As far as processing deer this is what I do.

I built an inverted "U" with a block and tackle in the center at the top. At one of the bottom legs I put a winch with cable thru the wench and hooked to the gambrel thru the pulley wheels. I back my truck to the deer pole and crank it to the top. Then I start skinning it. Since it is already gutted I don't have to worry about that. I skin the deer and cut off it's head.

Now comes the cutting the deer up. I use some clear plastic bags--2 1/2 gallon zip lock bags--and start cutting up the deer. I start with the hams and cut the meat off the bones, but dividing the two big roasts up. Then after each roast is cut off I put one de-boned section into each bag. Compress the bags down to get the air out and seal it. It goes into my basement fridge. Then I do the other side. Next I cut out the inner loins and the backstraps and put all four pieces in a zip lock bag and into the fridge. After that I go with the front quarters and cut off all the meat and into the bags it goes. So when both front quarters are in the fridge I start on the scraps that I can get off the deer. For instance, the neck. I really don't like a neck roast so I cut off all the meat and turn it into stew or burger. Cut off all the meat there and into the bags and fridge.

Next I cut off all the leg shank meat. This is some tough meat and goes into my burger bag. After all the meat is cut off the deer I have a skeleton hanging from my meat pole. I then grab a couple of contractor trash bags and take the back leg bones and throw them over the fence to my dogs. Then I cut the rib bones off...after cutting what little meat there is on the ribs and throw those to the dogs as well. The back bone goes into the contractor bags all nice and tied up and into my trash cans for pick up.

I wait 5-7 days for the meat in the fridge to age at temperatures of 35-38 degrees and after one week I start my processing.

I have a 20x30" cutting board that I put over one of my sinks in the kitchen. In the other kitchen sink goes the scraps that are either to bloody, shot up, silver skin or fat, and these go to my dogs--they love me for that. I then cut the meat into steaks, roasts, stew meat and grind scraps. Then I bag each section into vacuum bags, label each bag of what it is and seal it shut. Then into the freezer until I decide to use it.

Now for the burger...I usually wait till I've got around 20-30 lbs of it. The grind is usually frozen solid and when I'm ready to grind it up I thaw it till it is still semi-frozen, and into the meat grinder. After it is all ground up I have a food scale where I'll weigh out 2 lbs of burger and put that into a vacuum bag. Seal them all up when I'm done and back to the freezer. Some may disagree with me, but the meat is still VERY cold and not out for very long. I've never had a problem with this way and don't anticipate one either.

This is my system and so far it works.

Paul