My brothers and I always process our own deer.

The best cuts of meat we find for jerky come from the neck and shoulders. You wouldn' t want to use stew or other small pieces - the stuff shrinks A LOT in the smoker or dehydrator. Try to use meat with the grain oriented lengthwise... almost like a split piece of wood.

When we process our deer we normally get 4 cuts - steaks / chops / stir fry (whole muscle meat), burger (all the small stuff), stew meat (pieces too large / good to go in the burger bowl) and jerky (neck and sholders).