Processing your own venison help!

[hanson]

We've been doing this since I first started hunting. Never had a deer go to a butcher to get chopped up. I have to thank my pa for teaching me though.

-First thing to do is pull the hide off the deer. We hang them head down and start around the rear knees and slice and pull and cut until the cape is down to the neck. Just cut around the neck and the cape is off. Oh yeah, a little tricky around the tail/tailbone but no big deal.

-Front legs/shoulders are next. A little bit of creative cutting and twisting and you can pop the front legs right off of the deer. Once to the butchering table, I'm mainly looking at meat for the scrap meat pile. There are a few pieces you could make into steak but for the most part, its going into sausage.

-Onto back straps. I start near the hind end of the deer while its hanging and carefully "fillet" the backstrap off the deer using gravity to aid in the cutting/filleting. There is no question what these will become- STEAK!!!

-Now the hack saw comes out to cut the head off. For the life of me, I can't remember how I separate the rig cage from the hind quarters but I'm pretty sure it involves the saw also. (Funny. Hang a deer up and I could walk you right through it but try to describe it in words and it becomes challenging.)

-Anyway, there is a lot of meat on the ribcage, it just depends on how much work you want to put into it. All of the trimmings would go into the scrap pile

-I then finish with hind quarters. Lots of good steak meat here as well as roasts.

I basically look at butchering as separating the muscles from each other. There's probably quicker ways but I get very clean meat with no bones. Works for me!

All of our trimmings head to the butcher for sausage meat.

Another good chunk of our meat gets canned.

I haven't gotten into making my own jerky yet but it'll happen someday.

[sparetime]

All great posts. I have my own version of this.

We skin and de-bone the meat ourselves (last time I took it in it cost $85 bucks). Most of the others have covered this already, and it does not take long.

We keep the roasts we want and wrap them in cling-wrap then in double freezer paper. Venison doesn't get eaten real fast, so protecting it from freezer burn is why we double wrap. The cling-wrap is awsome.

The trimmings (most of the venison at my house) are then placed in zip-lock freezer bags and thrown in the freezer. About the middle or end of January we take the bags out of the freezer and deliver about 30-35 lbs of venison, no bones, to our favorite processor who turns it into sausage, brats, jerky etc.

This way you know the quality of the meat, don't pay the price for butchering the deer and don't have to figure out how to make that yummie deer sausage.

Just do it, learning as you go is the best method. Take some good advice to shorten the process

[Guest]

Dont forget to trim out the tenderlions as this is probably the best part of the deer next to the backstraps.

[RoadRunner]

I've been hunting for 27 years and we've done our own processing as far back as I can remember. I look forward to it almost as much as the hunt itself.

It's a time to toast each other on another safe hunt with a shot or two of E&J, throw back a few brews, relive hunts of years gone by, tell bad jokes, throw some good natured ribbing at each other, and start planning for next year (stand locations, etc).

It is a lot of work, but in the end, we know EXACTLY what goes into our sausage, and I think it tastes just a little better knowing we did it ourselves.

[almostthere!]

Gus,

Go buy yourself a Kitchen Aid with the grinder attachment. Then tell the wife she is getting a Kitchen Aid mixer as an early Christmas present and you need to show her how to use the attachment.

The Kitchen Aid's attachment is an excellent grinder. You just need to cut the meat into long, narrow strips, not large cubes.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I shot a small buck on wednesday night... cut it up with a little help from my wife on thursday(maybe 4 hours, I like to do it up good.. no sinew or silver skin) and then pakaged and froze it on friday....why pay $100 to pay someone that you can do better and by yourself.

[Hotspotter]

A few things from the Nelson deer camp:

-We hang deer, head-up, and skin with a vehicle. We prep the deer by sawing off legs at the knee, then cutting the hide from knee up to the open cavity. Then we cut around the neck hide, and down again to the cavity opening. With some loose hide pulled off the back of the neck, we slip a rock or golf ball under the hide, then tie a stout rope around the "bulge" in the hide made by the ball/rock. While this approach takes about the same time as skinning by hand (we've timed it ), it really shines in keeping hair off of the meat. That, more than anything is why we do it.

-Each person has a task in camp that they do well. That's the best way to keep people busy and cutting we've found.

-After skinning, we pull the backstraps out by hand. Using your bare hands, for us, actually saves more meat than by cutting. You start with a knife to make the initial cut, and seperate the silver skin/sinew from the vertebrae and top of the ribs, then work it out!

-Quarters are taken off the animal, then downstairs for deboning.

-Deer is dropped, and tenderloins are removed. We find it easier dropping the deer on the ground to get at these.

-Backstraps are cut into medallions for steaks. We've butterflied these in past years, but I think it's just as easy to cut into chunks. Tenderloins are kept whole for grilling. Most tender parts of hind quarters (those that cut most easily) are cubed for stir-fry/stew meat. Big muscles in front and rear quarters are frozen whole to later be cut into jerky and dehydrated. Everything else goes to grind for burger and sausage.

-Ma is the finisher. She uses a good sharp, fishing filet knife to get silver skin, sinew, grissle, and tendons out of the best cuts. That filet knife is a key component to the whole operation.

-Hair, blood clots, and bone chips are the enemy, along with all the fat and sinew. Especially to all your friends that don't get the hunting thing (till you tell them what they're eating was running around a week ago ). Cutting boards are washed often to keep any hair that does get there from separating and going all over the meat.

-We've got a local place that grinds for $0.10 a lb. For us, that's cheaper and easier than buying a good commercial grade grinder (tho not as much fun). They've told us to never use plastic that is not food-grade plastic to store, keep, or freeze meats in. The plastics can break down and taint the meat.

Oh, and when disposing of the carcasses, please don't throw them in the local farmer's fields, ditches, etc.

Joel

[lcornice]

Bill Hesselgrave is doing a deer processing seminar at the Lakeville Gander Mtn. on Oct. 28th. Here's the link: Deer Processing Seminar

I saw Bill's seminar at an MDHA meeting once and it's worth a trip to the south metro, especially if you're considering butchering a deer for the first time.

[Gus]

I bought Bill's video and had hoped to see his seminar. Too bad I'll be bow hunting this weekend and can't go... well I guess it's not that bad to get to hunt!!! 4 days of bowhunting! I can't wait!

[2x4]

I know that there are a few restaurant supply stores in the Twin Cities. Next Day Gourmet which used to be Superior Products.

Make sure that you get a board that is made of a hard material. It is easier to clean and will not soak up any bacteria as wood does. I have a 2' x 3' board that is a yellowish color and it is very hard. I get a few scratches on it but it is really easy to clean.