So far this year I've managed to process 2 deer myself and the only reason is because I don't know of anyone who will do it at a fair price. Sure there are people who want to charge me $40 to do it, but I'd rather spend that money on gas to gohunting in the first place. I did most of my research here on this forum to learn about processing. Basically, I just skin and quarter the deer, cut out the backstraps and then turn the meat over to my wife and she bones it out and bags it for the freezer.

My meat yields so far this year are 21 lbs. fora spike I got with my bow and 23 lbs. for a doe I got with my .30-30. The deer here in VA I've been seeing are just not that big, I guess that's why we are allowed to shoot 5 of them a year. There are just too many of them for the habitat.