I have not gotten a chance to hunt yet, and it will likely be Thanksgiving morning before I can go. If I get a deer, I am well aware of how to field dress, but I've never processed my own.

I'm concerned because if I do get one, I'm going to be pressed for time. We will likely be heading out of town for Thanksgiving lunch and I will not have time to do the whole process.

Once it has been field dressed, I assume I could probably leave it hanging if it is cold enough, but I don't expect that to be the case. My next thought was to go ahead and quarter it and put it on ice..but I don't have enough coolers.

-Kind of a pickle..what would you do? It will likely be dark before we get back home so I can do it. I'd like to take my time because it will be my first complete processing job.

quarter and put on ice doesn't take that big of a cooler unless you have a huge deer. need to keep the water drained and add ice as needed.

If you have just a 40qt or so cooler thats plenty. Dont leave a bunch of leg bone on. It takes maybe 5 or 10 extra minutes to bone out the rear quarters while hanging and saves a ton of cooler space. It also ices down more thoroughly and cools the meat faster to debone.

I keep a box of heavy duty garbage bags in my truck for this very thing. I quarter the deer up and put them in the garbage bags. I carry a cooler with drinks and ice all season in the bed of my truck. I put the deer in garbage bags because I don't want the blood getting all over my drinks. Works very well for me.

There is a video out there of a guy boning out the hindquarters of a deer hanging. You can get the deer in a pretty small cooler if you do that. Last time I saw it Swampfever posted it I think. I always lose the link.

I watched one today with a Dr. doing it..probably a vet. Not sure but he did a really good job.

I have a big cooler..best bet is it is 40qt. Can't find any markings on it.

So I guess hanging it and letting it "age" is out if the question. I forgot I still have to skin it before I can quarter it.

I'm guessing aging is better for extremely cold climates?

I clean and quarter mine on the ground. Cut legs off at joints spray off with hose and toss it in the cooler and ice it down. Once you get it figured out it can be done in 20mins. I keep ice for about a week then fire up the grinder.

Why don't you just drop it off at a processor? He would probably let you hang it their for a few days for a small fee, if your wanting to let it hang.