Butchering a deer

[The Engineer]

So this year I'm lucky to be able to take 3 deer. This weekend I'm going up for crossbow and I can take either sex. For rifle I got a doe tag. So I bought a meat grinder for the front shoulder meat and I'll take back straps, loins and hind quarters. I have been watching YouTube for a few days now but I  am still a virgin. Anyone butcher their deer? Anything I should watch for or do? Thanks 

[Otto]

Do yourself a favor and save the front shoulders for this Recipe

https://honest-food.net/barbacoa-recipe-venison/

Incredibly delicious and very very easy!

Also, We have followed instructions from Dr. Grant on Growing Deer TV on how to butcher, very well explained and easy to do.

 https://www.growingdeer.tv/?ep=how-to-process-your-own-deer#/deer-meat-how-to-process-your-own

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Otto

[dbHunterNY]

when field dressing don't open the thing right up from butt hole up past sternum like some do. also leave the hide on if not getting to it right away and hang back legs up. sooner you skin it if you can the easier it'll be though. remove wind pipe and esophagus from the neck as soon as you can. separate quarters by muscles with a membrane between them most of the time. more fat, silver skin, membrane, and connective tissue you can remove the better and tastier the result. base of neck and in the quarters you have lymph node glands, don't cut through them if you can help it and discard them right away after you break things down/apart. don't let meat sit in liquid draining from it, say in the fridge if it's not vacuum sealed until you get to the rest of it. put it in containers that'll let it drain. i've cut deer up for over 20 years (started before I could hunt myself). always watch videos despite many are in convenient butcher shops vs a garage, shed, or barn. always curious. youtube bearded butcher videos have been posted here before and seem good. get a cheap but good 5-6" flexible boning knife from victorinox or dexter russell. then a 4" 'rabbit skinner'. all you really need for cutlery.

[dbHunterNY]

you can get flat irons from front shoulder blades but they're small, thin, and not easy to trim out.

[Nytracker]

U tube videos.... best would be to find a mentor near you . A good sharp knife fillet and  deboning knife . Sharpen often . Cold meat is easier to work with .  Might also think about getting a pretty good size cutting board. A couple scrap buckets  and some heavey duty  contractors trash bags.. also  a good bone saw  or a reciprocating  saw .

Edited October 29, 2019 by Nytracker

[goosifer]

21 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

when field dressing don't open the thing right up from butt hole up past sternum like some do. also leave the hide on if not getting to it right away and hang back legs up. sooner you skin it if you can the easier it'll be though. remove wind pipe and esophagus from the neck as soon as you can. . . . 

So do you remove the wind pipe and esophagus when field dressing, or later when processing?

[crappyice]

This guy shows off the hind quarter butchering clearly and names the steaks

Take your time, use your hands for “blunt butchering” aka pull shit apart where you see seems and use a knife sparingly until it comes time to cut larger muscle groups into steaks.

You can’t f it up...if you don’t get the steaks you want, grind it!


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[Robhuntandfish]

Just a couple of tips.... Don't forget the neck has a lot of meat.  And this can be ground or used as a neck roast.  

Take off all the silverskin you can as it make the quality of the meat that much better.  A fillet knife works well for this.  

 

[The Engineer]

I just received my Outdoor knife set and the grinder attaches to my wife's Kitchen Aid mixer. Thank God she will be working when I'm walking out the door with it on Friday to go upstate for an unofficial 3 day weekend that she also doesn't know about. As for a cutting board. My buddgave me a 2'x4' piece of stainless. 

[Arcade Hunter]

14 minutes ago, The Engineer said:

I just received my Outdoor knife set and the grinder attaches to my wife's Kitchen Aid mixer. Thank God she will be working when I'm walking out the door with it on Friday to go upstate for an unofficial 3 day weekend that she also doesn't know about. As for a cutting board. My buddgave me a 2'x4' piece of stainless. 

Stainless will dull your knives in a hurry.. we use slabs of nylon sheeting.. half inch thick to cut on.  Disinfect it well before each use.. I use a 1 % bleach and water solution in a spray bottle.  I also use filet knives.. have a few to rotate in and out between sharpenings

[Daveboone]

Get the esophagus, etc. all out when you initially gut it...you just have to reach up in under the sternum. This is where it pays not to have too big a knife, you almost have to do it by feel.

Be sure to rinse the body cavity out asap. Plan ahead for a good clean place to work. I do my butchering in my garage, not the cleanest place, but I cover my work bench and table saw with  plastic, and set up my cutting boards and knives there, keeping my plastic tubs and several new plastic bags nearby to but the quarters, etc. in as I separate them to keep them cool. Everything slices a lot nicer if you can give the meat a good deep chill ….not quite frozen, in a freezer first.

You get better with practice. Don't be in a hurry, and remember, no matter how it turns out, it will still be edible.

[dbHunterNY]

So do you remove the wind pipe and esophagus when field dressing, or later when processing?

Reach up as far as you can when field dressing from chest cavity. If you're letting it hang at below 40 but above freezing, you want it out as it can be a source for bacteria. After you take the head off, cut down the front of neck to get to the rest and pull it out. Often I bone out carcass right away though, in which case I wouldn't bother. Some let it hang for a bit though. I like to get the meat in something that's climate controlled and clean.

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[dbHunterNY]

People mention rinsing out the body cavity. Only do this if you did not break the piss sack, get crap from the intestines in cavity, or have your arrow or bullet go through stomach or gut. If any of this happened you dont want to rinse and spread that all over to the rest of the carcass.

