>>2613327Fair enough. I was really talking about condition at the time of butchering. If parts of your kill smell bad, are discolored, there's visible pus or blood clots in the muscle or you can see other evidence of parasitic infection then you should cut those parts away and discard them.
>Basically you hang your kill (skinned, obviously) in a barn for about a week and cut off whatever turns green. Some Montana elk hunters still do this.Not just elk and not just in Montana. Most game animals can be aged, I've heard bear and pig tend to rot unless aged in a temp-stabilized cool room though.
Generally you'd to age it for well over a week. 2 weeks is optimal if you only care about improving tenderness. Beyond that it's about how the flavors change, I've aged meat up to 60 days myself. I probably wouldn't be willing to go beyond 2 weeks if you're aging it in a barn vs a dedicated fridge or cool room though, the temperature fluctuations might fuck it.
