Our group is tired of paying $75-$100 for cutting up deer. On top on that through on the snacks made from the deer and you are up to or over $225 per deer. So, we have decided to process the deer our selfs and reminisce about this years hunt. Two of us have limited experience in processing.
Is there a good resource out there, if you do not know someone, for the beginner on processing deer? Specifically, what cuts to make are where?
Thanks in advance for your support.
We have been cutting our deer ourselves for many years.
It all depends on what you want to do with the deer.
What we do, is cut out the back loin, boneless and cut out the tenderloins on the inside, again boneless.
To do this, starting at the shoulder, make a long cut down the center of the back on each side of the spine. Basically, you are making one cut down the center of the spine, then when you hit the bone, “Y” it out to the ribs on each side, tight against the spine bone. Once you hit the ribs, stop with that cut. Then go at the deer with the knife at a 90 degree angle of the first cut (along the ribs about 4 inches away from the spine center), to cut out the back loin. Ta-Da!!! You have boneless steak!!! This cut, again should be from the shoulder to the rump. As you pull your knife down the back, you will “feel” where you should start and stop. It is easy.
Cut out the tenderloin on the inside.
As for roast;
Cut from the end of the leg, down the inside of the deer, along the leg bone. Work up to the “socket”. If you take your time, you can cut out the leg bone and remove it from the socket. This will leave you with a “massive” chunk of meat. The meat goes right up past the pelvic bone to the top of the rump. This is all roast meat. The closer you are to the top of the deer, the more tender the roast is (rump roast). Once you have this massive amount of meat cut out, cut out the roast you want. Typically, on a clean rump/leg, I will get 4 nice roast per leg that varies from 2 to 3 pounds each. The meat that I trim off my roast to make them “nice” I just use for trim for burger.
The front legs:
There really isn’t good roast here. So, with that said, I just cut it all into trim for burger or ground to do whatever you wish.
In cutting the front legs, pull the leg away from the deer and cut into the “armpit”. This will lead you into the shoulder blade. Cut around the shoulder blade and the front leg will literally fall off. Bone it out!!!
With that said, cut and trim the neck and the rest of the deer. Take your time, you really can’t screw it up, if you just go with the “seams” of the meat.
NOTE: Any meat that has fat (which is actually tallow), cut the fat off!!!! The fat gives you the “gamey or wild” taste. Add beef or pork fat to your ground trim to “juice it up”. DEER FAT GIVES DEER THE BAD TASTE!!!!!
With this said,
On any deer, you will get about
1: two, 2′ strips of boneless steak off the back.
2: two tenderloins from inside the deer (the tenderloin is basically two chunks of meat inside the deer, where the “small of the back” is. It is inbetween the ribs and the hips). These range about 12 to 15 inches
3: About 6 to 8 roast (3 to 4 from each leg)
4: About 25 to 35 lbs of trim for grinding.
On a 120lb doe, I will pull out about 50lbs of boneless meat.
As for what meat to throw away?
1: Any meat that darkens up because of dry blood (just shave off the dark areas.
2: Any blood clots.
3: Any meat that has any sign of being tainted by internal organs (gut shot), do not use!!!!!!!!! If the tenderloins got hit with guts, just throw them away!!!! It ain’t worth eating sour meat!!!!
Ask more questions!!! I know I didn’t cover it all!!!
We have been cutting our deer ourselves for many years.
It all depends on what you want to do with the deer.
What we do, is cut out the back loin, boneless and cut out the tenderloins on the inside, again boneless.
To do this, starting at the shoulder, make a long cut down the center of the back on each side of the spine. Basically, you are making one cut down the center of the spine, then when you hit the bone, “Y” it out to the ribs on each side, tight against the spine bone. Once you hit the ribs, stop with that cut. Then go at the deer with the knife at a 90 degree angle of the first cut (along the ribs about 4 inches away from the spine center), to cut out the back loin. Ta-Da!!! You have boneless steak!!! This cut, again should be from the shoulder to the rump. As you pull your knife down the back, you will “feel” where you should start and stop. It is easy.
