u/Alternative-You-3195

Hello guys, I hope somebody could help guide me right direction about dry aged venison. I’m an archer who recently got into bowhunting and I’m learning how to process meat the right way.

Rut in Australia just finished and I was lucky enough to come home with 3 fallow deer.

I tried best to my ability but there is a mix of information online and so I’d like to ask for advice.

My current setup: dedicated fridge with racks to keep the airflow from all sides.

Problems I encountered:

- last time I put backstraps and 4 legs into the fridge without any cover which developed thick crust and after about 2 weeks I noticed slight mold developing so I quickly took it to the butcher for processing

- this time I was worried about mold and I left meat in clean pillowcases (somewhere I read that the crust won’t be so thick and results very similar. However after 11 days in the fridge there was also mold developing

Questions:

1. How do I stop mold from developing? I am considering adding some fan for better airflow and creating something so the meat can hang instead of lay on the racks

2. Do I want humidity or not? That’s where the most confusion came in. I read that mold developed because of excessive humidity but when I checked commercial dry aging fridges, they all operate on high humidity

3. how long to dry age venison without rising too much?

Thank you

Hello guys, I hope somebody could help guide me right direction about dry aged venison. I’m an archer who recently got into bowhunting and I’m learning how to process meat the right way.

Rut in Australia just finished and I was lucky enough to come home with 3 fallow deer.

I tried best to my ability but there is a mix of information online and so I’d like to ask for advice.

My current setup: dedicated fridge with racks to keep the airflow from all sides.

Problems I encountered:

- last time I put backstraps and 4 legs into the fridge without any cover which developed thick crust and after about 2 weeks I noticed slight mold developing so I quickly took it to the butcher for processing

- this time I was worried about mold and I left meat in clean pillowcases (somewhere I read that the crust won’t be so thick and results very similar. However after 11 days in the fridge there was also mold developing

Questions:

1. How do I stop mold from developing? I am considering adding some fan for better airflow and creating something so the meat can hang instead of lay on the racks

2. Do I want humidity or not? That’s where the most confusion came in. I read that mold developed because of excessive humidity but when I checked commercial dry aging fridges, they all operate on high humidity

3. how long to dry age venison without rising too much?

Thank you

I am curious what people think about these well known bowhunters. I am not from America so my view might be a bit off.

When I started with archery I listened to podcasts on Joe Rogan with them and really enjoyed Greentree’s hunting stories, Dudley’s knowledge and not as much of Hanes except maybe little bit motivation of going an extra mile.

From the three I am biggest fan of John Dudley as I really appreciate what he’s doing for the community. I basically learned to shoot through his YouTube videos and not that long ago I stumbled upon a post that was really shitting on John Dudley and it took me by surprise. What is the story there?

With Can Hanes where I would understand that people wouldn’t be a big fan of as I feel he’s constantly in need to prove himself to literally anybody, his IG following is through the roof so I feel like my opinion of them is going the opposite direction.