Where do you process your deer? Garage? Kitchen?

[BLACKJACK]

Theres another thread going on whether you process your own deer and I didn't want to piggyback on it.

Where do you process your deer at? Your garage? shop? basement? kitchen? And what kind of equipment do you have that helps? What do you do to keep the meat clean and sanitary?

I've butchered a couple of deer, I did them in my shop, but it seems like I spent a lot of time washing buckets, benches, cuttting boards before and after just to keep things sanitary, what are some tips that you use? I've looked into getting some big cutting boards that would hold a quarter of a deer but they're not cheap.

Any ideas and tips appreciated.

[B. Amish]

i hang mine in the shop. cut off what i want. then bring it in the house and finish the job in the cleaner kitchen environment.

sometimes i wrap the kitchen table with freezer paper before hand to make clean up easier.

usually, i bring in one hind quarter at a time to make it easier. if i'm just cutting off scraps in the shop, i put everything into big roasting pans to transport into the house. i usually grind everything right away and package it into vaccuum bags.

a good sharp knife is a major help.

[Bassman55]

We do it in our garage. We do spend alot of time trying to keep it clean. One thing that helps is covering the table, benches in freezer/wax paper before starting and then just putting the cutting boards on top of that. As for the cutting boards we improvise a little. We use the piece or counter top they cut out for the sink and a small old table top, but you do need to be very careful with your knives. They will get dull right away if you cut into these.

[Water Hazard]

We usually hang the deer in an old barn and then process it either in my buddy's garage or the hunting shack.

This past fall, we were in the garage. I set up a couple of saw horses with some old doors on them for tables. Then we used old sections of kitchen countertops as cutting boards.

To keep things sanitary, I start by using some of those anti-bacterial wipes to clean the work surface. Those wipes also work well for cleaning up any drips later or for clean up at the end of the day.

If you keep some buckets of water and paper towels nearby (it helps to get this ready beforehand since you’ll be pretty messy later), you can use those to get the worst of the blood/fat/meat off your hands. Then, you can use some of the anti-bacterial hand sanitizer before getting out the vacuum sealer or butcher paper.

Hope that helps.

[BobT]

We do it in a garage. Naturally we take precautions to keep the meat clean and we prefer the garage because it's cold.

Bob

[charliepete2]

I skin and quarter in the garage, and then haul the quarters into the kitchen to do the rest of the processing. I use my wives Kitchen-Aid mixer with attachemnt to do all the grinding. I have a Cabelas vertical stuffer for sausage and snack stick stuffing. It's about 10 times faster than trying to stuff out of the grinder. I use my food saver to vacume seal all my meat. I don't know how I ever got along with it. As far as preparing food goes I have a smoker and a nice dehydrator for jerky.

[Nate McVey]

We did 6 deer last year in a buddies garage. Like BobT said, it's nice in the garage because it stays quite a bit colder than the kitchen. My buddy found a stainless table that was being thrown out from a school in the neighborhood, so we kept that clean with some Quatinary Sanitizer in a spray bottle. Then we had 3 paint buckets set up with hot water, soap and then hot water again for cleaning hands. 2 grinders I bought off the "auction" site, 2 vacuum sealers and a half dozen good knives.

[caseynewberg]

We usually do it in a garage whether it be at the outfitters in the back when we all hunted together or in our individual garages. We do the spoapy bucket of water as well to wash are hand off a little bit. But my dad bought a big grinder from an old store that had shut down, so it goes pretty quick. Not too mention that my dad's was a butcher since he was 16.. so he is really really quick!!

[SSSTaxidermy]

We do it in my garage/shop. That is the only way I know..It's what I grew up with and been around, and after 20 yrs of deer hunting now, I think we have a good system....Its a whole family (hunting party) operation. All the guys do the cutting, mixing, stuffing, etc, in the shop. Once we have it all mixed and seasoned, my wife takes it into the house and fries up a couple small batches...and re-season if necessary. Once you get a system down it seems to work out real good. Everyone pretty much knows their rolls before it even starts. It's an event I know I look forward to each year, its all part of the hunt for me.

[SlamNFish]

I skin and quarter in the garage and then bring it in the house and put it all in an old refridgerator to age for a few days and then i cut it up how i want it.

I want to add on the aging venison or any meat for that matter is best done in a controlled temperature 35 to 40 degrees.