Cut out the tenderloin on the inside.
As for roast;
Cut from the end of the leg, down the inside of the deer, along the leg bone. Work up to the “socket”. If you take your time, you can cut out the leg bone and remove it from the socket. This will leave you with a “massive” chunk of meat. The meat goes right up past the pelvic bone to the top of the rump. This is all roast meat. The closer you are to the top of the deer, the more tender the roast is (rump roast). Once you have this massive amount of meat cut out, cut out the roast you want. Typically, on a clean rump/leg, I will get 4 nice roast per leg that varies from 2 to 3 pounds each. The meat that I trim off my roast to make them “nice” I just use for trim for burger.
The front legs:
There really isn’t good roast here. So, with that said, I just cut it all into trim for burger or ground to do whatever you wish.
In cutting the front legs, pull the leg away from the deer and cut into the “armpit”. This will lead you into the shoulder blade. Cut around the shoulder blade and the front leg will literally fall off. Bone it out!!!
With that said, cut and trim the neck and the rest of the deer. Take your time, you really can’t screw it up, if you just go with the “seams” of the meat.
NOTE: Any meat that has fat (which is actually tallow), cut the fat off!!!! The fat gives you the “gamey or wild” taste. Add beef or pork fat to your ground trim to “juice it up”. DEER FAT GIVES DEER THE BAD TASTE!!!!!
With this said,
On any deer, you will get about
1: two, 2′ strips of boneless steak off the back.
2: two tenderloins from inside the deer (the tenderloin is basically two chunks of meat inside the deer, where the “small of the back” is. It is inbetween the ribs and the hips). These range about 12 to 15 inches
3: About 6 to 8 roast (3 to 4 from each leg)
4: About 25 to 35 lbs of trim for grinding.
On a 120lb doe, I will pull out about 50lbs of boneless meat.
As for what meat to throw away?
1: Any meat that darkens up because of dry blood (just shave off the dark areas.
2: Any blood clots.
3: Any meat that has any sign of being tainted by internal organs (gut shot), do not use!!!!!!!!! If the tenderloins got hit with guts, just throw them away!!!! It ain’t worth eating sour meat!!!!
Ask more questions!!! I know I didn’t cover it all!!!
Do it. It’s not that hard. Just use good general food handling techniques. I prefer to cut up in a cold garage but that may not be totally necessary. I always lean towards the side of caution to make sure no meat spoils or is tainted in any way. We also wash before packaging the meat then freeze. Remove that tallow on prime cuts or you will get a nasty taste when eating that piece. Remove as much fat as you have patience for on trimmings too. It pays off in the final product. We just butchered one yesterday and had fresh backstraps last night. mmmmmmm
Do it. It’s not that hard. Just use good general food handling techniques. I prefer to cut up in a cold garage but that may not be totally necessary. I always lean towards the side of caution to make sure no meat spoils or is tainted in any way. We also wash before packaging the meat then freeze. Remove that tallow on prime cuts or you will get a nasty taste when eating that piece. Remove as much fat as you have patience for on trimmings too. It pays off in the final product. We just butchered one yesterday and had fresh backstraps last night. mmmmmmm
Heres what we occasionally do with our loins. Take about an 1″ to 2” crosscut of the loins taken from the back, like gary said and take a meat hammer or even an old pop bottle, can anyone remember how good pop tasted from a glass bottle? Lay the loin on a cutting board and pound it down to about 3/8 thick, it will be about 6″ to 8″ across then. Take an egg and beat it in a bowl, dip the loin into the egg mixture then roll in cracker crumbs. Deep fry the loin in oil until golden brown. Put the deepfried loin between two pieces of bread or a bun, add your favorite toppings, ketsup, mustard, Garlic dill pickles, lettuce and what a sandwhich. ENJOY!! 
