If You Butcher Your Own Deer.....

[wolc123]

I throw all the "parts", along with the occasional road killed deer, on a pile 100 yards behind my bedroom window.  That makes for some good night and day coyote and crow  .22 rimfire target practice.

[suburbanfarmer]

1 hour ago, Lawdwaz said:

Have grinder, knives and cutting board-will travel.

Ditto..

[crappyice]

For years getting rid of the "parts" was difficult.  I had permission to use a couple dumpsters at some condos but if certain residents saw it they'd raise a stink.....when the town I live in introduced the large wheeled totes it changed my world.  If I recall correctly they have a 325lbs capacity. 
(and yes, sometimes they get ripe depending on the weather)

1 contractor bag tied tight handles ribs, backbone, head(assuming doe) and hide and goes out in regular pick up.

I’ll roast and boil the leg bones for stock after cutting up the quarters so those get tossed in regular trash.


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[crappyice]

I hope to do my first one this year. Some members have offered to show me how it’s done so I’m pretty pumped.

Come down the SE and clear some does from @Biz-R-OWorld land and I’ll show you around the butcher block!!!


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[Moho81]

I hope to do my first one this year. Some members have offered to show me how it’s done so I’m pretty pumped.

Have grinder, knives and cutting board-will travel.

I would love to have an area to do it . Between set up and cleaning i would have 8 hours alone into the job. 

I don’t remember who I’ve really extended this offer to before in the past I know @turkeyfeathers is one of them but for any of the WNY guys that want to learn my garage is always open to hang a deer, drink some beers and learn how to do it yourself. I am by no means a professional but I can get the job done. It will usually take me 6 hours by myself to do a deer from start to finish but that’s broken up between 2-3 days including vacuum sealing.

Larry I know your well versed in processing so it would be cool to have you along as well as I’d probably learn a thing or two from you.


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[Lawdwaz]

I’d be happy to add to the clinic.  

[dbHunterNY]

My parents when I was baby bought a general store with commercial grade processing stuff (grinder, bandsaw, etc). Since I was old enough to do any task I watched and helped process deer. It was more a community thing bringing them under one roof and doing lots of deer at once. Then as an adult that's an engineer which over thinks everything I always payed attention how others doing things and evolved how it's done and experimented. Much of the original equipment is still working and at the farm but I've gotten my own stuff from knives to big stuff mostly for convenience. I've learned what makes a difference and what you can get away with by the time it hits the dinner table. Hell I've still learned a few things from an butcher that helps do a demo for our Field to Fork program. Thats after around 25-27 years of a pile of deer each year between mine and others. I rarely do out of state hunts that force me to get one processed. This year might be different when heading out on a roadtrip.

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[Moho81]

I got my start doing it myself about 12-15 years ago after I took a small doe and it seemed foolish to pay $80 to have someone do it for me. I made a phone call to a friend that lived around the block from me at the time and he was at my house the next day with everything needed to process including the grinder. We worked for 5 hours or so on a week night when we both had to work the next morning.

I’ll forever be grateful to him for showing me the ropes. He unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago from cancer at an early age. Not to many days go by during the year with out me thinking about him. I still have 2 hangers he brought over that very first day and gave to me because they where his extras hanging in the garage right now just because it seems a shame to ever take them down.

I’ll learned a bit more over the years from different people that make it easier or faster but I’ll never forget him coming over and helping me that very first time.


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[dbHunterNY]

Good thing about family farm or acres of your own land... disposal isn't a hassle. Now I've only got a little over an acre so I typically make it a point to head to the farm which is only 12 or so minutes down the road.

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[Enigma]

Been doing it myself forever. My mother and I actually cut up the first few I shot. She was the deli and bakery manager in a small town grocery store at that time (mid 80's). She'd also grown up on a farm and had spent alot of time in the butcher shop at that store.

Looking back it was funny. I had a copy of a magazine, Outdoor Life I think, and we'd go out to the garage, look at the pics in the article, cut off a quarter and bring it in the house to cut, wrap and freeze. She was sooooo picky! "You can't have that in there", "Cut that part out, you're not grinding that with your burger" she'd always say. 40 years later she still gets ticked if I don't ask her and my stepfather for their help when I break out the grinder lol.

I got a call from a friend of mine once, I think it was '90 or '91. "Come up to my place, I need your help cutting up some deer, you can have as much as you want" he says. He lives in Orange county, 3M. The guy was (still is) a flat out deer killer. His neighbor owned a commercial orchard and had crop damage permits. I showed up and he had I think it was 12 or 13 in a pile in his shed! WTH did you do I asked him! Long story short I drove back to Philadelphia in my truck that night with an absolute pile of quarters and middles to cut up. You get the hang of it quick when you do it for 2 days straight.

