hog. Everything I've read recently about the subject advises against washing the body cavity because the added moisture promotes the grow of microbes: in the exposed body cavity dry is good. Now when I get a deer, it doesn't hang very long, I try to get them skinned and a least quartered and in a cooler or refrigerator as soon as possible. Then I like to get it cut up and frozen as soon as possible. Hoof to freezer in 24hrs if I'm not away from home when hunting. Our fall weather has been so unpredictable the last few years, I just don't want to fool around from a time and temperature stand point. I also won't pay someone to process my deer.

[Old Ironsights]

I try not to let it hang too long because the only place I have to hang one is in my screen-porch... basicly just long enough to break rigor so I can cut it up. Carcasses tend to annoy the neighbors and attract cats.

I'm working on the design of a portable (disasembleable anyway) hanging shed that I can put up in the fall and take down in the spring that will let me hang/conceal/refrigerate at least 3 deer. Otherwise it's just too bloody warm here to hang a deer before November.

[Modoc ED]

Head down

[FLINT]

Looks like I'm in the minority. I hang em head up and then skin and butcher them that way. dressing is always done in the field wherever the deer dropped.

[6pt-sika]

At home I bring the deer out of the woods WHOLE !

When i get to the house I hang them by the hocks and then gut them !

I also open the throat enough to get the windpipe and pull it out ! Then I take water and a stick and rinse the entire inside cavity out and the stuff runs out thru the hole in the throat or the mouth !

If the deer is something I want mounted , after I gut I let the deer down and wash out the bopdy cavity drain it , then wipe it out and hang him back up by the hocks !

If I'm not at home and have a ways to get the deer out of course I gut them in the field and then rinse the body cavity when I get to the truck . But once I get to where ever I'm staying or back home I hang them by the hocks !

[Hobie]

I shoot mine.

Hanging seems cruel, and the antlers make it hard to get the noose around the neck.

I knew somebody would beat me to it....

[marlinman93]

I'm really surprised at how many people hang them head down! Out west I can honestly say I've never seen a deer hanging in any camp head down. I personally never skin a deer hanging either. I simply spread out a blue plastic tarp, tie the deer to a tree, and pull the hide off with a rope tied to my truck. Takes all of 30 seconds, and way easier than a tree and a skinning knife!

[txpete]

head down and another one the cuts them to the teeth. its too warm here so they get hung in a locker 4-5 days.
pete

[Leverdude]

Got this guy,


Hanging head down on my shed right now. I gut in the field & if I can rinse the cavity. If I cant I rinse it out after I get here & hang it. It's cool enough I'm leaving him till tomorrow night.
I'v hung them by the head before but just to store them overnight. Never to work on.

[Last Spike]

If I get a big buck, its usually hung head down for a week, then butchered. Meat does are hung either head up or down and usually butchered within 24 hours of being harvested.

[TomF]

I do all animals head down. The slaughter houses do it this way also. The hide on a head up deer will have to be cut around the neck, liberating much hair. A deer hung head down can be skinned easier without a bunch of knife work. Less hair will be on the meat when skinned head down. PLUS, the head can be severed and dealt with without having to rehang the carcass.

TomF

[Chuck 100 yd]

Head down here .

[iceman]

Head down with hide on for at least 3 days weather permitting. Try to keep the meat around 38 to 40 deg f to age. This year only 2 days because weather warmed up to above 40 deg.

[buckeyeshooter]

head up

[BoneDigger]

Head down for me. I have honestly never seen it done the other way, but it looks like a viable way to do it. I'm just used to head down.

Todd

[Pete44ru]

I, too, am surprised - as I've NEVER rinsed the body cavity of a newly field-dressed deer with water ! .........But then, I've never had a gut shot deer, either.
I was taught that after field dressing, the natural muscle secretions would cover the cavity's internal walls, drying to protect the meat - but that a sprinkling of pepper would keep the flies off in warmer weather.

Slaughterhouses use a "heads down" approach, because they drain the animal's blood into a trough, generally to be sold for other meat packing uses, and don't want the blood soiled any more than necessary.

Traditionally, though:





.

[Buffboy]

I always hung them head up before but my wife bought a hanger tree with a block & tackle at a gun show. I used it this year. That block & tackle set up sure takes the grunt out of hanging them for skinning. I'm not used to skinning upside down but after 4 deer now, I think I've got the hang of it this way. I've learned that skinning the leg before putting the hanger in is the way to go. Finally got smart on the 4th one.

When I can, I'll always rinse the inside of the deer after field dressing. It help a lot with cooling and gets my "mistakes" cleaned up. I'll generally rinse after skinning too, again, it helps cooling. It's easier to get the hair off before quartering and that makes the finale boning a bit less work. I seldom age deer meat any more in the hide, it will age in the quarters long enough before I get it cut, packaged & frozen IMO. That can stretch out over a couple/three days.

[HATCHETTJACK]

hung mine head up last nite. it was already field dressed. turned it upside down to skin this morning, no reason just is always the way my dad did it!

[Old Time Hunter]

Guess the confusion has been going on for some time:



Then again:



More recently:

[spencer516]

I don't hang them at all anymore. Use my cell phone to check them in and quarter right in the field. No gutting needed. Take everything out the back, including the tenderloins. Into the cooler they go. They usually sit in ice water for week. I change it every one to two days. Saves me fingers and bowel nicks in the dark. Butcher as I get time.