aging elk

I just harvested my first elk monday morning. It was cool in the morning but warmed up by afternoon. Hide came off quickly and I quartered and deboned everything (except the front quarters that are still on the bone). Meat has been in game bags in a cooler on ice for the ride home. I put as much as I could on racks in the fridge and turned it to the lowest setting. The rest is on ice in game bags wrapped in 3mm plastic to keep water off.

The game bags are wet so I wondered if I should just take the meat out and lay it directly on ice so that stagnant moisture isn't just sitting on the meat. Or if it's ok as long as I keep the coolers packed with ice. Just don't want to risk any spoilage due to bacteria growth from moisture.

Also, how long do you guys keep an elk before cutting for the freezer.

How long we hang depends on the weather. We've had elk age up to 14 days when the temps were right.

I wouldn't wrap the game bags in plastic. I think that's going to do more damage by keeping moisture than moisture getting in from the outside. Meat that's on ice in a cooler will be fine for a few days.

It's called wet aging and it works for beef but admit I've not tried it for game. You put the meat in plastic bags without moisture added. Moisture is what you need to keep off of the meat while aging. Watch some you tube videos. It cuts down on the trim loss. Just keep it cool during the aging process, about 38 degrees. It can be done in a cooler or frig.

Just finished cutting and wrapping our cow elk this weekend. 14 days aging and even the usually tougher steaks are very tender. When the weather is right age them as long as possible. These 2 cow were aged with the hide on the back hams, dry loss was less . Getting them cooled right away after harvest was key. Even though it was almost 60+ degrees that day the breeze cooled the quarters in the field until we could get them into the Coolbot walkin cooler. If not for the cooler we would have skinned them out right away. Our non hunting brewer friend loves the steaks we have shared with him. He can't believe how tender all of the game steaks can be with proper care, the mule deer steaks we gave him were unbelievable he said. If we opt to take another cow elk we will try some wet aging on a couple of muscles to see how that goes.