Deer processing

Anyone do their own? Just curious if there are a lot of places here in the SE that have stopped doing deer since the CWD scare and whether and how that impacts the hunters.

I dont do my own and normally dont even quarter my deer out just drop them off at my favorite meat market, but this year that all changed.
We hunt in the North Central CWD Management zone so the carcass could not leave the area. I called a couple of the local meat markets about just deboning it and they wanted North of $150 a piece (prior years it was 95). Well, needless to say I quartered both of our deer out on the trailer in my parent’s driveway.
They are certainly taking advantage of the situation by raising their rates. I dont completely blame them because yeah there is concern over disposal of the carcass after the fact because the local landfill refuses to take them.
I am certainly no veteran when it comes to skinning and quartering, but I was able to get them both done in under 45 minutes or so.
I would imagine that other areas are running into the same thing regarding fee hikes.

I’ve always done my own and helped friends. We’ve cut up a ton of deer over the years. It’s not hard, but there are definitely some tricks that speed things up and produce better cuts of meat.

I’m sure there’s a plethora of YouTube videos that will cut the learning curve.

To start with field dressing, learn how NOT to cut the pelvis open if that’s how you currently do it. It unnecessarily exposes meat to leaves and dirts and pees and poops.

There’s no need to quarter them, all the meat can be removed right off the animal without the added steps, even off the front shoulders.

A warm carcass is a breeze to skin, cold ones are okay, frozen ones are impossible. De-boning can be done on a warm deer, but cool or partially cooled animals are easier (the meat isn’t so floppy).

I hang them by the back legs then remove the front knees/hooves and head with a sawzall (you can use a knife instead if you like). Those steps making skinning faster and are worth your time (takes less than a minute to remove head/front legs from knee down).

From there I skin it. Start at the back legs and work down. When you get to the brisket, make a “^” down to each arm pit, then continue down to the elbows.

Once the hide is off, I remove the “footballs” (top of the thigh), remove the bottom/eye rounds and butts as one piece, remove the rump roast, remove back straps, remove inner loins, de-bone/fillet front shoulders and front shanks while on the carcass, remove brisket and neck meat, lastly remove shanks on rear legs. I leave the rear shanks on until I’m almost finished so the carcass is lighter and doesn’t drop off the gambrel (because the tendons in the shanks are holding it up).

All the meat goes into a meat tub (or two if the meat is still warm or it’s a big animal) with cookies drying racks on the bottom. The cookie racks keep the meat elevated and out of draining blood. Paper towels work okay instead if you don’t have racks for the bottom of the tubs.

Don’t pile up a bunch of warm meat, use two tubs if needed, or leave the meat outside for a bit.

Then I put it in the fridge for 0-5 days for the meat to completely cool and do the trimming and cutting later. Trimming out warm meat is harder to do, wait until it’s below 40 degrees and it will be much easier. Also, never grind warm meat.

A powered winch, sharp knives and a garage fridge make life easier.

I’ll never pay $100-150 for someone to de-bone a deer when it’s so easy to do (30-45 minutes or so with some experience if you’re not caping it for a mount).

I’ve done my own and dropped off, sounds like the place we use in Kellogg is still taking deer so hopefully have a few to drop off this weekend!

Do it all myself. Wi has had the cwd scare now for quite awhile. We hang and debone all the meat and discard the carcass. Steaks, jerky, and ground meat i do myself. If i want sticks or something special made, i bring in my meat after the season

We have done our own for the last 15 years or so. Steaks I wrap and freeze myself and all the scrap goes into the local meat market after Jan 1st to be made into mostly Italian ground, but some sticks too.

I did my own when I had a place to do it. Now that I live in an apartment I pay to have it done. I have a guy that is a butcher at a local grocery store that does it in his garage for $80.
DT

Not worth the time for this guy. Drop er off. Maple, and cheddar wild rice brats get most of the trimmings.

deertracker wrote:

I did my own when I had a place to do it. Now that I live in an apartment I pay to have it done. I have a guy that is a butcher at a local grocery store that does it in his garage for $80.
DT

I should add that he flash freezes the scrap and I bring it to Miltona Meats to have my stuff made.
DT

I shoot it,
I field dress it,
I haul it to the truck,
I debone and discard what’s left,
I process all of the meat and everything gets vacuumed for the freezer.

45 years of doing our own. My wife and I can do a deer start to finish in a couple hours. If we want something made we always take the trimmings to Louie’s in Cumberland.

WS

Has anyone taking the deer to the sausage house in lino lakes it used to be called marks meats Mark passed away a few years back I heard

Denny O wrote:

I shoot it,
I field dress it,
I haul it to the truck,
I debone and discard what’s left,
I process all of the meat and everything gets vacuumed for the freezer.

Same here. We have all the equipment and space too do everything we need.

I do everything but process most trim myself. a gambrel, bone saw, a few knives, some meat tubs, a cooler, and a vacuum sealer are all a guy needs to process down to steaks, roasts, and trim.
Trim gets taken in during the late winter for sticks and summer sausage. I do grind some of my own trim and make jerky; but I make enough jerky already with snow goose, canadas, divers, and pheasant legs.