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[goosifer]

52 minutes ago, Daveboone said:

. . . . Be sure to rinse the body cavity out asap. . . .

It is generally recommended to not rinse out the cavity unless you have a gut shot, urine or feces in the cavity. If you don't have these issues, you are better off  just turning the deer over and let the blood drain out.

If you do rinse,  you should dry out the inside afterwards with a towel as much as possible. The added moisture in the cavity will promote bacterial growth. 

Source:  https://extension.psu.edu/proper-field-dressing-and-handling-of-wild-game-and-fish

Update: This issue is, surprisingly, more controversial than I realized.

Michigan agrees with what I wrote above: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/how_to_field-dress_deer_493715_7.pdf
Pennsylvania kind of leaves it up to you, but does say to wipe it dry to avoid bacteria growth. https://extension.psu.edu/proper-field-dressing-and-handling-of-wild-game-and-fish
Ohio says to rinse the cavity "back at the barn", not in the field; does not mention wiping it dry https://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/portals/wildlife/pdfs/publications/hunting/pub111.pdf
Tennessee says the same as Pennsylvania https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/gamehandling.pdf

Can't find a New York state source. I guess this issue is debatable. I think we can all agree that we want to minimize conditions that promote bacterial growth.

Edited October 30, 2019 by goosifer

[crappyice]

People mention rinsing out the body cavity. Only do this if you did not break the piss sack, get crap from the intestines in cavity, or have your arrow or bullet go through stomach or gut. If any of this happened you dont want to rinse and spread that all over to the rest of the carcass.

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Sorry but I’m confused - are you saying to rinse the cavity only if NONE of the yucky stuff (piss, gut, etc) happened? If no yucky stuff happened why rinse it at all?


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[TreeGuy]

Sorry but I’m confused - are you saying to rinse the cavity only if NONE of the yucky stuff (piss, gut, etc) happened? If no yucky stuff happened why rinse it at all?


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Please grab a thesaurus and lookup an alternate word for yucky. It doesn't belong in this thread

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[crappyice]

Please grab a thesaurus and lookup an alternate word for yucky. It doesn't belong in this thread

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Doodoo feces; peepee, boo boo juice....better?


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[ncountry]

2 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Doodoo feces; peepee, boo boo juice....better?


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That's all yucky!;)

 

On a more serious note. Lots of good advise above.. In the past I have always sliced everything up before freezing. 

The last bunch of years I have been freezing it in chunks. This give me more options.  Slices real easy ,when partially thawed if you want or leave as roasts .  I usually save the couple of nice slices off the front shoulder blades. And I'm always amazed at the amount of meat that comes off a deer's neck, especially a decent sized buck . 

[Moho81]

Just take your time. It’s pretty easy with practice but I remember starting out it can also be frustrating at times so relax and enjoy the process.


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[Uncle Nicky]

Honestly, I think the whole "water caused bacteria growth" theory is a throwback old wives tale back to when guys would wash their deer in a farm pond or polluted creek....

All meat is rinsed in a slaughterhouse. Cleaning off any hair, blood, or other smegma that may have accumulated is much more important than worrying about water promoting bacterial growth. Plus a good rinse DEFINITELY will improve your trimming yield. Just use common sense, clean cold water, let meat drain after rinsing, etc., etc......

[goosifer]

7 minutes ago, Uncle Nicky said:

Honestly, I think the whole "water caused bacteria growth" theory is a throwback old wives tale back to when guys would wash their deer in a farm pond or polluted creek....

All meat is rinsed in a slaughterhouse. Cleaning off any hair, blood, or other smegma that may have accumulated is much more important than worrying about water promoting bacterial growth. Plus a good rinse DEFINITELY will improve your trimming yield. Just use common sense, clean cold water, let meat drain after rinsing, etc., etc......

Theory? It's called biology. You also seem to be confusing rinsing as part of field dressing vs. rinsing before butchering. Whatever.

[Hock3y24]

This is basically how i do mine and i do 8-10 a year. Unless im quartering them then i hang but the head, You DO NOT NEED A SAW anywhere on a deer, the head, legs, hips all have joints you go in between with your knife. I use a 2" blade and find it much closed to control when taking the meat off then a 6' curved victorinox boning knife. 

[Uncle Nicky]

6 hours ago, goosifer said:

Theory? It's called biology. You also seem to be confusing rinsing as part of field dressing vs. rinsing before butchering. Whatever.

No, not really. I ran a processing business, butchered literally thousands of deer in my life. Rinsing the inside of a deer carcass in CLEAN, cold water (garden hose or a couple jugs of tap water) will improve yield, and help eliminate any contaminants (urine, feces, broken intestines, dirt, leaves, mud, pine needles...I've seen it all). Again, there are a ton of old-wives tales out there about butchering & meat processing, this one probably started before refrigeration. I wouldn't recommend a rinse in a farm pond or local creek.

Edited October 30, 2019 by Uncle Nicky

[DanD]

Watch for glands. You'll know them when you see them. 

 

[rachunter]

9 hours ago, The Engineer said:

I just received my Outdoor knife set and the grinder attaches to my wife's Kitchen Aid mixer. Thank God she will be working when I'm walking out the door with it on Friday to go upstate for an unofficial 3 day weekend that she also doesn't know about. As for a cutting board. My buddgave me a 2'x4' piece of stainless. 

Your going to burn the motor out of that mixer.

I've been using one of these https://www.cabelas.com/product/home-cabin/food-processing/food-grinders/pc/104798880/c/104723280/sc/104364180/cabelas-heavy-duty-grinder/1387520.uts?slotId=5