I assassinated Bambi for the first time in 1984. And the meat was OK but I never got a chance to hang the quarters because the weather was always too cold or too hot. This year a friend's 13 year old got his first deer. The mom, a florist, has a walk-in cooler (think of a basement room with a window AC unit going full blast. On my advice, they hung the meat for 3 days. It came out pale and tender and delish.
I have brought back corn-fed, 9 month old white tails that didn't taste that good. Deer so small my wife said, "You mean that was the biggest one between here and there?" The closest one was a mature buck that someone else had gut shot at 184 yards with a round ball the night before and had been slowly bleeding, so that there was no blood left in the meat. I have left skin quarters in the fridge for 4 days.
(How would I know if I didn't see? It's a story.)
I understand hanging helps with tenderness. But it also helps with flavor. And nothing else is gravity.
I have brought back corn-fed, 9 month old white tails that didn't taste that good. Deer so small my wife said, "You mean that was the biggest one between here and there?" The closest one was a mature buck that someone else had gut shot at 184 yards with a round ball the night before and had been slowly bleeding, so that there was no blood left in the meat. I have left skin quarters in the fridge for 4 days.
(How would I know if I didn't see? It's a story.)
I understand hanging helps with tenderness. But it also helps with flavor. And nothing else is gravity.