I butcher my own, too. My cousin's been doing it for years. We worked side-by-side on a big buck I shot a few years ago, and I got the basics down. I've done several by myself since then with no problems (except time). We bone everything. Now that we've got CWD in the East (I also hunt NY), I'm not going to saw the spine and am leaving the neck, too. Too many lymph nodes there. The data on ruminant-to-human transmission are mixed but I'm not going to chance it.

Pretty satisfying to take one from scouting to freezer, especially with a bow.