Heres what we occasionally do with our loins. Take about an 1″ to 2” crosscut of the loins taken from the back, like gary said and take a meat hammer or even an old pop bottle, can anyone remember how good pop tasted from a glass bottle? Lay the loin on a cutting board and pound it down to about 3/8 thick, it will be about 6″ to 8″ across then. Take an egg and beat it in a bowl, dip the loin into the egg mixture then roll in cracker crumbs. Deep fry the loin in oil until golden brown. Put the deepfried loin between two pieces of bread or a bun, add your favorite toppings, ketsup, mustard, Garlic dill pickles, lettuce and what a sandwhich. ENJOY!!
Good advice Gary! We do all our own also. Make sure you take the time to take all the fat off.
Good advice Gary! We do all our own also. Make sure you take the time to take all the fat off.
Excellent advice Gary. We cut the tenderloins out immediately after field dressing and cleaning. They will only dry up and get tough otherwise. We have a rule in our party. If they are not removed after the evening hunt they are fair game. 
Excellent advice Gary. We cut the tenderloins out immediately after field dressing and cleaning. They will only dry up and get tough otherwise. We have a rule in our party. If they are not removed after the evening hunt they are fair game.
Good job, Gary. When I do this alone, I hang the deer by the head with the hind legs touching the floor. The hide is then removed down to the knees of the back legs but left connected. This helps keep the deer from swinging when cutting the meat.
We are not fond of venison roast so we cut the tender meat into 1″ chunks after thawing, season with Lowry’s salt, roll in flour, and deep fat fry until pink in the middle. Mmmm. The lower parts of the hind leg go into jerky. Also, partially frozen meat is easier to cut into jerky strips than fresh meat.
Good job, Gary. When I do this alone, I hang the deer by the head with the hind legs touching the floor. The hide is then removed down to the knees of the back legs but left connected. This helps keep the deer from swinging when cutting the meat.
We are not fond of venison roast so we cut the tender meat into 1″ chunks after thawing, season with Lowry’s salt, roll in flour, and deep fat fry until pink in the middle. Mmmm. The lower parts of the hind leg go into jerky. Also, partially frozen meat is easier to cut into jerky strips than fresh meat.
We do not take the roasts either. I prefer to cut them into steaks.
We do not take the roasts either. I prefer to cut them into steaks.
OK:
A little secret recipe for venison roast……………..
MILK!!!
Submerge your roast in milk, cover the container with a lid, and refridgerate for atleast 24 hours, up to 36 hours.
The milk will turn a light pink. The milk draws the blood out of the meat and also acts as a natural “tenderizer”.
Put her in a crock pot, with a cut up onion, 4 large crushed cloves of garlic, some seasoning salt, and sage. Dump in a can of Cream Of Mushroom soup.
Cook on low for about 6 hours, keeping the lid VERY TIGHT.
So tender you can cut it with a fork and very taste!!! The mushroom soup helps keep it from drying out.
The other method is to get some good “spicey” aftermarket 30 min. marinade. Not hot spicey, more like roast spicey. Marinade the roast with several injections…….I’m talking several, several injections, to where the marinade is spewing out. Then cover the roast with another 1/2 cup of the 30 min marinade. Cover, put in fridge for 3 hours (yep, 30 min marinade for 3 hours).
Then drop it in the crockpot with an onion and cloves of garlic. KEEP THE LID TIGHT! Watch the temp close with a good meat thermometer. Once you hit 160, take it out!
Taste almost as good as prime rib!!!!!!! I actually take them out at 150, but others may disagree with that temp!!!
For many, many years I would touch a roast. Now, I cook em up almost every weekend in the fall/winter…..Takes alot of work to make it taste as good as a beef roast, but this way is cheap and FUN!
OK:
A little secret recipe for venison roast……………..
MILK!!!
Submerge your roast in milk, cover the container with a lid, and refridgerate for atleast 24 hours, up to 36 hours.
The milk will turn a light pink. The milk draws the blood out of the meat and also acts as a natural “tenderizer”.
