Hanging/Aging Birds

Jayhad · #1 10-19-2016, 01:58 PM

Do you hang you grouse?
I've been doing some reading and generations ago it appears it was poor form to not hang a bird for up to a week.

Here is one of the better articles I have read on the practice
http://honest-food.net/2012/10/20/on...g-pheasants-2/

Thoughts?

Redfrog · #2 10-19-2016, 02:28 PM

I'm going to go with nope. here's why.

"very expensive because dry-aging necessarily means a layer of crusty, slightly moldy ick on the outer edges of the meat. "

I do not hang a chicken, but I do smell it when I open the package. It tells me whether it will be cooked for my family or given to the inlaws for a holiday treat.

When I see someone gagging as they try to gut a pheasant or duck that has been shotgunned, I'm convinced that intestine internals are not great marinade.

Same with friends who gut shoot big game and hang it with the gut juices drying on the carcass.

I do hang my big game or beef, but I don't gut shoot it first.

goldscud · #3 10-19-2016, 02:42 PM

Just eat 'em Jay. They are awesome...better than brown trout
Grousemonger

duck duck goose · #4 10-19-2016, 03:43 PM

Interesting read and something I have never thought of. I am not too inclined to give it a try, more so because at the end of a hunt I like to clean everything up and be done with the work. I wouldn't want a pile of birds staring me down for a week waiting to be cleaned. Also I feel like hanging them would give you blood pooling in either the breast or legs based on how they were hung. That can ruin a cut of meat pretty quickly. Still an interesting read though.

calgarychef · #5 10-19-2016, 04:08 PM

I remember going into grandpas garage and the ducks would be hanging by their heads, necks stretching longer every day. That smell takes me back throught the decades in a second and I'm standing there looking at the ducks and wondering when I would be old enough to go on a duck shoot.

Hanging ducks isn't really necessary and I'd rather clean them when they're warm rather than cold and clammy, it's just allot easier warm. If you want to try hanging them it won't kill you and I'm sure you'll agree that cleaning them fresh is more fun. Let us know how it works out.

wwbirds · #6 10-19-2016, 05:33 PM

Influenced by some Italian clients who claimed to hang pheasants by the head in the shade on a clothesline until the body separated (a week or more) I hung 3 mallards for 4 days before chickening out and cleaning and cooking them. They were not gut shot! Probably the most tender mallards I have ever eaten.
Theory is the bacteria helps break down the fibre of the muscles and then cooking kills the bacteria.
If I could get past the thought of the ducks or pheasants slowly rotting it might have been worth trying again to make sure the first time wasn't just a fluke and they were just tender young mallards.

Bulletproof · #7 10-19-2016, 06:23 PM

I've hung upland birds up about a week in a cool shed and never regretted it yet. I haven't pushed past that yet but will one day. I still process most of my birds the same day though. I have regretted that especially on a tough old pheasant.

bigskinner · #8 10-20-2016, 04:48 AM

My dad and l back in the 60tys , we always hung our ducks by the neck in a cool garage uncleaned for 4/5 days, never went rotten , always tender , what it does it lets all the bad blood settle in the lower cavity by the tail , then after 4 days you cut open the body cavity by the tail , and everything is there in one pouch to pull out neatly , and all the breast meat is almost white , pluck and wash , then we lit a news paper and burnt off the fine hair under the wool.
l,m sure you can pluck first and then clean after you shoot it , but not really nessissary , just has to be a cool place.

Scott h · #9 10-20-2016, 10:52 AM

Dad used to talk about neighbors from "the old country" that would always have a pheasant hung on Sunday and then eat it the next Sunday (seemed like the pheasant season ran all year in the 30's and 40's). Never seemed very appealing to me but maybe I'm wrong.

Jadham · #10 10-20-2016, 10:55 AM

Well it's not hanging to age but...

I usually have the breasts and thighs in the fridge (4-6 degrees) until I get around to eating them all. Don't notice much difference from day 1 to day 5 or so. The color does change slightly though.

fingershooter · #11 10-20-2016, 12:13 PM

I have to try this. All those people for hundreds of years, can't all be wrong. I am especially interested in hanging turkeys which can/are very tough. More research...
Thanks for posting this.

Redfrog · #12 10-20-2016, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fingershooter

I have to try this. All those people for hundreds of years, can't all be wrong. I am especially interested in hanging turkeys which can/are very tough. More research...
Thanks for posting this.

I agree. Traditions get lost over the years. I wonder how the world would look if we still drank from the skulls of our enemies.

If my nose says WTH is that. I'm not gonna eat it.

fingershooter · #13 10-20-2016, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redfrog

I agree. Traditions get lost over the years. I wonder how the world would look if we still drank from the skulls of our enemies.

If my nose says WTH is that. I'm not gonna eat it.

I have "relearned" to hang my big game, especially elk and moose, for at least a week and up to 20 days, depending on the age of animal and time of year shot. I think that I have reconverted a few people on the improved quality of table fare. stands to reason that it would improve a tough old bird.

sns2 · #14 10-22-2017, 04:48 PM

I have been experimenting with hanging pheasants this hunting season. A day or two has been fine. Last Wednesday the dog brought back a live rooster in its mouth that didn't fly. I thought ok, no pellets in the body cavity, so I will hang/age this one longer. I went four days in the garage. Never again. I cooked it and have a helluva stomach ache. From now on, I will be going back to cleaning the pheasants when I get home.

gtr · #15 10-22-2017, 05:07 PM

Wild pheasants can to be aged. Tame ones I have never shot, so unable to comment.

kinwahkly · #16 10-22-2017, 05:46 PM

I've never hung or aged a bird. Probably makes sense but I like to get them field dressed then done at home .

wwbirds · #17 10-22-2017, 05:55 PM

Hung for almost 6 days. Most tender meat you can get if you cook fowl slow on low heat (225 F). cooked for 6 hours in clay baker this past Friday and meat falls off bone after being in carmelized onions and 1 inch of water.
Shade (temperature control) is the key. When I pulled the guts out of these birds they looked and smelled as if a day old. Then again we didnt gut shoot them.

