Whole Doe

[bamaboy]

Hello everyone,My buddy gave me a whole doe cleaned and ready to cook,my problem is we had to freeze it whole.any suggestions on thawing a whole animal.also would it be better to cut it up and smoke or could I smoke it whole.She is about 60 lbs cleaned.any tips on cooking it.                                                                                      thanks Jimmy

 

[pineywoods]

I think I would defrost it in an ice chest with ice in it. That would take awhile but is the best way I have found to do whole animals short of having a walk in cooler. Personally I would cut it up to smoke it normally deer don't have a lot of fat content so I want to pull each piece as it reaches proper temp to keep it from being overdone and drying out.

 

[Bearcarver]

I think I would defrost it in an ice chest with ice in it. That would take awhile but is the best way I have found to do whole animals short of having a walk in cooler. Personally I would cut it up to smoke it normally deer don't have a lot of fat content so I want to pull each piece as it reaches proper temp to keep it from being overdone and drying out.

What Piney said,

Plus you'll want to get rid of every little stitch of fat (tallow), unless you want to make candles, and you can't do that unless you break it down.

Bear

 

[rbranstner]

So when you say you had to freeze it "Whole" you meat all the meat is still on the carcas? I'm guessing the hide has been removed from the animal. As  was mentioned above venison as with most wild game doesn't have the fat content like beef or pork they have tallow which in my opinon (and everyone I know) tastes horrible and there is no way I would ever eat it. Like bear said it would be good for making candles. I would thaw the carcas slowly and then remove each cut of meat and cut up package or what ever you are going to do to them individually. We usually save a few roasts and the back straps and tenderloins we butterfly out and then the rest goes into trim for making our venison burger or goes into trim for our sausage we make. If you are going to smoke some roasts or what ever you have to take steps to make sure they don't dry out because of the lack of fat in the meat. 

 

[Bearcarver]

Also I would say, since you froze the thing whole, when you do thaw it, no matter what you do, you're gonna have to do everything within a couple days, because you shouldn't freeze it, thaw it, and freeze it again.

Bear

 

[coffee_junkie]

I would thaw it then dbone it. The bones and the fat should be removed to help eliminate the gamey flavor. It is the reason why you never see bone in venison steaks.

 

[bamaboy]

Thank you guys,I have cooked venison tenderloin and small roasts before but I was unprepared for the whole animal.He showed up one night late and said you wanted some deer,here it is.lol.But yes it is completely cleaned,skinned,no head or hooves.I will move it over to my ice chest tomorrow.he also brought me several pounds of ground,some venison and some sausage.and a jalapeno and cheddar summer sausage that's nearly 2 foot long.gonna make some smoked deer loaf with the ground.thanks again fellas

 

[mossymo]

I don't see a problem with a gutted, frozen deer. Here in the upper midwest many of the deer we shoot and hang will freeze solid and hang as long as a week before having time to de-bone, trim, clean and package the meat for the freezer for a later date.

 

[rbranstner]

I don't see a problem with a gutted, frozen deer. Here in the upper midwest many of the deer we shoot and hang will freeze solid and hang as long as a week before having time to de-bone, trim, clean and package the meat for the freezer for a later date.

Yep that is true a lot of people let them hang out in the frigid temps for weeks before they do anything with them. I would never do that but lots and lots of people do. We always quarter ours the same day/night we shoot them and then get them into the fridge and we will cut the meat off the bone when we have time at deer camp. Nothing wrong with letting it freeze but its so much easier to deal with removing the hide and quartering it when the meat is still warm.

Was the deer shot this year? Just wanted to make sure it wasn't freezer burnt to heck.

 

[bamaboy]

Yes it was 2 weeks ago,I am going to thaw it and cut it up,I guess I wont get much sleep for a few days if I need to smoke it all.I definately do not want to waste any.

 

[Bearcarver]

I don't go by what others do around here.

I can remember a guy over near the Haycock Mt (not much of a mountain) who used to hang any antlered deer he would shoot in a tree in front of his house, like many of us did.

The only difference is "Copey" would let his hang out there for months, until you could smell it before you could see it.

We never figured out if he was that proud or that stupid, but I guess it was both.

We hung ours out to cool down, but never left them freeze, because of wanting to freeze the parts later.