Put her in a crock pot, with a cut up onion, 4 large crushed cloves of garlic, some seasoning salt, and sage. Dump in a can of Cream Of Mushroom soup.
Cook on low for about 6 hours, keeping the lid VERY TIGHT.
So tender you can cut it with a fork and very taste!!! The mushroom soup helps keep it from drying out.
The other method is to get some good “spicey” aftermarket 30 min. marinade. Not hot spicey, more like roast spicey. Marinade the roast with several injections…….I’m talking several, several injections, to where the marinade is spewing out. Then cover the roast with another 1/2 cup of the 30 min marinade. Cover, put in fridge for 3 hours (yep, 30 min marinade for 3 hours).
Then drop it in the crockpot with an onion and cloves of garlic. KEEP THE LID TIGHT! Watch the temp close with a good meat thermometer. Once you hit 160, take it out!
Taste almost as good as prime rib!!!!!!! I actually take them out at 150, but others may disagree with that temp!!!
For many, many years I would touch a roast. Now, I cook em up almost every weekend in the fall/winter…..Takes alot of work to make it taste as good as a beef roast, but this way is cheap and FUN!
Everyone has given some great advice and encouragement. It is not that difficult to process a deer – it is a great way to finish out the hunting season or spend an evening cutting deer and reminiscing about the hunt!
Just a couple more suggestions. Keep your knife sharp. It will save time and will make the meat look better if stop and sharpen your knife when it needs it.
You might want to make a trip to your local hardware store and buy a meat saw. It comes in handy for cutting off the legs and helping out when you make a cut that did not go quite where you expected 
and you end up needing a saw. As the years have gone by I have found the need for a saw less and less, but it came in handy those first few years.
When you skin the deer, make as few cuts as possible – this keeps the meat cleaner and there is less hair on it. When you get to the legs, just keep pulling and working the skin down without cutting through the skin. If you do get hair on the meat, a clean, warm, wet towel works great to get the hair off – just keep a warm bucket of water to rinse the towel as needed.
Before you hang up the deer by the neck, make sure you did not shoot the deer through the spine in the neck – when you pull hard to get the skin off you may end up with the head and neck hanging, and the body on the dirty garage floor .
One other thing, did anyone mention to make sure to get all the fat and membrane off as possible to keep the meat from getting an off taste!
If you can find a friend that has done this, it will save you time and you learn some shortcuts that everyone has developed.
Here is a video available on cutting up a deer as well http://www.askthemeatman.com/meat_cutting_videos.htm#deer%20processing%20video.
Good luck and I know you can process a deer – make the hunt even more special when you process what you shot!
Everyone has given some great advice and encouragement. It is not that difficult to process a deer – it is a great way to finish out the hunting season or spend an evening cutting deer and reminiscing about the hunt!
Just a couple more suggestions. Keep your knife sharp. It will save time and will make the meat look better if stop and sharpen your knife when it needs it.
You might want to make a trip to your local hardware store and buy a meat saw. It comes in handy for cutting off the legs and helping out when you make a cut that did not go quite where you expected and you end up needing a saw. As the years have gone by I have found the need for a saw less and less, but it came in handy those first few years.
When you skin the deer, make as few cuts as possible – this keeps the meat cleaner and there is less hair on it. When you get to the legs, just keep pulling and working the skin down without cutting through the skin. If you do get hair on the meat, a clean, warm, wet towel works great to get the hair off – just keep a warm bucket of water to rinse the towel as needed.
Before you hang up the deer by the neck, make sure you did not shoot the deer through the spine in the neck – when you pull hard to get the skin off you may end up with the head and neck hanging, and the body on the dirty garage floor .
One other thing, did anyone mention to make sure to get all the fat and membrane off as possible to keep the meat from getting an off taste!
If you can find a friend that has done this, it will save you time and you learn some shortcuts that everyone has developed.
Here is a video available on cutting up a deer as well http://www.askthemeatman.com/meat_cutting_videos.htm#deer%20processing%20video.
Good luck and I know you can process a deer – make the hunt even more special when you process what you shot!