I enjoy it to this day somewhat. Just another part of the whole field to fork process. I will say however that last year a buddy of mine gave me a doe he'd shot and had butchered. Interesting to see how someone else does it. I was quite impressed with how the butcher had cut it up. Different than what I usually do.

If you've never done it before I strongly suggest you try it. It's not difficult really, and you can't really screw it up if you like burger! 

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Enigma

[sodfather]

48 minutes ago, crappyice said:

I thought the same but really not as much as you think if you remove the straps, quarter and hang (ideally in a fridge set aside for deer….that’s the biggest issue).
The rest I do on the kitchen counter on a large cutting board.

Two deer in my fridge with a sketchy rack to hang the quarters


I’ll do a few quarters a night after they hang a few days


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I can’t even imagine my wife’s reaction to her kitchen turned into a meat locker 

[crappyice]

I can’t even imagine my wife’s reaction to her kitchen turned into a meat locker 

Hahha….That fridge is in the shed and only used for deer (and butchering beer!)


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[Marion]

Hahha….That fridge is in the shed and only used for deer (and butchering beer!)


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Don't forget a boy who's name rhymes with spimmy turning it off losing all your years meats

https://www.instagram.com/thejerkman

#JerkmanCustoms
#WeDemandUnlimitedLikes

[Chef]

I learned basic butchery in culinary school but basically taught myself


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[Chef]

Yes!!!!!! Might be my favorite part of hunting!!! MAKE MEAT!

The first deer i shot I brought to the only show in town and had him make hot Italian sausage and ground and some steaks. I thought He did an awesome job!

Then my buddy got a deer up in Dutchess and brought it to a butcher would does cows, pigs, etc…wow- my guy was a hack in comparison.

Still people (some on this very forum!) use “this guy” for convenience and it boggles my mind.

Paying $125+ a deer is not quit in the budget so I had to learn and YouTube was my teacher. Here is my favorite that I still watch pre-season to bone up(get it) on my skills!




I’m still a freezer paper guy for my meat since it’s gone within the year(unless it’s gone earlier due to a freezer/“kid flipped the breaker where the deer meat was” failure).




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I know you and I have talked about this numerous times but that processor is disgusting and is the reason I started to butcher my own


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[Chef]

I started butchering them myself in the early 90's, after a trusted neighbor retired from the practice.  Since then, I have averaged about 3 per year.  
I do it my self for many reasons, most importantly, to insure that I get my own meat back.  It also teaches me where the best spots to place shots are, from various angles, in order to minimize meat damage.  Cost savings is an added bonus.  
No one has ever complained about "gameiness", or toughness from venison that I have butchered.  Most had no clue that they were not eating beef.
  I do my best to properly age the meat before processing and freezing.  That is the key to making it tender.  Like any red meat, it is critical that rigor mortis is past, before freezing the meat. Even the burger will be tough if you skip that step.
As far as packaging goes, I always put the grind from the first deer in zip lock bags.  Vacuum sealing that would be a waste of time and money , because it is usually consumed in a couple of months.  Subsequent deer are vacuum sealed, because that keeps them fresh up to 4 years. 
I debone the deer, except for an occasional neck roast, which I really enjoy out of the crock pot.   We use grind the most, so I often grind all but the back-straps and tenderloins, especially older deer. 
Button bucks are in a class by themselves, when it comes to tenderness and flavor, so I make less grind and more roasts from them.
I will not butcher any more deer from the northern zone myself for two reasons: #1 ticks, #2 it is much cheaper to have them processed up there than it is in WNY.

I’m saying this in jest but you shoot them up the butthole id really hope no one else ever gets ur meat


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[Meatball]

Its part of the tradition to process your own game. I started out paying to have my first buck butchered, but wasn't happy with the amount of meat I picked up from him.

The next year my friend was taught on his deer from an older guy that hunts the same farm. And my friend helped me with my next deer. Now we have a great time processing them. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it yet. I have even hit 2 deer with my truck and took them home to pull some good meat off of them.

Vacuum sealing and grinding, makes for some long nights after work!! I don't use any plastic or butcher paper. Just rinse the meat, pat it dry ,and seal it up. Sounds like we need another lesson on how to prepare the meat for the freezer. I thought it lasted pretty well my way. 