But i know some people that let there venison age until mold appears on the outside they say it makes the most tender meat

[Surface Tension]

Around here temps can range from too cold to too warm.

The garage seems to stay a bit more consistent so I'll hang, skin, and quarter there if need be, otherwise I'd rather do it outside.

The cutting up process is done in the kitchen. I have good under cabinet lighting which helps. Pretty much throw the quarter on the counter and take it apart. That counter hight is a back saver when your spending a couple hours cutting. I have large stainless steel bowls the cuts go into. I just got a 19x48 fold out cutting board that should workout well. That'll give me a seamless cutting and and easy to clean work space. Of coarse it works out slick for cleaning fish too, which is something else I do in the kitchen. Another thing I like about the kitchen is its easy to keep the whole process clean and having the sink for cleanups it nice. When its cold outside and in the garage the warmth is nice in the kitchen.

One thing I do differently now is not cutting steaks and also leaving the loins whole. That gives the choice or roasts or steaks come time to cook. Steaking when the meat hasn't completely defrosts makes for better cuts as well.

[maros91]

I also skin and quarter in the garage. I take the backstraps off in the garage and give to my wife. She then cuts and vaccum seals in the kitchen. Everything else I take down to my big stainless steel table and go to work.

[DonBo]

We're pretty lucky to have a camp with great butchering facilities. If I need to do any at home, I will quarter it in the garage then butcher at the kitchen table.

For big cutting boards, contact a local sign shop and ask for pieces of PVC sheet plastic. It comes in 4x8 sheets of various thicknesses and works great, doesn't dull the knives.

[Powerstroke]

I also work in the garage....not cause its cooler, but cause its warm. I don't keep it above 60, but I've spent too many days butchering with frozen fingers. Its just not fun.

Everything is done in the garage except for the grinding. That is usually done in the kitchen.

[BigWadeS]

Pretty much gonna start being in the garage/shop, use to just drop the deer off at the butcher shop but getting to expensive, gonna start doing it myself and just take in some of the meat to get processed into things I am not comfortable with making....you can find a nice stainless steel table from auctions from bars or restuarants or cafe's for pretty cheap and use those too!

[Bandit]

I also do everything in the garage. I use the winch on my Rhino to lift them. It works great for skinning, just lift as you need. Never have so stand on a stool to get things started, and don't have to kneel down to finish.

[rockman]

Skinning and quartering gets done in the garage,using the winch on the atv for a hoist.All the butchering gets done in the kitchen,as does the sausage stuffing.

[BLACKJACK]

Some good tips guys, especially on the cutting boards and wrapping the workbench. Now I just need to make up my mind that I'm going to butcher my next deer instead of going the easy route and taking it to the butcher. I tink my best bet would be to skin, quarter, and cut up in the shop, and then do the grinding and sausage in the house.

One of you guys mentioned the grinder attachment on a Kitchen Aid, my wife has a Kitchen Aid mixer, how did you like the grinder attachment?

[Shack]

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong thread and I will move it here:

I do this in my shop/garage and no one has got sick in the last 4 years (joking) .

First, I prep area. I will take a piece of 4'x8' plywood or chip board and wrap in clean poly plastic and staple to back. Then I will set this up on two saw horses to make a cutting table. I gather my knives, clean board for cutting, freezer paper wrap, freezer tape, permanent marker and plastic garbage bags.

Second, I prep deer for skinning. One can hang deer from neck or rear legs. I prefer rear legs. After I hang deer in area close to cutting table, I start by cutting skin around rear leg ankles. Slice skin down thigh of deer (be careful not to cut deep into meat or muscles). Once clean cuts have been made, pull down on loose skin. Use knife to slice area between skin and meat. It is very easy going at this point! Follow deer’s torso down to front legs. Repeat same process for front legs as you did the rear legs. At this point, you have exposed the deer’s inner neck. Peel skin as for forward to head as possible. Use hacksaw to saw threw neck (clean blade). At this point discard deer hide and head. To clean loose hair off of dear meat, use propane or map gas torch. Burn all or any loose pieces of hair (this will get in meat if not done correctly). Once this is done, cut with hacksaw the front lower hooves off of deer and discard. At this point (I am by my self), I will lower deer to cutting table. Hang rear legs off of table and cut off with hacksaw.