All good info guys. You just can’t beat doing your own. I even grind all my own burger. Good sausage products come from good clean trimmings. Just finished cleaning one up in the garage last night. A couple bow tags to fill yet and off to WI gun season next week. 
All good info guys. You just can’t beat doing your own. I even grind all my own burger. Good sausage products come from good clean trimmings. Just finished cleaning one up in the garage last night. A couple bow tags to fill yet and off to WI gun season next week.
Here is a great ground pork/deer breakfast sausage recipe!!!!!
Just grind her up and make patties. If you have a sausage stuffer, this is great for ring sausage!!!!
Grind 50/50 FATTY pork trimmings and deer trimmings. Let me say again FATTY pork trimmings.
For 40lbs of ground sausage (20 pork, 20 deer)
Crush 3 cloves of garlic and boil the garlic in 2 cups boiling water for 10 min. Remove the cloves and discard.
Poor the garlic water over the 40lbs ground meat.
Add 1.5 tablespoons of corriander
1/4 cup pepper
1 cup salt.
Mix it up really good.
Ta-da!!!
Great tasting ground breakfast sausage and very simple.
If you got access to a stuffer and smoker, put this mixture into casings and smoke it for 4 hours, until the meat reaches 160 degrees.
This recipe has been feeding my family for the past 150 years……….Dad just smoked up 60lbs of ring sausage this past weekend!!!
Here is a great ground pork/deer breakfast sausage recipe!!!!!
Just grind her up and make patties. If you have a sausage stuffer, this is great for ring sausage!!!!
Grind 50/50 FATTY pork trimmings and deer trimmings. Let me say again FATTY pork trimmings.
For 40lbs of ground sausage (20 pork, 20 deer)
Crush 3 cloves of garlic and boil the garlic in 2 cups boiling water for 10 min. Remove the cloves and discard.
Poor the garlic water over the 40lbs ground meat.
Add 1.5 tablespoons of corriander
1/4 cup pepper
1 cup salt.
Mix it up really good.
Ta-da!!!
Great tasting ground breakfast sausage and very simple.
If you got access to a stuffer and smoker, put this mixture into casings and smoke it for 4 hours, until the meat reaches 160 degrees.
This recipe has been feeding my family for the past 150 years……….Dad just smoked up 60lbs of ring sausage this past weekend!!!
Thanks for all of your replies. I feel much more confident about doing this. I will let you know how it turned out on Monday.
Thanks for all of your replies. I feel much more confident about doing this. I will let you know how it turned out on Monday.
Ya gary, we made 100 lbs of 2 pound sticks of summer sausage with cheese a few years ago. Just go to your local butcher shop or grocery store and buy pork trimmings. Some stores will sell you the Spices, trimmings and casings, weather its sheep casings for links or man made for summer sausage, everything for about a dollar a pound to make your sausage. Just tell them how much venison you have and how much you plan to make and they will take care of the rest. I’ve got an old steel refrigerator i’ve made into a smoker. Going black powdering in a couple weeks, time to warm it up again. If anyone needs to know how to build a smoker out of an old refrigerator let me know.
Ya gary, we made 100 lbs of 2 pound sticks of summer sausage with cheese a few years ago. Just go to your local butcher shop or grocery store and buy pork trimmings. Some stores will sell you the Spices, trimmings and casings, weather its sheep casings for links or man made for summer sausage, everything for about a dollar a pound to make your sausage. Just tell them how much venison you have and how much you plan to make and they will take care of the rest. I’ve got an old steel refrigerator i’ve made into a smoker. Going black powdering in a couple weeks, time to warm it up again. If anyone needs to know how to build a smoker out of an old refrigerator let me know.
Mossy!
We just retired the fridge smoker and dad built a nice big smoker!!!!
What dad did with the fridge, was open the back bottom lower foot, to gain access to the bottom of the fridge. There is where he had his fire. He built a “box” addition to the back of the fridge, to build a fire in. This way, there was no direct heat going to the meat. All indirect.