[Hock3y24]

Id go broke if I paid someone to cut my deer. My dad taught me on my first deer how to butcher it, and out of the 50 or so deer I've shot I've only had two processed. My first bow kill in 2012 (75 degrees out) and my PA buck last year ( I was tired and had to work/ got warm out, might use them again as they did an outstanding job for $80). I can have a deer skinned, boned out and vacuum sealed to my standards in about 1. 5 hours. Grind meat tossed in the fridge or sealed in a bag and frozen and do multiple deer at once. 

 

[cynthiafu]

I have done it when my brother in law was alive . We would be in the garage drinking shots and butchering the deer . . Now that he is gone I Pay to have it done.  

[doebuck1234]

I deff dont have a huge # under my belt......have had them processed by my dads cousin right in caledonia,ny in a pinch due to weather/not having a place to do it.grew up learning how to do it as family had always done their own,never took em anywhere.we'd all get together at my great uncles garage with a small salamander heater n get to work.sence his and my grandfathers passing i used dads cousin up until i got my house with garage 2 years ago,back to cutting myself again

Edited August 25, 2021 by doebuck1234

[rachunter]

I learn from my father when I was to young to hunt.He would butcher all the deer in his club in our backyard.Over the years I learned to make the cuts to fit my needs.I never liked throwing the carcass away I always felt it was a waste,so to this day I bring it back into the woods and leave it for whatever wants to eat it.

Thanks dad!!!

 

[G-Man]

Can process my.own and have many times the older I get the less I want to do it, found a good butcher and have used him for years. Told me he is cutting way back and not doing deer this year.so he can hunt with his kids that are now old enough to hunt .. can't blame him one bit,  So back to doing them myself. 

[Gobbler Chaser]

I butcher them right where they fall in the woods. One slice thru the skin right down the back. Peel the skin down and remove the shoulders first and then remove the straps. Then roll the deer on it's back and remove one hindquarter at a time.  I Go home get the ATV and load the hindquarters in a milk crate that's bungied to my quad then throw the straps in a bag and throw them in there also. Takes exactly 20 mins. When I get to the barn I hang the quarters and detail butcher them in my spare time, usually let them hang for a week. I have no use for anything below the straps. Don't eat shoulder meat.

I used to spend untold hours moving and processing deer in my barn, then carting skin, bones, heads, waste meat back to the woods. Now I go gutless and love it. On state land I tie the quarters at the tendons and put the straps into my pack and hike out dragging only the straps in a contractors plastic bag to keep the dirt off em. Simple, Easy

[wolc123]

7 hours ago, Chef said:

I’m saying this in jest but you shoot them up the butthole id really hope no one else ever gets ur meat


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I only attempted the Texas heart shot one time, on that Adirondack 6-point buck back in 2016.  There is not much room for error on that shot.  Fortunately, the Good Lord was with me, and my 150 gr, Federal classic 30/06 bullet struck right on the mark, from a 50 yard range.

The fact that the buck was standing still, and I had a very good rest, no doubt contributed to the precise bullet placement.  

Walking up to that steaming  DRT carcass, I was anticipating a messy gut job.  That certainly would have happened, if the bullet missed the mark by more than 1/8" in any direction, according to several others here who had near misses on caribou and such (pygmy, buckmaster, etc).

As fate would have it, that turned out to be the cleanest gut job that I ever had on a deer, and even the butt-out worked just as it should.   I did loose the neck roast, due to meat damage caused by the bullet exiting the front of the buck.

Thanks for bringing my Texas heart shot up again Chef.  It always brings back nice memories of a beautiful place, coupled with Jesus Christ blessing me with the best shot that I ever made on a deer.

It was good for 10 or so pages back in 2016,  but it has been like a gift that keeps on giving, thanks to you and several other of the wonderful members here.  May the Good Lord bless you with a great deer season this year.  

 

 

[2012_taco]

When I first started hunting deer we were fortunate that one of the guys we hunted with(an old German) had a brother that worked at the Buffalo slaughter house so we would get together over a few beers and "help" him cut up our deer. Since he passed I went to several local guys but was never really satisfied with the finished product. When my wife bought me a decent grinder for Christmas one year I decided to start doing them myself. Larry, @Lawdwaz was a huge help those first couple of deer helping me get back into it and I have never looked back. I've done deer for several friends and have passed  Larry's "knowledge" on along the way. I can't thank Larry enough for his help over the years with butchering deer and so many other unmentioned things, he is truly a great friend!