Now you are ready to start cutting from one end or another, the different parts of meat off of deer. I start with back straps and work from there. I use the garbage bags to throw unwanted parts of deer into, but do not start tossing every thing away. Every scrape piece of meat should be tossed into a separate plastic garbage bag and saved for hamburger or sausage. As you take different cuts of meat off of dear, place the same cuts of meat in the same pile on table. Once you have made all the cuts on the deer, discard carcass. At this point you can start to wrap the meat. Once you do a couple, you will know how much paper is needed. Place meat in center of square piece of freezer paper towards you a little bit. Fold in both sides and bottom of paper. Roll meat in paper away from you until end of paper. It takes a couple of tries to perfect this. One could open “a wrapped pieces of meat” from last year to figure out how it is done. tape paper down with freezer tape. Now, mark outside of freezer paper with permanent marker on to what cut of meat is inside and date it was wrapped. Put stuff in freezer when done and send scrape off to meat market for sausage of hamburger.

This a very basic over view on how this is done. I know others have many good ideas on how to it better.

Good luck!

!!!!!!!!!Click here for more deer process info!!!!!!!!!!

[BigWadeS]

Great post Shackbash --

I forgot to add in mine I cut out the tenderloins as soon as it is hanging and usually cook them that day or the next day on a grill....YUMMY!

[picksbigwagon]

I have been processing in the garage the last couple years and vacuum packing in the kitchen when I get home.

For my table, I use a 2'x4' folding table, and I put 5 gallon buckets underneath each leg, bringing the table heighth up to a more comfortable position. This year I used the clorox sanitizing wipes to wipe down the table and anything else I was going to come in contact with the meat.

[charliepete2]

BlackJack....I like using the grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid. It works pretty slick. My buddies and I ground 200#'s of deer and pork shoulder to make sausage this year. It only took and hour or so to grind it all. My only complaint is that I wish it had a courser grinding plate. Even the fine plate is a little small. If your wife already has the mixer it is quite a bit cheaper than buying a seperate grinder.

[BLACKJACK]

hubercita, do you grind your meat partially frozen or thawed?

[charliepete2]

I've ground it both partially frozen and thawed, but it's probably easier partially frozen. Fully frozen bogs down the grinder a bit. Basically when I do my butchering any meat that isn't cut into a steak or a roast gets chunked up and vacum sealed in 1 gallon bags. When I need it I'll pull it out of the freezer, set in the fridge for two days, and by that point it will be a little icy but still workable.

When I started out making sausage the only tool I had was the kitchen aid and the grinding attachment. I used it to stuff sausage with it and everything. Stuffing sausage and especially snack sticks is tough with the kitchen aid alone if you are doing large quantities (100#'s plus). We'd kill the better part of day stuffing sausage with two guys working. After we got the vertical stuffer the same job takes about a tenth of the time. It all depends on how much you do a year. As far as grinding goes the kitchen aid works great. We ground about 200#'s of venison, bear, and pork shoulder this year in about an hour. The grinding goes fast if you aren't trying to stuff it into a casing. My sausage making buddies and I split the stuffer three ways, and we've all been kicking ourselves for not doing it sooner.

[SlamNFish]

 Originally Posted By: Hubercita

I've ground it both partially frozen and thawed, but it's probably easier partially frozen. Fully frozen bogs down the grinder a bit. Basically when I do my butchering any meat that isn't cut into a steak or a roast gets chunked up and vacum sealed in 1 gallon bags. When I need it I'll pull it out of the freezer, set in the fridge for two days, and by that point it will be a little icy but still workable.

When I started out making sausage the only tool I had was the kitchen aid and the grinding attachment. I used it to stuff sausage with it and everything. Stuffing sausage and especially snack sticks is tough with the kitchen aid alone if you are doing large quantities (100#'s plus). We'd kill the better part of day stuffing sausage with two guys working. After we got the vertical stuffer the same job takes about a tenth of the time. It all depends on how much you do a year. As far as grinding goes the kitchen aid works great. We ground about 200#'s of venison, bear, and pork shoulder this year in about an hour. The grinding goes fast if you aren't trying to stuff it into a casing. My sausage making buddies and I split the stuffer three ways, and we've all been kicking ourselves for not doing it sooner.

Great tip on the three way stuffing attachment? Where do you get a 3 way attachment ?

Thanks.