You never want direct heat going to the meat when you smoke. You always want some type of cover over the fire so the heat rolls away from the meat and bascially comes up the side walls.
Turn the fridge up-side-down, so the “freezer” is on the bottom. Through that, cut out your “grid” to let the smoke roll through. The fire should be between the “box” and the “freezer” with the smoke rolling up through your holes, into the fridge part.
The fridge part, just screw in some 2x4s on the insides to hold the sticks of meat (like rails). We use closet hanger rods that are wood to hang the meat on.
You should probably have 2: 4″ vents on the back top of the fridge to control heat and smoke. But dad primarily uses the “back door” to the “box” to control his heat and smoke.
The past few weeks, we built a dandy of a smoker. Built it out of BBQ brick for the base and the fire pit. Then we picked up some SS sheeting, screwed it to the inside of the plywood and basically built a box on a brick BBQ pit. Then we got a old fridge/freezer door (2 doors). The freezer door on the bottom for the fire pit access and the fridge door is on the top for the meat access. We gutted the doors and put SS sheeting on the inside. The nice thing is that she is all SS on the inside, which helps keep it clean and controls the heat reflection very well. Put in a few vents and a temp gauge. MAN-O-MAN, does she make some dang good old fashion ring sausage!!!!!!! Holds 80lbs too!!!!
Mossy!
We just retired the fridge smoker and dad built a nice big smoker!!!!
What dad did with the fridge, was open the back bottom lower foot, to gain access to the bottom of the fridge. There is where he had his fire. He built a “box” addition to the back of the fridge, to build a fire in. This way, there was no direct heat going to the meat. All indirect.
You never want direct heat going to the meat when you smoke. You always want some type of cover over the fire so the heat rolls away from the meat and bascially comes up the side walls.
Turn the fridge up-side-down, so the “freezer” is on the bottom. Through that, cut out your “grid” to let the smoke roll through. The fire should be between the “box” and the “freezer” with the smoke rolling up through your holes, into the fridge part.
The fridge part, just screw in some 2x4s on the insides to hold the sticks of meat (like rails). We use closet hanger rods that are wood to hang the meat on.
You should probably have 2: 4″ vents on the back top of the fridge to control heat and smoke. But dad primarily uses the “back door” to the “box” to control his heat and smoke.
The past few weeks, we built a dandy of a smoker. Built it out of BBQ brick for the base and the fire pit. Then we picked up some SS sheeting, screwed it to the inside of the plywood and basically built a box on a brick BBQ pit. Then we got a old fridge/freezer door (2 doors). The freezer door on the bottom for the fire pit access and the fridge door is on the top for the meat access. We gutted the doors and put SS sheeting on the inside. The nice thing is that she is all SS on the inside, which helps keep it clean and controls the heat reflection very well. Put in a few vents and a temp gauge. MAN-O-MAN, does she make some dang good old fashion ring sausage!!!!!!! Holds 80lbs too!!!!
Hey Gary, my frige dosen’t even have a freezer. God is it that old, older than dirt, maybe even older that rock itself. I heat mine with a hotplate with a grease cover over it to keep a grease fire from starting. I’ve got a flat spot on the top of the hotplate cover to keep a pan of water on to keep things moist when i need moisture. I’ve got a 6″ sttovepipe with a damper in it to be able to control the air coming in and out of the smoker. I drilled some holes for intake air through the floor. Ever smoke with corncobs? its what i use for fish. I use hickory for my meats with a few corncobs broken up at the same time. I’ve tried apple and wild cherry but i don’t like the taste. Corncobs are sweet because of the sugars in the cob, cornsweeteners. Ive got rods hanging from holes i’ve drilled in the sides for the link sausage. I cook my birds at 180 degrees and pork at 170, beef and venison at 160. I slow smoke and try to keep it that way or it tastes too smoky. I check it about every half hour too make sure things are working the way they should. Everythings usually done in under 6 hours with temperature changes and drafts. Mine works
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