Butchering deer

asop

Used to do it all myself but lately have it done including packaging by a local butcher. I get the tenderloins and back straps packaged separately. Then get as many the chops and steaks as possible. Then "roasts" and remainder ground up with a small amount of pork added. What's your equation?

toad67

Same thing here. Found a local butcher who will come to the house and do everything except grind the burger for $60. Cut, wrapped, stamp the packages and take the bones. Not grinding is no big deal since we make our own sausage...

hillbille

we have a grinder and a cuber at the cabin, we hang them and debone/filet the meat off and put in garbage bag in fridge, when we have 2-3 we take an evening cut them up and either cube or grind or both, some guys want backstraps butterflied for steaks or roasts, and then someone sits at table and vacum packs the meat, in a few hours we can work up 3-4 deer, each person has their own job and when done put the packs in freezer and at the end of week throw em in cooler and head home , wife loves it no muss no fuss she doesn't have a mess to clean up anymore just meat to cook....

montanajoe

We took one deer to processor when we first started hunting. We have butchered our own ever since. I am very blessed, as my wife is my shooting/hunting partner. She will spot,stalk,shoot,drag,help field dress,help skin,butcher,and cook it.

SCOUT5

I do my own.

JimmyJack

I do my own also. Butcher friend said to skip the pork in the grinding and add 25 to 30% ground beef 30% fat. Better flavor and it will keep longer. Been doing that for years and love it.

Chief Shaway

I do my own.
Set the new garage up for hanging deer.
I can hang three at a time, using air hoists to hang them.
I vacuum pack the loins then, bulk package the rest in gallon zip lock bags.
Sometime in February I thaw out all the meat bags and we have a grinding party.
I have a Cabelas grinder with a 32 neck. 3/4 hp I think. It eats the meat.
Then stuff it in burger tubes.
I do not mix anything with the deer burger.
To me, it defeats the purpose of eating it.
We like the flavor of just the deer and the fact that you don't have to drain any grease is a plus.
We use it as anyone would with cow burger except for burgers.
From soups to meatloaf. All good.

SCOUT5

Chief Shaway wrote:

I do my own.
Set the new garage up for hanging deer.
I can hang three at a time, using air hoists to hang them.
I vacuum pack the loins then, bulk package the rest in gallon zip lock bags.
Sometime in February I thaw out all the meat bags and we have a grinding party.
I have a Cabelas grinder with a 32 neck. 3/4 hp I think. It eats the meat.
Then stuff it in burger tubes.
I do not mix anything with the deer burger.
To me, it defeats the purpose of eating it.
We like the flavor of just the deer and the fact that you don't have to drain any grease is a plus.
We use it as anyone would with cow burger except for burgers.
From soups to meatloaf. All good.

When I grind it I don't add anything either. I use it for sloppy joes, tacos, chili etc. but not for burgers. I like to make chil out of cubed venison but I'll use ground if I'm in a hurry.

pulsarnc

Been doing my own since I started hunting . About 30 years ago we, my brothers and I, built a walk in cooler to hang and age the deer . That has grown into a full fledged processing operation . We have an allweather in door dressing station, cooler for hanging and aging and an area set up for cutting up . Stainless steel sinks , cutting tables and boards with a commercial Hobart meat slicer and a couple of different grinders . Everything ,except for the grinder was acquired by trade or salvage . Total cost worked out to about $175.00 . The cooling unit came out of a coke machine and was given to me . It has had two repairs in 30 years amounting to a total of $50.00. We also use 25 to 30% beef fat when making burgers . Local processors charge $120.00 to do a deer

roswellnative

montanajoe wrote:

We took one deer to processor when we first started hunting. We have butchered our own ever since. I am very blessed, as my wife is my shooting/hunting partner. She will spot,stalk,shoot,drag,help field dress,help skin,butcher,and cook it.

That?s a woman right there

Brookwood

I also do my own butchering. I have an upper loft over my 4 car garage that is 24 x 48' that I use for a shop and it doubles quite well for all the work that is done to process a deer. Prior to the hunting season, I clean plenty of table space on a couple of work benches and place these big ceramic tiles on them that were left overs from some flooring in my house.

Several years ago I acquired a one ton chainfall at a garage sale that I mounted to the rafters. It works very well for hoisting those heavy brutes so they can hang and age properly. My aging process always depends upon our northern Michigan weather. Most seasons the temps fall well below the 40 degree safety mark and I can do all of my cutting at my leisure.

I like to debone all of the meat and keep the pieces as whole large portions that I pack and freeze. When either my wife or I decide on a meal plan, it is thawed and cut into whatever type cut is needed for that meal. The thawed meat that isn't used up will get cut into strips and smoked with seasonings as jerky.

Sam06

I did my own when I was hunting.

When I was stationed in LA I went to a butcher who was a Menonite(sp). He did a great job turning hogs and deer into meat and was very reasonable.

bambihunter

We did the first 50 or so I got. By that point, my back was getting where it didn't like it as much. I also had moved away and I had to take vacation to go back to hunt so I wanted to spend it hunting. We also got to a better place in life where the cost to get it done wasn't a big deal.

We get most of ours ground up. I haven't ever found a way to grill venison that I like even close to as much as a beef steak. Which is weird because I like venison in chili, lasagna, etc much more than beef. We don't add anything to the grind mix.

Speaking of which, about 4 years ago we got an elk and it took us a bit to find someone that would process it near us when we got home. We took it over there. All went well until I cooked it and there were tons of liquid fat in the pan that I couldn't see why. Come to find out, they automatically mix pork fat in with it. Damn it, they ruined it. We haven't hardly eaten 10 pounds of it. That's probably the only elk I'll ever get and was so looking forward to it as I love the flavor of the meat as it is.

casting

https://youtu.be/xijmge8_NJw Somebody posted this here years ago. I was impressed. I wanted to go out and buy one of small meat hooks right now. I like how this guys knife grip is reverse and a lot of his strokes are pulling rather than slicing downward. His work surface seems higher too. One year when my kids were young, we took eleven deer. One of them went to a processor. The rest I did. By myself for the most part. We hunted all over the county. We didn't hunt in just one place. The herd was huge that year. We had tags for every one of them plus a few more. I feel I need to explain how we took eleven because it sounds extreme. So I don't want to cut up any more deer. I will and I have. My hands can't take the cold anymore either. I used three tubs to put the meat in. One was for the "toss it" pieces. Another for scraps and cuts that needed trimmed or cleaned of hair or debris. The other for the cuts and scraps that were good to go. I never add anything to the ground meat till I'm ready to cook it. I added ham fat. not pork fat, to some ground deer for burgers one time. It was good. I know it sorta defeats the purpose some eat venison for but it worked good.