Redfrog · #18 10-22-2017, 06:11 PM

I'm not sure that I've ever had a bird so tough that I thought could have benefited from hanging.
Well except in my youth when we caught that bantam rooster in the loft and killed him and cooked him on a stick over a campfire immediately. He was tougher than the stick to chew. His spurs were likely 3 inches long.

Smokinyotes · #19 10-22-2017, 06:20 PM

When i butcher a beef i dont hang it with the guts in for 21 days not sure i would want to try it with a bird either.

sjemac · #20 10-22-2017, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

When i butcher a beef i dont hang it with the guts in for 21 days not sure i would want to try it with a bird either.

If beef were the size of rabbits you could hang them guts in because they'd cool down quickly.

Some of this weekend's pheasants hanging for a few days. I'll transfer to the fridge tomorrow morning and hang again over night. Will clean them on Wednesday or Thursday.

Early season I don't hang at all. Clean em put them in the fridge in salted water for a few days and then vac pac.

One season I took a limit of geese (8) and a limit of ducks (8) and hung them from the head with guts and all inside. I took the first of each down after two days and plucked, cleaned and froze them (labelling the package with the number of days aged) and then took one off every day after that.

I took them out and eating them as the winter has progressed and can say that in the future when the weather permits I will be hanging my lightly hit birds for about a week with the insides in. Heavily shot up birds need to be cleaned right away.

Hanging up til 4 days doesn't really change the flavor or texture but from 5 to 10 days of hanging definitely makes the meat of old geese more tender and actually seems to mellow out its flavor (No doesn't taste more like beef -- you want it to taste like beef buy a steak). Hard to describe but some of the "sharpness" of the flavor is removed by ageing.

I have hung to 21 days but find there is little difference between a 14 day duck and ones hung longer.

14 day aged ducks are on the right and fresh (killed that day) on the left in all pics.

Aged drake right, fresh drake left. Ditto for hens.

Aged right fresh left.

As you can see no real difference in appearance. But there is a real difference in tenderness, texture and flavor. Try it just once on a lightly hit mallard.

McTrigger · #21 10-22-2017, 07:33 PM

After reading that article I think it's worth a try. It's popular overseas and they aren't fools when it comes to good food. Cooked properly there should be no chance of any issues. And as stated birds run cool from
The start and taking them down to 50f is quick over a large mammal. Next couple clean kills are getting hung.

Smokinyotes · #22 10-22-2017, 11:17 PM

So what would the ducks and geese be like if they were cleaned and refrigerated for 10 days before eating. Having the guts in cannot make them taste better ya wouldnt think.

sjemac · #23 10-23-2017, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

So what would the ducks and geese be like if they were cleaned and refrigerated for 10 days before eating. Having the guts in cannot make them taste better ya wouldnt think.

Gutting them leads to a great big opening for bacteria to get in and for moisture to escape. At best he would end up with something resembling jerky, at worst mouldy jerky .

Leaving the guts in does not affect the flavour at all provided that the intestines have not been heavily hit. Generally, if the legs are busted up we assume that the guts are busted up as well and clean right away.

58thecat · #24 10-23-2017, 06:01 AM

Hang em by the neck until they drip...then they are ready...

Old Europe style of aging...

Vacation · #25 10-23-2017, 10:29 AM

Hung my fist bird ever the last week. Only a few days before I cut it up. It was much better easting than the ones previously shot. Much more tender. May be something to it.

Fly_Fishing_EMT · #26 11-01-2017, 03:20 PM

I go south every year for a couple weeks in October and shoot lots of sharptail, partridge, pheasants, ducks and geese. We usually wait until we have a substantial number of birds before cleaning which is usually after about a week to ten days of hunting. We store our birds outside somewhere shaded away from the farm cats. I can't recall ever having a spoiled bird and I haven't missed a season or done anything differently for 15 years. Whether or not it changes the taste I don't really know how noticeable it would be but typically for dinner we tend to cook up our freshest birds not the ones that have been in the pile for a week. I currently have a limit of wild pheasants and sharptail on my garage floor from last weekend I'll have to keep a pheasant out and compare to a fresh one next week.

Jayhad · #27 11-01-2017, 05:11 PM

Thanks for reviving this thread, I haven't tried hanging any yet, but the next ones I get I'm hanging.

walking buffalo · #28 11-01-2017, 06:51 PM

Just like big game, hanging birds is worth doing.

Three days to get past rigor mortis, after that is controlled decomposition.

ganderblaster · #29 11-02-2017, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

Just like big game, hanging birds is worth doing.

Three days to get past rigor mortis, after that is controlled decomposition.

I hang my late season birds 2-5 days. I have wondered how long they can hang before the fat will turn rancid?

Piker · #30 11-02-2017, 04:57 PM

Quite a thread about everything that needed to be said was so to each his own. I leave nothing to age even venison and cannot noticeably tell any difference. Maybe my taster is not working right but I will not change. Piker