I’ve always butchered my own deer. I started with sausage making maybe 30 years ago after getting ripped off by a meat market who was making my summer sausage. Equipment acquisition is the toughest part of sausage making but if done a piece at a time over a few years its really not bad on the pocket book and if cared for the equipment will last for years. A person doesn’t save a whole lot doing his own sausage but the finished product is all his and the quality of the product is assured. I enjoy the heck out of working with some meat that I shot and tend to myself from start to finish.

I had some left-over jerky seasoning and a bit more trim after cutting the whole muscle for jerky. I tossed the trim and seasonings together and mixed them up good and froze it in a gallon zip lock. When I grind my summer sausage I’ll thaw and grind this small bag and probably stuff it into sticks. The sticks will get hung and sprayed with liquid smoke and allowed to dry on the surface then get finished in the oven. Over time one learns little things that can make use of left-meat that was destined for on project in ways that end up as a treat instead of the garbage can.

Would love to eventually learn how to process my own deer. Went Elk hunting this fall, and the plan was if I shot one, I’d buy all the necessary equipment to process all of it on my own. I didnt, unfortunately, so I guess I’ll put that off for next year (hopefully).

I’m fairly new-ish to deer hunting myself, just last year was the first time I had ever de-boned the meat. Did it again this year, and man, it is really tedious if you dont really know what youre doing. Dropped the meat all off at Erdmanns in Kasson for a various assortment of sticks, sausages, and jerky that should be well on its way

There are a ton of video’s on you tube of how to butcher your own deer. The ones by the bearded butchers are some of the best I’ve watched. Each deer season I spend a few minutes watching the video’s just to freshen up prior to having to cut a few deer up. Here is a link to the video’s

This was not the video I thought it was. They have several of them on you tube. Just search bearded butchers

fishthumper wrote:

bearded butchers

Guys are really good, enjoyable to watch. They almost motivated me enough to butcher my own this year.

This is sort of how I do it. If you don’t have a meat hook already, get one. They keep your fingers out of harms reach and securely hold meat.

The biggest difference is he takes part of the backstrap off with the football (why- I don’t know), leaves the bones in the shoulder for later, and leaves the neck, shoulder, brisket and backstrap all as one.

I break it all down on the carcass myself.

I just pulled the second batch of jerky from the smoker. It’ll go in an oven at 190 degrees to dry some yet, maybe Sunday. I’ll be starting the summer sausage on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

I kill,gut,skin,debone. Tried jerky this year myself. So far a success with High Mountain seasonings. Trimmings go in for various sausages and brats. I’ve been very happy with Petty Bro’s in Annandale. But think I’m going to try something else this year for just a change.

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fishthumper wrote:

There are a ton of video’s on you tube of how to butcher your own deer. The ones by the bearded butchers are some of the best I’ve watched. Each deer season I spend a few minutes watching the video’s just to freshen up prior to having to cut a few deer up. Here is a link to the video’s

I’ll just say this. I’ve done my own deboning for 40 years with the exception of a couple due to weather or time. Never have I had a deer look like that when I started. I’m talking mature, whitetail bucks and there is way more stuff on them. Fat, connective tissue, tendons, silver skin are things I don’t see much of that in the video. I also can’t lay it on table. I skin it hanging head down and proceed to take it apart. It takes me close to an hour to get stuff ready, knives sharpened, tubs out, generally get an area ready/clean, skin, debone, meat lugs put in a frig and cleanup. Then I debone in my basement usually the following day or least after a break. Alone, that takes me 2 or 3 hours depending on the deer. Yep, I am anal about it and I trim off more than most so it takes me longer. And package everything incuding different trimming bags to freeze size depending on what I’ll make or have made.

So guys who do their own, have I been doing something wrong all these years or does my description sound closer to reality than the video shows?

I just want the guys who aren’t doing their own to think it’s as simple as a 10 minute job.

That said, I like doing my own. I control everything and end up with a quality job, quality meat and for me, part of the hunt.

haleysgold wrote:

So guys who do their own, have I been doing something wrong all these years or does my description sound closer to reality than the video shows?

Nope. Those videos are done by guys who do this for a living and dress out maybe thirty of forty deer a day for a few weeks. And they are working under optimal conditions. And it pays to be anal about your own meat. I am. I could give a rip how others do it or what they end up with.

When I finally get to bagged meat, mine has no silver skin, no fat, and its cut into 1″ cubes.

My deer hang from the head to cut into the portions. Either way works, its all in what you’re accustomed to doing. But I’m betting that most everyone here that works their own deer aren’t setting speed records and are likely way more conscious of getting good clean meat cuts for however there prefer. For basic disassembly, the vids aren’t bad and the bearded dude does well in showing how to create certain cuts from the loin and hinds. The trim work, if you want clean grinding meat, is time consuming…..unless you do this every day for a month and do the twenty or thirty deer a day.