RE: Deer Dressing
I am much less concerned about the mad cow disease than I am about gut shot and other bacterial tainted meat. I just cut out the boring explanation of mad cow disease from this paragraph (you can thank me later).
I prefer to butcher the deer myself as well, as I tend to throw out anything suspicious or containing the fat on it. So I get only 50 lbs of meat instead of 60 that the butcher might pull off, but I would rather have 50 that I know tastes good and everyone I serve it to will think the same.
Ok it did take me about 8 hours to skin, debone, make specific cuts for chops etc, and package the first time. Ouch. The times have reduced dramatically over the years. Now its just part of the hunting process. You guys are right about giving the sausages type meats to the butcher until either before or after everyone as has dropped things off.