Bear

 

[rbranstner]

I don't go by what others do around here.

I can remember a guy over near the Haycock Mt (not much of a mountain) who used to hang any antlered deer he would shoot in a tree in front of his house, like many of us did.

The only difference is "Copey" would let his hang out there for months, until you could smell it before you could see it.

We never figured out if he was that proud or that stupid, but I guess it was both.

We hung ours out to cool down, but never left them freeze, because of wanting to freeze the parts later.

Bear

Yep I have heard of people doing that as well. And what is crazy to me is weather around here for deer hunting season isn't very predictable so some days it could be below zero and the next few days it could be in the 50's. I don't want my meat hanging out in that warmth. I have heard some people swear that you need to hang wild game for weeks to let them age and get the game out of them. I think they are nuts. I guess if there is some science behind it then show me but at this point in time I don't believe any of that. Wild game isn't like pork or beef where it has marbalization in the meat and benefits from aging. I guess they can eat it their way and we will continue to do what works best for us as we love the way our venison tastes and have never had any game flavor in the meat. Ok I'm done now.

 

[bill in mn]

I think that when you hang them in anything but a controlled area ( like a walk in cooler ) @ 38 °  to  40°  you risk the chance of spoiling some of the meat. I have friends that don't like venison  , to each their own but I'll wager that old  grand pa hung that thing for days on end and the temp got to 50° or more during the day and down to 20's at night in the old wood shed . yuck. I try to get them into the freezer as fast as I can ,last year it was so warm (60° ) deer hunting that I shot a doe and with in 3 hours she was in my big cooler packed in ice.I don't know all the reasons of why they hang beef but it doesn't work the same for venison , and I have read there is no benefit to hanging venison to age.I think there is a different kind of bacteria in beef than venison that breaks down the tissue to make it tender.

If you have a frozen deer you might have a long wait to thaw it properly to where you can cut it up.Be patient and you will have the best there is to offer. Bill & Crew  

 

[jojo22]

I don't go by what others do around here.

I can remember a guy over near the Haycock Mt (not much of a mountain) who used to hang any antlered deer he would shoot in a tree in front of his house, like many of us did.

The only difference is "Copey" would let his hang out there for months, until you could smell it before you could see it.

We never figured out if he was that proud or that stupid, but I guess it was both.

We hung ours out to cool down, but never left them freeze, because of wanting to freeze the parts later.

Bear

Yep I have heard of people doing that as well. And what is crazy to me is weather around here for deer hunting season isn't very predictable so some days it could be below zero and the next few days it could be in the 50's. I don't want my meat hanging out in that warmth. I have heard some people swear that you need to hang wild game for weeks to let them age and get the game out of them. I think they are nuts. I guess if there is some science behind it then show me but at this point in time I don't believe any of that. Wild game isn't like pork or beef where it has marbalization in the meat and benefits from aging. I guess they can eat it their way and we will continue to do what works best for us as we love the way our venison tastes and have never had any game flavor in the meat. Ok I'm done now.

I've been cutting up deer since I was about 11, and I have had them hung for weeks and cut fresh. I like gamier deer, so I like it fresh, hanging does (by all science in my taste buds) tame it down a bit. However I must ask, how do you know what works best for you if you haven't tried both ways?? You can't, you simply know that your way works, with nothing to comare it to to say it is "best". But these are just my thoughts and observations.

 

[bill in mn]

. However I must ask, how do you know what works best for you if you haven't tried both ways?? You can't, you simply know that your way works, with nothing to comare it to to say it is "best". But these are just my thoughts and observations.

I don't think anyone said their way was the best. And what works for me is always limited to my own experiences. It's your deer and you can grind the whole thing if that's what you want to do. Just like boiling ribs "Hey you paid for them " and you can do what ever you want to them. If someone wants to dip them in the toilet and drag them down a dirt road behind a pickup truck ...have at it but I might not want to eat them.

  

 

[xjcamaro]

What we do every year is cook a whole deer on a spit. A buddy of mine has a trailer with a giant drum on it that has been modified for cooking. Nice setup. But you can fit a whole deer in it easily. Well we take the deer and put the rod through it and clean out the cavity where all the insides came out of real good, and we then stuff it with sausage and saurkrat. Then sew the belly closed. It comes out awesome every time! So go for it!